To think “life coaches” really are something else

[Romax]

I just don’t get it.
How someone can be so very sure that they have nailed “life” that they can actually coach others and charges for their “life expertise”

I’m thinking specifically of two women in my affluent SE town (perhaps it is a regional “thing”?) who have just set up a life coaching business. I just can’t work out how they would reach the conclusion that they are such a success in life that they can help others achieve what they have achieved (setting up a life coaching business!)

Am I BU to think that you really must think a lot of yourself to do this? Or have people genuinely benefited from life coaching services?

It's not that what men do = good and what women do = bad.

I don't think that at all.
I also don't think that writing a gratitude journal is a bad thing either (I really like mine).

It's more that there is a subset of the industry that preys on the fact that women need flexible work so they have created this 'work from home' aspirational dream where they sell 'coaching' to each other.

I was stunned at the brass neck of it to be honest. I needed someone who had worked in my industry to come and give advise about how I could be spending my time and instead I got approached by dozens of very young 'coaches' with inspirational quotes on their Instagram trying to get me to buy into their 7 day money mindset programme.

And that's not kicking mindset stuff because I have done it in the past and it was great, but when it comes to my business I want someone who's actually ran a business.

My friend used a life coach a few years back to help him figure out what he wanted from life. He had to put a lot of time and effort into it, and really analyse how he ended up in his career and location, what his strengths were and how he'd actually like to live/work. He said it was a very difficult process.

He has since made a lot of changes in his career and work/life balance, and I would say it has been very successful for him.

I think it's a term that's misused, and it's clear the market is saturated with charlatans.

I've had a few life coaching sessions through a friend of my DM - not DM's age, younger. She now runs her own business sort of doing similar - outsources life coaches etc.

I must admit her advice when I saw her her life coaching advice was quite common sense and just made me realise I needed to stop procrastinating etc and action certain areas of my life - e.g. meet a decent man, sort out career etc.

I know someone else from primary school who does it who tried to get me to do this and nice though she is I couldn't see her really enriching my life and doing life coaching, plus she was the other side of town to where I live.

Lost5stone - I had this with a bully at school, she became a dhoula and now does life coaching other 'change your life' hippy dippy stuff - she lived in Ibiza too for a while. She also lost a load of weight. When she tried to get me into her 'life coaching' stuff with a free complimentary session (on more than one occasion) I politely declined as I know of a few alternative therapists who are complete and utter cows!

Another person I knew, DSis of SO of a friend of mine, nice enough but very bitchy and would definitely choose who she was nice to, talked to etc. After we were both in a car crash with some others she had to come with me to the court case but she ended up leaving her corporate job and trained to be an alternative therapist - I silently laughed at her doing that because I just couldn't see her doing that. She now owns her own business doing something else but I really couldn't envisage her in all honesty massaging me or making me feel better about myself when she was quite happy to blank me and pick and choose other people to suit her moods.

I worked as a Life Coach for a few years, training almost 20 years ago. In answer to the OP - did I think a lot of myself, No, just spent all my time at work and personally helping people to solve their problems and thought I might as well have an enjoyable career doing just that. I worked on an individual basis and also with commercial clients e.g. banks, oil companies. I loved it and earned a reasonable amount from it. I then stopped when my first baby was born. Had about 2 years off except a few returning clients. When I went back, the market was saturated with women of a certain age who needed a life coach were offering free sessions to get their businesses started or wanted me(!) to give them free training/coaching. I then started finding websites with my pages copy and pasted. I had to call it a day as I couldn't compete with free coaching. The only people making money out of it is the companies training the coaches.

As it's been such a long time since I've been out of it, I wasn't aware of the MLM aspect. This is so not what the role should be about. The joy of coaching work is the interaction and results that clients achieve.

Meanwhile, I use my coaching skills all the time in my work - which remains about helping people and organisations.

Have an ex-friend who is “working” as a life coach but she use the title transformation mentor her “colleagues” use the term lifestyle CEO , online wealth and success coach and mindset magician. Lifestyle coach is so 80s. It’s still completely dodgy

My friend has a mad sil with feral kids who will not sleep. Set herself up as a sleep consultant?

What I think is sad is that our society works in such a way that many people feel they need to shell out cash just for someone to truly listen to them.

The coaching industry is the biggest is the most individualistic 'I'm alright Jack' societies like the US and the UK. Well, the whole western world really.

There are lots of “coaching” people out there charging for their services. Some are very good, some are terrible, some have qualifications and certifications, some don’t and qualifications in coaching are not any guarantee of good practice IMO.