Have you used a life/work coach?

[WhispersFromFairyland]

I am looking to build up a career as a coach. I did some coaching training about 10 years ago, and I’ve done little bits of coaching since then, as part of being a line manager, or voluntarily through work. I always enjoy doing it. I’d like to have a go at making it my main job, freelance.

To help me focus myself, and work out how, where, to pitch myself - if you have used a life coach or work coach (or any coach I suppose!), please could you tell me:

Where did you look to find one?
Did it make any difference to you if they had a website and/or social media presence and/or email newsletter?
What made you choose the one you chose?
How much did you pay and was it worth that cost?
Did you book a package (eg, a series of 6 sessions) or did you book one-off sessions as you went along?
What was good about your coach?
What was bad about your coach?
Any other advice you want to share that could help me be a great coach?

Thank you in advance!

To make things clear: this post is not to promote myself in any way at all. I am very much in the “want to turn something I enjoy into my job” stage of this.

Commenting to hopefully bump.

Yes. Family friend. She started as a life coach then set up her own business coaching headteachers and teaching staff as that’s her background.

Good points:- suggested other ideas and ways of thinking which I hadn’t thought of before.

Bad points:- it did seem a bit samey when I used her again after a while. But this was a one off or a few sessions not as long as before. Some stuff I could’ve found/worked out myself.

I found mine as a said family friend. Anyone can be a life coach otherwise and a lot aren’t good.

when she got a website that helped but for years she wasn’t on social media but is now. That helps.

booked block of sessions and one offs.

Her costs have gone up now. And her invoices I’ve deleted. Plus as she now mostly concentrates on head teachers they’re different rates and I got mates rates originally (still not cheap though).

I would try to do as my friend did and specialise in a certain area if you can or eg do careers coaching. I know so many people who’ve retrained as life coaches and now either don’t do it or shouldn’t have been doing it in the first place. I’m not saying there are bad life coaches only but the good ones I know are few and far between.

I have a friend who does careers coaching for city lawyers. She's a former city lawyer herself with a masters in psychology. She works for a consultancy that contracts with law firms to provide coaching to their staff.

If I were to consider a coach, that's the sort of level of qualification and experience I'd be looking for. Anyone can set up as a life coach and you really need something to set you apart from the unqualified no-hopers. I would consider whether there's a niche that you could specialise in (for example, coaching for people in your former industry)- having experience of the particular challenges in that industry would be a bonus and you'd already have some contacts.

You will definitely need a website etc but that is very simple.

I have only ever done employer-funded coaching before but if I were paying I'd expect something in the region of £150/hour.

Good tip from both of you about choosing an area to focus/specialise on, thank you.

Would appreciate more comments if anyone else sees this. Really want to make a go of it but feeling a bit stuck.

Try Reddit? I won’t lie my friend found it hard to set up. She has a small business now. Been doing this for approx 14 years. But now has others working for her (in some form not quite sure how). Like I said best thing is to specialise in an area. She’s an expert in her field and talented.
So you may have to network for this.

Here’s her website to have a look around:-

https://www.integritycoaching.co.uk/

It's a very tough market and I would suggest having qualifications to help you stand out. Keep up to date with coaching trends, I mean actual trends not the BS coaching pyramid schemes that are all over the place (I'll show you how to build your 6 figure business but will actually just be showing you how to show other people the same thing and ripping you off in the process...

Aim for quality above everything else and respect the ethical boundaries around coaching. You're not a shrink, and not actually qualified to give any advice whatsoever.

The good ones, I count myself in there, are few and far between. People have quite rightly become suspicious of the cost vs benefits as there are so many frauds out there. It's really frustrating.

You need a proper coaching qualification OP, it’s a real profession

I think life coaches have a terrible name, it's best to qualify as a therapist.

Life coaches have a reputation of being twice divorced Mum's, with 29 kids by 45 different father's who thought it was a good idea to advertise as a "life coach" on Facebook.

I’d only consider a work coach who worked in my industry and worked up to a high level.

There are growing numbers of therapists who have somehow qualified but are pretty terrible and should never be in a therapeutic role either. I agree that the reputation of coaches has taken a huge hit in recent years and not having to be qualified is a real problem for those of us that are and that don't see as a way to a quick buck.

Back in the day there was careers centres now they’ve all gone and schools don’t cover nearly as much….. they want bums on seats for 6th form which isn’t for everyone

some post 16 options coaching would be great area to explore as young people need to know what is available and help with cvs and applications - this could be good