Are You Ready to Hire a Life Coach?

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Megan Roberts, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

As I began to embark on the journey of becoming a life coach, I often had to answer the common questions, “why would one hire a life coach?”

Not only did others ask me this, but I would also ask myself this question regularly as I struggled to answer the question, “why would someone hire me as a life coach?”

What is life coaching?

Life coaching has been around for many years. It has a variety of definitions but, the central concept of coaching, defined by the Centre of Excellence is “a collaborative relationship that is formed to help an individual identify and reach goals, devise solutions, actualize potential, and achieve positive growth and transformation.”

When people think of the word coach, they often think of athletes and those who are coaching them through sports. When an athlete wants to perform at an elite level, they need coaches and several other professionals to help them.

The same goes for a person trying to perform at a higher level in life or business. We are not meant to go through all life experiences, and progressive life changes all on our own.

That is where a life coach comes in.

Imagine what you could accomplish with someone whose primary job is to focus on YOUR goals, desires, visions, and potential. Many of us have friends and family who are supportive, but even those individuals are still focused on their own lives (because they are human), and it is not their job to devote valuable time and energy strictly to you. That’s not to say it’s because people don’t care; it’s just the reality of our lives.

You likely wouldn’t hire a friend or family member to help you with your fitness goals, or weight loss goals, so why would you expect a friend or family member to be able to help you go to the next level with your life goals.

In this article, I will share with you some of the benefits of life coaching, how to know if you are ready, and what the roles of both the client and the coach look like.

Let’s start with the benefits of life coaching.

Some of the benefits of hiring a life coach include the following:

1. Finding Clarity – My primary goal as a life coach is to help you build clarity. I know how difficult it can be to determine what it is that you ‘really’ want in life, and sometimes it takes a lot of digging deep and thought-provoking questions to develop the clarity you need to move forward.

2. Third-party and objective perspective – a life coach can offer assistance and encouragement through the decision-making process from an unbiased position. It can be so challenging to elicit help from close friends, family, or colleagues because their advice isn’t always impartial. Many times, someone’s opinion is based on their fears and may not reflect what is best for you.

A life coach’s job is to help you succeed, and therefore they will focus all of their efforts on helping you do just that, unlike, for example, the colleague who you may be competing with.

3. Active Listening -coaching is very much client-centered, and the role of the coach is to listen and then use what they have heard to properly guide their client through a process of change and development. This is done by designing a roadmap with the client, sharing perspective, and teaching strategies to overcome obstacles and fears that may be standing in the way of success. Active listening is crucial with coaching because the coaching process involves determining the client’s strengths and weaknesses and building off of that.

“Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.” – Native American Proverb

4. Empowerment – A life coach LOVES to empower their clients. Clients will have a moment or several moments of weakness, at which point the coach will use their enthusiasm and perspective to build their clients back up and remind them that they are capable of anything as long as they never give up.

The actual definition of empowerment in the dictionary is as follows:

-the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.

5. Accountability – A life coach is there to hold you accountable if and when you don’t show up for yourself. If you don’t complete that task you had set to complete by Saturday, the life coach won’t say, “well, at least you got to enjoy your night out with your friends on Friday.” The coach will hold you accountable and not accept any of your excuses (short of a natural disaster) as to why you chose not to complete whatever it is you tasked yourself with.

Accountability is, by far, one of the most important reasons why someone should hire a life coach. It’s no different than going to the gym. I can speak from experience when I say that bailing on the gym is a lot harder to do when you know you have others there waiting for you.

When you set a goal, it is going to be a lot harder to bail on yourself when you know your life coach will be following up and holding you accountable for the decisions you make.

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” – Albert Einstein-

When you continue to try the same thing over and over with no success, it may be time to bring in a new perspective; and that is precisely where a life coach fits in.

What is my role as your Coach?

1. To show empathy and compassion – I will not spend a lot of time on what has happened to you in your past because I believe the time is better spent on how to move you forward to your future. However, with that said, we will acknowledge your story and any hardships that have brought you to where you are now.

All of these experiences have made you who you are, and they should never be ignored. I will show you compassion and empathy as you share those experiences, and I will help you see you them in a way that will help you rather than hold you back.

2. Change the way you think – If you are having trouble with what is happening in your life or with confidence and self-esteem, I will help you to change the way you feel about your current situation and the way you think about yourself. This is a crucial step in the life coaching process.

3. I will ask thought-provoking questions with intention – I will never tell you what to do, but I will ask you the right questions to help you figure it out for yourself. With the right questions, I will take your mind places it may have never been before, and I will teach you to trust your own wisdom by asking the right questions of yourself.

4. Help you become unstuck – When you are so stuck with A, B, and C, you think there is no way out, and you become trapped. With the right perspective, that thought process can be changed. I will help you with that thought process, and you will learn strategies to reframe your current thoughts and any inhibiting thoughts you may have in the future.

5. I will Believe in you – I know the power human beings have, and there is nothing I find more satisfying than helping others realize their own potential. No matter where you have come from or where you are now, I believe you are capable of greatness, and I will help you see that by believing in you.

6. I will help cut your learning curve – I will point you in the right direction to resources and share my lessons, knowledge, and education. I spend my days learning all things motivation, progress, productivity, change, inspiration, grief, etc. and I have spent countless hours developing skills and strategies to help you succeed.

7. I will help you overcome obstacles – I will help you identify your barriers, and I will teach you how to overcome them by helping you view them differently.

Your Role as my Client:

1. You must be mentally and emotionally healthy – It is crucial that you are at a functional level in your life. If you are currently dealing with severe depression, anxiety, substance abuse, or any other brain or mental health disorder, it will be challenging for me to coach you.

I do offer programs to help with unresolved grief, and I am not opposed to working with people who may be suffering from specific mental health issues. Still, it’s vital that we determine, in the beginning, whether or not you might need another kind of support on top of coaching. This requires complete disclosure and honesty from the client.

2. You must show committed – This is an investment you will be making with your time and your finances. It is essential that you are ready to commit to what it takes to get you from A to B. If you do not devote your time, energy, and effort to the coaching process, you WILL NOT be successful.

3. You must take the initiative – you must show up ready to ask questions and ready to explain to the coach what you want to be coached through. This initiative also includes taking an active role in finding solutions that will work for you.

4. Willingness to step out of your comfort zone – Nothing about change is comfortable, and the sooner you can accept this, the better. You can google thousands of quotes on stepping out of your comfort zone and understand them to be accurate, but you will never fully understand the power of stepping out of your comfort zone until you do it yourself.

My entire coaching practice and everything that I do in my life involves being outside of my comfort zone. As I mentioned before, I believe wholeheartedly that if everything were easy and comfortable, everyone would be doing.
5. Leave your “But’s” at the door – I am not saying you can’t have any but’s or excuses, but you need to be ready to throw them away almost as quickly as you present them. This will all be a part of addressing your limiting beliefs, and it is important to understand how unhelpful and damaging these words can be to your progress. You need to be ready to let them go, with guidance, of course.

6. Be prepared to listen without defensiveness – If I am coaching you, you must know that everything I say or do is from a place of zero judgment and genuine compassion. My job is to help you succeed in whatever it is you are trying to accomplish, and if I say something and you feel offended, you must be honest so that we can work through that.

If defensiveness is a common occurrence, you may not be ready to be coached. Some of the questions and conversations that may come up are not easy and not always comfortable, but it is so important to listen with an open mind.

7. Be ready to be vulnerable and 100% honest – If you want to make a change and seek clarity, you will be required to be vulnerable and completely honest.

Part of the reason I offer a free consultation is that I want to make sure that the client feels comfortable with me and that we are the right fit. I am not the right coach for everyone.

Let me repeat; I AM NOT THE RIGHT COACH FOR EVERYONE.

It is so vital for coaches to understand that to be an effective coach, you must have a connection with your client. If you do not have a connection with me, you will not be able to be vulnerable or 100% honest. If you have a phone consultation and you determine I am not the right fit for you, I will not be offended.

8. Be ready to get clear on what you want – Becoming clear on what your current ‘problem’ is and what you ‘really’ want is part of the first steps of the coaching process. If the answer is “I don’t know,” and you struggle to move beyond that, you may not be ready to be coached. If you don’t know what it is you want, it will be tough to create a road map.

9. Be ready to ignore the other noise – When you begin down the journey of self-growth, the noise can become overwhelming. Whether the noise is coming from social media, the news, family members, friends, or colleagues, it can be very inhibiting to your growth. You must be ready to ignore the noise that is not helpful to you. As you begin to grow and change, you may get mixed opinions from people close to you; YOU MUST be willing to filter out what is useful and what is not useful.

If you are always worried about what others are saying or what they might think, you may not be ready to be coached.

I believe everyone is worthy of growth and can benefit from life coaching; however, I do not think everyone is ready.

I want to make sure that before you invest your money into something like hiring a life coach that you are well aware of what it will take and whether or not you are at the right time in your life to hire a coach.

I WILL NOT take your money if I don’t believe you are ready, and I hope you know this comes from a place of a genuine passion for people.

If you are unsure if you are ready, please book a free consultation with me so we can navigate that question together. If I determine you may not be ready for coaching, I can assure you; I will give you suggestions on other avenues to take first.

Coaching is an incredibly powerful resource, and if you are ready to change an aspect of your life, or take your life to what you would call, the next level, I highly recommend coaching either with me or another coach that you resonate with.

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.” – Kenneth Blanchard