Becoming a Life Coach - Introduction
Reasons for Becoming a Life Coach
Life coaches can come from a wide range of backgrounds and one person's motivation for becoming a life coach may be slightly different from another. Nonetheless, if you are thinking of becoming a life coach it is likely that:
- You want to do a job that helps people to:
- make positive changes in their life
- fulfil their potential
- deal with problems that they are having difficulty in managing on their own
- You believe that your personality, experience and/or professional background will help you to be an effective life coach.
Life Coaches - What Personal Qualities Help?
Life coaching is a collaborative enterprise between coach and client. As a coach you are focusing on bringing out the best in your client and empowering them to achieve important life changes or set and reach significant goals.
As a life coach it is likely that you will have and will be continually developing the following qualities and abilities (this is not an exhaustive list of life coaching abilities just an introduction!):
- An interest in people
- Respect for individuals and for individual differences
- An ability to listen and to show a client that you have heard what they are saying and what they are looking to achieve
- Knowledge of specific life coaching models and techniques and the ability to use them effectively in practice
- Honesty and integrity in your interactions with a client - clarity with the client about what your role is and the ability to challenge appropriately or to help the client see how they can overcome blocks or look at problems in a new way
- A willingness to learn
- Professionalism - clarity about your professional boundaries and a willingness to receive appropriate professional training
Becoming a Life Coach - Business Skills
If you are proposing to set up in private practice as a life coach running your own life coaching business, then in addition to the personal skills that are useful for life coaching as described above, you will benefit from learning skills in developing and running your business efficiently and effectively. Some of the areas which you will want to be aware of are:
- Different ways that you can market your life coaching business
- How to manage your life coaching business on a day to day basis - keeping accounts, keeping an organised filing system and appointments diary, keeping records of client contact, filing appropriate tax returns and ensuring that your business complies with any other relevant requirements (such as data protections laws)
- How to ensure that you achieve appropriate life balance between your coaching business and your other interests or responsibilities.
Evaluating Yourself as a Life Coach
Have a look throught the above lists of personal qualities and business skills. Add to the lists with your own ideas about what is needed to become an effective life coach and to set up a successful life coaching business. Make a note of any items on your list which you think you do not yet fully have and against each of those items, specify ideas for how you can develop the skill or gain the missing ingredient, whether that be through research, training, peer contact, supervised coaching practice or other means.
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