Seven Tips to Choose the Best Life Coaching Course

An amazing opportunity

Are you a thoroughly ethical person with an open mind and a genuine passion for people?

Then you could get in on a hugely fulfilling career opportunity and benefit from being able to run your own practice – from home, if you wish. This is a business that requires very little in the way of start up costs and involves minimal overheads.

Does this sound too good to be true?

 

A vitally important consideration

Well, if you’re interested, rest assured that there’s no real ‘catch’ … However, there is one vitally important consideration that you need to take into account:

Quality of training!

You see, many people make the mistake of badly underestimating what it takes to be a professional life coach. They think the fact that they have plenty of life experience and get on well with other people, qualifies them to print ‘life coach’ on a business card and set up shop!

What they neglect to realise is that life experience, while useful, often comes with a flip side – a tendency to be more set in one’s ways and more directive or more of an advice giver. These are traits that are generally inconsistent with effective life coaching.

 

A different discipline

Life coaching requires a deep knowledge and understanding about human motivation and behaviour and a skill in identifying, selecting and applying the very best tools and techniques to fit the unique needs of individual clients and their situations.

Life coaching is often confused with mentoring, advising, counselling and/or consulting but it is a very different discipline.

I’m not going to go into detail here but if you’d like to know more about why and how, please click here.

 

A few home truths

When it comes to what is required to be a successful life coach, the quality and depth of training is far more important than the amount of life experience … and this brings me to unpack a few home truths about the life coach training industry!

Life coaching is an unregulated industry with few barriers to entry. As a result, the current period of rapid and sustained growth has spawned a parallel growth industry in the education and training space as businesses see the opportunity to capitalise on demand.

All manner and form of institutes and courses have popped up, ostensibly to fill the growing need for training.

Unfortunately, many of these are more adept at raising hopes and emptying wallets than doing a really great job of preparing people for success in the industry.

So with that in mind, let me turn my attention to providing you with seven key tips to help ensure you don’t waste – but rather get the very best value out of – your investment in training to become a life coach.

 

Seven tips

 

1. Transparency of information

Organisations with a pride and passion in what they have to offer will not be afraid to shy away from providing detailed, transparent and up to date information on their websites, including specifics about the fees charged.

Steer clear of institutes whose websites are high on hype but lacking in detail and specifics.

 

2. Substance

Never underestimate what it takes to become a life coach.

After all, if you are going to start a career helping people to live their best lives then you really need to know what you are doing and you need to be able to do it well.

Look for a course that includes substantive training material which covers all the bases. Don\’t be tempted by one of the many narrow, speciality or \’niche\’ courses. Those can wait for later when you choose to deepen your understanding in certain specific fields.

Life coaching is a hands on business. Learning how to become a great coach should be less of an academic pursuit and more of a learn-do-learn-do process. Choose training that focuses on real world practical application through extensive practice coaching and feedback.

That said, don’t be tempted to take the easy way out by signing up for a course that dangles the \’no exams required\’ carrot. You shouldn\’t be afraid to have your knowledge and understanding of the material properly examined and tested.

 

3. Don’t focus solely on the fees

If all life coaching courses were of similar quality, searching for the lowest cost provider would make sense. Unfortunately, though, the quality, substance and support offered, varies wildly.

By all means look for good value but don\’t jump straight to the fees page without first properly assessing what\’s on offer.

Remember, if something seems too good to be true it probably is!

Choosing a ‘cheap and cheerful’ course, will likely ultimately reflect in the quality of your coaching. That is if – and it is a big if – you end up with the necessary self-confidence to coach professionally.

At the other end of the scale, don’t be suckered into paying for the equivalent of a university degree course. You’ll likely end up contributing unfairly towards the costly overheads of an institute that generates income from a suite of more academically oriented courses.

Many life coaching courses are simple add-ons from institutes who offer everything from accounting to self help courses and they\’re often promoted as loss leaders.

I recommend you look for institutes that specialise in life coaching and producing the outcomes you want.

 

4. Think about what will assure your success

It has been proven time and time again that the success of a life coach is critically linked to that coach’s ability to deliver great results for his or her clients.

A fancy looking certificate, membership of a professional body or \’accreditation\’ may impress if you end up looking for corporate employment. But as a life coach wanting to attract more individual clients, your ability to deliver results is really the only game in town!

Life coaches thrive thanks to testimonials and word-of-mouth endorsements – and these come, not from fancy certificates, logos or accreditations, but from a proven ability to help clients achieve what they want to achieve.

Look for training that you feel convinced will give you the very best chance of delivering great results.

That said, once you are certified, there is certainly nothing wrong with ‘professionalising’ your practice by joining a suitable coach representative body and committing to ongoing development. Just don’t get too hung up on this beforehand!

 

5. Flexibility and convenience

It goes without saying but in these unpredictable days, having the flexibility to start training when it suits you and the convenience to study and practice in your own time and at your own pace, from home or wherever you choose, can be worth it’s weight in gold.

Look for training that fits with your lifestyle!

 

6. Added value

Consider what genuine added value you will derive from a particular course or training programme. For example:

Will you get information and support to help you establish and sustain a life coaching practice once you are certified? Will you get access to a reputable life coaching system that has been proven to deliver client results? Is there the offer of subscription to a life coach directory that will help market your profile?

Some institutes offer courses and nothing more. Others may be interested in building a longer term relationship with you.

 

7. Resonance

Finally, one underestimated but – to my mind – crucially important decision making criterion should be the degree to which you ‘resonate’ with a particular institute.

This is very personal but don’t be afraid to follow your heart or intuition when it comes to making a choice.

After all, effective life coaching involves helping clients connect with their hearts – or what we often call their \’inner beings\’. You might as well start applying this philosophy now!