More Career Watch Blogs
- Choosing Careers ...when you have more than one interest
- Career: Radio Show Host
- Career Watch: Being a Life Coach
- Career Watch: Wedding Planner
- Deciding Your Career
- Career Watch - Life of an Art Director
- Career Watch - The Life of a Copy Writer
- Career Watch - Personal Trainer
- Career Watch - Construction Manager
- Career Watch - Stylist
September 2008 Blogs
- Real Girl: Mariah
- Ask a Girl: be any age, life at home, beauty to you, you in 20 years
- Eyebrows, Nose Piercings, Hair Dying
- Sweating and smelly, what's a girl to do?
- Sports: Curling
- Getting beyond your fears to make new friends!
- Career Watch: Being a Life Coach
- Gas Prices - should it matter to you?
- Body Image + Eating Disorders - It hurts the whole family...
- Ask a Guy: teen role model, famous band, best food, you in 20 years
- Health: Keeping your BALANCE
- On your mark, get set...GO! Women in the Olympics.
- Death Cab for Cutie, Indie/Rock
- Sister Squabbles
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
- Recent RAKs and RAK Ideas
Career Watch: Being a Life Coach
CAREER WATCH, September 2008, by Jenifer Merifield
Life Coach
What Is a Life Coach?
We’ve all heard of coaches in basketball, hockey or other sports, or maybe you’ve heard of a career coach or birthing coach. Becoming more and more popular are Life Coaches, like Nada Adams. “I consider myself a Success Coach,” says Nada. “I talk to my clients about the things they want success with in their lives, like; work, school, relationships, health and so on. I encourage and motivate them to reach their goals, I hold them accountable and help them see things from different perspectives. My job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that they already have.”
Nada has helped many people enhance their quality of life and achieve amazing things. Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs.
What Does a Coach Do?Some coaches work from an office, but nowadays, many work from the comforts of their own homes and make their own hours.
“I love being home based... no more crazy commuting in rush hour traffic for me! I do my sessions on the phone and I find it gives people the privacy and comfort to be open without the eye to eye contact.
I begin my day with a green tea and some quiet time to mentally design the kind of day I want to have. Just before my first call in the morning, I say a prayer asking for guidance and wisdom throughout my day.” Nada believes that her clients pick up on her energy so she stays as positive as possible.
“I coach just over 25 clients per month with between 4-8 clients per day, for 4 days a week. Each call is about 45 minutes and I schedule my calls in 1 hour increments so that I have a 15 min break between clients. I try to drink lots of water to keep my energy up, and I use a cordless phone and headset to make sure I am moving around.
What Makes it a Great Profession?
Nada has been told by many that she was born to coach. Not only is she great at what she does, but she loves it too. “I was introduced to coaching by learning about personal growth. I have always been interested and intrigued by Psychology but didn’t want to become a therapist. Coaching is forward moving whereas therapy rehashes the past to process where you’ve felt wounded. Rather than focusing on the past, coaching helps clients accept their pasts and focus on moving forward, by feeling empowered and optimistic about their futures and goals.”
Nada is very grateful to have chosen a direct and compassionate style of delivering what she needs to say to her clients, “it feels incredibly freeing to speak my truth! It doesn’t even feel like work” she explains.
What Kind of Salary or Pay Can a Life Coach Expect?
“I’m fortunate because I’ve gotten to a financial level where I don’t need a second job as many coaches do” says Nada.
Starting out, coaches may charge $25-$75/call where each client has 2-3 calls per month. A Professional Certified Coach is about $100-$250/call. A Master Certified Coach charges $200-$300/call.
How Do I Become a Life Coach?
There are coaches who are certified, and those who are not. “Being certified doesn’t always mean they are better than those who aren’t... it only means they’ve been through a rigid process of criticism and guidance to adhere to a specific system.” explains Nada. “The ICF ‘International Coach Federation’ is the governing body that regulates the coaching industry. They approve schools to certify coaches and they can also certify too. I attended CTI (Coaches Training Institute) core curriculum training – which trained me in all 5 core modules of co-active coaching. ‘CoachU’ is another great school to check out. The biggest benefit is they provide hundreds of coaching resources/tools to use with future clients after you’re done.
To become a Professional certified coach you need 750 actual hours of coaching to apply to ICF for that status. Personally, I’m blessed with over 2500 coaching hours in the last 5 years of coaching, which qualifies me to become Master Certified.
Nada’s Message To You
Coaching is an industry with exponential growth. Nada says, “If you’re interested in becoming a coach, read books on coaching and develop your ‘3rd level listening skills’. Continue to pursue your current dreams and goals because your skill set will enhance your coaching when you’re ready to begin. You must also genuinely love helping and dealing with people. If you’re not into people, I would focus on something else. No matter what skills you have, you are in the business of marketing – promoting yourself. Learn as much as you can about marketing and be proud to sell your services!”
~Jenifer