Some of you may be interested in becoming a coach. Here are the key steps:
- Hire A Coach. One of the best ways to become a coach is to hire a coach for yourself. In fact, if you are not sure coaching is the right profession for you, definitely hire a coach first to support you in whatever goals you wish to achieve. If you don’t enjoy being coached, you probably won’t enjoy being a coach so you might as well find that out first before you invest in training. The most successful coaches have a coach and new coaches in training have mentor coaches to help them build their coaching business and develop their coaching skills. Ever since my first coach, I have had a different coach every year of two. I’m continually growing my businesses and growing myself so it makes sense to have a coach support me in this process. The few times I’ve taken a break from coaching, I’ve noticed a drop in my productivity. All good coaches, have a coach as well. I wouldn’t hire one who didn’t because they aren’t walking their talk, aren't developing themselves or don't have any big goals worthy of coaching. Do a search for a mentor coach if you are considering becoming a coach.
- Get Excellent Coach Training. If you enjoy working with a coach, then the next step is to get coach training. There are a huge number of coach training programs available with wildly different fees and qualities. I would recommend that you get your coach training at an ICF Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP). The reason being is that their training programs are sufficiently rigorous to meet the ICF qualifications to becoming a certified coach. If you attend some other program, you might not be able to qualify for your certification.
Reputable coaching institutions include CoachInc.com (my coaching alma matter was CoachU.com) and the Coaches Training Institute (CTI). These two were some of the first coach training programs available and both are ICF accredited programs. For a full list of accredited coaching programs please go to the ICF website at www.coachfederation.org. While Lifecoach.com has many great resources, we do not offer coach training.
- PRACTICE Your Coaching Skills. Once you are enrolled in coach training, then you will immediately begin to practice your new skills on “guinea pig” coaching clients—grab any acquaintance that is willing and start practicing! After you have coached 100 people, you will feel a level of mastery and confidence and have a track record of successful results behind you.
- Get Exposure to Prospective Coaching Clients. List yourself with various search engines so clients can find you easily. Once you are enrolled in an ICF accredited coach training program, then you may list yourself as a “coach in training” on the Lifecoach.com International Directory of Coaches. This will help you get exposure to new clients and you can offer coaching for free or a deeply discounted rate in order to get practice, which is what you will need now more than anything. Do NOT quit your day job! It took me two years to complete my coach training at CoachU and develop my coaching skills sufficiently to become a self-sufficient coach. I kept a full-time job going in the meantime so that I could enjoy the process and not worry about how to pay the rent!
