If you love working with people, have a thoroughly ethical disposition, and share a passion for – and open mind about – personal development, don’t overlook life coaching as a fantastic, potential new full– or part-time career.
Life coaching is one of the fastest growing industries in the world at present. Frankly, that should not surprise anyone who understands the true power of life coaching.
There’s broad consensus among people that we live in uniquely difficult times.
Depending on who you speak to, our country, and the world in general, is, at worst, in a big mess or, at best, facing some unprecedented challenges.
The world, of course, is nothing more than a collection of individuals, so the problems we face are self made.
On the flip side, so are the solutions.
And that, dear readers, is exactly where life coaching comes into the frame.
So, why might you be interested in becoming a life coach and joining an industry that is exciting, fast-developing and – most importantly –an integral part of the overall solution to many of the problems our world is facing?
There are many reasons. Here are 5 of the most compelling … and one important caveat:
1. A force for good
To pick up on what I’ve just said, life coaching is a massive force for good in our world.
If you want to be part of the solution rather than the problem when it comes to our beloved country and world, then this alone is a wonderful reason to consider a career in life coaching.
To be clear, life coaching differs greatly from counselling and forms of therapy. I’m not going to go into detail why here, but if this intrigues you I recommend you read another recent blog post, titled Life Coaching: Preventative Psychology, to find out more.
Thanks to its solution-focus, life coaching is inspiring, empowering and uplifting for both coach and clients alike. How many careers can lay claim to that?
2. Low investment
For some people who think about what it would take to build a new career, the perceived time and investment needed can be a big turn off. Many careers worth their salt require a substantial investment of both valuable commodities.
Careers in counselling and psychology, for example, can involve many years of study. Those who choose the latter course can become disillusioned when they realise that nothing short of a Master’s degree is required to assure them of a suitable career.
Life coaching is what I call a pursuit of the heart, more than the head. You don’t need to be academically inclined to make a success of life coaching. You do need a passion for people, coupled with an open, enquiring mind and a willingness to learn and apply what you learn.
The investment required to become a life coach is surprisingly affordable. But be sure to read right to the end of this post for an important caveat you MUST be aware of before taking the plunge!
3. Unrivalled flexibility
How many careers do you know where you can work from home if you want, work the days and hours you want, and work from anywhere in the world with clients from anywhere in the world, if you want?
With life coaching, you have choice and control over your work/life balance, unless you choose to go into some form of employment … but then why would you, when you can open your own practice for a very modest investment.
4. AI-proof
Artificial Intelligence has burst on the job scene, like a thief in the night.
AI is now a serious threat to jobs and livelihoods across the board, from accounting and finance to manufacturing to media research, advertising, content provision, legal assistance, teaching and, ironically, even tech jobs like coding and programming!
With recent vast leaps in computing power, the advent of machine learning and neural networks, AI is now able to search, process and apply human-like logic to make sense of the vast treasure trove of data available to it. And it does so at speeds that surpass that of the human brain.
What AI lacks is consciousness, feeling, compassion, beliefs, values and emotional intelligence – the things that uniquely define us as human beings.
And these are the very attributes needed by life coaches.
Life coaches are skilled in understanding how humans ‘tick’, what makes us happy, sad and emotional; what it is that promotes our self awareness, self confidence, purpose, meaning and feelings of fulfilment.
That’s not something you can expect to get from AI anytime soon!
5. Rapidly growing demand
I touched on this already. Life coaching is one of the fastest – some would say the fastest – growing industries in the world.
In this ultra competitive and very challenging world, people are coming to terms with the fact that they need something extra to help rise above the crowd, support to be the best they can be, inspiration to make their goals and dreams a reality.
Life coaching is the perfect go-to option for those who decide to shun mediocrity and pursue more from life. It’s the ideal solution for those who feel stuck in a trap, squeezed by government ineptness on the one hand and corporate greed on the other.
For many it’s a pathway to finding personal freedom!
More and more people are awakening to the fact that a modest investment in themselves is by far the best investment they will ever make!
Finally, a caveat
It would be remiss of me to end off without bringing to your attention an important caveat that needs to be carefully considered along with everything I have written above.
The relative success of any life coach is determined by the level and quality of results delivered for their clients.
That may sound like stating the obvious but it is often overlooked by prospective life coaches when they search for a suitable course to prepare them for their new career.
Perhaps because of its predominantly soft-skill nature, most people, new to life coaching, are inclined to underestimate the level of training and application (or practice) involved in becoming a high quality life coach.
In their rush to get a piece of paper that will endorse their ability to start earning from their shiny new career, they are lured into focusing on the qualification or certificate at the expense of what goes into achieving it.
Believe me, there are plenty of institutes and organisations who recognise this, and fill this need with training that is over-hyped, narrow, superficial, and enticingly inexpensive.
If you’re thinking of becoming a life coach, be sure not to fall into this trap. The quality, substance, and depth of the training you receive is directly proportional to your ability to deliver results for your clients that they will be delighted with and proud of.
Clients who, with your help and support, achieve things they never thought possible, will sing your praises from the rooftops – and that will guarantee you a steady stream of new clients.
This is an industry where word of mouth testimonials roundly trump glitzy sounding qualifications and shiny certificates, when it comes to attracting clients.
Take a good look around.
Like with any industry, you’ll find many so-called life coaches struggling to make ends meet. But keep looking and you’ll also find many who are hugely successful and revered by their clients.
The difference, in no small part, lies in the quality and substance of the training they received.
At New Insights, we specialise solely in life coach training. We’ve been doing that for over 20 years. We know what it takes to make a great life coach … and we take care to build all that knowledge and experience into our comprehensive, state-of-the-art life coach training and certification programme.
