So You Want To Train As A Life Coach?

One of the most common question I get asked is: How easy is it to set up in business as a coach?

I guess the subtext to this is 'Can I do a weekend course then make squoodles of cash from all the clients who will instantly be lining up at my door?' 

And you can't really blame people for thinking this, as this is how coaching is often promoted by those selling coach training programmes.  More than one training company presents coaching like some kind of new age Get Rich Quick scheme.  Be very wary of whatever claims your potential training school makes - remember that they are in the business of selling coaching training, rather than actual coaching.  Take all claims with a pinch, if not a mountain, of salt.

The real answer to this question is:  it depends.  Most of all it depends on where you are starting from.  The further you are now from some sort personal development/coaching job, the longer you will most likely have to travel to become established as a coach.  If you are already working in some kind of field related to coaching and already have a wide list of contacts of people who might become clients, then of course it will be easier for you.  If you are transitioning into coaching from an unrelated field (like I was when moving from TV producing) then it might take longer.  But either way, you're looking at months, if not years, to build up a successful coaching practice, so you will have to consider how you will manage this transition time.  I did the night shift at GMTV, then training and practise during the day.  Occasionally I also slept.  What a fun year that was.

Which training courses do you recommend?

None.  I wouldn't even recommend the one I did.  I trained with a company which turned out to be in the process of imploding, and the training beyond the initial weekend turned out to be very poor.  I had to do a number of other courses to fill in the gaps.

Be quite rigorous when you are researching training courses - it is a big investment of time and money.  There are some excellent US-based training courses, but not everyone wants to train primarily by phone or to travel overseas.  Other courses are a combination of residential, experiential and academic work.  Again think about how you learn best and see which course fits with this.  Talk to coaches about their experiences of training.

At the moment there is no one governing body and no set national standards in coaching, though there are moves to change this and national minimum standards will probably be introduced in the next few years.  But at the moment, absolutely anybody can call themselves a coach, even without specific training.  But please don't do that.  Your clients deserve better. 

One enormously useful resource for anyone interesting in coaching is the Eurocoachlist, which is primarily an email group of coaches, both new and experienced.  There's also a website which is increasing its resources, but the email list is the best place to join the coaching community.  It's free for the first 3 months, then there's a small fee to pay if you choose to stay.

Coaching is a fantastic job to do - you are helping people blossom, and what could be better than that?  Your fellow coaches will become the most terrific, supportive community to work with.  However it's not a job for everyone, as many people find the consistent marketing too much of a challenge.

For books to get you started I recommend:

Co-Active Coaching by Whitworth, Kimsey-House & Sandahl for how to coach

and

Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching by Stephen Fairley & Chris E Stout for running a coaching business.