Thinking about becoming a life coach...

[PeppermintLatte]

i feel like such a knob for even writing the word "life coach" like i have the right to think i can coach anyone on how to live their life, but i've been soing alot of soul searching recently and i think this might be a good career move for me.

i've got the option to work from home a little bit later in the year. i'm a holistic therapist with a fairly decent client base and i will be setting up a treatment room at my home when i move into it (later in the year) all of my clients comment on how easy it is to speak with me, how i make them feel comfortable and also they thank me for the advice i give them; now as a holistic therapist i am not meant to do this, but alot of them have started telling me about issues they are having and i cannot help myself, i love to advise.

now, i'm not 100% sure what type of personality you need to become a "life coach" but i've always been a brilliant listener, my friends and family (including my parents) always come to me for advice, to the point where i can think "give me a break", i am very tactful, i very rarely think before i speak, i am also very confident and very positive by nature. please don't think i'm big headed, i'm not! these are just my genuine strengths as a person.

i have always wanted to do a counselling course, but am not in a position to train to become a counsellor. i have found a couple of courses being run in my area for "introduction to counselling skills" and "intermediate counselling skills" and i have enrolled myself to start in the autumn as i feel i will thoroughly enjoy these courses.

i am a single parent, and i need to make money for my DD, the holisitcs are going well, although i haven't been doing too long and am still building my business up, but i feel life coaching and holistics kind of go hand in hand and it would be a good business opportunity.

can anyone advise me if it seems that i have the right skills to look properly into this? can anyone point me in the right direction with regards to training? i have heard you don't need any qualifications but that just seems to good to be true. i've also heard you have to really network and get yourself out there, but i don't understand why, wouldn't you just promote yourself the same way you would with any other business?

any help would be most appreciated.

Hi. Life coaching seemed quite 'big' a good few years back. I wonder if it's a viable option long term or something else will replace it. Mostly, I think it's a one-off kind of service people would use rather than a regular commitment. Is that something you'd like or do you prefer to establish a longer term relationship?

It's difficult to find something to work around your children. Given you say you're still working on building up your holistic stuff (btw, what does it actually mean?), I'd be wary of spending the little time left taking on another big project.

I'm a coach (life, work, etc), and the number one rule for coaching is that you must never give advice.

There's a big difference between being a good listener and enabling someone to explore options, analyse pros and cons, challenge commitments and come to their own decisions.

You don't NEED a qualification to advertise yourself as a coach, but there are many distance learning courses that can give you the skills and practical experience you need before you start charging clients.

thanks for the reply, holistic therapy is basically massage therapy, i do aromatherapy massages, swedish body massage, indian head massage, reflexology etc.. i blend oils for baths or make a blend of oils and put them in face creams etc.. to cater for my client's different needs. it's quite "spiritual" really and it's surprising just how much my clients will open up to me. i have been told i have "healing hands"

ideally a longer term relationship would be great, a little pointless doing it otherwise as i probably wouldn't any money from it.

YourCallIsImportant that's what i forgot to say in my first post, i love to advise but i don't with my holistic clients, only friends. with my holistic clients that is exactly what i do, i explore options with them when they tell me their issues, and give them pros and cons to things they are saying (only my opinion of course, i'm not saying i'm right) it's just that i have such great feedback from them and they are usually very thankful and grateful for the chats that we have.

As a coach you don't give them pros and cons either. You enable your client to identify these for themselves by use of careful questions.

You sound lovely, a good friend and a good listener and I'm sure people really value your support, but what you're describing isn't coaching.

Have a look at this for more information. It'll help you decide if it's right for you.

thanks so much YourCallISImportant i'll take a look now.

The skills you have described are: good listener, healing hands and good advice (possibly). The best coaches I know are very present listeners, highly observant, open minded, very smart, ask insightful questions, very articulate, able to make connections and have deep experience to draw on but not Impose. They also have serious qualifications in coaching from Reputable accreditors.

Don't know if that helps.

sorry, posted too quickly, wanted to ask do you think an intermediate counselling course would help if i decided to go down this road, or are they 2 completely unrelated things?

hermioneweasley thanks for replying, i don't want to sound big headed, i'm really not, but i have been told i am very articulate and i do find that i can get along with and understand all different types of people, i have a diverse group of friends and can fit in with anyone. i was also very well educated but preferred using my hands rather than my brain. i don't know if any of this would even be helpful though.

do you know any of these reputable accreditors by any chance so i can take a look?

Can't remember off the top of my head, but some gogglng might help. The course one went on was about £8k.

Google not goggle!

£8k!!!!? i won't be going on that course ; )