Life coaching focuses on solving specific problems of the client, such as “eating more veggies” or “exercising more” or “letting go of anger”. When one has been successful, coaches move on to a new topic. They start with the goal, and work on concrete steps to reach that goal.
Counselors, on the other hand, start with the problem and often don’t even have goals for a long time. Coaching is not for people with mental illness and counseling is not really for someone who is mentally fine but needs help focusing on goals.
Becoming a life coach can be a very lucrative and satisfying career. Life coaching is a popular career path, especially for people who wish to work from home. But, not everyone has the right personality to become a coach. How do you know whether or not you could be a coach? Well, first of all you need the ability to be honest with yourself about your skills and personality traits. Here are some questions to ask yourself.
Do your family and friends often come to you for support on specific issues? If so, what types of issues and what is the usual result if they take your advice? How does it make you feel? Do you like helping your family and friends with their problems? Are you able to develop unique solutions based on the person’s personality rather than your own ideals and beliefs?
Are you a good listener? Do you get along with others well, and do they feel comfortable around you – enough to tell you things of a personal nature? Are you able to keep things to yourself when someone tells you something in confidence? Are you able to carry with you very emotional details about others without it affecting your personal life?
Do you have a specific message to tell others, along with a back story that gives you the qualifications to become the life coach about this specific niche issue? Running a life coaching business is about teaching others to do something. Maybe it’s about parenting without spanking, or parenting with confidence, or how to get over a divorce, how to run a business, or something else entirely. If you know how to do that, know how to break things down into teachable lessons, and how to listen and adapt your lessons to various personalities, then you could become a coach.
Coaches make money in a variety of ways:
* Information products
* EBooks
* Podcasts
* Videos
* Lessons
* Teleseminars
* Webinars
* Classes / courses
* Individual lessons
* Group lessons
* Membership programs
* One-on-one coaching
As a life coach you’ll need to be able to commit to your clients in a way that is very personal. You can’t stand them up; you must be available when you said you would be because they are counting on you. You’ll need a deep understand how people’s belief systems and values develop, and be able to work with different personalities without judgment.
You’ll also need to know how to take care of yourself in order to be a good example to your clients. You’ll need to be willing and able to continuously develop the skills necessary for coaching. There is always something more to learn. Life coaching can be very satisfying work but you’ll need to be willing to do the work on yourself that is necessary for you to be ready – by taking lessons, getting certified, and experiencing coaching for yourself.