Become a life coach
FAQ answers to common questions
What is life coaching?
In a nutshell, coaching is a dynamic new profession and modality that essentially uses Solution Focused Conversations to support people and organisations in moving into positive, proactive action to accomplish their goals.
TIP: Life coaching is not therapy, training, mentoring or counselling
Do you get different types of professional coaching?
Yes. You do get different types of coaching, different styles and different levels of skill – so it might seem confusing. In fact some people call themselves life coaches, but in fact don’t practise what international standards name as true coaching. The confusion may come in because coaching can be beautifully adapted to many different types of goals – from business to personal, from team, to individual, from executive to artist, practical to spiritual etc. There are also many wonderful processes and techniques that can be easily built into coaching.
TIP: Once you learn to be a coach, you can create your own area of specilisation to focus on areas of serivice that you are especially interested in
What is the main objective of life and business coaching?
Pure coaching honours some basic principles including:
- Supporting a client to clearly define their goal
- Coaching the goal until it is realistic, measureable and specific.
- Using powerful questions to let the client find their OWN solutions, strategies and resources to make their goal a reality.
- Skilfully motivating a client to make a commitment to their goal and be accountable to its success.
- Coaching a client through time to reach their goals, dreams, objectives and desired outcomes.
TIP: On top of this basic foundation, a skilful coach has powers of listening, rapport building, creative thinking, questioning, and a toolbox full of exercises and processes to draw on to help their clients to help themselves, so you will need to develop these as well.
What is the definition of life coaching?
The ILS Coach definition is: "Coaching is the specialized art of holding solution focused conversations. Coaching supports a client’s being able to access insights and solutions from within themselves, moving themselves into positive proactive clearly defined action that aids them in achieving their potential in the area of their goals and objectives."
Why does life coaching work?
When a coach is a great coach, they bring the best out in people. This is because coaching supports a few innate truths that acknowledge the highest potentials of a person and furthermore, provides freedom and opportunities for these potentials to reveal themselves. People are at their best when they experience their full potential and claim their power to build new realiities of positive change.
TIP: Remember like with any profession you get the "good, the bad and the ugly" - so look around and find the best people that you also feel "connects" to your values
What are the benefits of being coached?
Here are 9 KEY benefits that coaching brings...
1. From problem to solution focus –
Just the shift from problem focus to solution focus can be positively revolutionary. Imagine what your world would be like if people automatically switched to a solution focus when facing a goal or obstacle? Solution focus means actively finding a way to move forward into positive progress.
2. Getting clear on goals –
Our lives tend to be full, with many things to accomplish every day. So often to simply spend time positively visioning the future with our goals in sight can leverage huge transformation and success.
3. Prioritizing –
Establishing clear priorities removes the clutter and is critical to achieving any valuable goal. Coaching supports clients in establishing clear priorities.
4. Decision making –
Procrastination kills many dreams. Coaching stretches people to assess and make clear decisions that support their goals and dreams.
5. Deep brainstorming of strategy and planning -
Coaching unpacks clear and comprehensive plans to literally map out a clients path to their desired destination.
6. Being accountable to your journey –
Simply being accountable to a process of action, where you are meeting your coach again and again over a period of time, can lead you to finally reaching the goals of what you really want. Sadly self driven action fails more often than not, but coached action holds us accountable and therefore pushes us gently over the edge to the success we dream of.
7. Being supported while facing and overcoming obstacles to goals -
People often start their journeys towards their goals well, but then get stuck when they hit their first obstacles. Coaching strongly comes into its own when it holds the safe space for clients to work through and get over the obstacles in the way to their success.
8. Experiencing processes and thinking tools –
Really great coaches have a toolbox of exercises to draw from to help their clients during their coaching experience
9. Reaching your goals -
Very few things are more rewarding than seeing your dreams become a living reality. From losing weight, to writing your book, to leaving a legacy, to deepening your spirituality – whatever your goal, whatever your dream, coaching can support you in getting there.
How much do Life Coach training courses cost?
A 1 year reputable international MBA course can cost $40 000 to $80 000 a year. With modules ranging from $3000 to $9000. In comparison coaching programs range from $500 to $1300 per short module, and average $1400 to $9000 per full professional program. In addition, coaching programs tend to be shorter (3 – 6 months), so there are saving benefits there. And many students start charging clients near the end of their program BEFORE qualifying – which means an earlier return on the investment.
A big mistake many people make when considering training to be a coach, is that they compare the cost of Life Coach training with “personal development and soft skills courses”. Good quality Life Coach Training will seem to be expensive if you are comparing it to “personal development programs”. But when you compare it to other “career building professional courses”, then it is in line and can even be dramatically more affordable.
Remember that a good quality coaching program will get you to professional levels of coaching skill, so that you are completely ready EARN new income or BOOST your existing career.
TIP: Ask yourself whether you are willing to really invest in a new future for yourself, one that can build new income streams, give you world class communication skills and internationally prized professional skills.
How long does it take to earn back my life coaching course investment?
Presuming that you are going to be charging as a professional coach (and not using your coaching in your existing corporate career). Then here is a formula to help you determine how long it will take to earn back your investment on your training:
COST of coach training program
RATE that you will charge to start off with
COST divided by RATE = ANSWER the number of clients sessions sold it will take to earn back your investment.
*Then decide how many clients you conservatively might attract per month and divide the answer with that number to work out how many months to earn your investment back.
Example:
Let’s say your coach training costs 14 000, your earning rate per client is 450.
COST 14 000
RATE 450
ANSWER – It would take 31 client sessions.
If you sold only 7 sessions a month that’s 4 ½ months to make back your investment.
*Remember also that coaches usually sell blocks of coaching sessions – series of 3, 6, 9 even 12 sessions at a time. This means that once you secure a client, if you continue to do a great job as a coach you have a steady income potential from that client, not a one hit wonder!
TIP: To secure your success, start planning your marketing early. Tell people that you are becoming a coach, spread the word. Most importantly look for niche markets (small easy to target markets) that would benefit from coaching and target them instead of trying to be a coach for everyone.
How long does professional life coach training take?
To get to a professional level of coaching, we recommend no less than 50 hours of training. This is in line with international standards.
However to become a GREAT coach 70+ hours is preferable.
If you just want basic coaching skills, let’s say to use in your career (leaders, executives, trainers, managers, customer services and HR benefit from coaching skills) and you don’t want to become a professional coach, then 9 – 12 hours of training with a top course will serve you well.
TIP: Start with a Coaching Skills module 9 – 12 hours of training before committing to a full program. That way you can check if coaching is for you, and walk away with valuable skills. Check out this weekend Life Coaching Skills Seminar or this Life Coaching Skills home study module....
How long does it take to become a great professional coach?
At least 3 months of solid coaching learning and practical application will takes many to competency.
TIP: To become a top world class coach, 750 hours of coaching is regarded as the standard.
What accreditation is needed to have credibility as a Professional Life Coach?
Coaching is an independent profession and relatively young and so very few accreditation processes are in place. You will need to check on your local laws and regulations.
- One of the most well known and respected international accreditation bodies is the ICF http://www.coachfederation.org/
- The South African Coaching body is COMENSA http://www.comensa.org.za/
TIP: Coaching is different and separate to counselling or psychology and therefore doesn’t need the same regulations as mental health services.
How can I build credibility to secure my success?
Credibility is important especially at the early stages of your coaching career.
Here are factors that you can build on to improve your credibility and thereby attract more business:
- Testimonials – solid, positive testimonials from clients (use with their permission given) that shows the impact of the service. Photographs and quotes, even video is very effective.
- Professionalism – make sure that everything about your service is professional, from appearance, to office, to communications – all must convey credibility and professionalism.
- Referrals – the best form of credibility is referral business. Simply put – be great enough as a coach to earn the respect and recommendation of your clients.
- Experience – get experience, even if you have to give your services away to start, but earn your stripes in the real world. That way not only will you have increased your learning but will have hours to add to your credibility factor.
- Accomplishments – mentioning or listing your accomplishments, even in other areas of life (sport, other modalities) can increase your credibility
- Goodwill – make a difference and mean it. People who are willing to give of their expertise and spirit earn share of heart. So give, educate and share of your knowledge. Nothing builds credibility quicker than a professional who is willing to give BEFORE they ask to get.
TIP: Look for reputable coaches and learn from how they establish credibility
How is life coaching difference to training?
In training the trainer typically determines the objectives of a session and the trainer gives clients the solutions, advice and actions. In contrast, coaching allows the client to determine her own objectives and the client sources their own solutions and actions.
How is coaching difference to consulting?
In consulting a consultant gives advice to their clients based on their own area of expertise, whereas in coaching a coach never gives advice. The coach intentionally does not bring in their personal bias or agenda, the coach rather helps a client to draw out their own expertise, solutions and insights around the client’s agenda and goal.
How is coaching difference to counselling?
Counselling tends to excavate the story and content of a client, and looks often to the client’s past in order to help a client with their emotional and mental healing, whereas coaching chooses to deliberately transcend the story and content, focusing rather on client directed solutions and future progress.
How is life coaching difference to mentoring?
A mentor offers advice and input based on their personal experience and expertise to a client, transferring knowledge and know-how, whereas coaching specifically does not give advice and the coach keeps their personality and personal experience out of the coaching experience, this opens the space to excavate the client’s knowledge base and know-how. In fact in some ways, coaching allows for the client to mentor themselves.
How is coaching difference to friendly support?
Friendship is a personally entangled relationship where a friend is emotionally and personally involved and has an emotional investment in the outcomes of the friend. Whereas, coaches specifically maintain a professional stance called a “Coaching Position” which is non-judgmental and removes the coach’s personal bias and ego agenda from the coaching process.
What is "Coach Position" and why is it critical to coaching?
Coach position is a mental and emotional stance that a coach takes when working with a client - to intentionally hold a neutral, non-judgmental place of professional detachment that is free of emotional entanglement, ego and personal bias.
Who can you ideally coach?
A coach can benefit anyone who has a desired goal or objective and is able and willing to take action towards their goal.
Is there anyone who is NOT suitable for life or business coaching?
Coaching is not suitable for people no real desire for change. They may be at a coach out of curiosity or under duress from a third party. Some have hidden agendas and may not even have a specific goal or outcome in mind.
TIP: Often once a person truly understands coaching and commits to solution focused thinking, they become coachable.
What does a typical coaching session comprise of?
Although each coaching session works with a unique goal (set by the client), and the style of coaching varies from coach to coach, there are some basic broad strokes that are in common with most coaching sessions.
The 4 typical components of a coaching session are:
1. Determining a goal/objective/dream/desire/outcome/wanted change – i.e. What do you want?
2. Deepening your commitment to the value of the goal – i.e. Why is this goal important to you?
3. Excavating solutions and strategies to achieving the goal – i.e. How might you get it?
4. Measuring the goal (milestones) – i.e. How would you know if you got it? How will you know you are on track?
What skills does a life coach need to develop?
Amongst many useful skills, a truly great coach learns:
Powerful questioning
Solution focused thinking
Solution focused communication
Rapport building
Deep listening skills
The art of empowerment
Non-judgment
