New Insights on Life Coaching

During my twenty-seven plus years working in the corporate world it struck me many times how people in big companies love to take simple concepts and wrap them up in complex terminology and jargon to impress others.

Having attended all manner of training programmes and workshops in which complicating the simple seemed to be a recurring theme, my first exposure to life coaching was an invigorating breath of fresh air!

I like to think I have always had a pretty open mind, but no matter who you are, enough years of the corporate dog-eat-dog world is bound to inject a healthy dose of scepticism, if not downright cynicism into your DNA. So when the bubbly voice of my young lady life coach first poured through my Skype headphones, I couldn’t help wondering what someone with a lot less life experience and minimal understanding of the corporate world could do that would help improve my life.

Just four or five sessions into the New Insights life coaching programme, however, and I was beginning to see the great beauty of it … how vital, everyday life concepts were presented in a way that was truly simple and yet astonishingly powerful.

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New insights on life coaching (continued)

 

I stayed speechless

Thinking back, the session on values probably had the biggest impact on me. When coach Sharon first asked me what my top values were, I stayed speechless for a few minutes mulling over the fact that in all those years of corporate service I had not once been asked about – or asked to consider – my personal value system.

And yet, why not? Surely it is of critical importance for companies to know what their employees value most in life, if not for the purposes of motivation then at least to understand whether there is a reasonable alignment with the organisation’s desired value set?

Everyone needs this stuff

Anyone who has read my book, A Boerewors Roll for the Soul – Awaken to the magic of the life you love (apologies to non South Africans for the quirky title) will know that my short exposure to Sharon and New Insights life coaching was enough to convince me to buy into the company. “Everyone in the world needs this stuff,” I rationalised. The power lay in the sheer simplicity and every day relevance of the material and exercises covered in the system.

These days, in my role as the owner of a life coach training institute, it saddens me to hear people, who clearly have a deep yearning to help other people, contact me with all sorts of misconceived notions about life coaching, derived from well intentioned but poorly informed people around them.

“I’ve heard there are too many life coaches in the market.” “People tell me that you can’t make money as a life coach.” “My friends say there is no demand for life coaching.” “I know of a life coach who just can’t seem to cut it.” “There’s no market for life coaching where I live.”

These are common statements that aspirant trainees trot out after being confronted by friends and/or family who don’t or can’t share the same passion for helping others lead better lives. It’s real ‘debbie downer’ stuff and they turn to me hoping I will rebuff the claims with some hitherto unshared revelations!

The truth is that you can apply the exact same arguments to most disciplines or careers. Replace life coach with bookkeeper, hairdresser, real estate agent, chef, teacher, Internet marketer, coffee shop owner … you name it … and its very easy for anyone to come up with a similarly poor prognosis.

A career is what you make of it

Its important to recognise that any career is what you make of it. That includes the depth and quality of your investment in skills training, how effectively and enthusiastically you apply your new found skills and the degree of thought and innovation you put into the positioning and marketing of your new business.

New Insights has been around since 2003 and there are no qualms about the quality and comprehensive nature of our training and coaching system. We even include a wealth of material that aims to help new coaches plan and market their services effectively. But, although we offer a well researched, tried and trusted package, we don’t recommend a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to setting up a life coaching practice.

We encourage each new coach to take a long hard look at what will make his or her practice uniquely identifiable and successful. And that, of course, starts with an understanding of what constitutes the preferred target market and how to get access to that market.

Life coaching offers one enormous advantage

Life coaching offers one enormous advantage over other businesses. When properly understood, life coaching is a service that just about every person on this planet needs. After all, leading a better, more fulfilling, happier and more purposeful life is surely something we all strive for?

The trick, as a life coach, is to create a powerful association, in the minds of those in your target market, between the services you have to offer and the purposeful life that everyone wants to have and experience.

Creativity required

To this end I would argue that a certain degree of individual creativity is required.

The world will not beat a path to your door just because you announce that you are a newly certified life coach with a flashy new website and some important sounding accreditations.

No, that’s because people don’t necessarily equate the term ‘life coach’ with leading a happy, purposeful life. You have to go to a little effort to make that link real for them and you can do so in a few simple ways.

Firstly, never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. If you enjoy a wonderful restaurant experience chances are you’ll tell a lot of people and they’ll be excited to go and see what all the fuss is about. That’s why your training, as a life coach, is so critical. You must be able to deliver on what you say you will deliver. And then if you go above and beyond what you promise, you’ll suddenly find your appointment book filling up quickly.

Secondly, don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself. There may be lots of other ‘life coaches’ out there but how many ‘personal development specialists’, ‘life enhancement practitioners’ or ‘mental wealth experts’ are there? Describe and promote yourself and your services in a way that will resonate best with your target market!

Thirdly, get off your comfortable seat and get out and about into the real world. Meet with your target market in the places they frequent. Get to understand how they tick and what will make that which you have to offer more attractive in their eyes. For example, if you decide to specialise in coaching for financial well being, team up with a financial adviser and offer to give each of their clients a free life coaching session. The adviser will see it as added value and you gain a huge potential reservoir of new business.

And finally, as you become more practised, don’t be afraid to exploit technology. You may live – and love living – in the back of beyond, but there is nothing stopping you from coaching people anywhere in the world where time zones and language do not pose a barrier. For many clients, Skype coaching is even better than face-to-face as it removes any awkwardness they may feel about how they look or come across to you.

Whether you are a coach, a trainee coach or a member of the public with some interest in becoming a coach, it is my hope that you have found a few new insights on life coaching here 🙂

 

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This is the official Blog for New Insights Life Coach Training.
Find out more about life coaching and becoming a life coach here:

SA/Africa: http://www.life-coach-training-sa.com


UK/Europe: http://www.life-coach-training-uk.com

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