Life coaching is very, very difficult to sell as a business. In fact, I'm going to go as far as to say that “life coaching” is NOT really a business. Becoming a life coach is the choice to make a positive difference in the world, one person at a time. In the coaching process, your client will be vulnerable with you, will grow with you and become the best version of themselves.
It's an honor and a privilege to be part of someone's journey. You'll be glad you came for the ride. Life Coaching is in fact a legitimate profession, which is giving thousands of Life Coaches a highly profitable and rewarding life. No matter what you want to improve, there's a coach who can help you achieve your goals.
Life coaching is a fairly new career, and those who pursue it come from a variety of backgrounds. They are often successful people with college degrees who have succeeded in another vocation. They can be executives looking for a career change, housewives looking for a satisfying part-time job, or psychologists who want to use training skills in their practice. I joined networking groups, interviewed more than 20 local coaches, coached for free, created group training events, and when I didn't see paying clients knocking on my door, I changed my game plan.
There are a lot of misconceptions about what a life coach does, one of the first being that a life coach tells his client what to do. I wrote a business plan, went back to school, rented an office space, and started creating a Life Coaching practice. Many students have a different life coach for each sector of their life (health, relationships, career, etc.). Keep in mind that if you are looking to hire a life coach, your life coach cannot accept your insurance benefits to cover training, unless that professional is formally trained enough to consolidate you as a medical expert.
If you're interested in becoming a life coach, know that it's like launching any new business venture. As a rookie who had just started a paid training program and was about to start (next Sunday), and who had just finished B-School this year, at first I felt quite defensive with your words. Your coach must intuitively feel that he is the best fit for you because he challenges you to grow, improve and be the best version of yourself. Performance coaching, skills coaching, professional, personal or life coaching, creativity, business and executive coaching.
As a life coach, you'll harness curiosity and intuition to help your client discover their own answers and ideas. You're right, the ones who “kill him” are those coaches instead of being coaches themselves. Coaching is a partnership that allows its clients to trust their own instincts and solve their own problems.
