Questions About Becoming A Life Coach? Ask Me

[CirclesofMastery]

Leo, what do you feel has given you the most credibility when it comes to advising people on how to go about their lives?

[Leo Gura]

11 hours ago, Coach Vito said:

Alright Leo, I want to start practicing this right now. In fact, I already tried to coach someone but it failed horribly. Basically she started to ask me questions and for advice and short after her questions became so tricky that I didn't know what to say anymore. Thank god it was just a practicing session. Tomorrow I will coach my mother and see how this turns out.

Until I can do my coaching training I have to wait one year, because I don't have so much money. Can you spare any advice on how to actually coach someone? Can you share one coaching session for example? I really need to get my head around how this works. I know that I ask questions and make the client think, but like with my last client she answered all my questions so fast and then started to ask me tricky questions and totally threw me off. I still feel raped by her, lol. Session was over after 5 minutes. Tommorrow I want to do better!

 

Edit: I'm not asking for you to teach me how to coach, don't get me wrong! I can't wait for the training programm to teach me how to do it. But at least one little hint, a small stepping stone on how that actually works just to give me a small taste would be really appreciated.

You're not going to effectively learn to coach on your own. It's like you're trying to prescribe people drugs without going to medical school.

Enter a REALLY good coaching program where they will teach you tons of stuff you would never discover on your own in 20 years.

My book list has 4 books on it about how to be a life coach. Definitely read those. But that's only the start.

In the meantime you can focus on simply improving yourself. A good coach needs to walk his talk.

Then again, practice never really hurts. If you're practicing on your Mom or friends, that's fine. Just realize it will be slow-going without the training program.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You're not going to effectively learn to coach on your own. It's like you're trying to prescribe people drugs without doing to medical school.

Enter a REALLY good coaching program where they will teach you tons of stuff you would never discover on your own in 20 years.

My book list has 4 books on it about how to be a life coach. Definitely read those.

In the meantime you can focus on simply improving yourself. A good coach needs to walk his talk.

Thank you master, I'll check those books out asap.

[Leo Gura]

7 hours ago, Stretch said:

Cheers for the thread Leo. I’m 25 years old, 18 months out of university with no significant career successes at present. My question is: how important are age, (perceived) life experience and a track record of success in being taken seriously as a life coach?

I was 27 or 28 when I started coaching.

I am rather ambitious though and I did have quite a bit of life experience already and decent prior business success.

I would say, don't let anything stop you if you really know you want something. If you really know you want to be a coach, then that's all that matters. Use that as fuel to study harder, coach more people for free, etc.

Of course being visibly successful helps clients take you seriously, but it's not required. You can be a great coach without being a millionaire. In fact, most coaches are fairly simple folk. They are not extravagant titans of business. They are people-persons. They love to help people, and that's enough.

[Leo Gura]

26 minutes ago, CirclesofMastery said:

Leo, what do you feel has given you the most credibility when it comes to advising people on how to go about their lives?

I can speak intelligently and in-depth about a wide variety of topics and I understand most people's problems better than they understand themselves. This comes naturally to me because my whole mission in life is to understand everything.

Btw, the best way to close a sale is to convince the buyer that you understand his problem way better than he understands it himself. << This is true of ALL sales, not just coaching.

[didirci]

Hi Leo, thanks for the opportunity!
From your experience and maybe other coaches you might know as well, is life coaching an area where there is a lot of opportunities for new coaches at the moment (as long as they have the right marketing strategy as you said earlier)?

The reason I am asking is because I have been discouraged by some coaches telling me that it was now very difficult for them to get clients because of the number of coaches out there..

Thank you!

[ramamaiden]

Hey Leo! First thanks for this forum and for this Topic! You have already answered some questions I had about Life Coaching and that really help!

What I would like to ask is, when you started doing coaching, did you define previously an Avatar and focus on those kind of people in your marketing? Or you started broad, and as you went on you startd to learn more about your ideal client?

Another question, when you started coaching as a business, what form of marketing did you use to start getting you first clients? I know this may work differently for each person, however would really like to know about your experience. I really understand and agree that the hard part is the marketing and business part, so that's why any input on this woudl be great!

Finally, is there a course you would reccomend that focus on how to develop a Life Coaching business?? Mainly how to attract customers??

Thanks Leo

 

[Abhijeeth]

Heyyyy.. Leo .. I am in high school.

I recently realised that I  am good at explaining a concept in such a way that others can easily grasp it.

To be more specific , I feel excited whenever I give speeches ( in the class ) about the topics you talk. I add my own insights and try to relate to my classmates these concepts

I discovered that I love talking about psychology more than science , math and other subjects.

My question is whether this is a sign of my life purpose . If no , What VALUE is embedded that is exciting me ?

 

[Daisy]

Hi Leo, thank you for giving us the opportunity to ask you about this subject. I have been practising in the field of communication therapy for several years (with children and young people) and I'm a mentor in my field, within my organisation. I recently trained and qualified as a 'Performance Coach' (1 year course with the Institute of Leadership and Management) and I LOVE coaching. It's so exciting.  I am very interested in pursuing life coaching as an additional career option - I wondered if it would be necessary to 'retrain' as a life coach or if it would be acceptable / advisable to use this training, and performance coaching experience, and apply it to life coaching? Cheers 

[DreamSpirit]

What kind of person do you think you would have to be to really succeed at life coaching?  What kind of habits, passions, etc. need to be in place before even considering life coaching as something possible for you?

[Ben Landrail]

What do you think about coaching for creative professionals or being a sort of a creativity consultant? As a musician and an intellectual person, I just find the idea of becoming a creativity consultant/expert/coach fascinating both in terms of intellectual, personal, artistic and career development. Any advice on how to pursue it? 

[Rito]

What mistakes did you make early on as a life coach?

What do you wish you could have done better or stressed more?

 

[vitamin__vee]

I recently came across the profession of a life coach after I started watching the videos on YouTube and taking self-development seriously. I'm currently an IT major in school and I read psychology and self-development related things on the side in my spare time. I'm very interested in becoming a life coach in the future. I spend a lot of time watching your videos and looking into as much information as I can find. However, I am fairly new to the self-development world and am hoping to become the best version of myself before I can even worry about becoming someone else's coach.

Would it be best to spend years to first develop my own self before becoming a life coach? I don't believe you can teach something that you yourself haven't truly accomplished. 

[MIARIVEL]

@Leo Gura Leo, you were one of the biggest influences for me to become a life coach waking up to you every morning while getting ready for work. I feel as though I have learnt a lot of great things form you that has helped me with personal issues to be the best coach I can be, so thank you. I remember trying to get coached by you for a while but didn't realised you weren't doing coaching anymore. 

My ideal dream is to quit my 8-5 job and do coaching full time. But someone told me not to leave my 8-5 job to do coaching full time as a lot of people struggle and the market is highly competitive when it comes to life coaching. Do you agree with this statement? Did you also write up a business plan and become very specific with your niche? because I do personal development coaching for ages between 18 -35 and other coaches keep telling me to focus only on one area like confidence coaching or self esteem coaching but due to my experience , I think I can handle people with various issues relating to personal development. 

I sort of like to just jump in the deep end when it comes to coaching because I think it is the only way to face my fears and speed up my learning process. 

Thanks Leo

[Leo Gura]

On 2/9/2016 at 4:19 AM, didirci said:

Hi Leo, thanks for the opportunity!
From your experience and maybe other coaches you might know as well, is life coaching an area where there is a lot of opportunities for new coaches at the moment (as long as they have the right marketing strategy as you said earlier)?

The reason I am asking is because I have been discouraged by some coaches telling me that it was now very difficult for them to get clients because of the number of coaches out there..

Thank you!

There are a lot of opportunities. Coaching is a big market and its going to only grow bigger in the future.

Of course it's STILL difficult to break in, just like ANY other business. All business is challenging and competitive. It has to be because the rewards of success are highly desirable.

 

On 2/12/2016 at 5:53 PM, ramamaiden said:

Hey Leo! First thanks for this forum and for this Topic! You have already answered some questions I had about Life Coaching and that really help!

What I would like to ask is, when you started doing coaching, did you define previously an Avatar and focus on those kind of people in your marketing? Or you started broad, and as you went on you startd to learn more about your ideal client?

Another question, when you started coaching as a business, what form of marketing did you use to start getting you first clients? I know this may work differently for each person, however would really like to know about your experience. I really understand and agree that the hard part is the marketing and business part, so that's why any input on this woudl be great!

Finally, is there a course you would reccomend that focus on how to develop a Life Coaching business?? Mainly how to attract customers??

Thanks Leo

 

My focus was life purpose coaching, although I was broader than that in practice and never really defined a niche because I got into Actualized.org. You could say my niche became self-actualization, which is not a good idea for most people because it's way too broad and no one knows what self-actualization is.

My first clients were distant friends or acquaintances. Coaching is a people-business. You gotta rely on people in your social circle when you start.

 

On 2/12/2016 at 7:28 AM, Abhijeeth said:

Heyyyy.. Leo .. I am in high school.

I recently realised that I  am good at explaining a concept in such a way that others can easily grasp it.

To be more specific , I feel excited whenever I give speeches ( in the class ) about the topics you talk. I add my own insights and try to relate to my classmates these concepts

I discovered that I love talking about psychology more than science , math and other subjects.

My question is whether this is a sign of my life purpose . If no , What VALUE is embedded that is exciting me ?

 

It's a sign, yes, although it could mean various things. You need to sit down and do some deep soul-searching. The life purpose course will help you a lot to figure all that out. There are many angles to consider.

 

On 2/12/2016 at 0:46 PM, Daisy said:

Hi Leo, thank you for giving us the opportunity to ask you about this subject. I have been practising in the field of communication therapy for several years (with children and young people) and I'm a mentor in my field, within my organisation. I recently trained and qualified as a 'Performance Coach' (1 year course with the Institute of Leadership and Management) and I LOVE coaching. It's so exciting.  I am very interested in pursuing life coaching as an additional career option - I wondered if it would be necessary to 'retrain' as a life coach or if it would be acceptable / advisable to use this training, and performance coaching experience, and apply it to life coaching? Cheers 

I'm not sure what you learned in the "performance coach" program so it's hard to say.

 

On 2/12/2016 at 2:54 PM, DreamSpirit said:

What kind of person do you think you would have to be to really succeed at life coaching?  What kind of habits, passions, etc. need to be in place before even considering life coaching as something possible for you?

Many different kind of people can be life coaches. There's no one type of person. This is giant field with room for a variety of personalities, styles, and approaches.

That said, here's what I see as common between great coaches:

• They really care about helping people
• They are interested in consciousness/awarenesss
• They enjoy coaching
• They enjoy connecting and relating with people
• They are empathetic and compassionate
• They are committed to this as a life purpose, not just a job or a side-gig
• They are hard-working
• They are savvy about marketing and business, and willing to learn & master it
• They love to read and learn about personal development
• They do lots of inner work on themselves

 

On 2/13/2016 at 4:27 AM, Ben Landrail said:

What do you think about coaching for creative professionals or being a sort of a creativity consultant? As a musician and an intellectual person, I just find the idea of becoming a creativity consultant/expert/coach fascinating both in terms of intellectual, personal, artistic and career development. Any advice on how to pursue it? 

That's a fantastic niche! There are many coaches who specialize just in that. Many artists and creative professionals need help via coaching, and man of them have the $$$$ to pay you (which is nice).

 

15 hours ago, Rito said:

What mistakes did you make early on as a life coach?

What do you wish you could have done better or stressed more?

 

I don't know that I've made too many mistakes. My career as a coach worked out very well.

My biggest mistake as a coach is that I have a tendency to give too much direct advice instead of guiding clients to their own answers. This is my personal bias because I enjoy giving advice more than coaching. Which is why I ultimately exited coaching and now do video advice full-time. It's just more suited to my personality.

 

11 hours ago, vitamin__vee said:

I recently came across the profession of a life coach after I started watching the videos on YouTube and taking self-development seriously. I'm currently an IT major in school and I read psychology and self-development related things on the side in my spare time. I'm very interested in becoming a life coach in the future. I spend a lot of time watching your videos and looking into as much information as I can find. However, I am fairly new to the self-development world and am hoping to become the best version of myself before I can even worry about becoming someone else's coach.

Would it be best to spend years to first develop my own self before becoming a life coach? I don't believe you can teach something that you yourself haven't truly accomplished. 

Coaching is NOT teaching. Coaching is guiding. There is a big difference. A good coach can coach a client on a problem in an area where he has zero personal experience. But for that you need to learn how to be a strong coach, which requires training and practice.

Developing yourself is important, but it shouldn't stop you from becoming a coach if you really want to be a coach.

 

7 hours ago, MIA.RIVEL said:

@Leo Gura Leo, you were one of the biggest influences for me to become a life coach waking up to you every morning while getting ready for work. I feel as though I have learnt a lot of great things form you that has helped me with personal issues to be the best coach I can be, so thank you. I remember trying to get coached by you for a while but didn't realised you weren't doing coaching anymore. 

My ideal dream is to quit my 8-5 job and do coaching full time. But someone told me not to leave my 8-5 job to do coaching full time as a lot of people struggle and the market is highly competitive when it comes to life coaching. Do you agree with this statement? Did you also write up a business plan and become very specific with your niche? because I do personal development coaching for ages between 18 -35 and other coaches keep telling me to focus only on one area like confidence coaching or self esteem coaching but due to my experience , I think I can handle people with various issues relating to personal development. 

I sort of like to just jump in the deep end when it comes to coaching because I think it is the only way to face my fears and speed up my learning process. 

Thanks Leo

Every business market is competitive, so that statement is kinda moot. Any business you enter will be very challenging, period. There are no easy marketplaces where you can just stroll in and be financially independent. That would be way too easy. I say this to put things into proper perspective.

I didn't write up a formal business plan, but I did spend a lot of time thinking about my niche and how to brand myself.

Yes, niching yourself is important. Generic "personal development" coaching is gonna be hard to sell. I can sell it because don't even coach people really, I give advice. And I was lucky to a large degree.

Keep in mind that when you niche yourself, you're not really limiting who you coach. You are ONLY specifying your marketing and sales pitch. You can still coach people on issues outside your niche as long as they are willing to pay you. The purpose of niching is so that prospective clients are clear about the benefits your coaching will give them. Very few people will shell out hard-earned money for "self-improvement". People will only pay for tangible results like, "We can save your marriage" or "we can find you a new job that pays 50% more".

[MIARIVEL]

Thank you Leo. Once again your amazing & appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.

[Frode]

Hello, Leo! 

I am going to attend an NLP course in september, and would really appreciate it if you can try to answer these questions:

- Do you have any experience with NLP? If so, are there some major differences between an NLP coach and a pure life coach?

- I had a coaching session/talk with the course host, and he told me of some advantages with business school and NLP as a split, since I have ambitions of starting my own personal development business based on NLP, seminars, courses, presentations etc. I'm in my first year of college. What are your thoughts on going through these 5 years, coaching people for free on the side when I'm certified, and steadily making plans to launch my own business with a Master's degree in entrepreneurship? 

- I am going to start coaching people after finishing the course in the end of the year. Do you think my age of 20 (then) will be a problem, and maybe I should focus on coaching students who are younger than me in the beginning?

I understand if these questions can be hard to answer, but I'll be happy for any of your insights!

[Mohsinuddin]

@Leo Gura I just got out of army. I have GI Bill that I can use against college. I wanted to know if anyone can tell me I can use that to take life coach classes or 1 year cirtification. I really appreciate that. And also what is the best online course to take life coach cirtification? Thanks again. 

[Elton]

@Leo Gura how would you guarantee results when nothing is guaranteed ? like supercharge your life in 3 months ? or 6 months ? would your clients actually get 100% results ? you had laid down certain types of rules for coaching clients.. are those rules necessary ? 

[Tenortone21]

 Hi @Leo Gura,

 

Can you recommend a life coach in NYC?--I really wanted to do some coaching with you; however, you're unavailable at the moment.

 

Thank you,

 

Carlixto