To fully understand what a certified life coach is, we first need to know what a life coach is.
Life coaching is an incredibly varied, and highly rewarding career. It involves working closely with clients to determine their goals, their needs and desires, and to help them reach their full potential in all areas of their life.
As a life coach, you’ll help people to overcome obstacles, and excel in everything they do.
All our lives are rich and diverse, and so you’ll find the work of a life coach encompasses so many different areas and can take a multitude of forms.
Some coaches specialize in one particular area, such as career coaching or stress management, but many offer all-around multi-faceted assistance that is tailored to the unique requirements of each client.
In essence, a totally personalized service.
Let’s take a look at exactly what a life coach is, and what it means to be a certified life coach…
What areas of life can a life coach help with?
A life coach can offer a wealth of help and advice. From practical guidance, such as helping a client build a winning resume, to taking a more therapeutic role with well-being techniques and emotional support.
As a life coach, you may be called upon to offer career advice.
To help your client choose the right career path and set career goals. You may have a client who wants to change their job, perhaps to achieve a better work / life balance, or to find more fulfilling employment.
If they’re unsure as to which direction they should go in, by means of in-depth discussion and the use of other tools such as personality tests, a good life coach will provide ideas and inspiration.
Taking it to the next step, a life coach will help their client set goals and determine a realistic pathway to achieving these goals.
A life coach can also offer relationship guidance. This may include romantic relationships, but it could equally involve helping a person develop their interpersonal communication skills to ensure better working relationships or build more valuable friendships.
Personal development can take many forms, and help with this falls under the remit of the life coach. This could involve working on personal issues that are holding the client back. Building confidence, dealing with stress, and boosting mental well-being, could all be part of the work of a life coach.
That sounds like a lot right? You’re helping someone with their career, their relationships, their mental health. Is that all? Well, no, there could be even more.
The work of a life coach really knows no bounds, and that’s perhaps what attracts the most versatile and resourceful people to this profession.
So how else could a life coach be asked to assist their client? They may be asked to help with financial wellness, physical health goals, spirituality, self-esteem, motivation and more.
So what’s the difference between a life coach and a certified life coach?
Life coaching is an unregulated industry. This means that there are no minimum qualifications or other legal requirements to set up a business as a life coach.
Because of this, anyone can decide to be a life coach, and so when you search the internet for life coaching, you’ll find yourself overwhelmed with options.
It can be tough trying to work out which are the serious life coaches that are going to offer high-quality help and advice, and which are the hobbyists or those out to make a quick buck.
This is where life coaching certification comes into play – to differentiate between the top life coaches and the rest.
Why you should get life coaching certification
You know you have what it takes to excel as a life coach and you want to make it your full-time profession, but how do you let people know that you are a legitimate, skilled life coach? How do you make your business stand out from the crowd?
Testimonials, personal recommendations and reviews will all go a long way towards proving your abilities to a wider audience, but you’ll only achieve this status when your business is more well-established.
When you’re starting out, the single most effective method of proving your credentials is to become a certified life coach.
And exactly what is life coach certification?
Life coach certification is the certificate you receive when you successfully complete life coach training with a life coaching course.
As a certified life coach, you have that extra level of kudos. It’s solid proof that you’re dedicated to your profession, you’ve invested in it, and you’re fully trained. You’ve passed the course, and you’re qualified to be a life coach.
When there are so many life coaches out there, the savvy client always looks for a certified life coach, instantly dismissing any that can’t prove their credentials. As you can see, certification is incredibly valuable and it can certainly kick-start your life coaching career.
The advantages of being a certified life coach
Becoming a certified life coach comes with many advantages.
By taking the life coaching course that will ultimately reward you with your certification, you’ll learn so much which will enable you to better help your clients. Here is a sneak peak of whats taught in our life coaching course here at the Life & Career Institute.
- Unit One – Introduction to Life Coaching
- Unit Two – Understanding Human Behavior and Personal Development
- Unit Three – Coaching Methodologies and Techniques
- Unit Four – Building Rapport and Effective Communication Skills
- Unit Five – Finding Your Specialty as a Life Coach
- Unit Six – Creating Coaching Programs and Packages
- Unit Seven – Starting a Life Coach Business
- Unit Eight – Technology & Creating a Life Coach Website
- Unit Nine – Marketing Your Life Coaching Business
- Unit Ten – Client Management and Retention Strategies
Once completed, you’ll be able to officially call yourself a ‘certified life coach’, which will make you stand out from all the regular life coaches when someone is searching online for life coaching in their area.
You’ll also be able to showcase your certified status on your website, social media channels, business cards and more. You may also be able to earn more as a life coach!
How to become a certified life coach
So it makes sense to earn your life coaching certification, so you can be a step ahead of the competition and show the world that you’re an expert in your field.
The first step is to find a course that offers certification. There are plenty of life coaching courses available, many of which can be completed online, in your own time, but not all of them will result in certification.
It’s really important to choose one that rewards its students with a certificate at the end of the course as this is your key to proving your abilities, and it’s an invaluable verification of your qualifications that you can display on your website and marketing materials.
So before you sign up for a course, do check that you’re going to get a certificate upon completion.
