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Have You Ever Thought about Becoming a Life Coach?

Article Overview: This interview is the cover story of Insights magazine (June issue). Contact me to get the complete virtual 60-p.copy of this issue. In this interview, "I" stands for Insight magazine and "ML" stands for my initials. Enjoy!

Free Download - Have You Ever Thought about Becoming a Life Coach? By Marianna Lead

Have You Ever Thought about Becoming a Life Coach?

***************Published with permission of Insights magazine**************

I: In 2006, you were the first expert invited to introduce coaching at the world-renowned Smithsonian Institution. How has the coaching industry changed since that time?

ML: Overall, coaching has increased greatly in awareness and acceptance by the general public. It grew tremendously in its popularity and use by individuals and organizations. Internally, there is an evolution towards becoming more comfortable with dealing with our clients’ feelings and accepting those feelings as part of their coaching experience.

Until recently, in our zeal to separate ourselves from psychology, we often drew a line when a client would even mention a negative feeling. It would raise the red flag of crossing over into therapy, and as crazy as it seems now, we weren’t supposed to ask our clients how they felt about something. But that has gradually changed over the last few years.

I: We do talk about how people feel now, because it’s relevant, as long as we’re not diving into the past, right?

ML: That’s another conversation, but my argument was, if you can talk about your feelings to your barber or your hairdresser, why wouldn’t you mention that to your coach? It’s a significant part of the coaching experience now.

I: As the popularity of coaching has increased, so have the number of coaching schools. With so many coaching training programs available, what lead you to create your own?

ML: Because I’m such an advocate of dealing with feelings in the coaching relationship, I came up with the concept of Emotionally Charged Coaching™. I actually felt it was necessary to take a much broader, more holistic view of what needs to be taught in coaching school.

I felt that no one was answering the question of how to deal with emotions in the coaching experience, and as a hypnotherapist, I was very comfortable dealing with emotions. I understood their relationship to the subconscious.

There were a lot of schools of thought that developed in an attempt to integrate emotions into coaching, including brain-based coaching, ontological coaching, and NLP coaching. Some of these schools focused on the importance of thoughts, some focused on the importance of feelings, and some focused on your sense of being and self-awareness.

I felt that all of these aspects were equally important and needed to be integrated to create a truly well-rounded foundation that united mind, body, and soul—to create a program that was truly holistic.

I: With coaching becoming more and more popular, why are so many coaches still struggling to find clients? Is coaching still an attractive career choice?

ML: I definitely think it’s still an extremely attractive career choice, and yes, it’s possible to make good money being a coach. What coaches need to understand is the concept of authentic marketing.

Regardless of what school of thought you are following or what training you have, there is something very unique about you as a person and in terms of your interests, your professional experiences, and your skills. All of that tied in with your coach training experience is what makes you unique.

As a coach, you need to take time—as much time as you need to take—to really understand who you are in terms of your professional self-awareness, so that you don’t sound like everyone else.

I: I agree. You want to have your authentic voice speaking.

ML: What’s interesting here is that when you develop that authenticity, even people who are shy about offering their services don’t feel so shy anymore. When you become fully aware of your gifts, you are able to naturally and authentically present yourself and what you are offering—instead of “selling yourself,” which is a negative concept.

I: Do you also teach branding and marketing skills in your coach training program?

ML: Yes, and I teach it throughout the course from the very beginning. Most other schools that I know of teach one class at the end of their training that is devoted to marketing. Usually it’s a short class, and that’s that. Then, their coaches are basically on their own.

To really have an integrated sense of who you are that ties in with your training, your personality, your interests, your professional skills—all of you—is a process that cannot be taught in three or four hours at the end of your training.

That's why I start teaching authentic marketing from the very first lesson, and it’s woven into all of our coach training. Throughout the seven-month training, our students are also learning to evaluate and re-evaluate who they are professionally and personally, so that when the course is over, they’re completely ready. They have no fear of offering their services and marketing themselves, and they are ready to stand out from the crowd.

I: What is your coaching philosophy, and what is Goal Imagery?

ML: Goal Imagery is a way of helping organizations and individuals achieve their goals quicker and easier by tapping the subconscious power of emotions and imagination in combination with proven goal-setting strategy and project-management techniques.

Goal Imagery is a unique model that helps to synergize our conscious goals, our subconscious needs, and our true authentic core of being. Essentially, Goal Imagery coaching combines traditional coaching skills with subconscious and holistic techniques. As a result, Goal Imagery coaching helps clients to set goals, make decisions, and take actions that are completely congruent with who they truly are at the core and essence of their being.

We help people use their natural strengths, skills, resources, and creativity in order to achieve the life they desire. We believe that the process of reaching a goal may be just as personally fulfilling and meaningful as actually attaining the goal itself.

While traditional coaching tends to deal only with the present and the future, Goal Imagery coaching takes into account the fact that most of our present and future challenges are based on our past experiences, on our culture, and on the way we were brought up. Goal Imagery provides the tools to re-evaluate, to readjust, and to reframe past experiences, to make achieving success and happiness easier in the future.

I: Since your training deals with the subconscious and emotion, does that mean you cross over a little bit into therapy?

ML: I hear that question a lot, because we, as coaches, are still not 100% confident and positive of how we are different from psychology, per se. Having said that, I always tell my clients and explain to my new students that you can be therapeutic without doing therapy.

I’ll give you an example. Whether you take an acting class, a drawing class, or a dance class, it’s creative, it expands you, and it’s extremely therapeutic—but it’s not therapy. You can use therapeutic techniques and create a therapeutic experience without going into actual therapy.

I: As someone who has played a major role in the development of an award-winning New York City chapter of the International Coach Federation—and you served twice as the President—and as someone who is very active on a global level, how important is it to be part of the coaching community?

ML: I think it’s extremely important. Coaching is a constantly evolving profession—we never stand still. If you aren’t involved in your coaching community, you’re out of the loop.

For those people who have difficulty getting out of the house—you can utilize the Internet. You can get on your computer, and if you belong to a large organization, you can constantly be a part of that evolving community. For instance, I’m very active with the International Coach Federation, and there are newsletters, articles, research—there are constantly new resource materials available.

In addition, it’s also very important to stay connected to the coaching community for the purpose of networking and referring clients to one another, because there so many different slices of the market, and every coach has their own niche, and more and more niches are surfacing every day.

For instance, as a transformational coach I deal mostly with life and career challenges. When someone needs to understand their finances better, I would probably refer them to a coach with a financial background. When you belong to a professional group, it’s always easier to get clients, to learn more, and to grow professionally, and even personally.

I: You donate your time to the ICF as a Credentialing Examination Assessor. What is the general attitude now toward ICF accreditation, both for coaches and for people who are looking to hire one?

ML: That’s a very good question. Since coaching is not a licensed profession, unfortunately, virtually anyone can call themselves a coach; however, the public is becoming more educated and more discriminating about who they’re going to choose as their coach.

Things like training, past experiences, credentialing, and certifications become the guide for a new client when they’re choosing a coach. As a matter of fact, that question and that answer feeds into marketing for coaching: What are your credentials? What do you have to offer? How are you going to help your clients? Do you have a specific message that can relate your talents and skills?

I: Does being an ICF assessor help you in mentoring your students to gain their credentials?

ML: Of course. I have an insider’s view, and since I’ve been doing this for a few years now, I know exactly how to train my students for the oral exam. It’s not a secret that the exam is based on ICF coaching core competencies. However, just to read them is one thing, but to live them as a coach within a session is a very different thing. Again, it’s a process, and this process is not taught overnight.

I: For about five years you were the creator and executive producer of Life Coach TV, a popular primetime cable show that helped the ICF in New York City greatly increase its membership along with public awareness of coaching. It also served as a model for other ICF chapters in the United States to create their own local shows. Where did you get the fantastic idea to create the show?

ML: When I initially joined the New York City ICF Board of Directors—which was in 2003—there was very little awareness of coaching outside of skill sets such as sports coaching, acting coaching, and so on. There was a need to introduce the idea of life coaching to the general public.

As a board director, I felt it was my responsibility to bring all of my resources to the table. One of those resources was my acting background. As a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) professional actress and theater director, I knew about production, how to conduct an effective interview, and how to create an interesting and informative show that could benefit not only the chapter, but the coaching industry as a whole. The show dramatically helped in almost doubling our ICF-NYC membership—and it provided an opportunity for our coaches to connect with the general public and share what they knew, how they coached, about their coaching style, and about their coaching niche.

All of this really increased the awareness of coaching by the general public, and specifically in New York City. When I left the board, I trained some of the board directors to take over, and it’s still alive and kicking under a new name.

I: What a great testament to your work. What advice can you give someone trying to decide which coaching school to choose, and what are some key questions to ask when interviewing a school?

ML: It’s a very important decision, because it’s anywhere from a six month to a two year commitment. Deciding where you’re going to be for that period of time and who you’re going to learn from is critical.

Key Issues to Consider When Selecting a Coaching School:

Coaching Philosophy: Every school has its own approach and a specific coaching philosophy. You need to be in sync with that coaching philosophy if you want to become part of it. Usually this information is clearly defined on the school’s Web site.

Method of Training: Next you have to decide for yourself if you want to be trained on the phone or in person, or using a combination of these two methods. Questions to ask yourself include, “What is my learning style?” “How do I learn?” and “What makes learning easier?”

Budget vs. Costs: What is your budget for your training? When you interview a school, you must ask what is included in their quoted price, because I notice that many schools charge extra for things like exams, certification, and learning materials. All of that adds up. Also, if you have to travel somewhere, that also adds to your cost. There may even be an extra charge for some courses when you want to get their full training and become certified. These costs are often not included in the advertised price you see on the Web site. Your cost may sometimes even double from what you think it will be. It’s extremely important for you to understand what your complete and total cost is going to be, and if that fits into your budget.

Instructors and Class Sizes: Consider who your teacher will be and how many people are going to be in each class. In coach training, small classes are critical. Needless to say, the teacher’s expertise and even their teaching style is even more important. If possible, I would recommend that you arrange a time to have a conversation with the actual person who teaches the course, not just with the receptionist or with someone who handles sales for the training. If the school is large, this may not be possible, but it’s worth a try.

How the Size of the School Affects What You Receive: Nowadays, bigger is not necessarily better. In fact the opposite may be true depending on a number of factors. Find out what the school actually offers in terms of how big or how small the classes are, who is teaching each class, etc. Don’t look at the size of the school, but look at what you are going to get as a result of your training and how you are going to be trained.

Alumni Support: What does a school offer in terms of follow up and support? Is there any marketing help for their coaches? Are they going to consistently support you when you are done with your training? I think these are important questions to keep in mind and to ask.

I: These are all very good points—especially about costs.

ML: When I opened up my coaching training course, of course, like every other business person, I wanted to be competitive with other schools that offered similar services, so I was trying to understand the pricing for a similar amount of hours and training. It was the most confusing research because of that problem.

I would see someone advertising themselves for $3,500, but when I dug deeper, I found that if I actually paid for the whole thing, it would cost me $8,000, which is a huge difference. It was very difficult to understand who’s charging what and why, and to discern what the bottom line is—what I am going to spend at the end of this.

I decided to make it very easy to understand in my program and to make sure that all of my marketing materials clarify that it’s all inclusive, so people don’t have to get a headache trying to figure out how much it’s going to cost them.

I: What made you choose this arena for your life’s great work?

ML: Every friend, every colleague I had told me I was crazy. They were telling me there were so many coaching schools, why would I want to add one more?

I wasn’t really sure in the very beginning, but what I always knew was that I am a teacher at heart. Anything I know and am excited about, I want to share with others and teach them how to do it even better than I can. That was my initial impulse—just to teach what I learned and to share what I’m excited about. Then I said to myself, “Everybody is trying to tell me that this is not a good idea, that there are so many coaching schools, and that new coaching schools come along every day. Why would I want to have my own? Maybe we don’t need one more.”

But as I was looking around and saw that everyone had so many different ideas about what a new coach should know, I really felt that we desperately needed a more well-rounded education where you wouldn’t have to choose between the importance of thoughts versus feelings, or the importance of being versus the importance of doing. I wanted to create a truly holistic school that would unite all of the above—plus things that I’ve learned and taught at NYU and other educational institutions, such as Positive Psychology, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), and Emotional Intelligence.

I think when you finish any training, you are going to be attracted to some techniques more than others, and you’re going to want to learn more about this or that, and that’s great. But I think that you have to have an overview of all the tools that are effective.

I: What is your definition of success as it pertains to coaching schools or the coaching industry?

ML: I teach my own classes, which separates me from directors and founders of many schools. What I think is important for any teacher is knowing that your students really get it by the end of the course—I want to know that they graduate as capable coaches, that they can do what I do, that they feel good about offering their services, and they feel confident they can produce results in their clients. That’s the true measure of success—seeing the results from your students. My students define my success.

And, to answer the second half of your question about success in the coaching industry—it’s all about us helping our clients to reach their goals and dreams. Actually, that’s how I came up with the name for my institute. Goals represent consciousness since we consciously choose what we want to accomplish. Imagery represents our feelings, the subconscious, and imagination. Therefore, Goal Imagery represents the unity between conscious and subconscious—a truly holistic approach to success.

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