A lot of people I've talked to feel really passionate about going this direction but they're
not sure if they're ready. You can use this tool to see if you're ready to become a life coach.
We're going to use this tool to determine just how ready you are for this adventure to become a life
coach. There are 7 crucial clarities that you need to gain in order to put yourself in position to
get started. We'll go over each of the 7. And as we do so, you'll give yourself a little rating on
each one. From 1 to 5, 1 is "I'm not clear about this at all" and 5 is "I am crystal clear about
this". Get a piece of paper or something that you can keep track for each of the 7 clarities. We'll
do each of them in turn. And the seventh one just might save everything for you. The first thing you
need to be clear about is why you want to do this. What is your why? What drives you? This is not
easy. And if you don't have a strong enough why, you won't be able to handle all the hard How's
that we're going to get to later on. So, be clear about your why. What brings you to this?
Little caveat: If you want to do this because you think you can make a bunch of money doing it,
you probably need a different why. I'm not against you're making money as a life coach. In fact,
I think you should and I can help you find ways to do just that. But if that is your primary
motivator, I don't think it's going to carry you through all of the things that are necessary
to really be successful doing this. Most people who are successful establishing a life coaching
practice feel called to it. Now, some of you are already nodding. If you know exactly what
I'm talking about then this is probably for you. You feel that it's part of your divine
purpose on earth. It's something that you were put here for. It lights you up. If that is your why,
probably you're going to have the energy you need to handle everything else.
Let's get clear about what our why is. Now, that piece of paper asked you to get out,
jot down why and give yourself a rating 1 to 5. 1 meaning "I'm not very clear about why I want to do
this". 5 meaning, "I'm crystal clear about this. It's my calling." And any number in between. Just
give yourself a rating. The second thing that we need to be perfectly clear about is who we
can best serve. I believe everyone has a group of people that they could uniquely serve or elevate.
And we call this your tribe. Seth Godin wrote a book called Tribes. And in that book he pointed
out that you are uniquely designed to serve this particular group of people. And if you don't
show up to serve them, they're lacking their chief in this tribe. It is your tribe after all. This
is extremely important because i've found that most people who want to get into life coaching
have this desire, this passion. It's like it lights them up to think about
helping people in very meaningful ways. And usually when I ask, "Well,
who do you want to help?" -"Oh, everybody. I want to help everybody on the planet."
Okay, it's really really difficult to design marketing messages for everybody because they've
all got different interests and different desires and different goals, right? So,
we have to be clear about who we serve because then we can figure out how to reach them. It
drives our marketing. I want to throw you a little bone here because I believe that your powerful
message could probably benefit everyone, right? But here's something that I trained my coaches on.
If you will take the effort to get clear about who specifically you can serve and target them, you're
going to feel like you're leaving people out, okay? But focus on who you can uniquely serve.
That will help you to actually reach them and from that place, you can branch out and start to serve
others as well. We're going to start narrow and then widen it out. If you start too wide,
you're going to have a really hard time with the marketing piece. So, trust me on this.
You got to be clear about who you serve. Take a moment to give yourself that rating, 1 to 5,
okay? 1 is "I'm not clear at all about this" and 5 is "I'm super crystal clear about who I serve". 1
to 5, give yourself a rating on your paper right now. The third thing that we need to become very
clear about is what. Meaning, what we have to offer? What package or process or product comes
with the coaching that we're going to be offering our people? I have models that I've developed
in my coaching. That becomes a real core of the what that I offer. This has allowed me to design
courses and trainings and presentations that can support the coaching that I'm doing. Now,
I'm just using that as an example. What is it that you have to offer? In addition to the content
or offering that we have for our clients, we have to have a clear sales strategy as well.
And I've included this in the what because we need to know what to do on the sales end of things.
Marketing and sales, there are processes on the business end of our coaching
that really trip people up sometimes. Take a minute right now to think about what your offering
is and what your sales strategy is on the business end of things and give yourself a rating 1 to 5
about how clear you are about the what. The next thing you need to be perfectly clear about
is when. When is the right time? The fact that you're watching this video
tells me something about that. But everyone who watches has different reasons and seasons.
Those are the 2 considerations I would invite you to start to think about. There are a lot
of reasons that we can give ourselves for not launching. Can you think of a few? And sometimes
those reasons simply become excuses. But let's think also of seasons. As I meet with coaches,
they're all in a different season of their life. And if you have little children at home
for example as a full-time parent, well that's a season that we have to honor and respect. That's
going to take some time and some effort from you. So, it may not be the right season for you.
Think about the reasons and seasons and just how clear you are about when is the right time for you
to launch your coaching practice and have all of the systems in place to support that. Think
about the when, how clear are you. Go to your paper write down, 1 through 5, how clear are you
on the when? The fifth thing that we really need to be clear about is a very practical one. Where?
Where am I going to interact with my clients? We're in a world now where virtual interaction
is the rule more than the exception. And this is good news because your office doesn't have to
be restricted to some small geographical area. Now, you can decide to see people face to face
and that would by necessity, limit some of the area within which you could practice.
Decide where this is going to happen. And whether you have a physical office or a virtual office,
there's going to be some setup and there's going to be some costs and considerations for the actual
physical accommodations of your practice. Like I said, a very practical one. Now,
pull out that paper, let's do a rating 1 to 5. How clear are you about where you will interact
with your clients? The sixth thing that we have to be clear about is how. And specifically,
"How will I market my services and deliver my services?" You'll remember back in number 2,
I think. It was we were talking about being clear about your tribe. Once you know who you serve,
then you can start to work out the how to reach them. This is marketing. That's what it's all
about. And the delivery of services --"How will I do that?" You have to think through
the practicalities at some point about, "Okay, what if somebody sets up an appointment with me?"
Well, that's a great problem to have. I've found that as I work with beginning coaches,
they're not even sure exactly what they're going to say or how they're going to serve that client.
So, we get to think through that a little bit and come up with some clarity about the how. Here's
the seventh thing that we need to be perfectly clear about. And this is the one that I promised
you upfront would save you a lot of pain... And probably money and heartache and all kinds
of other things. Be clear about the ethics and limitations around your coaching and your coaching
practice. The biggest problem that I see beginning and even sometimes experienced coaches make
is that they practice outside of their area of competence or in some cases, licensure.
Now, in most jurisdictions, being a coach doesn't require a specific license or credential.
And that's what causes the problem. You cannot for example, as a life coach
practice brain surgery. Now, I use that as an obvious example, you're probably thinking, "Well,
yeah. I'm not trained in brain surgery". Right. But there are other areas of practice that are
a little less obvious. Like therapy, for example. Therapy is something that I am personally licensed
and credentialed to do (psychotherapy)because I'm a licensed clinical psychologist.
I don't practice therapy now. I practice exclusively coaching
which doesn't require that licensing credential. But if you cross the line over into therapy,
you would be practicing without a license and that is something that you can be prosecuted for in
most jurisdictions. That's why you got to be clear about the ethics and the limits of your practice.
Don't try to do this yourself. Consult with someone who can help you to know what the
appropriate limits are so that you're always practicing within an area that you have competence
and you're fully legally able to do that. Take a moment to do the 1 to 5 rating. How clear
are you about the limits and the ethics around your practice? 1 to 5. Now that you've got a
score on each of those 7 clarities, let's use that to find out what's next for you.
One great way for you to do this is to attend a webinar. I spent a whole hour talking about these
7 clarities where you can get engaged with that. Go to liveonpurpose.coach (not ".com". ".coach")
/webinar. And that will get you into a little more depth on what we've talked about today
and create an opportunity for you to connect with one of our coaches to see what's next.