In today's video, I'll go over some very clear steps on how to become a certified
life coach with an additional bonus at the end. I spend a fair amount of time in
my current psychology practice. Coaching coaches. Life coaches, people who know
that they can make a difference for other people but they don't have the
certification or the degree or the license that I have as a clinical
psychologist. They can still help people in a lot of important ways and I would
say the first step, if you want to become a certified life coach is to get clear
about your "why". Something is drawing you to this. Notice that. You feel some
passion notice that you've gotten feedback from other people that you've
had some important conversations with. You'll notice that. Notice all of these
things. What is it that drives you and lights you up and turns you on about
this? From a lot of personal and vicarious experience, I can tell you that
if your why is strong enough then you'll be able to overcome all of the difficult
challenges with the how. And there are some significant challenges to becoming
a life coach. So get clear about that "why". Don't ignore the calling that you feel
you've received. There's a reason why you are personally feeling drawn to this so
let's pay attention to that. Now as you become clear about your "why", the
next caution that I would give you is to watch out for the "landmines". My wife and
I just watched a movie recently about a marine who was given the responsibility
of identifying and flagging all of the landmines. So that they could save lives
in this war zone. Fascinating movie and it got me thinking about the landmines
that we could easily step on when we want to launch into something like life
coaching. There's some good news and some bad news. The good news is, it doesn't
require a special license or process of training or specific credential. The bad
news is, it doesn't require any license or specific training or credential. The
bad news is also the good news because you can get into this even without a
credential. But so can anyone else. So the industry starts to get plugged up or
inundated with people who don't know what they're doing or they're not even
strong about their wire. They just think this would be a fun thing to do. If
that's you it's probably not for you. If you're one of those that is really
driven by that purpose then you have an opportunity to get involved in this
without a credential and there's going to be a lot of other people who are
doing the same thing. And because of the lack of training and experience, a lot of
people step on landmines like practicing outside of their area of competence. You
are not qualified as a life coach to diagnose mental illness for example. You
are not qualified as a life coach to be someone's attorney. Those are licensed
activities. Therapy, practicing law, practicing medicine. Now I pull some of
those out because it might be obvious. But it's easy to cross over the
boundaries and the barriers. You got to know where those landmines are. One of
the best things that you could do is to interview people who are already in the
industry, who are already doing it. They can save you all kinds of time and
headaches and money and the learning curve to get where you want to be. Access
their experience and bring it into your life so that you don't have to make all
the same mistakes that they made. Maybe you won't have to step on those
landmines. That leads me to my next suggestion which is to explore some
educational opportunities. Certification implies that you've got some training.
Some kind of experience in a particular program or process that allows you to
someone else through that process. You don't have to have an extensive formal
education to do this but you do need to be educated. I think it was Mark Twain
that said, "Never let school interfere with your education". So I'm not talking
about necessarily a formalized schooling process. If you want to be certified in
someone's program, then be humble enough to trust them in their training process
so that you can get the education that you need to do the thing that they're
already doing. Get some education and start looking at how to expand your own
knowledge base so that you can assist those clients that you hope to serve.
I've been talking around this issue of certification if you want to become a
certified life coach and implies a certifying entity or organization. The
state for example most states in the United States certify or license people
to do certain things. I already mentioned an attorney, a psychologist, a doctor.
Those are licenses that can be obtained from the state. Certification is a
specific training experience that's provided by someone who's offering a
very niche area. To be certified as a live on purpose certified coach for
example. You would go through a training process that I've put together that
includes the principles that I feel are important in order to help someone in a
life coaching setting. There are others out there. Explore what's available and
find a certification that aligns with your beliefs and your values and what
you believe to be true about how people operate. When you are aligned with the
philosophy behind any particular program, it makes sense to get certification in
that program because you will be able to sustain it. If you don't agree with it or
if it rubs you wrong then that's probably not the right certification for
you. Even if it's prestigious or seems to have the other things that you
want. You need to make sure that you're aligned with it philosophically. Now on
final suggestion on how to become a certified life coach. This is not a
part-time thing that you do on the side. Sure, it might start out that way.
And most of the coaches that I'm training right now and certifying in my
program and process, are doing something else as their regular day job but
eventually they want to move into this as more of a career choice. I think to be
really successful you have to treat this like a real job. Maybe I should put that
in air quotes, "real job". Because sometimes we get hired to do a job that we're not
passionate about, it pays the bills sure but we don't see ourselves being there
for eternity. Life coaching is a legitimate way to create value for other
people and thereby is a legitimate business opportunity. I think the only
moral reason to create any business is that it creates value for other people.
It elevates or enhances their life in a way that they appreciate and life
coaching is one of those opportunities. It's something that you have to take
very seriously and you'll need to put in some hours and some homework and some
diligence to establish the clarities that are necessary for you to move
forward with it. It's one of the most rewarding things that you can do. And
there are some challenges but you can shortcut a lot of those by doing these
steps that we've talked about here today. Best wishes. I promised you a bonus and
here it comes. I've put together a webinar that
clarifies seven different areas that are essential if you want to put together a
life coaching practice. Go to liveonpurpose.coach/webinar
and you'll see what I'm talking about there. I hope that that helps. I'll see
you again later.