Coaching is a tool that people use to achieve better results in life.
They sometimes come to coaching when they feel some pain in their life - not being happy at work, not getting the promotion they have been seeking for a long time, not finding a partner, or not having enough money. But another use of coaching is when successful people seek to enhance their success. Many very successful people have personal coaches, but outside of the sporting world such arrangements are seldom publicised.
Coaching is not for everyone because it requires someone to actively acknowledge that they need some external assistance to achieve their goals. This sometimes happens when dramatic events occur or when there is a realisation that they can do more, have more or be more.
Unless one has already been exposed to coaching, perhaps in sport, the question naturally arises “why do I need a coach to get what I want?”
The answer is that our results depend upon our actions, our actions depend upon how we feel, how we feel depends upon what we believe in - and what we believe in is based upon thoughts that we habitually have about ourselves and the outside world.
In order to achieve results we need to act upon that chain of cause and effect. We need to change our thoughts which in turn will change our beliefs and which in turn change how we feel and we will then take actions which will produce the results we seek. This is of course a very schematic way of looking at human psychology but I think it demonstrates the point.
So coaching is a method of helping people to shift their mindset, to align it with the desired results. What this means is that an individual is willingly guided by a coach to explore how this shift can happen. They find their own solutions to achieve their goals. The coach is a facilitator, a trusted confidant, an independent partner who helps his or her clients to change the way they think, what they believe in, how they behave and feel, and what actions they need to take.
Who is it for?
Coaching is for people who are prepared to take full responsibility for their own results in any area of their life. It is most effective when a person feels that they really want to achieve a specific goal which eludes them. I see two groups of people who use coaching to achieve their goals. The first group are those who have not experienced coaching before but who feel that they cannot achieve what they want by themselves.
For example, you may seek your dream job where you will feel fulfilled, have a well balanced work-life environment and be able to use all of your skills, talent and experience. Or you may desire a more abundant lifestyle which your current income is not supporting. Or you have been dreaming about a promotion but years have passed and despite your very best efforts that promotion is still not happening. In other words, you have a desire for something and that something is not happening for you despite your best efforts.
The second group of people are those who have already had coaching in the past and they know how powerful coaching is because they have already experienced shifts in their lives. They have achieved some of their goals but they now want to continue to grow and want to use coaching to realise even bigger goals and dreams.
What results you can expect from coaching?
The biggest benefits of coaching is that individual realises how powerful he or she is. People who have positive experiences with coaching gain the following benefits:
They get more clarity about their vision and goals
They become more empowered by gaining self-confidence
They become more resourceful at finding multiple ways of how to achieve their goals
They increase their self-awareness, self-worth and emotional intelligence
They learn the habits that are more supportive of achieving greater success
They get clarity on their talents, skills and experience
They become better at communicating with others
The above benefits are very common and are the basic “positives” in all types of coaching. There are specific goals on which an individual can work with a coach - some examples are weight loss, financial goals, career goals, confidence goals, leadership capability goals, entrepreneurial and business related goals, spiritual goals, relationship goals, happiness goals, tranquillity and achieving peace of mind goals, and so on. There are a huge variety of areas that human beings can and seek to experience in their lives and for that reason there are many specialist coaches who help people to achieve what they want to be, to have, to do and to feel in their lives.
How is it done?
There are many different forms of coaching. The most effective and quickest is to work 1-2-1 with a coach who specialises in the area on which you want to work. There are life coaches who offer services to address a multitude of things which people are seeking to improve - career coaches, business coaches, health coaches, executive coaches, leadership coaches, confidence coaches, coaches for coaches, coaches that work with small businesses, coaches that work with women, and so on.
Another form of experiencing coaching is to join a group coaching program which is dedicated to a specific topic. Group coaching is a combination of online teaching, group discussions and sharing and one-on-one sessions with a coach. There are for example groups for women entrepreneurs, for women who are seeking to become more empowered, fulfilled and happy in their lives, there are groups that help people to set up their own business, groups which teach people how to launch online products, and groups which teach people to have a healthy relationship with money and become more financially abundant. These are just a small sample of what exists in the coaching world.
The third most common way of experiencing coaching is to join an online coaching course where an individual can learn how to achieve a specific goal by following videos and written instructions from a specific coach who has considerable experience on the subject and shares his or her expertise in digital format.
How much does it cost?
I often hear from people, who are not familiar with the world of coaching, that coaching is expensive and that it is hard for them to understand who is a good coach and who is not. Well, as with everything in life, the more experienced the coach the more skilful they are in marketing and connecting to their ideal clients - and the more money they can charge for their services. A coach who is just at the beginning of building his or her coaching practice might be offering coaching on an hourly basis and charging perhaps $40 per hour. However, more experienced coaches charge higher fees and the average is about $200 per hour.
However, famous coaches who are running multi-million dollar businesses may be offering VIP coaching packages which can cost between $25k and $50K per annum. What price can you put on success?
The cost of group programs varies depending upon how long it runs, which subject it covers and how much personal time a coach needs to spend with each participant. In my experience it could be between $500 and $2500 per participant.
Personally I think that individuals with a wide range of budgets can find a great deal of value by buying the right coaching products. I have direct experience with four coaching products - 1-2-1, life coaching academy, group coaching and online coaching programs and I have to say that all of them are very good.
If you are concerned about what you will get from coaching, you can start with a lower investment and then move up to more expensive products. You can even get free coaching from some life-coach trainees.
But whatever the investment, coaching will bring benefits which will be well worth the money spent on it. What price can anyone put upon finding their ideal life and fulfilling their dream? What price would you put on shifting your mindset to become financially independent and living a life that you desire and deserve? What price would you put on feeling alive, joyful, confident and empowered? It is essential to invest in one’s personal development and growth, and by investing in oneself a person feels more motivated to change their behavioural patterns which will produce better results.
Personally I think coaches at all price levels are giving so much value - often for free when they promote their services and they top-up their paid services with much useful material which they call “bonuses”. My own view is that the coaching industry overall delivers a pretty good value for money for the clients.
Summary
Coaching is going mainstream. People of all ages, nationalities, genders and backgrounds are seeking help from the coaching professionals to assist them in their personal growth and in the achievement of their desires and life goals.
All it requires is to take personal responsibility for what happens in your life and the results you achieve. It is as simple as that. Some people do have a better start in life due to their education, background or innate qualities. But I think absolutely anyone can see some improvements in their life if they decide (in other words, take responsibility) that they want to be more successful, happier and have more abundance in life. This is why coaching is a great tool and it is now available to everyone in this amazingly advanced technological age. The internet and communications facilities such as Skype have opened-up possibilities that were previously not possible. Coaching is available to suit all pockets. It is available for any kind of goal that a human can seek - from losing weight to achieving high level of success in career or business, from finding a life partner to experiencing spiritual development.
I would like to encourage everyone to look upon coaching as a tool for solving problems, as a tool for personal growth, and as a tool for living a more fulfilled, happier and prosperous life.
We all deserve to experience the best in life and I am certain that coaching is one of the most amazing tools for personal growth and transformation.
Please let me know if this article was helpful and if you would like to learn more about coaching.
I look forward to hearing from you and being part of your success.