On the road to becoming a life coach everyone eventually asks the same question:  Who is my ideal client?  What is my niche?  Many people get hung up on how to become a life coach that has a great niche without being too narrow.  The real problem is how to become a life coach who is specialized enough to attract their ideal client.  The first step in becoming a life coach who knows their niche, is to know yourself.  And this is how to become a life coach who can do just that.

When Becoming a Life Coach One Must Consider Their Core Asset

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How to Become a Life Coach Who Knows Their Core Asset:

Becoming a Life Coach who knows what your core assets are means understanding what skills you have.  The three questions to ask are, “What could you be the best in the world at doing if you worked at it?  What are you most passionate about doing?  And, what could you do to make money?”  This takes years to develop, so don’t be frustrated if you aren’t exactly sure how to become a life coach with the perfect niche.  You will continue to refine this as you go along your path.  This is the number one reason why people get hung up.

Once You’ve Considered Your Core Asset You Must Develop a Way How to Become a Life Coach that Connects the Asset to a Niche

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How to Become a Life Coach Who Connects Your Core Asset to a Niche:

Another step in becoming a life coach is to consider when choosing a niche is to look at the mega-niches.  Of course you’ll narrow your niche as you continue on your path to becoming a life coach, but you need to start somewhere.  The top three mega-niches are health, beauty and wellness, money and business, and dating/relationships.  These are externalizations of the deepest needs and desires.  If everything is wonderful and you don’t have money, that basic need of certainty or significance is low.  If you have everything but no love in your life, you won’t feel like your quality of life is high.  It’s important to know how to become a life coach who really connects with their target market in terms of meeting their needs.

How to become a life coach who has a profitable niche is a process, not a destination.  Becoming a life coach with several niches is ok as well.  They key is to make sure you are don’t become a Jack of all trades and a master of none.   By focusing on what you can be the best in the world at doing, you will develop credibility that will give you more than enough clients.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Bi-Designated Strategy and Accountability Coach

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Are you interested in how to become a life coach or are you committed to becoming a life coach who is truly world class?  Not everyone wants to know how to become a life coach who is considered to be great.  Some people want to become a life coach who is just good enough to make a decent living.  Becoming a life coach is challenging enough without trying to be the best.  Which one are you?

If You Are Interested in Becoming a Life Coach Who is Great You’ll Need Mentoring and Coaching

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Becoming a life coach who is determined to be great takes mentoring and coaching.  What’s the difference?  To become a coach you’ll need a mentor.  Someone who has already become a coach at the level you are striving to achieve.  A mentor can show you the ropes of coaching, like an attending physician and a resident.  A mentor can help you learn to recognize pattern of behaviors in people, help find solutions for challenging clients who aren’t getting results, and can be someone to bounce ideas off.

Become a Life Coach Who is Aware of Your Blind Spots Through Coaching

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So why do you need to learn how to be a coach to become a life coach who is the cream of the crop?  We all have limiting beliefs that are in the way of becoming who we want to be.  Becoming a world class coach is no exception.  You will have limiting beliefs that will keep you from being who you need to be, but also will limit what is possible for you clients.  If you aren’t getting coaching for yourself, how will you see your blind spots and navigate around them?

In Your Quest of Greatness it is Essential to Become a Life Coach Who Reflects on Your Sessions

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The third distinction between how to become a life coach who is average and becoming a life coach who is excellent is to reflect on your sessions once you’ve completed them.   If your clients linger in your mind after you hang up the phone and keep you up late at night searching for ways to transform them, you’re on the right track.  I’m not talking about sabotaging self-talk, but about asking yourself with curiosity how to improve your performance.

These are the basics to becoming a life coach who will be able to successfully coach even the most challenging clients.  The real question is whether you will become a life coach who strives to be the best you can be, or will you settle?

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Bi-Designated Strategy and Accountability Coach

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Everyday people decide they want to become a life coach, but few actually achieve their goals of becoming a life coach.  In fact, some of the biggest barriers to becoming a life coach arise just after they decide to become a life coach.  And unfortunately for most people, these barriers keep them from realizing their dreams.  Here are the top five barriers to becoming a life coach, and what you can do about it.

If You Want to Become a Life Coach You Can’t get Hung Up on Money

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Barrier to Becoming a Life Coach #1:  Money.  Or lack of.  “I don’t have money to quit my job and become a life coach.”  “I’m too busy working to have the time to devote to coaching.”  “I want to become a life coach but I don’t have money for training.”  Those are not the real reasons.  What is under the “Money” excuse that is really stopping you?

Finding the Right Peer Group is Important When You Are Trying to Become a Life Coach

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Barrier to Becoming a Life Coach #2:  Family and Friends.  These people are dangerous in your quest to become a life coach.  This is your peer group, and it is hard to go against the tribal instinct to belong.  If they don’t think you can do it, you’ll either believe them or you won’t take action.  You know that if you fail you will have to face the consequences of failing when they warned you.  If this is what you’re facing, you’ll need to find an empowering peer group.  I’m not saying to get rid of your family and friends, but you’ll definitely need to find some people who are supportive in your endeavors.  At least to balance out the noise from the nay-sayers.

If You are Serious about Becoming a Life Coach You Will Have to Get Over Your Fears

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Barrier to Becoming a Life Coach #3:  Fear.  If are serious about your dream to become a life coach, you’re going to have to face your biggest fears.  The best way to navigate around those fears is to hire a coach.  Actually pay someone to coach you, so both of you take it seriously.  But most people won’t do this, because of barrier #4.

Address Your Belief System if You Really Want to Become a Life Coach

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Barrier to Becoming a Life Coach #4:  Lack of Self –Worth.  The biggest reason why people don’t have what they want is because they don’t feel like they deserve it.  Or that they’re not good enough to accomplish it.  Which is your own belief system that you need to address if you really want to become a life coach.

Time Management Should Not Prevent You From Becoming a Life Coach

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Barrier to Becoming a Life Coach #5:  Time.  If lack of time is keeping you from your dream to become a life coach, then you will never have the time.  If you really want to burst through this barrier, you’re going to need to change your beliefs about time.  Start taking action, even if it’s 10 minutes here and there.  Do what you can, when you can.  And prioritize how you spend money so you can live the life you want.

These barriers to becoming a life coach don’t have to stop you.  In fact, most of the time if you are able to identify a barrier you can develop a strategy around it.  If you really want to become a life coach, commit and make a plan.  Face the barriers with commitment, instead of resolve.  In doing so, you’ll be able to live the life that you want.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Bi-Designated Strategy and Accountability Coach

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Becoming a life coach and shopping for life coach classes is a lot like shopping for a diet. Have you ever heard an advertisement for a diet that says, “You just have to eat less, exercise more, and work consistently?” People want the magic bullet. Even at the risk of adverse side effects. Becoming a life coach is very similar. Have you ever seen advertisements for life coach classes that say, “Become a coach in 3 days!”

The truth is that becoming a life coach is very similar. Taking life coach classes and gaining a lot of knowledge isn’t going to turn you into a coach. You’re going to have to give up free time, work hard, and have a commitment for the long haul. How bad do you want to become a coach? What are you willing to sacrifice?

Becoming a Life Coach Means Investing Time to Perfect Your Coaching Skills

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Taking a lot of life coach classes isn’t enough. Knowledge without application isn’t useful in becoming a life coach. Coaching is about skill, and to master skills takes practice. Michael Jordan became a star by practicing the basics over and over. Becoming a coach takes the same type of practice.

Life Coach Classes Must Foster an Environment That Provides Accountability

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In addition, becoming a coach means you need an environment that provides accountability and an empowering peer group. This can come from other students in your life coach classes or from people in a mastermind group. It’s not really who you know, or who you talk to once a year. It’s who you hang out with on a regular basis that matters most.

Becoming a coach is a journey, not a destination. The first few years may not be great. Keep taking life coach classes, and putting things into action. If you’re committed to the process, and really believe that coaching makes a difference in your life and the life of others, with time you will reap the rewards.

Collete Seymann

JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach

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Prestigious Life Coaching Certification Realities: Become a Life Coach and Get on Food Stamps

There are a lot of coaches training programs that are mass producing “coaches”, each offering their own version of a prestigious life coaching certification. But really, what does a prestigious life coaching certification mean to you? Does it mean you have become a life coach who can help anyone? Does it mean you have become a life coach who has a steady schedule of paying clients? According to an International Coach Federation (IFC) published membership survey, about 4 out of 10 coaches earn less than $10K per year. That’s because 50% of members of the ICF are only coaching somewhere between one and six clients per month. More than half of these coaches said it took them up to 2 years to get their first paying coaching client.

What is Currently The Most Prestigious Life Coaching Certification to Get as You Become a Life Coach?

What is considered the most prestigious life coaching certification? What is the biggest barrier to getting prestigious life coaching certification? Read more…

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Do you ever feel like you are becoming a life coach who is getting stuck, or that a problem comes up that seems too big to handle?  It happens to your clients, but not to you, of course!

Ultimately, adversity effect all of us, and starting and growing a coaching business is no exception.  Your ability to handle adversity can be a great beacon of hope to your clients, or you lack of handling your own adversity can kill any good advice that you do happen to bring your clients as well.  These questions will help you become a life coach who can change your mental state quickly so you can access resources to handle the problem powerfully.

You Become a Life Coach Who Can Handle Just About Anything When You Start Asking Yourself Questions Like: 

What’s great about having this problem? 

What’s great about this problem? 

What can I learn from this problem? 

What is funny or entertaining about this problem? 

This first step is important in becoming a life coach who can see other points of view to a problem, and will start getting you into a mental state that is open to seeing the possible solutions.

Next, You Become a Life Coach Who Answers The Question: 

What’s not perfect yet? 

Becoming a life coach who can see the problem clearly is the key to the solution.

After You Become a Life Coach Who Diagnoses The Problem, Start Asking Yourself: 

What am I willing to do in order to make it the way that I want it? 

What’s missing in the situation right now that would move things forward?

Now you are in the process of becoming a life coach who sees solutions.

Now ask yourself: 

What am I willing to stop doing in order to make it the way that I want it? 

What am I willing to give up in order to resolve this problem? 

These questions will help you become a life coach who sees what might be keeping you from overcoming the problem quickly.

After you have answered these questions you become a life coach who can see lots of options. Now you are on your way to becoming a life coach who can see what they can do to achieve the outcome they want, enjoy the process and help others along the way.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Accountability Coach

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People Often Ask, “How Can I Become a Coach?”

“What are the start up costs in becoming a life coach?” “How can I become a coach if I don’t have a lot of extra money?” Becoming a life coach and starting up your own practice doesn’t have to cost you a small fortune.

How You Can Start Becoming a Life Coach on a Shoe String Budget:

1. Get a phone. If it’s a cell phone, use it to make your appointments and you can coach just about anywhere.

2. Get a library card. It’s free, and as you are becoming a life coach you will need to improve you knowledge base for strategies and coaching technologies.

3. Find a computer with internet access. You can get free coaches training on www.coachestrainingblog.com, which will definitely help you in becoming a life coach. You can even get access at most public libraries.

4. Find a mentor. If you are really committed to becoming a life coach, you will need a mentor to guide you. Or at least get some coaching.

Once you have the equipment, you may find yourself asking, “How can I become a coach? I don’t have any clients.” Start by offering complimentary sessions to everyone you know. From those people, depending on your relationship with them, you will find two categories of people. Those who you will coach, and those who know other people you can provide free sessions for. You will need to coach at least 5 clients per week. For free if necessary, until you are confident in your ability to provide specific, measurable, ambitious, results for your clients that they know they would not have been able to achieve without your coaching.

Once that question is solved you will ask, “How can I become a coach who gets paid for what they do?” When you are able to provide so much value in a free session that your client sees coaching as the only vehicle to really achieving their goals, the consequences of staying where they are, and the pleasure they will have once they achieve their goals, they will pay you.

And once that question is solved, hopefully you answer the most important question which is, “How can I become a coach who is committed to elevating the coaching profession by providing exceptional results for my clients.” That’s the most important question a coach can ask!

Colette Seymann

Accountability Coach, JTS Advisors

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Get Even the Most Reserved People to Warm up to You Using These Seven Simple Life Coach Tips

Becoming a life coach isn’t always as easy as it seems. What happens when you begin a session and feel like your client is not engaged?  You’re getting one word answers to your open-ended questions, and you start to feel panicky.  Relax, and enjoy these seven simple life coach tips that will immediately ease your strain upon the road to becoming a life coach.

Life coach tips #1: When speaking, match pitch and rhythm with their tone – on an unconscious level this is familiar to them and will help them feel more at ease. This will also help you get yourself out of your own head, because becoming a life coach is about being able to truly see the world from your clients’ perspective.

Life coach tips #2: If you are doing a face to face session, match body language. Again this is something that your client unconsciously relates to.

Life coach tips #3: Smile. Even if you are on the phone. The warmth you generate will come through.

Life coach tips #4: Set the right intentions. Get yourself into the state where your number one intention is to help and serve your client. Becoming a life coach is about the client, their goals, and needs. Everyone has their b.s. detector up pretty high these days. Don’t think you can fake it.

Life coach tips #5: Be a mirror for your clients’ responses. Repeat back to them what they have shared suing their precise working and terminology. They will know that you are listening, and you understand them. This will also help you in becoming a life coach; and understanding your clients.

Life coach tips #6: Refer to DISC or other assessment results. You will have instant access to your clients’ personality type, values, and how to communicate in their style.

Life coach tips #7: If you are nervous, it usually means you are focusing on yourself and your needs. Becoming a life coach means you need to feel competent in your abilities? You need to know yourself as someone who really offers value.  Use your body’s feedback to shift your focus onto your client, and remember…it’s not about you.

So if feel like you are having difficulty establishing rapport, remember these 6 simple tips and you will find yourself back on track before you know it.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Accountability Coach

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Why is environment so important in a coach training and becoming a life coach? According to recent studies 50% of your success will be determined by your environment and 40% by your mindset or attitude. So it seems obvious that when looking for a coach training program, you would want to be around positive people and an environment is supportive to your goals. But what about the skills you need to get from a coach training? How important are those in becoming a life coach?

The Big Coach Training Mistake That Most Coaches Make

If your goal is becoming a life coach, specifically a well paid life coach, you might think that the most important aspect of a coach training program is learning the skills you need. But studies show that only 10% of your success is determined by your skill sets. In becoming a life coach, or any other endeavor.

Obtaining basic and advanced coaching skills, marketing skills, and product development skills are crucial to becoming a life coach with a viable coaching practice. But where a lot of coach training programs fall short, is in creating an environment that will truly transform ordinary people into world class coaches.

When Becoming a Life Coach, People Work on Their Mindset or Attitude, But Most People Completely Ignore Their Environment.

How do you expect to attend a weekend coach training, come back to your old environment, and experience permanent transformation? You could, but it will take much more persistence on your part. It’s like trying to learn a new language. It‘s much easier to put yourself into an environment where people are speaking that language. You can try swimming against the tide, but it’s much easier to catch a big wave and go with it.

So if your goal is becoming a life coach, or any other type of coach, make sure the coach training you choose will allow you to become immersed into an environment that will help you achieve your goals.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Accountability Coach

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I get asked a lot of questions about becoming a Life Coach and I welcome them because there are many misconceptions about the profession and what it’s about. Let me start by saying what it’s not. Life Coaching is not therapy, it is not counseling and it is not consulting although many physiologists, consultants and counselors are becoming trained and using coaching skills and technologies as a compliment to their practice.

Here are some things to consider when becoming a Life Coach.

• What kind of life coach training do I need?

You need to be trained through a qualified organization. There are the major players that are credentialed by the ICF (International Coaches Federation)  or CTI but there are also many companies such as JTS Advisors who offer excellent training in strategy, accountability and assessment coaching.  Becoming a life coach is a true transition and there are serious skills sets to learn, so don’t skimp on getting the training and real coaching experience you need.  Why is training and coaching experience important?  Because you usually lack coaching skills when you are first considering becoming a coach, even if you think you’re a natural… professional coaches use their coaching skills every day and they’ve been honed after thousands of hours in varying situations.  You’ve got some work to do!

• Do I need to be certified to become a life coach?

Ultimately the answer is no but it is absolutely recommended. Life coaching is a relatively new industry and credibility is often questioned. Certification adds credibility and believability.  Also, getting coaching certification will no doubt help improve your coaching skills even if only from having the logical and theoretical grounding to perform the basics.

• So what is Life Coaching about anyway?

Life coaching or any kind of coaching for that manner is about bridging the gap and sustainable change. What that means is that often people want something different but are stuck in patterns or behaviors that are preventing them from getting to the next level. A great coach can get them unstuck like nothing I’ve ever seen

• Are there any age barriers to becoming a Life Coach?

In short – No. As an adult any age is appropriate. I’ve known coaches as young as 22 and others well over 60. Each one brings something unique particularly when they settle on their particular niche.  Even if you are lacking the coaching skills at first, learning a few coaching frameworks (step by step instructions for coaching processes), you’ll have something to do with your clients that will help to a certain extent.  

• How much money can I make as a Life Coach?

This is a very broad question and is tied directly to your business model, your marketing, and the level of your coaching skills. There are coaches who are six figure coaches and there are those who barely scrape by. I encourage anyone entering the field to get assistance in these two areas. JTS offers excellent mentoring and training in these areas. Their partnership with Eric Lofholm (sales and marketing specialist), and other notable business partners provides an excellent framework  Remember that even having the best coaching skills in no way assures success as a life coach!  You’ve got to get your butt out the door and talk to people every day to gather enough relationships to support a thriving coaching practice.

• How do I get clients when becoming a Life Coach?

You have more potential clients than you know starting with your friends, family and business associates. Don’t be afraid to approach them and offer them a free session. I used this when I first started with success. People felt great because of the experience they could see that the change they wanted was not only possible but doable. Develop a referral strategy through your client base and seek help with our sales and marketing strategy if you are uncertain what to do next

Hopefully I’ve provided some answers to your questions on becoming a Life Coach. If you have more, let us know by adding a comment on this blog. We’ll do our best to give you the answers you need.

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