The benefits of becoming a coach are multidimensional. It can lead to personal, professional and financial success. We are listing some of them here-

Professionally:

It can be a taken up as a profession which is complimentary to many professions like training, consulting, therapy, mentoring, image consulting, health & fitness, astrology, tarot cards etc.

It is a profession that provides freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere and anytime, globally with an opportunity to earn a significant income.

It is a very fulfilling and meaningful profession as well. For someone who wants to do some meaningful work, earn decent income, work for lesser hours, have freedom and flexibility of time, contribute to other’s life, becoming a professional coach is the answer.

Personally:
Becoming a coach can be a very satisfying, fulfilling and noble. It can be someone’s way of paying back, serving others and contributing to life and the society at large. Becoming a coach can bring many personal benefits like becoming a better human being, discovering your true self, knowing and living your life purpose, getting rid of your unwanted beliefs, behaviours, patterns, thoughts etc, achieving success in all areas of life, leading a fulfilled life etc.

Of various governing bodies in the coaching industry, ICF (International Coach Federation) by and large is the most credible, supportive, meaningful, happening and recognised one. It has kind of revolutionised the coaching industry and brought structure to the whole gamut of things around coaching.

For a coach, having an ICF credential ensures high quality learnings and brings credibility which in turns fetches better and high paying clients.
Please feel free to visit ICF website to know more.

The process of getting a coaching credential ensures learning of powerful tools, techniques, processes, concepts, modalities, structures etc which can help a coach deliver better results.

It provides the credibility which results in more clients for the coach. Here are some results from a survey conducted by ICF:

The key factors that go into making a successful coach are:

Skills– There are plethora of tools and techniques that successful coaches use to help clients achieve results. Just being exposed to few vs many can make a lot of difference to a coach’s success. Also, knowing about the tools and having inculcated them by practising are two different things. Qualities of a good coach must be inculcated at the behaviour level and not at the knowing level.

Passion– A Coach must be passionate about helping others and making a positive difference to their life.

Credibility – Credibility comes from your past background ie what were you doing before you became a coach as well as certifications. Marshall Goldsmith and ICF (International Coach Federation) are some of the key and credible certifying bodies in this space.

ICF offers three levels of Credentials:
Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Master Certified Coach (MCC).

For each level one has to do 4 things – Undergo training of certain number of hours, accumulate certain number of coaching practice hours, Get mentored for 10 hours spread over a period of 3 months, and then clear the evaluation process. Given below are the requirements for each level.

Each of these credentials are valid for 3 years. Generally, one can start with an ACC credential, upgrade to PCC and then on to MCC.

Disclaimer: The above information has been compiled from the ICF website as on 16^th August 2019 and can be changed by ICF at any time.

Coaches often use words like Life, business, Executive, Career, Relationship, Wellness etc with word coach depicting the niche they are working/operating in.

The skills of a coach in any of these niches are majorly (about 80+%) same. ICF does not give different credentials for Life coaching or business coaching or executive coaching etc. It has defined 11(and now 8) core coaching competencies and code of conduct and ethics which is same for all coaches. ICF credentials coaches on basis of their understanding, usage and depth of knowledge in these competencies and not on the basis of the niche.

Then why do coaches use these words. Here are some solid reasons for doing so

• It makes marketing sense to build your brand in one specific area. With time one becomes known to work in that area.
• Depending on what the coach is passionate about- wants to coach CEOs, make difference in the life of individuals, help improve relations etc.
• Depending on their past life and work experience- an ex CEO/HOD may want to work as a CEO or Executive Coach.

Following are the key factors that one should consider while looking for a training program

Delivery
It the training delivered Online or face to face or a Combo of both.
Most of the people prefer face to face.

Structure
What is the structure of the program, how many days, how are they spread, How much coaching experience does the program inculcate etc.
for example, a 4day+4day structure is better than 8 days at a stretch, 3day-3day-2day is better than 4day+4day and likewise.

Content
What is the content of the program, Is it based on a single concept or multiple concepts, how many tools/modalities does one learn

Credentials
Is the program accredited or approved by a governing body

No. of Hours
How many hours of training does the program entail, Of the total hours of the program, how many hours of training is in presence of the trainer.
In some cases, while the total hours are 60 the training in presence of trainer is 48.

Trainer
What credentials does the trainer hold -an ACC or a PCC or a MCC

Price
Price needs to be measured not only in terms of money but also time and effort involved.

Support

What is the post program support, are you being assured of unrealistic things, what is the Community like.

Following factors can be considered to help you decide your niche

• Your past work experience
• Your passion – in what area you want to work
• The opportunity

Yes, Ofcourse

It is like any other professsion/business. Coaches who are successful look at coaching as business and focus on all elements of running the business- not just delivering the coaching service.