| Becoming a Life
Coach
What is Life Coaching?
Life Coaching helps people identify and attain their
goals and create the life they want. A Life Coach works
with an individual to provide support and assistance.
Life Coaching is all about looking forward, setting
positive goals and working towards achieving them. It
requires individuals to be committed to future action,
rather than analysis of the past, although an element
of analysis may be needed to understand which aspects
of an individual's life require change.
A Life Coach becomes an objective advisor, a sounding
board, and a motivator.
Is Life Coaching right for me?
Do you enjoy working with people? Are you curious about
what makes them tick?
Can you communicate well? Are you a good listener?
Would you enjoy helping people succeed?
Are you interested in personal growth and development
for yourself and others?
Then maybe it's worth checking out...
How to become a Life Coach
In order to become a Life Coach, you can do Life Coaching
qualification, either a Certificate IV in Life Coaching
or a Diploma in Life Coaching. However, technically
until the industry is fully regulated, anyone can set
themselves up as a coach, with or without qualifications.
Once qualified, you can set up your own business, or
join an existing life coaching organisation. Work can
be from your own home, in an office, or over the phone
and the internet. You can work flexible hours to fit
in with your family commitments.
Life Coaching Qualifications
At this stage, Life Coaching courses are not regulated
or accredited in the same way as a lot of other courses.
This means you need to be careful which course you choose
to take, as content and quality can vary significantly.
As you can't look for a recognised course as such,
you need to look for a Registered Training Organisation
(RTO).
RTOs are providers and assessors of nationally recognised
training. Only RTOs can issue nationally recognised
qualifications.
In order to become registered, training providers must
meet the Australian Quality Training Framework 2007
(AQTF 2007) standards. This ensures the quality of Vocational
Education and Training (VET) services throughout Australia.
So you've got the Life Coaching
qualification. What's next?
The courses that I have investigated, include information
on how to set up a coaching business. They look at how
to market yourself, how to gain and retain clients,
how to set your fees, setting up your work environment
and the paperwork involved.
Some also include skills like website design and accounting.
However, you do not necessarily have to go it alone.
You can join an existing Coaching practice and work
for someone else.
What can you earn as a Life Coach?
Earnings reflect your level of experience and qualifications,
but are also at your discretion. I have been to two
different life coaches, and paid between $100 and $200
for an hour to an hour and a half. The coach has to
cover overheads, marketing, preparation time and follow
up time within this fee. They might spend two to three
hours on my one hour session. Coaches are often also
available for follow up phone calls and emails. I have
also found life coaches often offer a half hour preliminary
session for free, or an extended phone call. This is
important, as you and your client need to ensure you
can work together.
|
