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Wendy Buckingham / Creator, Life Coaching Professionally
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Life Coaching Professionally
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This blog assists new and established coaches and those wanting to embrace life coaching as a career with independent information, coaching tips and practice growing strategies.
Free tools and tips to develop your coaching
You'll receive help with everything from choosing a training to promoting yourself and attracting clients as well as some useful coaching materials and special offers to develop your coaching.
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Does your personal FB help engage prospective clients
What I want to know, and I think other people who check out your profile want to know, is how do you relate to me in a coaching context so I get really frustrated when the space on your profile where you can post an intro to your coaching is left blank.
So do take the time and effort to fill this intro in with a few words about what you do professionally and a a link either to your coaching website, blog, LinkedIn, or your Facebook business page and don't miss out on this important marketing opportunity. You can see how I have done it on my personal FB page.
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Solving the Coaching Niche Dilemma
Indeed there sometimes seems to be so much pressure on new coaches to choose a niche that it has become more like niche madness.
Here’s what you need to know about choosing your coaching niche, or not, as well as how to create an engaging message to attract those ideal clients.
More to Achieving Goals Than 'You Can Do It'
I’m not a fan of the Ra Ra You Can Do I regardless approach to goal setting and achievement. It’s often a much more subtle and holistic approach that gets results.
Goals are not set in stone, they can be fluid and flexible and their success depends on so many factors.
These case studies from my coaching demonstrate this and might give you some good distinctions when working with your clients around their the goals and outcomes they want to achieve.
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A free boost for your coaching
Everything from choosing a training to starting your practice and really useful coaching materials as well as special offers.
Subscribe here and get your welcome gift of ideas to jumpstart your coaching practice.
Choosing The Right Life Coach Training For You
The challenge is finding the right one with a syllabus and focus that works for you, not someone else. It's not a one size fits all thing.
Although the basic training to be a coach is the same there are lots of other things to consider.
This information and questions to ask will help you make the right decision.
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Fabulous Resources to Help Grow Your Coaching Practice
If so, then take a visit to Marketing With Heart website where Cindy Schulson has some free templates and trainings that will really make a difference.
These include a Branding Template, A Niche Success Kit and free trainings including How to Create a Coaching Package That Sells.
Cindy also has a Facebook group you can join and a Mentor Club (paid) where she holds your hand as you go through marketing process for your coaching.
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A Free Tool To Create Your Captivating Brand Message
Expressing what you do authentically and congruently is a big challenge for many coaches.
So take advantage of this free Brand Message Template that will help you get clarity on your message and be able to express it simply and easily when you are asked “so what do you do?”
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A Free Summit To Grow Your Coaching
• How coaches let themselves down• How to take your coaching from proficient to profound• How to grow your email list as a coach• And SO much more!
All without any sales hype.
Starting June 1st, it's a fablous opportunity to learn from the most brilliant minds in the coaching industry!
More and how to register
Solving the "I have to get organised first" client challenge
The problem is that total organisation and being on top of things can rarely be achieved or permanently last! It’s an ongoing process to master.
You'll find some fantastic information and tools to help your clients get out of organising overwhelm and into control in The Productivity and Time Management Toolkit from the Coaching Tools Company.
Check out the many practical tips, techniques and concepts, which will help your clients transform, prioritise and make better use of the time they have.
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How To Solve Your Niche Dilemma
Take advantage of this free Niche Success Kit from my colleague Cindy Schulson who is a whiz at helping coaching get clarity on who their ideal client is and how to market to them.
She also has a great mentor program to hold your hand through the process and some great free trainings. Check them out, nothing to lose.
Speak Up And The Client Will Come
Read These 10 tips on getting started as a speaker (even if you are scared). Learn how to avoid “death by powerpoint and how to establish rapport with your audience.
Plus six ways to ensure a trouble-free presentation.
Goal Achieving Tips
So ask yourself: “Is this goal something I am in control of and can achieve by my own efforts, or is it something I am dependent on someone else’s efforts for success?”
If success is riding on the back of another person’s idea, ambition, inspiration or activities watch out! So if your goal is reliant, even partially, on another for success, make sure that person willing and, more importantly, capable of meeting your expectations.
Discover more vital tips for goal success
Things To Know About Life Coach Training
Certification is what is offered at the end of a coach specific training to show you have completed and maybe taken a test within the training offered.
Accreditation applies to a training not a coach. The training has been accredited to comply with the criteria and standards of an independent coaching organisation such as the ICF.
Credentialing is what coaches who reach a certain level of proficiency and coaching experience can apply for from some of the independent coaching associations such as the ICF.
Still confused about coach training. This will help you understand and make the right decision.
Goal Achieving Tips
With apologies to John Lennon’s - So Now This Is Christmas - it's time to acknowledge what you have done, rather than lament what you didn't do, or weren’t able to do in this memorable, for all the wrong reasons, 2020.
My New Year’s gift to you, as my valued subscriber to this blog, is Chapter 11- Celebration, The Great Motivator - from my book Be Your Own Goals Coach.
I hope it will help you and your coaching clients, celebrate the wins for 2020 however small, and turn any perceived failures, even into experiences from which you can grow and set the foundation for greater things in 2020.
Here’s to a peaceful, healthy, abundant and fun 2021
Business Card Ideas That "Work" For You
This tip is about creating a business card that will really do the job of making you memorable whether you give it out to a coaching prospect, a neighbour, someone you meet on the train or plane or a persona of influence in your niche who may refer your a client.
I’ve put together lots of creative business card ideas and mistakes to avoid so check them out.
Things To Know About Life Coach Training and Certification
Certification is what is offered at the end of a coach specific training to show you have completed and maybe taken a test within the training offered.
Accreditation applies to a training not a coach. The training has been accredited to comply with the criteria and standards of an independent coaching organisation such as the ICF.
Credentialing is what coaches who reach a certain level of proficiency and coaching experience can apply for from some of the independent coaching associations such as the ICF.
There's a lot more to it and this will help you understand and make the right decision.
Continue reading "Things To Know About Life Coach Training and Certification"
Life Coaching Accelerator Tips
But it doesn’t always happen. Something has occurred that has thrown them off track and is stopping them from being totally present.
I have solved this happening by asking at the beginning of every session “Are we Ok to go ahead or do you have anything on your mind we need to talk about first?”
Clearing the space right at the start of every session makes sure you are not trying to coach over a “withhold” that it taking the clients attention.
For more coaching tips your coach training may not have taught you I invite you to subscribe to my free Life Coaching Accelerators:
Goal Setting and Planning Secrets
This goal achievement secret comes from the chapter in my book Be Your Own Goals Coach on creating a personal’ Success Policy’ around the strategies and behaviours you need to develop to give you the best chance of success in reaching your goals.
Always aim to get the facts about an issue or question you have rather than making an assumption or listening to an opinion. And get those facts from someone who really is in a position to know them, and is not just guessing or assuming themselves.
Weight Loss Coaching v. Therapy Boundaries
Irrespective of the amount of coach training you have undertaken, if you identify yourself as coaching in health related coaching niches, and are not a qualified and licensed therapist in that area, take heed or you could be on shaky ground.
If you are going to offer any sort of health advice on your social media profiles or website, outside the boundaries of coaching, make sure that the reader understands the boundaries of your qualifications and does not take your suggestions as medical advice.You can see how I have demonstrated this in the disclaimer on my website article on weight-loss goals to ensure I do not stray into the territory of eating disorders
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Insider Life Coaching Tips
Much better for you and your clients to ask “What do I want and how can I have it?
The thing is that whilst you are going inwards looking for answers not much is happening to solve the problem. It’s Ok if you immediately know what you did to create a particular situation, or what you learned from it to move on. Otherwise you waste a lot of energy searching for an answer that may or may not be there whilst standing still.
The History of Life Coaching
It’s not surprising that many of those who take up what they think is life coaching have no real idea about its origins or parameters. They may never have heard of Thomas Leonard a financial adviser who developed the concept of life coaching in the early 1990s and started the first life coach specific training - CouchU, or as it was called then Coach University.
He also founded the International Coach Federation and created the first credentialing system and code of ethics for life coaches. So learn about what prompted him to move from financial advising to life coaching and how all evolved.
Finding The Right Life Coach Training For YOU!
Anyone can create a life coaching course and offer certification at the end of it. The thing is that the certification is only as good as the person or school offering it. What really gives the course credibility is that it is accredited by a truly independent and authentic coaching association that sets standards and ethics such as, but not exclusively, the ICF.
I’m not saying that all certification courses that are not accredited are no good, or that every accredited course is perfect and great value. But there are a lot being offered that will fall short of standards and not give you the credibility you are looking for as a coach or value for money.
So check them out carefully with this information and list of possible questions to ask so you don’t end up disappointed and wasting your money.
Continue reading "Finding The Right Life Coach Training For YOU!"
Life Coaching Tips
Here’s a technique that has worked for me when inertia sets in. Go forward in your mind to the end of the day and look back. How will you feel if you have spent the day procrastinating? The imagine how you will feel if, as you snuggle down to sleep, you have overcome that inertia, and can acknowledge yourself for having taken even a little step towards your goal - such as a phone call, an email written, a Facebook post – whatever. I guarantee it will life your spirit and get your moving again.
Distinctions On Life Coaching Fees
I learned the hard way when I was quite within my refund policy rights to refuse a refund for two unused session, which I did. The results was a happy client who then became resentful, and sent a nasty email.
So by all means have a firm refunds policy but also use your judgement with each request. Sometimes it is better to sacrifice a few dollars (even if you really need them), rather than have an ex-client out there who will speak ill of you and certainly won’t refer you.
Tips To Accelerate Your Life Coaching Career
Stephen Covey, in his book Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, has ‘renewal’ as the seventh and most neglected habit. Specific time out for self-nurturing, in whatever form that takes – rest, recreation, time with family – it is a vital well-being and success strategy
When you are overwhelmed, frazzled, needy and tired are you attractive and encouraging to be with to your family, friends or even your clients?
So do allow yourself to take time out to smell the roses and look after you. Sit in the sun, go for a walk, book a massage, have coffee with a friend or, CV19 permitting, go away for a weekend. Even the most inspired and energetic of us need renewal time to regroup and regenerate. It really pays off.
For more good ideas and great coaching tips for you and your clients, I invite you to subscribe to for lots more tips to help you and your clients
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Tips to Accelerate Your Life Coaching
It may seem much easier, quicker (and less confronting) to handle a difficult situation by email, text or messenger than making a phone call.Yet for sensitive communications it is usually not the best way. Written communication invariably lacks the tone and essence that comes with the spoken word, so is open to misinterpretation.
Speaking physically allowed for quick questions and answers and, most importantly, preserved and strengthened the relationship.So before you message and text on important or sensitive issues, do consider whether it would be better and more satisfactory to pick up the phone.
I invite you to subscribe to my free regular Life Coaching Accelerators for lots more tips to help you and your clients.
Powerful Coaching Tips To Get Great Client Results
Try “When were you last OK?” Then follow it up with “What or who happened?”
So often, something that somebody said or did to your client, or an event that occurred, can send their energy spiralling down without their even realising what is happening. Something less obvious that CV19, for instance.
Just helping them identify and acknowledge when they were last OK and what then happened to throw them, can often be enough to pop them out of their stress and confusion and restore their energy and intention.
Of course you may have to do some more coach probing around the issue, especially if they have trouble spotting the trigger, but the main key is being able to help them identify when they were last doing well and what happened to change things.
It’s also a great questions to use on yourself when you feel YOU have lost your mojo.
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How To Have Success With Weight Loss Goals
But losing weight can be one of the hardest goals to achieve. There are so many insidious challenges your clients can face that get in the way.
To make weight loss goals easier to achieve I’ve put together six little used tips specifically to support goals to lose weight. They will help you coach your clients to have the result they are looking for and you to have some weight loss success stories to brag about.
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Do You Know How To Fire a Client?
And this is far more likely to happen when you are new to coaching and eagerly take on all comers.
The solution as I now see it is not to descend into self-reproach and feelings of inadequacy (I’ve been there) but to end the coaching relationship elegantly and put it down to an experience to learn from.
So how do you literally fire a client so there is no, or a minimum, of hard feeling. Not all will go quietly, so you need to be kind, yet firm. This will help you get it right.