Questions About Life Coaching

[Mitch]

I've been pondering being a life coach for about a year now and I was wondering if any life coaches could comment on their experiences. I'm in my sophomore year of college and I'm double majoring in Neurobiology and Psychology. As a life coach, I want to have a deep understanding not only of personal psychology, but of neuroscience and more clinical frameworks as well, which I hope will make me more effective and differentiated.

While becoming a life coach is my current end vision for fulfillment professionally, I feel as though I will need to have an intermediate job in order to generate enough capital to sustain myself and pursue my coaching endeavors. Something that I've looked at that I've found myself to be loosely interested in is neuropsychology. It has been brought to my attention that the general path for neuropsychology is to get a PhD, though this is something that I am okay with doing since I have expected that I would do more than four years of college. The plan I have right now is to become established as a neuropsychologist (or whatever I end up doing) and then get trained as a life coach, building up a client base where eventually I will be able to be a life coach as my sole career.

So here are some things I'd like to know about:

• Why did you want to become a life coach?
• What program did you go through, why, and would go through that program again?
• What's the most profound thing you've learned as a result of your profession?
• Any other advice you might have for an aspiring life coach

Many thanks,

Mitch

 

[Live Life Liam]

10 hours ago, Mitch said:

I've been pondering being a life coach for about a year now and I was wondering if any life coaches could comment on their experiences. I'm in my sophomore year of college and I'm double majoring in Neurobiology and Psychology. As a life coach, I want to have a deep understanding not only of personal psychology, but of neuroscience and more clinical frameworks as well, which I hope will make me more effective and differentiated.

While becoming a life coach is my current end vision for fulfillment professionally, I feel as though I will need to have an intermediate job in order to generate enough capital to sustain myself and pursue my coaching endeavors. Something that I've looked at that I've found myself to be loosely interested in is neuropsychology. It has been brought to my attention that the general path for neuropsychology is to get a PhD, though this is something that I am okay with doing since I have expected that I would do more than four years of college. The plan I have right now is to become established as a neuropsychologist (or whatever I end up doing) and then get trained as a life coach, building up a client base where eventually I will be able to be a life coach as my sole career.

So here are some things I'd like to know about:

• Why did you want to become a life coach?
• What program did you go through, why, and would go through that program again?
• What's the most profound thing you've learned as a result of your profession?
• Any other advice you might have for an aspiring life coach

Many thanks,

Mitch

 

I can't say because I'm aspiring to be a coach also

I will say that the best thing is to just take action right now to move towards the desired goal. Just do it as they say. I've noticed theorizing is a huge trap for most people to not do anything at all especially me so now I just do trail and error since I prefer that method.

Right now I am a public speaker at events about the things I experienced and learnt over the course of my life and working on the skill whilst building a name doing that. Every time I speak people are interested for more from me so I have been setting up things like social media and talking about my lifestyle advice on here too. 

Basically I'd say try build a name for yourself now rather than spending years getting fancy PhDs and training then to do it. I believe people already have amazing talents to share to the world but a lot of people are afraid they are only ready at this fantasy point when they now have a piece of paper to prove it. I personally think its silly mindset and what happens is the time where we are ready never comes.

Know what makes you unique and work on what message you want to say and work from there. Take time learning in alternative ways rather then the mainstream like reading, meditation, self inquiry anything that helps you learn more to be honest.

That's my advice but weather you agree or not I hope it helps someone.

Check out my channel btw and if your ever make one I will gladly collaborate with you since we have a similar dream.

[Gavalanche]

@Mitch

I'm halfway through the IPEC coach training program and am enjoying it a lot, although it is hard to shift gears and get into the right headspace sometimes, when also working a 9-5. I couldn't really be arsed explaining my reasoning for wanting to pursue coaching, (similar to yours I imagine) but one thing I've learned which is crucial, is the motivation and your own reasoning for doing the things you want to do. It sounds very much like you want to be a life coach and that you're only loosely interested in neuropsychology. To embark upon an arduous PhD journey in a field you don't ultimately want to be in, sounds like a rough ride to me. Have you considered just pursuing life coaching immediately? One benefit of that approach is that you could become a qualified life coach in a much shorter period than gaining a PhD in Neuropsychology - so in half a year you might be a lot clearer on whether coaching is right for you, whereas it might take you 6 or so years to realise Neuropsychology is not right for you.

Although there are no mistakes. I think just taking action in one direction will eventually lead you to where you want to be.

[Falk]

In the future there will only be life-coaches and motivational speakers who motivate themselves to become better version of coaches and coach them to become better motivational speakers  

but jokes beside ...

I just recently had my first session with a life-coach and i plan to take 6 hours now (recommended time to get some good success) and im really looking forward to it...

Also i had 1 semester Neuropsychology as a "nebenfach" and while i enjoyed it i´m not shure if it is neccessary for life-coaching ...i mean it wont hurt but if you study neuropsychology you are more usefull in different areas i would suspect.

Well anyways , wish you all the best  

[Mitch]

@Gavalanche

Thanks for the advice. Though the occupation of neuropsychology is indeed something that I'm not sure I'm actually interested in (at least to the extent of coaching), knowledge in neurobiology and psychology are. I think knowing about these things can only deepen my understanding and when used alongside more traditional methods, I can be more specialized and carve out a niche more easily.

I'm not in it for money as a life coach but ultimately I want to live freely, which means I either leave society or I need to be able to sustain myself. The pitfall of pursuing life coaching now is that I have no money to do so and I suspect it would take a while to establish myself before I can live comfortably (figure of speech, developing oneself is anything but comfort)

@Falk

I've seen myself as a sort of intellectual, having always done well academically. I enjoy learning about topics that interest me, which neuropsychology does, though not as much as life coaching.

[Gavalanche]

@Mitch I feel you on the neurobiology and psychology interest. I've had similar inclinations, thinking that knowledge in these areas would dovetail nicely with coaching and understanding the bigger picture in general. Perhaps there are shorter routes to gathering the money you'll need to pursue coaching initially. It also sounds like you might have an idea in your head that being coach equates to a life of poverty or frugality? Not being in life coaching "for the money" sounds to me like you'll make a very passionate coach, possibly leading you to make more money than the people who are "only in it for the money"?

I struggle with big decisions like this a lot too. I guess all we can really do is try to be as honest with ourselves as possible. Leo's recent video about intuition might also be helpful. Best of luck!

[Huz]

On 11/11/2016 at 11:24 PM, Mitch said:

I've been pondering being a life coach for about a year now and I was wondering if any life coaches could comment on their experiences. I'm in my sophomore year of college and I'm double majoring in Neurobiology and Psychology. As a life coach, I want to have a deep understanding not only of personal psychology, but of neuroscience and more clinical frameworks as well, which I hope will make me more effective and differentiated.

While becoming a life coach is my current end vision for fulfillment professionally, I feel as though I will need to have an intermediate job in order to generate enough capital to sustain myself and pursue my coaching endeavors. Something that I've looked at that I've found myself to be loosely interested in is neuropsychology. It has been brought to my attention that the general path for neuropsychology is to get a PhD, though this is something that I am okay with doing since I have expected that I would do more than four years of college. The plan I have right now is to become established as a neuropsychologist (or whatever I end up doing) and then get trained as a life coach, building up a client base where eventually I will be able to be a life coach as my sole career.

So here are some things I'd like to know about:

• Why did you want to become a life coach?
• What program did you go through, why, and would go through that program again?
• What's the most profound thing you've learned as a result of your profession?
• Any other advice you might have for an aspiring life coach

Many thanks,

Mitch

 

PhD's  meant for people to have a passion in that field extensively and want to progress the knowledge of humanity to better it. It isnt easy, well from what I have researched about it. It shouldn't be treated like doing a bachelors, which you do on the whim because you don't know what path your are going down into in life. If you want to do a PhD then thats amazing. The research and methods/skill your will obtain will grow you as a human being and the field you are in would have a massive impact on humanity.

But you need to find weather it is authentic to you. For me, I have this intuitive pull to do a PhD. It aliegns with my values and strengths. What helped me decide was asking questions like "how do I want my life too look like", "what work will i give out that would be the most expressive of my personality" etc whilst in deep meditative states.

If you can get creative and think of possibly merging both practices together in some way you might be onto something that is super niche and that is very personal to you. Maybe that is a possibility. Good luck and go with your gut.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Huz

[Leo Gura]

Keep in mind that a life coach is first and foremost self-employed (unless you work for a corporation). Which means you're an entrepreneur first, and a coach second. Which means you need to learn how business and marketing works.

The number one reason most life coaches fail (and most of them fail miserably) is because they don't bother to learn business and marketing.

You could become a financially independent life coach in less than a year if you understand how business and marketing really work. And you wouldn't need a PhD to do it.

If business isn't your cup of tea, then consider other possibilities like working in a corporation or entering academia. But those are very different things.

You gotta get very clear about what kind of position you're really after.

[MIARIVEL]

@Mitch Hi Mitch, I am a life coach in Sydney Australia, also NLP & Matrix therapy practitioner with a degree in counselling and Psychology and I can honestly say becoming a life coach has changed my life and it is awesome. I wrote a blog post on why I became a life coach but will be posting a video on my you tube channel tomorrow night about becoming a life coach, what I do and how I decided this was for me http://www.miarivel.com/what-is-life-coaching-and-why-did-i-choose-it/

Leo is right, you definitely need a business mindset in order to have a successful coaching business, most people want to become coaches and expect a lot of people to find them and all of a sudden their rich. It actually takes a lot of hard work and dedication and a lot of time. So if you are up for that then give it a go. 

I studied Advanced Diploma of life coaching through The Life Coaching College here in Sydney, Australia and I am pretty sure they take international students as well (this may mean you have to pay more though for the qualification). 

Even if you wanted to do a life coaching course for you own personal development and not to start a business, it is well worth the money. For me it was life changing and my life became so much better in ways I can't even begin to describe.

[Mitch]

@Leo Gura @MIA.RIVEL

Do either of you have any recommended methods for learning the business side of things? I might be able to take some business classes at my university as part of my breadth coursework but are there books or other sources that would be helpful in understanding business?

The longer I've been thinking about coaching, the more I've realized that I indeed would be an entrepreneur. While it is true that I am interested in learning, I wouldn't want to work for someone else. Creative integrity is very important to me. I think it's quite clear to me that I want to embrace the business side of things so I can go to work for myself.

Thanks.

[Leo Gura]

@Mitch Business is best learned by getting your face in the mud. Try creating a business right now from scratch. If you set that as you main intent, the rest will take care of itself as your mind gets to work coming up with solutions to all the inevitable obstacles you'll face. Any education you need you can pick up along the way.

Formal education tends to translate very poorly into actual business success.

[electroBeam]

@Mitch what @MIA.RIVEL and @Leo Gura say about how well formal education translates into the real world is certainly correct, but don't underestimate the networking opportunities a formal institution would grant you, just for being a student at their university. The people in your classes, and the events that happen at university can dramatically give you an edge in the market, and the insights from individual conversations with people around university most of the time, provide you with greater insights and knowledge than 4 years of your bachelor's degree. 

Go to university, not for the coursework, but for the shiny piece of paper, and for the reputation from networking.

[Thinh]

@electroBeam Are you trying to become Leo with your profile picture ? :)))

[Mitch]

@Leo Gura

With coaching, there is a certain fervor that drives me to want to coach others. I think I view business as a cause or as something the world needs. I have a hard time with the prospect of starting a business just to learn business, though it seems this would be helpful when it came to actually creating a business to be passionate about.

Whereas I feel I could contribute in creative and unique way through coaching, the only thought that comes to mind have for a business to learn business is to be a freelance audio engineer. The problem with this though is that I feel I don't offer anything unique here other than my own musical tastes.

Any tips for coming up with an idea?

 

[Leo Gura]

@Mitch I didn't mean creating a fake business just for practice. I meant creating your dream business.

Any business you create will have to be your baby for many years.

[Peace and Love]

@Mitch @Thinh

On 11/24/2016 at 11:12 AM, Thinh said:

@electroBeam Are you trying to become Leo with your profile picture ? :)))

It's all the new coming trend on actualized.org!  lol.  It's the face of pondering your life purpose and enlightenment.

Why did you want to become a life coach?
I wanted to become a life coach because it compliments my hypnosis business and I enjoy helping people and seeing them transform into the person they want to be.  I really feel what my clients are  going through and sincerely care about their well being.  I've had to hold back my tears a few times during a few sessions, because I tend to uncover things about my clients they didn't know about themselves. (for example: they might be over eating and unable to lose weight because they are using food as a coping mechanism to cover up an abusive relationship).

Two years ago I had a near death experience coupled with a major abusive relationship and I made the decision to come home and live with my parents (also my dad was suffering from stage 4 colon cancer and I didn't know how long he was going to live).  I went to see a hypnotherapist with a background in life coaching to seek help from the severe trauma I had experienced.  After about 4 sessions I was back to normal, which probably would have taken me years if I had went to see a counselor or psychologist or even a psychiatrist.  I don't believe in covering up your emotions with medications.  To me it is just avoiding the problem, except in extreme measures where it may be needed.  After I was cured I decided to take the plunge and make a big career change and got certified in Hypnosis.  And soon to be life coaching. 

I feel life coaching is a part of my life purpose.  It allows you to give back and help others. I can not describe the joy it brings me to help other people and give back.  When you become selfless it just fills that empty hole in your heart.  My life purpose is to help other people on their life journey, where ever that may take them...even if I don't agree with the direction they are going necessarily.  Only your intuition knows what's right for you.

 I also like life coaching because I find that not one technique works for everyone when it comes to self improvement (I've used multiple combinations of hypnosis, life coaching, and even reiki in my sessions).   I also like asking questions because it gets people to think about their actions and why they do the things that they do.  The true answers lie within  your inner self. 
 

What program did you go through, why, and would go through that program again?
For the coaching end, I'm taking a different approach than most people because of my hypnosis background.  They have special certifications for hypnotists/hypnotherapists to expand knowledge and specialty. I plan to take a Hypno-Coaching class which teaches specific life coaching techniques to help enhance ones hypnosis business.  I haven't taken it as of yet, but I don't think I would regret ever taking the class because I really like my instructor, and I'm very close with her.  She's the type of person I can sit and talk to on the phone for three hours about hypnosis and coaching and not finish the conversation. lol. 

What's the most profound thing you've learned as a result of your profession?

A lot of the things I learned about hypnosis and especially life coaching were self taught.  I did something that normally other people don't usually do which is just dive in.  It wasn't intentional for me to do the coaching, but I just found that I had a knack for it, and I happened to ask the right questions.   And I had to ask the right questions because I needed specific information to help my clients to quit smoking, lose weight, anxiety, etc.

I also learned to follow my intuition when helping others.  I realized that I had a lot of personal life experiences that others could relate to.  I also learned that life is about BALANCE.  People need certain things to be happy and function.  They need to go after what they love and enjoy.   Be QUICK to LISTEN, and SLOW to SPEAK.  FEEL COMPASSION for others.

Any other advice you might have for an aspiring life coach?

You can be the best coach in the world, but if no one knows you're out there, there is not much you can do to help other people.  You need to find and hone your skill on advertising and building your business.  Making money is a mindset, and needs to come from a positive emotional place.  If you haven't watched Leo's video about having a healthy mindset about money you should do that now.  He also has some great books on his list for life coaching.  Those books will give you some good direction. 

Make Life coaching and helping others apart of your life purpose and some how tie that in with enlightenment work on improving yourself.  Never stop learning.  Never stop improving yourself.  Life is a journey and a constant learning experience.  There is always more room to grow and expand. 

 

[Peace and Love]

@Mitch

I was talking about my life coaching and  hypnosis business to my guidance counselor just recently.  She told me that as a counselor she gets most of her clients through insurance companies.  Just thought I would bring that to your attention, since it will be easy to gain clients that way as a neuropsychologist.  And as a neuropsychologist people would be likely to go to you for life coaching services and skills because of your extensive background and education. Also remember you can work with "Psychology Today" and gain clients that way too.  Psychology Today is a popular magazine  that they sell in many stores and they have advertising that you can put in the magazines and through their website's online database.  People specifically go to to this website to search for reputable therapists, hypnotists, and probably life coaches as well.   Just FYI.

On 11/11/2016 at 6:24 PM, Mitch said:

 It has been brought to my attention that the general path for neuropsychology is to get a PhD, though this is something that I am okay with doing since I have expected that I would do more than four years of college. The plan I have right now is to become established as a neuropsychologist (or whatever I end up doing) and then get trained as a life coach, building up a client base where eventually I will be able to be a life coach as my sole career.
 

 

 

[MIARIVEL]

@Mitch It is very true what Leo said. Just do it. A lot of the time we convince ourself that we need to have a bachelor degree (although this can help) or we need to know a lot of people etc. This is not necessarily the case. I started my business with only a diploma in Business and I finished that diploma 8 years ago before I started my business. I decided to take a leap of faith and just jump in and you learn a lot of things along the way. You may realise you need to get good at marketing so you will learn that along the way, then you might realise you need to learn how to build a website.. you learn all these things whilst building your business. Don't feel like you have to know it all.