Becoming a life coach is not an easy decision to make. To thrive on this career path, you need to be fully committed to your responsibilities.
The desire to help people is not enough. After all, all jobs do this in their own way. Instead, you must consider all the varying qualities a person needs to become a life coach. Only then will you have a more rounded view of what is expected of you as a life coach and a clearer vision in achieving your goals.
The reasons for becoming a life coach are often infused with certain qualities and traits the professional needs. If you are uncertain that you have what it takes, you will find some insights below to give you a better idea of what will be required.
There’s Demand For Your Services
Many businesses have struggled in recent times. Lockdowns and evolving customer interests have taken their toll.
Remember that awareness of mental well-being is constantly rising, and it is hard to imagine things changing after a brutal pandemic. Today, more people are acutely aware of their general health and are perhaps more compelled to speak up and seek the support they need. To run a business that can accommodate their needs during such a time could be highly lucrative.
Additionally, demand for your services may lead to a more stimulating professional life for you to enjoy. You’ll feel needed and wanted, giving you motivation and purpose in your career. The days won’t pass you by, and you’ll be ready to make the most of each one of them. Any business you develop can move from strength to strength confidently, instilling you with greater confidence.
You may have struggled during the pandemic yourself. It could be that those challenges you overcame can now count for something and that you can bring them to the table. The people who have struggled most in life can often be the most empathetic and committed helpers out there, so keep that in mind as you go forward.
You Can Make a Difference
People don’t decide to turn to a life coach lightly. It involves serious commitment on their part, and you can help them access their own potential.
Of course, some people simply use a Google search in hopes of finding tips on turning things around. However, those who approach you will likely take their self-improvement regime more seriously. They’ll pay for your guidance, dedicate themselves to the schedule you outline for them, and even be willing to evolve their thinking in the process.
To be a guide on that journey is a profound thing. Additionally, who knows where your actions might lead? If you can help one person, who’s to say who they’ll go on to help as well? You can make a crucial difference in people’s lives and change them for the better. In turn, you could also change the world around you, helping a positive influence spread far and wide.
Pride in Your Work
Not everybody finds it easy to talk about their careers. Additionally, many people are not proud of the work they do either.
Because you know your work makes a difference, you can avoid feelings of ineptitude. Remember, some people compare their career prospects to those of their peers and feel insecure as well.
Instead, you can feel a great sense of pride in your work. You can speak about it openly and confidently and sleep contentedly at night, knowing that all you do is for a good cause.
There are many perks to this. For example, consider that:
Your family and friends will be proud – As a life coach, you will radiate positivity and proactivity, and your family and friends will likely want to have that energy in their lives too. If you have kids, they can be proud of you when discussing what you do in their lives as well.
You can avoid embarrassment – A lot of people are not happy with their lot in life, but in the end, life coaches often have nothing but great things to say. If you ever attend a school reunion, you can speak about your job without any exaggeration or lies to impress others as well.
Your outlook on life could change – When you are happy with your job, your entire outlook on life can change. Who knows where else in life those bursts of energy and positivity might lead you?
Some of these reasons may seem somewhat shallow in nature, but they can each contribute enormously to your sense of personal well-being. Not everyone has the luxury to be truly content with where they are in life or have the confidence that comes with that. Fully appreciating your position here could be life-changing.
Become a Leader
Because people are turning to you for wisdom and guidance, you can develop your aptitude for leadership. Your words will carry weight, and you’ll be your own boss, taking full advantage of all the perks that brings.
Leaders have good judgment, so putting yourself in your prospective client’s shoes should help direct your business. You will have complete control over the direction your firm goes in and how you engage with your clients. That sense of responsibility is enormous but also incredibly fulfilling when you are successful as a life coach.
Should the time ever come where you wish to switch careers in future, your experience with leadership skills will undoubtedly embolden your resume. There will be proof that you care about others, which could translate to customer and client relations. Additionally, you’ll have much to speak passionately about in any interview stage of a job application.
Life coaches are highly enthusiastic and proactive in their roles, and it is not something one can do half-heartedly. In the end, that will reflect very positively on you as a professional and as a human being.
Valuing Honesty
The workplace is not always the most truthful place. After all, office politics and backstabbing can be found in many professional environments.
Fortunately, life coaches avoid a lot of this nonsense. Instead, they focus on their clients and realize that they matter most. Dialogues can be full of honesty and integrity instead of tedious buzzwords, jargon, and ‘one upmanship’ tendencies that you might see in other workplaces.
You can set the tone for what type of life coach you wish to be. You can create a judgment-free zone or even remove your personal opinions from the equation. Kindness, compassion, patience are all traits you can bring to the table because you get the final say over what type of environment you create.
Your goal is to build trust with your clients. Therefore, your role is not to be hard on them or to ‘whip’ them into shape unless that is something they have specifically asked for. Focus on teamwork and collaboration instead. How can you help them get to the next level? Is your client’s number one enemy themselves? You can be a supportive presence rather than a dictator in another’s life.
Access to Quality Training
In some professions, training can be a dull and tedious affair. Fortunately, life coach training is a series of more stimulating learning experiences.
The training for life coaches from the iNLP Center enables you to attend unlimited sessions at flexible times, 6 days per week. They also encourage a self-paced approach to your coursework, and all of their training is 100% accredited. You can meet with their trainers weekly for ongoing support that can last you a lifetime.
Ensure you are qualified, but also stay up to date with all the latest tools and knowledge to be the best life coach you can be at all times. Keep pushing your limits and facilitate your aptitude for learning. Only then can you provide the best service possible for your clients, and you may find work easier when there are no gaps in your knowledge either.
Remember that informed life coaches will likely leave a much better impression on those they help too. Your services may be sharper, and you will be able to field questions and provide guidance more diligently. Knowledge will get you noticed, so be sure to stay committed to your learning through your career.
Learn Tools to Help Yourself
Aside from training for your job, you can also equip yourself with the tools to help yourself. After all, if your guidance is good enough for customers, why shouldn’t it also be so for you?
If you have the skills to hand, then it may be worth engaging in a spot of self-coaching if ever you need to. If you are comfortable, draft a plan and follow all the processes you have employed for your clients thus far. Build a schedule, bolster your frame of mind, and reinforce a positive energy. You may be surprised by the amount of progress you make, re-establish confidence in your abilities, and save money in the process.
Of course, you should still reach out for professional support when you need it. Depending on your preferences, it may not be a good idea to make your personal well-being dependent on your professional competency. In these instances, consulting with a professional life coach or other well-being professional is for the best. Perhaps colleagues or partners might be willing to pitch in and offer their specialist support?
Be Inspired by Others
Life coaches are often thought to be inspirational figures. However, the best of their kind find inspiration in others too.
As a life coach, you will likely meet many different types of clients in your career. Each of them will have a different personal history. Some will be trying to overcome trauma, and others will be struggling with any number of other struggles in their lives. Your mission is to help them, and you can do this better by letting them help you.
Even approaching a life coach is an act of bravery, depending on the circumstances. The willingness to challenge and put oneself out there so openly is to be marvelled at. You will encounter brave and passionate souls daily, and you can choose to be uplifted by that and to let it fuel your work.
Additionally, you may be able to chronicle your client’s journey and come to many astounding instances of their transformation. They may approach you for your services as one damaged person and depart as a wholly new and confident individual. Lean into that and fully appreciate people’s aptitude for change and self-improvement.
Live Anywhere
Life coaches are universal, and much of the learning you can do can be found online. Because of this, you could essentially live anywhere in the world, providing that you have an internet connection.
You could even work as you travel. To intertwine your personal and professional lives so closely can be a hugely enriching experience. You can learn about yourself as you help others become their best selves too. New places, new people, new experiences and revelations – it’s all awaiting you, and being a life coach makes it all possible.
Obviously, if you have a family to consider, you should negotiate the parameters of this arrangement with them. How far will you go? Will you travel solo for a while or take your household with you? It is worth thinking about how your actions could potentially disrupt other people’s lives as well. Still, if you have minimal responsibilities, being a life coach can open many doors to travelling and living anywhere.
Of course, anything is possible when you can live anywhere. Who knows what direction your life will take as a life coach? If you are keen to make the most out of truly limitless prospects, being a life coach may be for you.
Conclusion
There are many advantages to being a life coach. They all revolve around the enrichment of your and your client’s lives. Confidence, pride, self-belief – they are all universal traits that are in devastatingly short supply, especially after the pandemic. It is an important time to become a life coach, and it is an opportunity that cannot be missed by those keen to give it a try.
