What Does it Take to Be a Successful Life Coach? (4 Keys: A Roadmap to Success)

So what does it take to be a successful life coach. Well when we first started coaching it was a brand new industry. There were no best practices and barely anyone out there to learn from. So as pioneers we had to learn through trial and error and after over a decade in the life coaching field we learned the hard way what worked and what didn't. And through extensive research ongoing training and then also working with thousands of other life coaches everything that we learned has been reinforced to us over and over again. The secret to success as a life coach isn't dependent on having an expensive credential or even where you get your training. The secret to success isn't how fancy your website is how perfect your Instagram photos are or even if you have any or how much you spend on marketing. The truth is that many of the most successful life coaches do not have any credentials or use complicated expensive marketing strategies. Success as a life coach comes down to two things you and your clients. So let me explain the magic formula that makes those two things come together. Is this competency plus marketing equals life coaching success. So let's break that down. Competency a.k.a. a being an effective coach plus marketing and business skills a.k.a. reaching the right clients equals great results for your clients and profitability for you. So now it's important to point out here that life coaches get into the field because they want to help people. However they often get so wrapped up in the first component of this formula which is the competency part that they miss the whole point of life coaching which is to help their clients get results that they want. And you can't get your client's results if you don't have clients being a great coach. It's not enough. There are more of you marvelously talented coaches out there that can transform people's lives. Yet you have exactly zero clients and this is because due to the life coaching is a business not a job. Nature of coaching many great potential coaches end up hiding behind their talent and their passion and they never put themselves out there and it's a shame because we really believe that if you can help people transform their lives it's your moral obligation to tell them through marketing. But there's good news. Being a successful life coach doesn't have to be scary expensive. Take a long time or involve overwhelming complicated marketing. I can actually hear using Yucca heat. So let's take a look at the four keys which is a roadmap to coaching success and it's going to act like a step by step guide that shows you exactly what you're going to need to learn and do in order to create a thriving life coaching business that allows you to profit from your purpose and make the difference in the world that you were meant to make. So here are the four keys a roadmap to life coaching success. Now the first two keys develop the first component of life coaching success which we said was competency so key one. How to coach. Just like learning any new skill or pursuing any new career. The first step is to learn the core skills required to be a great life coach. So the coaching industry best practices including coaching ethics how to structure a coaching session and the roles of a life coach. Also communication techniques that build trust openness and rapport. Listening techniques and understanding body language and vocal cues questioning techniques in order to guide clients to greater reflection and clarity and understanding the psychological foundations of human potential and change. And so that brings us to key number to what your clients want. So in addition to developing the essential skills of life coaching you also need to learn how to help your clients achieve what they want. How to coach involves using specific skills that a coach needs to have what you are doing with your clients is going to depend on what your clients want a.k.a. the results that they're looking for. So once you know the results that they're looking for you can use proven processes that help guide your clients in the direction of what they want. So structured step by step processes for achieving specific desired results is one of the things you need. You also need proven tools and strategies for helping clients identify what they want and then set the achievable goals to get them there. You also need concrete strategies for helping them create actionable plans in pursuit of their goals. You need coaching strategies for holding clients accountable and you need proven tools and strategies for empowering your clients to overcome the resistance and the limiting beliefs that are always part of the equation. Key number three is who your clients are and where to find them. So in order to know what your clients want you need to know who your clients are. Coaching isn't about you and what you like to do. It's about your clients and what problems you can help them with. If your client doesn't have a problem you're not going to have a client. So once you know who your clients are and what they need you need to offer them a specific solution to the thing that they need. And you also have to figure out where to find them. I won't give you a hint. This is the number one secret of life coaching success that most life coaches completely miss. So this is what you need to do. You need to identify your unique gift. You need to consider what expertise that you have that clients would benefit to learn from you or to experience from you as a guide. Consider what experiences you have whether personally or professionally that makes you uniquely able to relate to and help people that are in a similar situation that you've been in. Focusing your coaching around who you are gives you a head start over other coaches because you've already gotten results for yourself. So now what you're trying to do is help your clients get the same results. So identify your coaching focus or niche. Consider based on your gifts in what specific way that you want to help people identify what life category or goal that you want to focus on. Whether it's your clients health career relationships happiness finding their purpose increasing their confidence mastering their monkey mind creating massive life changes coping with loss whatever it is and then ask yourself what specifically you can help them change within that category. And so this can be something you help them change or overcome or achieve and then you want to figure out who your tribe of ideal clients are. So considering your focus. Who are these people that you're gonna be working with and what specific problem do they have that matters to them that you can help them solve. And then finally what results are they going to experience. Once they solve this problem and once you can identify that the next step is to ask yourself what language do they use to talk about it. What do they tell others about their problem but what they search for on Google if they were gonna be looking up how to fix this problem. There's you want to learn how to speak their language so the words you use relate to them and then once you really understand them you have to figure out where they are. Where are people who are in this group of people hanging out. Where do they do business. What websites do they go to frequently. Are they members of any types of groups or online forums or where are they in Facebook. You really need to get inside the mind of your clients and who they are so that you can find them. And then that brings us to key number four which is to market your services so you can have superb coaching skills and a coaching toolbox filled with the best processes and a clear niche that you've identified that helps you work with people based on your gift. But if you don't learn the business and marketing skills that go along with it then you're just going to remain a best kept secret. But the problem with that is the world needs you now the first part of marketing your service is to have clearly defined services that you can be offering and then the second part is to learn marketing skills so decide how to structure your coaching business including how and where you're going to meet with your clients. The duration of the sessions and how clients are going to enroll. These are vital things to start with then design your coaching package in a way that guides your clients to achieve the specific results that you're offering them. You also want to research your industry and your market to understand what your clients are going to be willing to pay for this type of service and therefore how much you should charge them and make sure you charge what you're worth then you're going to need to develop materials including questionnaires worksheets forms to use with your clients during sessions and for a signing for them to do at home and then once you have your coaching package with all of this information so that you can offer your services you need to put it out there so then you're going to want to look back at where you identified your clients are and you want to join these places. You want to network go to industry events collaborate with businesses that already know these people and by becoming part of their community you're going to learn more about them. You're gonna make connections to them. You're gonna make the connections. The people who have connections to them and actually joint ventures is the best way to access a large group of highly targeted potential clients. And plus it's free. So here's a hint. A really effective way of putting yourself in front of an ideal audience is through speaking learn how to offer free introductory coaching sessions as a way of offering real value to your potential clients. This is another big key because it gives them an opportunity to experience your coaching and also an opportunity for you to determine if they're a good fit for you and it gives you a chance to give them your offer and another key here is also study success. Follow other life coaches that are successful especially in your niche and see what they do. Where do they go for industry events. What do they put on their social media. What type of packages do they offer. And then also commit yourself to never ending improvement and lifelong learning. Invest in yourself invest in your business because when you do that you're investing in your clients. And so there you have it a roadmap to life coaching success. So I'm just gonna recap it. How. Learn proven strategies and techniques that give you the skills to be an effective life coach. What I learned and create step by step processes that guide your clients to achieve the specific results that they want. These first two keys will develop your coaching competency so then who and where. Identify who your ideal clients are what problems they have how you can solve their problems and then where you can connect them. And then lastly market structure your coaching in a way that packages your unique gifts into a results oriented program that you can offer clients and then learn marketing strategies that have been proven to work for life coaches such as joint ventures speaking and free sessions and most importantly get started. Don't wait till everything's perfect. That's never going to happen. And then once you get started Keep going. By continuing to learn and grow and practice becoming a successful life coach is a hero's journey. There will be challenges and there will be guides along the way. There will be mistakes and lessons that serve your continued evolution. You will feel lost at times and sometimes afraid but you continue to answer the call to fulfill your greater purpose. Your journey of hardship and victory will bring you to the ultimate end result becoming who you were meant to be. And fulfilling your destiny by sharing your true gift with those you are meant to serve. So journey on now. This course is designed to serve as a foundation on which to build your successful life coaching business the core of this program provides foundational skills best practices and step by step processes for helping your clients achieve specific results in the life coaching business section you're going to explore how to identify your niche. Create a coaching package and market your services as well. And if you decide that you'd like to take your training further in the topic areas in this course we have additional courses available that will help you to deep dive into the skills and strategies that will continue to take your life coaching business to the next level. So thank you for transforming with us.