Life coaching fraud is a serious and criminal act that can land you in a jail cell rotting away for ten whole years because you were a careless, dummy, stupid as a rock that wouldn’t listen to anyone screaming at you to try to get through to you how you put your clients in jeopardy with your borderline fraudulent coaching practices.
My article gives you straightforward coaching advice in 4 keys to help you stay on the right side of the law. You don’t want to get sent to the slammer for something you could have avoided by playing it smarter.
The life coaching manual for creating fraud for dummies
Before we begin with the 4 keys to avoid, I have to inform you I am not an attorney or licensed in the legal field. My ethical advice is from the perspective of a business manager.
Here are 4 strict ethical and borderline legal areas that you must pay close attention to as a coach.
1. Falsely claiming you’re an expert
2. Violating clients’ privacy rights
3. Unenforceable coaching contracts
4. Coveting your coaching clients
1. Falsely claiming you’re an expert
Be truthful with your coaching clients. The Webster’s Dictionary definition of client is as follows:
Customer: One who purchases a commodity or service.
Client: One who is under the protection of another.
The distinction in the meaning is huge, and there’s a big difference in the way a person who signs up for life coaching with you should be treated.
False claims:
- Inflated testimonials
- Made-up endorsements
- Awarding yourself a prestigious certification
Remember, a client is under your trust and protection.
2. Violating clients’ privacy rights
You’re not making a sale when you enroll a coaching client. You’re entering into a relationship of trust. You have the duty of loyalty and care with your coaching clients. That means you protect their interests in every way possible, and most importantly protect their private information.
Privacy abuses:
- Sharing client information without their permission
- Taking advantage of client proprietary business information
- Continuing to bill the client after they terminate the coaching relationship
3. Unenforceable coaching contracts
If you create a life coaching contract that protects you at the expense or risk of your client, then it may not be enforceable. That means if your client sues you, the court may return all your client’s coaching fees, legal fees, plus court costs.
Questionable coaching contracts:
- Not giving your client a copy of the signed agreement
- Not making it clear that you’re not a licensed therapist
- Drafting a contract that’s one-sided, favoring your company
4. Coveting your coaching clients
Mixing business with pleasure can be risky. You’re putting your coaching integrity on the line when you do. The reason why this is such a serious violation of ethics is you’re in a position of trust and power as a coach.
Lust out of control:
- Coaching your client to benefit you financially
- Breaking up relationships so you can be with the partner
- Coveting your client’s wealth
Now you have the 4 keys for how to commit life coaching fraud. Coaches must take a courageous stand for their clients because great coaches desire to make a difference in the lives of their clients. I strongly suggest you avoid committing any of these violations of loyalty and trust, so you won’t foolishly slip up and bring horrible shame upon yourself and the life coaching profession.
Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!
Donald R. Hunter, MBA, Certified Financial Planner
JTS Certified Accountability Coach
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My husband and I hired and paid for a “life coach” from last July 2010 until October 2010. She is not trained, lied about past employment and nearly broke up my marriage. Against my better judgement we became friends with her family. I voiced my misgivings but both my husband and she kept assuring me we could keep the boundaries clear. This was not the case. As the relationship began to deteriorate I learned that she kept phone messages I had left for her and played them for my husband and his friend. She was originally billing herself as a marketing expert so I hired her for that purpose and made her an administartor on my Facebook business page. She then out of vindictiveness unfriended me and started to dismantle this page. I have hard copied and archived abusive harrassing letters she emailed to me. In November we finally had to speak to a detective in our county office regarding cyberbullying. He advised us to send her a certified letter telling her to leave us alone or we will have to take legal action. We did this. She recently contacted me again. Because. according to her, she has had violent relationships, I am reluctant to take legal action. What can I do to shut her down before she hurts other people?? She continues to sell herself as a lifecoach on other social network sites
I am certain she is mentally disturbed. I know this because I have checked several websites that outline Borderline Personality Disorder and she fits the description. Please advise,
Robin Harris Rickard
The question is whether your priority is to help other people avoid this ‘coach’ in the future, or if you just want to end the situation and protect yourself.
If you want to end her contacting you and just keep yourself safe, then I would try giving no response to any contact she makes (phone, email, or otherwise). It usually takes two to tango, especially in relationships where one of them is mentally disturbed. People like this generally thrive off the response they get from their ‘enemy’. One the ‘enemy’ is no longer responsive, they seek drama elsewhere.
You’ll need to be persistent with this approach because she may try several times to get a response from you before moving on to another victim. If this approach doesn’t work within 3-4 months, then I’d start to consider more active defense options. Perhaps a restraining order, or other legal action. Sometimes that’s what it takes! Do whatever you must to protect yourself if you go in this direction… ultimately, no one cares as much about your safety and well-being than YOU.
If you really want to notify others about this ‘coach’, and the trouble that she is, then one of the best tools to use for this would be online ‘review sites’. These sites will allow you to post a review of her ‘services’ and your experience of them. Just be honest with your review. The amazing thing is that anyone doing online due-diligence about this person will likely come across your reviews and decide to go elsewhere for their coaching.
Short list of online review sites to consider:
yelp.com
bbb.org
linkedin.com
localdatabase.com
Jeff