“I have a recurring dream where I am looking out from a stage, but can never see the face of my audience or my location,” says Stormie L. Ashley, a Chicago-native trained as a broadcast journalist who finds herself frequently counseling friends and strangers alike.
Ashley says she wants to use her coming-of-age trials and tribulations to help other young women but, like other potential life coaches, she does know where to start. The perfect venue won’t magically appear. It must be created. The key is to find a community (niche) in need of the information, training, and motivation the life coach is qualified to provide.
Starting a Life Coach Business
This article is for those who have always felt they could be of greater service because of the information they have or through their life experience. Those with the skills of a life coach often gravitate towards religious, spiritual, cultural, and business leadership. Counselors, ministers, personal trainers, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and teachers are professions whose skills set overlap that of the life coach.
Life coaching offers a more holistic solution to life challenges. This future focused practice aims to solve any number of the infinite life pursuits: spiritual growth, healing families, developing healthy diets and/or losing weight, increasing income, or growing a business.
Develop an Area of Expertise
“I read somewhere that the more a man knows, the more he knows he doesn’t know,” said Malcolm S. Forbes. “So I suppose one definition of an expert would be someone who doesn’t admit out loud that he knows enough about a subject to know he doesn’t really know much.”
If the life coach does not think he has specialized knowledge, this is a good time to re-read some of the classics like Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. While many jurisdictions either require or encourage the professional life coach to obtain specialized education, training, or certification, do not wait to be anointed the expert if the know-how is already in place – proclaim authority. Leadership positioning requires a clear and strong message that can be communicated through writing and speaking.
“You have to step up and take your power,” said Micheal Kora in Power. “Relying on others to give you power is inherently a powerless position because if they gave it to you, they can also take it away.”
Develop a Professional Life Coaching Program
In addition to conferences, seminars, video and audio media, group forums, and emails, the well developed coaching program will include one-on-one coaching sessions. This allows the life coach to provide critiques and strategies for individual clients. The life coach must often be reminded that it is OK to eat. A monthly retainer for providing an individualized coaching/master-mind program can range at about $1,000 a month, according to Ethan Kap and Brett Kitchen in “Start Your Own Information Marketing Business,” by Robert Skrob (Entrepreneur Press).
Giving advice on managing individual services, Kap and Kitchen states, “[w]e have found the nicer you are to your clients, the more uncontrolled access you give, etc., the worse they behave,” states Kap and Kitchen. “They think they can abuse your time, they value your services less, and they drop out earlier.” There are many approaches to customer services. Choose one that works best for those being provided the service. While start-up costs are generally lower for service businesses management demands do not differ from those of a product-based service.
Market the Life Coach Business
Attend industry events and tradeshows to network and build relationships. Don’t be intimidated. Have professional material designed to market the public persona of “You, Inc.” as a life coach. Dotcom the life coach’s name and write and publish in relevant magazines. The new media makes the potential for social networking unlimited.
Another business idea is to secure a publisher or self-publish a book. This book is where expertise is proclaimed and credibility is demonstrated. Read the works of others in the industry. Find out the norms and do not fear taking an opposite position. Also, do not make a book out of a mountain. The content of a 100-page book can be dictated in a few hours through a service like iDictate.com. Print and edit the dictation and contact a self-publishing printing house like Xlibris.com or develop an eBook in an .ePub format through a publisher like Lulu.com. Once the book is published it will be easier for the life coach to secure speaking engagements.
Last, but certainly not least, create success stories for clients. Testimonies will be the life coach’s best advertisement. As with any service business, reputation is central and goes a long way.
General Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for tax or legal advice.
Vanessa Cross - Vanessa Cross is a freelance writer who writes about international trade, business law and small business development issues.
