by John Mason and staff of ACS Distance Education

CONTENTS

CREDITS 4

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 5
Role of the life coach 5

It’s not counselling 6

How to become a life coach 7

Nature & scope of life coaching 7

Why people employ a life coach 8

Who becomes a life coach? 9

Pros & cons of working as a life coach 10

Who do life coaches work for? 11

CHAPTER 2 HOW YOU CAN HELP SOMEONE TO CHANGE 12

Towards change 12

Change theories 13

Building a relationship 17

Establishing areas for change 18

Life coaching methods 20

Assessing success 25

Ongoing support 26

CHAPTER 3 GETTING YOURSELF RIGHT FIRST 27

What tools does a life coach need 27

What guides your actions 32

Supervision 36

Debriefing 39

CHAPTER 4 DETERMINING WHAT PEOPLE NEED HELP WITH 41

How to decide if you can help 41
Areas for coaching 42

CHAPTER 5 RISK MANAGEMENT 49

Identifying risk factors 49

CHAPTER 6 THE FINAL STEP - HOW TO BECOME A LIFE COACH 54

Working for someone else 54

Working for yourself 55

Where to start 56

Develop a business plan 60

The planning process 61

Summary of a successful business 63

APPENDIX 64
Distance learning and online courses 64

Acs global partners 67


CREDITS
© Copyright: John Mason
First published in 2011 by John Mason
as an e-book
Text and Photos by: John Mason
and staff of ACS Distance Education
Editorial: Staff of ACS Distance
Education including:
Tracey Jones
Gavin Cole
Miriam ter Borg
Layout: Stephen Mason
Distributed through:
ACS Distance Education
P O Box 2092, Nerang MDC,
Queensland, Australia, 4211
admin@acs.edu.au
www.acsbookshop.com
P O Box 4171, Stourbridge, DY8 2WZ,
United Kingdom
admin@acsedu.co.uk
www.acsebooks.com
ISBN: 978-0-9873176-8-1
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Disclaimer
The information in this book is derived
from a broad cross section of resources
(research, reference materials and
personal experience) from the authors
and editorial assistants in the academic
department of ACS Distance Education.
It is, to the best of our knowledge,
composed as an accurate representation
of what is accepted and appropriate
information about the subject, at the time
of publication.
The authors fully recognise that
knowledge is continually changing,
and awareness in all areas of study
is constantly evolving. As such, we
encourage the reader to recognise
that nothing they read should ever
be considered to be set in stone.
They should always strive to broaden
their perspective and deepen their
understanding of a subject, and before
acting upon any information or advice,
should always seek to confirm the
currency of that information, and the
appropriateness to the situation in which
they find themselves.
As such, the publisher and author do not
accept any liability for actions taken by
the reader based upon their reading of
this book.
 > BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Life coaching is a relatively new profession - although coaches have

been around for a long time in the guise of trainers, instructors,
managers and tutors for various professions and disciplines. Life
coaching is not easily defined, but it is a type of mentoring which
focuses on helping individuals to achieve what they would like to
achieve and thereby to lead more fulfilling lives. Unlike other forms of
coaching, it takes place outside of the workplace and is concerned
with all aspects of a person’s life.

Life coaches help individuals in many different areas of their life, such as:

■■ Debt advice ■■ Practical life skills e.g. time management

■■ Weight loss ■■ Physical wellbeing

■■ Careers counselling ■■ Physical image

■■ Health ■■ Public and professional image

■■ Relationships ■■ Setting goals

■■ Self-esteem And so on...

ROLE OF THE LIFE COACH

Life coaches work in a variety of areas
with their clients. A client may come
to them because they wish to achieve
weight loss, for example. They may
have tried every available diet, attended
slimming clubs and so on, but been
unable to lose weight. So a life coach
may sit them down and discuss with
them how the way they are living their
life is affecting their ability to lose Life coaches help
weight. They may look at the crunch
points in their day when the client individuals in many
eats. They may review their diet, and different areas of their
make suggestions on how they can fit
exercise into their day.
life, such as a person’s
professional image.

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Some life coaches may also be experts
in other areas, for example, fitness.
As such, they may be able to offer
fitness advice along with other coaching
advice. Coaches who are not experts
in that area may refer them on to other
professionals who can help them. For
example, a life coach may work with
a client on how to change their life in
terms of their eating, but may also refer
them to a personal trainer to help them
with their fitness or a nutritionist to
assess their dietary intake.
Some life coaches may
be able to offer fitness
advice along with other
coaching advice.
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IT’S NOT COUNSELLING
Life coaching can often be confused
with counselling, but they are not the
same thing. There is some overlap in
that as a life coach you are helping a
client with their difficulties, but it is not
a therapy. A counsellor encourages the
client to see what their problems are,
and then to come to a solution that suits
them - it is more problem-focused. A
life coach, on the other hand, can be
more directive in their approach. They
may offer advice to the client and help
them to set goals and targets so as
to achieve what they want - it is more
solution focused.
Furthermore, counsellors deal mainly
with client problems which are seriously
affecting their lives whereas a coach
deals with things the client would like
to achieve or improve. There is an
assumption that life coaching clients
are mentally healthy and have the
intellectual capability and determination
to succeed. Life coaching does not have
to stop once a client has achieved a
particular goal. The coach may stay with
them to make sure they keep on track,
and new goals may be set. Counselling
usually ends once a problem or issue
has been overcome.
Although life coaching is not the
same as counselling, there are some
similarities. Some life coaches offer
assistance with milder forms of mental
health issues such as anxiety and
depression, but only if they have the
training to do this. Some psychologists
who are advocates of the ‘positive
psychology’ movement offer ‘evidence-
based life coaching’ where they use
scientifically derived principles and
practices to guide their coaching.

HOW TO BECOME A
LIFE COACH
How to become a life coach varies
from country to country. It is possible to
take courses to qualify as a life coach.
Many of these are offered by coaching
institutes but there are some available
through government-run colleges. Some
private institutions also offer coaching
courses via distance education which can
vary considerably in subject matter and
number of hours taken to complete them.
Other people may find that they are able
to use their experiences from previous
jobs, such as coaching, counselling
and so on, and use that to develop
themselves more as a life coach. Some
countries have certain requirements
as to the qualifications and experience
required by a life coach, whilst other
countries have not yet formally stated
the qualifications or experience
required. To date, however, the industry
remains unregulated in most countries.
If you are planning on working as a
life coach, it is advisable to check in
the country you intend to work in as
to the requirements for that country.
You should consider things such as:
■■ Qualifications needed
■■ Experience required
■■ Registrations with organisations
required.
In order to provide the best possible
service to a client, it is important to
undertake a course in life coaching.
People seeking a life coach will at least
want to know that they have undertaken
some kind of training.
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NATURE & SCOPE OF
LIFE COACHING
Whilst different life coaches adopt
different approaches to how they
deliver life coaching, the key aims of
life coaching include the following:
■■ Helping the client to get closer
to what they want to achieve and
where they want to be in their life.
■■ Finding ways to help clients think
more positively about themselves
and their achievements.
■■ Helping clients to step out of their
comfort zone and realise their full
potential.
Some of the key components of life
coaching are:
■■ Establishing a trusting relationship
with a client in which they feel
comfortable to openly discuss the
areas of their life they would like to
improve.
■■ Introducing the client to techniques
and strategies they can use to
combat self-destructive thoughts
and beliefs.
■■ Helping the client to set goals and
find ways to make positive changes
in their life.
■■ Encouraging the client to identify
success and build on it.
■■ Providing ongoing support to keep
clients on track.
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WHY PEOPLE EMPLOY need to eat a healthier diet and exercise

more. To reduce my debts, I need to
A LIFE COACH spend less and maybe earn more.

All kinds of different people from Nevertheless, whilst it may be obvious

different professions and backgrounds,
and from different age groups, may seek
the services of a life coach. There is no
specific group to whom life coaches aim
their services, though some may choose
to specialise in particular areas.
Generally speaking though, the types of
clients attracted to having a life coach
all want to improve at least one area of
their life be it to change their weight,
their career, to move into a new course
or training, to help themselves move
out of debt, or some other matter. It
may not be restricted to just one aspect
of their life. For instance, they may
wish to get a new job but lack the job
interview skills and the ability to find a
new job. They don’t just fancy a change,
but want a new job to help themselves
get out of debt. Therefore, issues can
be intertwined.
what needs to be done, it is not
always that easy to do. People can
get stuck in a cycle of bad habits and
poor behaviours. They can struggle
to change that behaviour or they may
not even realise that their behaviour is
what is causing the problem. You must
have heard people saying things like –
“Well, I stick to the diet and I don’t lose
weight. I just don’t know why.” When
you know that they do not really stick to
the diet, they continue to eat too much,
or they do not exercise. You would also
have come across someone who is in
debt who complains that they never
have enough money, but as an outsider
you can see where they are spending
their money.

Often, the potential client is someone

who is already very successful in
many areas of their life but they have
something which has always bothered
them or which they have continued to
struggle with. Perhaps they don’t know
anyone they could turn to in their social
lives to resolve this, perhaps they are
too ashamed to do so. Regardless,
they may wish to have the support of
someone who can help them along
the way to overcome this issue and
experience success.

To some, what a life coach offers may

seem really obvious and just common A life coach can help
sense. People may think – “Why do I people turn away from
need a life coach? It’s obvious what I
have to do.” Well, yes, sometimes the bad habits and poor
solutions to our problems are obvious behaviours.
– for instance, to lose weight I know I

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It is a case of sometimes people cannot
see the wood for the trees. They have a
problem, but they are so close to it that
they do not see how they are actually
causing the problem themselves. A life
coach can help a client to look further
into their own life and see areas where
they could change their behaviour and
give simple ideas of HOW they could
change their behaviour and change
their life.
In many areas of life things seem
obvious once they are shown to us, but
it is not until they are shown to us that
we even think of them.
Another important benefit of a life coach
is that even when people know what it
is they need to do to change, they may
not have the motivation to make the
change by themselves. A life coach can
provide support and encouragement
and can work with the client to develop
strategies to enhance their motivation.
It may even just be that people need
someone to hold them accountable to
do what they say they are going to.
A life coach can
provide support and
encouragement to
their client.
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WHO BECOMES A LIFE
COACH?
As with the clients of life coaches, life
coaches themselves come from a broad
range of backgrounds. What they have
in common is not only a desire to help
others achieve fulfilling lives, but also
a striving towards enhancing their own
personal development.
Often, life coaches may have come from
other areas of work. For example, they may
be a fitness trainer and also want to offer
life coaching as part of their repertoire.
They may be a counsellor who wishes to
move into life coaching, or a nutritionist
who wants to do life coaching on the side.
At other times, they may be someone
with a lot of life experience who believes
they have something to offer others.
Some life coaches prefer to coach
within their area of expertise. For
example, the fitness trainer may prefer
to coach people with fitness-related
issues. Others will seek to broaden their
knowledge of other areas so they can
add them to their coaching repertoire.
Some of the important skills a coach
needs to have or develop are:
■■ Good listening skills
■■ Good communication skills
■■ Patience
■■ Perseverance
■■ Empathy
■■ Punctuality
■■ Leadership
■■ A good sense of humour

There are, of course, many other skills
a coach may have or may need to
develop. The important thing from a
clients perspective is that they are able
to respect their coach and build rapport
and a trusting relationship with them.
One of the positives of
being a life coach is it’s
Interesting dealing with
different clients and goals.
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PROS & CONS OF WORKING
AS A LIFE COACH
Life coaching is no different to other
professions in the sense that it can
produce highs and lows. Some of the
advantages include:
■■ Personal growth in different areas of life
■■ New challenges are fulfilling
■■ Rewarding to observe a client
achieve their goals
■■ Interesting dealing with different
clients and goals
■■ Flexible working hours
■■ You can be your own boss.
Some of the disadvantages include:
■■ Can involve unsociable hours.
■■ Some clients may be overly
demanding.
■■ May take time before positive
changes can be observed in clients.
■■ Can be disheartening if unable to
work with a client.
■■ Some clients may become dependent.
■■ There may be times when you are not
financially secure if you are not able
to achieve a sufficient level of clients.
As a coach, you have to have the
resilience and perseverance to be able to
withstand the hard times and to make the
most of the good times. After all, you are
a mentor and, for some, a role model, and
you will not be regarded highly if you are
observed to be having problems yourself.
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WHO DO LIFE COACHES Self-employment

WORK FOR?
Well, there is no real set answer to that.
Life coaches may work for themselves
or for someone else.
Working for an Organisation
Occasionally life coaches may work for
another organisation. They may offer
coaching support to staff or clients as
part of the organisation. For example,
a consortium of counsellors may
also have life coaches who can offer
additional support to their clients.
Coaching Consultancy
There are now consultancies in many
major cities who may employ one or
several life coaches. These operate in
much the same way as a counselling
practice or psychology clinic whereby a
new client is paired with a coach whose
skills or training closely match the areas
the client has articulated as being areas
they would like to improve or change.
Generally speaking, most life coaches
are self-employed. They may work from
their own home or office supporting
clients. Obviously, when working as a
self-employed person, the life coach
also has to take account of their own
accounts, administration, and marketing,
whilst also being responsible for finding
new clients. Some life coaches may
work fulltime with clients, but others may
choose to only work part-time (perhaps
because they are semi-retired). Some
may work as a life coach whilst still
working in another job. It will really
depend on the life coach and what they
hope to achieve from their work.

Other Coaching Institutions

Some life coaches can work within

coaching institutions. For example, in
the field of sport, athletes may have
coaches who help them improve their
sporting performance, but a life coach
may be employed to look at other
aspects of that person’s life and help
them in those areas. For example, a
top athlete may suddenly start to lose
races. Their training coach can help
them to try and maintain their sporting
performance, but it could be due to In whichever way you
other issues – they are no longer choose to become a life
interested, they have a financial crisis, coach, it can be a very
they have a personal crisis at home and
so on – a life coach may be better able fulfilling career.
to help them with these things.
PAGE 11

CHAPTER 2 HOW YOU CAN HELP SOMEONE
TO CHANGE
Life coaching involves bringing about positive changes in people’s
lives. This involves working with the client to establish what they
would like to change, setting goals, and finding ways to help them to
achieve those goals.
How often do you hear of people who
make a New Year’s Resolution only to
break it minutes, hours, or days later?
Change can be difficult. Anyone who
works as a life coach has to appreciate
that many people find it difficult to
change their behaviour. Making a
lasting change can be a difficult process
and usually involves a substantial
commitment in terms of effort, time, and
emotion from the person concerned.
When a person comes to a life coach,
they are making that first step. They
have made the effort, given up their
time and possibly had conflicting
thoughts and feelings in coming to see
the life coach. But one meeting alone is
not enough, the client must be prepared
to work with the life coach towards that
process of change.
A life coach has to
appreciate that many
people find it difficult to
change their behaviour.
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TOWARDS CHANGE
When you think of life coaching, you
may be thinking of clichéd reasons why
a person goes to a life coach – to lose
weight, stop smoking, change their
career, get out of debt, perform better
in interviews, and so on. There are
also innumerable other variations of
why people come to see a life coach.
Each person has their own unique
set of desires, obstacles, goals, past
experiences, personalities, prejudices
etc. Their reasons for changing, why
they behave the way they do, and how
they change will all vary. A life coach
should be very wary of treating their
customers in the same formulaic way.
The coach must tailor their approach
to meet the needs of each individual.
Life coaches will therefore use different
techniques as well as trial and error to
support their clients.
It is during this period of trial and error,
that a client can become disheartened
and discouraged. They may give up on
their goals. But a life coach needs to
be there to support and encourage the
client to continue working towards their
goals. The key for helping any client
to reach their goals is by encouraging
them to try new techniques and find
ways to stay motivated. Often, the
original goals may have to be amended
or changed. Sometimes simpler or fewer
goals will need to be set so that they
can be accomplished. Whilst it may
not be clear to the client at the time,

the accomplishment of these goals
will combine to give them a sense of
success and may provide the motivation
for them to continue on and set further
goals to eventually get where they want
to be.
CHANGE THEORIES
Psychologists have come up with many
techniques to help people change.
Therapists, doctors and life coaches will
use these techniques in their work. We
will look at more life coaching theories
shortly, but first, let us consider one of
the theories – the Stages of Change
model. This model recognises that
change is not easy, but requires a
progression through a small range of
steps to reach a larger goal.
The ‘Stages of Change’ model was
developed in the late 1970s by
Prochaska and DiClemente as a way to
help people to stop smoking.
To succeed in changing, a life coach
and their client both need to understand
the three main elements to changing
behaviour.
■■ Readiness to change – do they have
the knowledge and resources to
make a lasting change?
■■ Barriers to change - what is
preventing them from changing?
■■ Relapse – what could trigger a
relapse so they return to their former
behaviour?
During the early stages of the model,
people may be unwilling and resistant
to change, but eventually may become
committed to changing their behaviour.
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STAGE 1 –
PRE-CONTEMPLATION
The earliest stage of the model is pre-
contemplation. This is the stage where
people are not considering change,
where the person is almost “in denial”.
They do not see that there is a problem.
For example, a person may not realise
they need to lose weight, or stop
smoking, or change their career. The
person may think they have no control
over their behaviour. They may not
think that their behaviour is damaging,
or may be under-informed about the
consequences of their behaviour.
For example, imagine a woman who is
drinking a bottle of wine a night - Lana.
She may be carrying on with her normal
daily routine, caring for her children,
seeing her friends and carrying on
with her job. She may have put on a
bit of weight, but is planning to go on a
diet. She may not realise the damage
she is doing to her body that may not
be affecting her at present, but she is
building up problems for the future.
At this stage, it is helpful to ask the
client to consider if they think the
behaviour is a problem. What they
think would happen if they changed this
behaviour and so on? Nevertheless, it
is unlikely that a client would go to visit
a life coach at this stage because they
would not yet see their behaviour as a
problem. However, some clients may go
to a life coach at this stage if they are
encouraged to by someone else. For
example, Lana’s partner may be worried
about her drinking and encourage her
to go to a life coach to find a way to
change her habits, so she may go to a
coach without actually recognising that
she has a problem.
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So, the characteristics of this stage are:
■■ Ignorance that a problem exists
■■ Denial.
Helpful strategies a client may use to
work with a client at this stage would be:
■■ Encouraging the client to self-
analyse
working hard and then caring for her
children. When she sits down at night,
a glass or two, or three, or four, may be
just what she needs to relax. She may
see this as beneficial to her. The only
time she can relax. She may not see
why it is necessary to stop doing this.
The characteristics of this stage are:
■■ Conflicted emotions

■■ Explaining the risks of their current ■■ Ambivalence.

behaviour
Helpful strategies to support clients
■■ Encouraging the individual to rethink dealing with this stage are:
their behaviour.
■■ Encouraging them to confirm their
STAGE 2 – CONTEMPLATION readiness to change

At this stage, people become aware ■■ Encourage confidence in their own

of the possible benefits to change. But abilities
they may also recognise that there
are costs to change. This causes a ■■ Weighing up the pros and cons of
conflict, which leads to a sense of changing their behaviour
ambivalence about change. Because of
this ambivalence and conflict, this stage ■■ Identifying barriers to change.
can last months or even years. For
some people they may never come out
of this stage. They may view change as
a process of giving up something, rather
than as a way to gain emotional, mental
and/or physical benefits. A life coach
may encourage the client to consider:

■■ Why do you want to change?

■■ What is preventing you from

changing?

■■ What thing would help you to make

the change?

If we consider Lana once again - she is A client may not see why
drinking too much, but she may not yet it is necessary to stop
see the physical and mental damage
she is causing to her body. She may drinking, that is where
enjoy the relaxation she feels at having a life coach may help.
a drink. She may have a busy life -

PAGE 14

STAGE 3 – PREPARATION
At this stage, the client may be
encouraged to make smaller changes
to prepare for a larger change. For
example, if they wish to lose weight,
they may start going for walks a couple
of times a week. If they wish to stop
smoking, they may change to a lower
tar brand. They may start reading self-
help books. They may gather a lot of
information to help them to change
their behaviour. With Lana, the life
coach may encourage her to look more
into how drinking could affect her both
physically and mentally, and also the
potential impact it could have, or the
real impact it is having on her family.
Characteristics of stage three are:
■■ Collecting information about change
■■ Experimenting with small changes.
Strategies the life coach may use:
■■ Write down the person’s goals
■■ Prepare a plan of action
■■ List motivating statements.
STAGE 4 – ACTION
At this stage, people may begin to take
direct action to accomplish their goals.
However, they may fail because they
have not given enough thought to what
they plan to do. They may decide to lose
weight, for example, and start sticking
to a low calorie diet immediately without
thinking about why they are overweight,
behavioural changes they need to make,
the best diet for them, any exercise
they may need to undertake, and so
on. Because they do not give enough
thought to this, they will often fail or
give up their new regime within days or
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weeks. For example, Lana may decide
to stop drinking immediately, without
slowly cutting her intake. She may stop
for a few days, then have a particularly
bad day and go back to drinking a bottle
a night.
The characteristic of this stage is:
■■ Taking direct action towards
achieving their goal(s).
Helpful strategies would be to:
■■ Encourage the client to reward their
successes
■■ To seek social support from others
■■ Make a list of motivating statements.
STAGE 5 – MAINTENANCE
At this stage, the client should be
encouraged to avoid former negative
behaviours and keep up new
behaviours. The person should be
encouraged and motivated to believe
that they can continue to change.
The client is trying to maintain a new
behaviour, and they should look for
ways to avoid temptation. Old habits
should be replaced with more positive
habits. Clients should be encouraged
to reward themselves if they avoid
temptation, but they should also not to
be too hard on themselves if they do
lapse. Lapses are common and they are
making a commitment to change for the
rest of their life, so they will not change
in one day.
For example, Lana may decide to cut
down on her drinking at first. So rather
than sitting down at 8pm when the
children are in bed with a glass of wine,
she could think of other options to avoid
temptation, for example:
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■■ Getting an early night – going to bed
at the same time as the children.
■■ Try a distracting technique – go for a
walk, take a course, start reading a
book, take an exercise class, go and
do the ironing – any technique that
helps. She may have more than one
technique to distract her.
the client not to be undermined by this
relapse and recognise that they can still
succeed.
We can encourage the client to look at
the reasons why they lapsed, and how
they can change their behaviours, their
coping strategies, and ways to avoid
future temptations.

■■ She may decide to have one glass The characteristic of this stage is:
of wine after she does one hour’s
ironing or when she gets back from
■■ Feelings of disappointment,
her exercise class and so on.
frustration and failure.
If she does relapse, the life coach
Strategies to deal with this are:
should encourage Lana to see that one
lapse is not the end of the change, but
encourage her to start again with her ■■ Recognise triggers that lead to
plans. Look at what made her lapse relapses
that day. Perhaps it was a stressful day
or she met a friend who drinks a lot ■■ Recognise barriers to success and
and it encouraged her to lapse. Once identify steps to help overcome
the client is able to look more at what them
makes her lapse, the easier it will be
■■ Reaffirm the client’s goals.
for the client to recognise what causes
problems for her.
There are many different theories that
life coaches may use to work with their
The characteristics of maintenance are: clients, which we will come to shortly,
but it is useful to know the ‘Stages of
■■ Maintain a new behaviour Change’ model when supporting clients.
■■ Avoid Temptation.

Useful strategies in this stage are:

■■ Encourage the client to reward

themselves for their success

■■ Develop strategies to deal with

temptation.

STAGE 6 – RELAPSE The key to success is

As we said, relapses are a common to encourage the client
occurrence, but it can lead the client to
give up, feel disappointed or frustrated.
to recognise that they
They may feel like they are a failure. can still succeed.
The key to success is to encourage

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BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP
Before a life coach is able to move
forward and work with a client in helping
them to achieve what they would like to,
it is imperative to build a trusting, caring
relationship with them. If a client does
not trust you then they will find it hard to
fully reveal their difficulties and engage
openly, preventing them from getting
the most out of their coaching sessions.
Establishing this relationship is of
utmost importance. It is the cornerstone
of coaching.
Sometimes, there may be a clash of
personalities or sexual tension between
a life coach and client. If there is any
reason why a life coach thinks they
cannot work well with a client, it is best
to discuss this with the client and then,
with their permission, to refer them on to
another life coach who is better able to
help them.
The same is true of the client - if they
feel that they cannot work with the life
coach, they will either tell the life coach
or simply never arrange to see them
again. Sometimes this will happen. An
experienced coach will recognise this
and not let it affect their confidence,
after all no-one is able to get along
with everyone.
Life coaches usually work one-on-
one with their clients in face-to-face
settings. They may also work via the
telephone, Skype or email. In fact, some
coaches work exclusively using the
latter techniques. However, choosing
this method to deliver your services
may restrict the quality of the working
relationship. It also means that you are
unable to take cues from the client’s
body language and must rely on making
observations through listening to their
voice (tone, rhythm, pitch) or making
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assumptions through the written word.
In one-on-one meetings you are able to
draw on the client’s body language as
well as their voice and interact with them
in real time which can help to establish a
stronger relationship with them.
Whichever way (or ways) the service is
offered, coaches build up a relationship
with their clients that may be viewed
as being something akin to a close
friendship. You could perhaps view the
coach as being someone who goes with
you every step of the way. They almost
walk alongside their clients.
Life coaching started to emerge in the
US in the early 1990’s and its popularity
has increased dramatically since.
One possible reason is that having
a therapist is often associated with
some stigma depending on the society,
culture, and age group, but there is no
stigma attached to having a life coach.
Amongst some groups it may even be
seen as kudos to have a coach.
When starting to work with a new client,
a life coach should ensure that they
appear to be:
■■ Professional
■■ Well-prepared
■■ Interesting
■■ Open to listening to what the client
has to say
■■ Treating the client as an individual
■■ Understanding
■■ Empathic
■■ Friendly
■■ Patient

The more you engage with the client
and express an interest in what they
have to say, the more they are going to
trust and relate to you.
Like all inner journeys, life coaching
must begin with the client’s present
situation and the many internal and
external influences upon it. Life
coaching begins with working with the
client to understand where the person
is at emotionally, psychologically,
physically, financially, and
interpersonally. Only after obtaining a
more accurate and clear picture of the
client’s present can both client and life
coach identify elements in the client’s
past that may be hindering growth in
any particular area, and plan strategies
for the client’s future that will encourage
and nurture progress.
ESTABLISHING AREAS
FOR CHANGE
A client may have one specific area of
their life they would like to change or
one thing they would like to improve.
Others may want to improve a number
of areas of their life. Sometimes dealing
with one area can lead to uncovering
new challenges. Dealing with one area
can also lead to positive changes in
other areas, creating a ripple effect
throughout the clients life. For example,
if someone has a weight issue, low
self-esteem and struggles to maintain
romantic relationships, they may
find that by working on one of these
issues, the others will benefit too. The
more obvious issue that may have a
follow on effect if it is addressed is
the weight issue. By losing weight the
client may become more confident
and find it easier to be in romantic
relationships because of their increased
self-esteem. Looking at it in another
way, by addressing someone’s self-
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esteem issue this may make them more
confident and feel more attractive,
thereby attracting a romantic partner
and because they are happier and
look after themselves better they will
inadvertently end up losing weight.
We will consider in greater detail
specific problems and areas for change
in chapter 4. But here we will look at
some general points when beginning to
work with a client.
A) SETTING GOALS
Before setting goals, it is a good idea
to establish the bigger picture. By
creating the end goal of how the client
would like their life to be you are doing
several things. Firstly, you are setting
the intent for a better future, creating
a vision for the client to work towards.
Keeping in mind the bigger picture can
help to motivate the client to achieve
the smaller goals that are set to achieve
the end result, and can help keep them
on track when the going gets tough.
Creating the bigger picture can also
identify the discrepancies between the
client’s current life and the future they
would like to work towards, pointing to
the areas that the client will need to
address in order to get the results they
desire.
Sometimes a client will approach the
coach and outline things they would
like to be able to do or to achieve, but
only by evaluating the bigger picture
do these things make sense. Once
you know their ultimate goal or goals,
then you can see more clearly the
significance of other goals.
Goal-setting should be done by the
client with the guidance of the life
coach. Clearly, if a client sets what
appear to be unattainable or unrealistic

goals, the coach will need to steer them
towards more achievable goals.
For example, Gill comes to you and
wants to lose 20kg in weight. She wants
to lose 5kg a week. You think that a
1kg loss a week is more realistic. If you
do not discuss other possible goals
and enable the client to reach a more
viable conclusion with regards to their
original goals, then the client will have
unrealistic expectations which will most
likely lead to disappointment further
along the line - and could prevent them
from trying again in the future.
If a client sets unrealistic
goals, the coach will need
to steer them towards
more achievable goals.
One well-known technique for devising
goals is the SMART method. This was
first coined by Doran (1981).
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Relevant (realistic)
T = Timely (time-constrained)
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Each aspect of the goal can be
examined and questions asked to make
it clearer to the client:
Specific
Goals should be specific so that they
are clearly defined to the client. If they
are too vague then there is less chance
that they will be achieved because the
client is not quite sure what they are
hoping to do. In order to clarify goals,
questions such as those beginning with
what, where, who, which, and why can
be used to elicit specific information.
Using the example above, if Gill says
she wants to feel better, you can help
her make her goal specific by asking
her why she wants to feel better, and
in which way. This will help her identify
that she wants to lose weight.
Measurable
Goals should be measurable so that
progress can be observed. They could
be measured through checking with
questions like “How much?” or “How
many?” If they are not measurable, it
is difficult to evaluate progress towards
goals. So for Gill, rather than just saying
that she wants to lose weight, you can
help her make the goal measurable by
asking how much weight does she want
to lose. This way she can monitor her
progress and feel success when she
reaches her target weight.
Attainable
By being attainable, a goal is realistic.
That is, it can be achieved but it still
takes effort to accomplish. When a
suitable goal is identified, the client
develops the skills, abilities, attitudes and
financial resources to attain that goal.
They grow towards the goal. Attainable
goals should provide an answer to the
question “How can it be attained?”

Relevant
A goal has to be relevant in the sense
that it has significance to the client.
A goal might meet with the other
SMART criteria but have no relevance
whatsoever. It should be something
the client wants to achieve and is able
to achieve, and it is also related to
other goals and is something they care
about. The client should believe that
they are capable of attaining the goal.
To determine relevance questions such
as “Does it matter to you?” or “Do you
believe you can do it?” should provide a
positive response. For Gill who wants to
feel better, this is where you can check
in that the goal to lose weight is relevant
to her overall desire to feel better – will
losing weight help you to feel better?
Timely
Finally, the goal should be time-
constrained. A clear time frame should
be set within which the goal is to be
achieved. If no time frame is set, then
the client may have less motivation
and the goal can lose its sense of
importance. A time frame provides
urgency. The obvious question here
is “When...?” For Gill who wants to
lose 20kg, she will need to work out
a timeframe that is consistent with
whether the goal is attainable. As
mentioned earlier, it may not be realistic
(and therefore attainable) for Gill to
lose 20kg in 4 weeks. It may be more
appropriate to set a long term goal of
losing 20kg in 6 months, with a short
term goal of 5kg in 4 weeks.
It is also often necessary to help
the client to revise goals along the
way. It may be that a client finds a
particular goal too difficult at this time,
or that something else needs to be
accomplished first. Don’t be afraid to
re-negotiate goals - your clients will
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thank you for it later. The whole point
of coaching is to enable clients to
experience success in the areas they
would like to. If it means that the client
has to navigate a series of smaller,
more achievable goals in order to
eventually succeed in a larger, more
difficult goal - whilst it might take longer
to get there, the time taken can also
enhance the client’s sense of mastery
and accomplishment.
B) IMPLEMENTING
STRATEGIES & TECHNIQUES
Strategies for change used with clients
will depend upon the type of changes
the client would like to make. Some
coaches work with a loose framework of
techniques which they adapt to specific
clients. Others start from scratch with
each client. A competent coach should
not attempt to fit a client into a range of
strategies or apply one theory to all.
If a coach begins with a client by
following a particular model or theory
but finds that it does not appear to be
working, there is no harm or loss of face
in acknowledging that it doesn’t appear
to be working and trying something else
instead. A client would be more grateful
that you are willing to try another
approach than stubbornly refused to
give up on one that is clearly failing. It
shows that you care about them, and
about them achieving their goals.
LIFE COACHING METHODS
As we said earlier, there are many
different theories and approaches
which can be used when working with
clients. Many of these approaches have
been ‘borrowed’ from counselling and
psychology, and adapted or modified
to suit the coaching environment.
Given that coaching is not therapy,

some would say that coaching needs
to develop its own models rather than
adapt ones used in therapeutic settings
since it may inadvertently attract
clients to coaching who are in need of
specialised clinical help.
Whilst some life coaches will focus on
one method, others will use a variety of
methods and theories. Yet others will
devise their own methods, perhaps from
their own experiences, perhaps from
recognised theories, or perhaps from a
combination of the two. As with many
things in life, the life coach will find one
or more approach that suits them and
how they work with their clients - the
important thing is to remain open to
learning and using new methods and
techniques. Below is a summary of
some of the important models which
have been applied to coaching.
THE GOAL-CENTRED
APPROACH
A goal-centred approach is not a single
method of coaching. Instead, it is any
approach which starts by considering
the end, or goal. Unlike counselling
which often begins by examining
the reality of an individual’s life and
the problems they may have, many
approaches to coaching begin with
the goals that the individual would like
to achieve.
These approaches concentrate on
identifying and clarifying the client’s
goals, prioritising them, and then
devising strategies to achieve them.
This will often include breaking a larger
overall goal into smaller ones that are
more easily achieved and monitored.
The life coach can then establish
clear, realistic goals and support
the client to achieve those goals. In
order to work, this type of approach
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requires the client’s full commitment
to achieving their priorities, and his/
her understanding of the realities within
which the goals must be achieved, such
as the person’s skills, resources, etc.
A goal-centred approach works well
for individuals who get discouraged
by imagining their ultimate aim to be
too big to achieve, which then leads to
them giving up. For such individuals,
a goal-centred approach will be more
productive.
The GROW Model
A well-known and frequently used
example of a goal-centred approach
is the GROW model which has no
clear authorship but which has been
described and amended by a number
of prominent coaches including John
Whitmore, Graham Alexander, and Alan
Fine. The model was used extensively
in coaching within organisations before
being used in life coaching, and the
Whitmore (2002) version is often cited.
As you may have gathered, GROW is
another acronym:
G = Goal
R = Reality
O = Options
W = Will
In other versions of the model, O might
stand for opportunity, or it may be two-
pronged meaning ‘obstacles’ which
must be overcome and ‘options’ which
may follow. W is sometimes said to
stand for ‘what next’ or ‘way forward’.
These differences are fairly subtle, and
the overall meaning and application of
the model is very similar.
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1) Goal Many coaches would claim that having

The coach begins by asking the client
what their goal is with regards to the
initial interview. In doing so, the client
is encouraged from the start to focus
on the future both in terms of their
goals for the interview, short-term and
intermediate goals, and their ultimate
goal with regards to what they want to
change.
The coach seeks to ensure that the
client has set suitable goals which are
clear to the client and achievable. They
might use the SMART technique to
establish this, and will most certainly
use a variety of questions.
2) Reality
a structure like this helps clients to
focus more clearly on their goals and
increases success levels.
A variation of this model is the T-GROW
model in which T stands for topic.
Rather than begin with the goals, the
coach asks the client what topic they
would like to discuss; what area of their
life they would like to improve. The
coach listens in a non-judgemental way
to what the client has to say. If the client
has difficulties expressing themself
then the coach may help them to open
up by asking questions. The topic is
really the bigger picture. If you establish
this to begin with, then it is argued that
it is less likely that the client will set
irrelevant goals.

The coach then asks the client to Having established the topic, the rest of
describe the reality in relation to the the GROW stages are worked through.
goal. This is how far away from the goal
the client is. The client is encouraged to
think about what it would take to achieve
the goal in terms of what is needed to
get there, and what they might have
already achieved towards it.

3) Options
The client is then encouraged to discuss
what different options there may be for
achieving their goals. They can come
up with as many as they like. During this
stage, the coach might want to get the
client to consider what obstacles there
are which may hinder the client from
getting to their goal, before considering
options.

4) Will
Begin by asking the client
The coach then asks the client how their ultimate goal with
committed they are in terms of willpower,
and what they propose to do next. This
regards to what they want
is where the client reviews their options to change.
and comes up with a plan of action.

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COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR
THERAPY (CBT)
CBT is an approach where the client
is helped to overcome self-destructive
or faulty beliefs by replacing them with
more productive or adaptive beliefs.
In doing so, the client is assisted to
change behaviours and emotions that
are a result of, or which help maintain
their problems. CBT is widely practiced
by clinical psychologists and is used
in the treatment of mild behavioural
disorders through to complex cases of
obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-
traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and so
forth. It has been adapted to coaching
under the guise of cognitive behavioural
coaching or CBC, and is one of the
most widely used approaches.
The underlying theory is that emotions
and behaviours related to particular
events are partly caused by thoughts
which can be altered if the client is taught
how to do this. By changing the thoughts
associated with events, the client can
learn how to change their behaviour.
The focus is on self-motivated
behavioural change and so for a
cognitive behavioural approach to work,
the client needs to understand where
their own behaviours have been harmful
or a hindrance to their wellbeing or
progress. When applied as CBC, it is
used as a non-therapeutic approach
to change, to deal with non-clinical
problems. It is assumed that the client
has the necessary skills to solve their
own problems, but that they are not using
them, or that they are just not using them
in the right way. CBC looks to improve
a client’s performance by overcoming
mental blocks rather than healing.
Our beliefs and attitudes about
situations in life are often our biggest
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obstacle in obtaining emotional
stability and making productive life
choices. CBC focuses on increasing a
client’s awareness of the attitudes and
beliefs that limit them. The cognitive
behavioural approach is the preferred
method of many life coaches for those
who only adopt one approach. CBT
when used in therapy is different from
other approaches in which the therapist
might investigate the client’s past
history to gain further insight into their
problems, because the focus is in the
present. This concern with the present
is something which is also adhered
to in CBC. The cognitive behavioural
approach looks at the client’s current
behaviour and asks them to ask the
following questions:
■■ How is my current belief or attitude
working counter-productively for me?
■■ How might changing this benefit me?
The cognitive-behavioural approach
focuses on difficulties which are
present right now, and depends upon
the client and the therapist developing
a common view on the individual’s
problem. Following this, the life coach
develops strategies to help the client.
These strategies are continuously
monitored and re evaluated. Some of
the strategies used may be borrowed
directly from CBT such as ‘thought
report forms’ which can be used by the
client to record thoughts, behaviours,
and events during the week. Other
techniques may be borrowed from other
approaches such as ‘miracle questions’
from solution-orientated approaches.
CBC is a two-pronged approach. On the
one hand there is the cognitive aspect
which is concerned with helping the
client to alter their faulty thoughts which
may be stopping them from being able to
change, and on the other hand there is

the behavioural aspect where the coach
helps the client to undertake behavioural
exercises to help bring about change.
The CBC approach can be used to help
anyone irrespective of culture, gender,
and abilities though its systematic
approach may be perceived as too
simplistic for high achievers. It is useful
for addressing one issue at a time and
so may be appropriate where there is
only one issue, but by the same token
it could be restrictive where a more
holistic understanding of the individual
is required. It does, however offer
ways of measuring change and the
various models such as Albert Ellis’s
A-B-C model (antecedents, behaviours,
consequences) offer a useful framework
for the coach and client to work with. It
can be a useful approach in areas such
as adapting to change, developing new
skills, and reducing stress levels. It is
also very useful for identifying goals.
SOLUTION-ORIENTATED
APPROACH
This approach is derived from solution-
orientated therapy which is a counselling
approach that focuses solely on
solutions and the future, and does not
consider the past and the problems it
may have generated. It was originally
developed as a purposeful shift away
from the typical problem-focused
therapies. Strategies used might include
asking questions which assume that
goals will be achieved and which may
have several answers so as to keep the
focus on goals, solutions and the future.
The types of questions asked include
miracle questions, exception questions
and scaling questions. These questions
are designed to empower the individual
by leading them to define their own
goals. For instance, miracle questions
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may be used by asking “If a miracle took
place and your problem was solved,
how would you know it was solved?”
and “What would be different?” The
latter question changes the way the
problem is perceived.
Exception questions encourage the
client to think about times when things
were different; when a problem did not
exist - what were they doing, thinking
feeling? Clients are helped to realise
that problems have not always been
present and are thereby encouraged to
find their inner strengths and resources
and do more of what appeared to
control the problem, as well as to
generate new solutions or goals. Goals
are set as small achievable ones which
can be used to work up to larger goals.
Scaling questions may be used to rate
feelings or moods, or other things which
cannot be readily observed e.g. anxiety,
fear, confidence, motivation. For instance,
in coaching the coach might ask the client
how, on a scale of one to ten, they would
rate their anxiety when they thought about
a particular goal after several sessions.
Let’s say one is how anxious they felt at
the beginning of the coaching relationship,
and ten is how anxious they would feel
if the miracle (goal) were achieved, then
any improvement can open up further
exploration of what it was that led to the
improvement, and what might be needed
to move further up the scale.
Advocates of this approach suggest
that people create their own life stories
or narratives and that they use these
to convince themselves that they are
unable to make changes or achieve
goals. However, the solution-focused
approach holds that nothing is permanent
and so change is inevitable. Narratives
are constantly changing. Likewise,
problems are not always present or so
troublesome. The coach uses questions

and conversations which encourage the
client to move away from narratives which
are holding them back, to imagine a future
where they have achieved their goals,
and in doing so, to discover solutions
which enable them to achieve small goals
and targets - which leads them towards
attaining their ultimate goals. Focusing on
solutions is said to be more motivating to
the client, than focusing on problems.
Throughout the coaching relationship,
the coach looks for signs of
improvement and for the achievement
of targets and minor goals and uses
this to praise and encourage the client.
The client is asked to keep doing more
of what seems to be working. Problems
are not dwelled upon in any great detail.
Homework tasks are set at the end of
sessions and feedback is given.
This approach may be suitable for
clients who can site exceptions, for
whom scaling questions show some
improvement in the first session, and
who can come up with answers to
miracle questions. It is not well suited
to those who blame others for their
problems, for those who set goals which
are beyond their own control, or those
who do not volunteer for coaching.
REALITY-BASED APPROACH
The reality based approach is a variation
of the CBT approach. It focuses on
identifying the client’s current reality (what
their situation really is, and what they
really are and do), and comparing it to
the client’s desired reality (what they want
their situation to be and who they really
want to be). Then, the client is helped to
identify strengths and potentials within
the current reality that can be developed
to move towards a realistic desired
reality. The focus is on understanding
and accepting what is as a starting point
for future action. In order to work, this
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approach requires that the client lets go of
illusions, takes a realistic perspective, and
becomes fully involved in the present as a
basis for movement into the future.
MOTIVATIONAL APPROACH
A motivational approach focuses on
boosting the person’s self-esteem,
and overcoming self-doubt and fear of
failure. Here, the client’s emotions and
attitudes are the key factors, and the
achievement of goals is a means to
change negative attitudes into positive
attitudes. In order to work, this approach
requires the client’s willingness to let go
of self-defeating attitudes.
None of these approaches require
the life coach to delve into deeper
psychological issues. If a life coach
thinks that the client does have deeper
issues or problems, they may refer them
to a psychologist or counsellor.
ASSESSING SUCCESS
It is important for the life coach and
client to keep a check on whether
strategies are working, and what is not
working. This may be done by keeping
logbooks or diaries, where clients
record changes that occur. They may
write down when they succeed, times
they do not and why this might have
happened, if they have lost weight,
got an interview, applied for a job etc.
This can then be used to assess their
progress, and where successes have
been achieved, these can be used to
encourage the client and as a means of
setting new goals.
Similarly, the client might keep records
or report forms which detail specific
quantities. For instance, a client who
wishes to quit smoking might keep a
daily record of how many cigarettes

they smoke so they can monitor their
progress (or lack of it).
A client could keep a
daily record of how many
cigarettes they smoke
to monitor their progress.
An agreement between the life coach and
the client on specific goals is important.
For example, the coach and client agree
that the client should apply for five jobs a
week. Some of these jobs may be ones
that the client thinks they are capable
of, and some that might be outside their
comfort zone. The client may record the
jobs they apply for to discuss with the life
coach at their next meeting.
Adjustments may need to be made to
goals (both minor and ultimate goals)
and reassessed throughout the course
of a coaching relationship.
Other strategies such as rating scales
and self-reports are also useful means
of assessing success. If scales of nought
or one to ten are used, then this provides
more increments and therefore even
subtle improvements can be monitored.
Whichever methods and techniques are
used, the coach can help to improve
the number and level of successes
by providing positive feedback for any
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perceivable improvements, however
minor, and offering encouragement
where appropriate.
ONGOING SUPPORT
Unlike counselling, life coaching does
not have to end once a goal has been
achieved or a problem is overcome.
The life coaching relationship may
continue indefinitely.
A client may come to a life coach with
one issue, such as losing weight, but
in the process other issues may arise,
such as lack of self-esteem, wanting a
new career, and so on. The client may
choose to work with these new goals
at the same time as the original goal.
Alternatively, they may put the new
goals to one side until they have worked
successfully on the original goal. In other
cases, they may choose to re-prioritise
their goals on the basis of what now
seems most important in light of newly
discovered goals, and move to another
one. If this situation arises, as a coach
you should help the client to establish
their new goal order but again be mindful
of whether these goals are smart.
It should always be borne in mind that
it is unhealthy to encourage clients to
become dependent on the life coach.
The idea is to help clients to fulfil their
potential, not to have then rely on you
for their feelings of success. Whilst
there is no need to end a coaching
relationship because a main goal has
been achieved, especially if the client
has established other goals, it would
be exploiting the client if these goals
were neither achievable or relevant. A
conscientious coach will always ask
themselves whether they are doing a
disservice to the client by continuing to
provide support, and always keep the
clients best interests in mind.

CHAPTER 3 GETTING YOURSELF RIGHT FIRST
In order to be able to offer a professional service to clients, a life
coach has to have resolved issues in their own life and be in the
right frame of mind to mentor others. There is little sense in trying to
guide others to improve their lives if the coach feels that there are
voids in their own.
As a coach, you will often be viewed
as a role model to your clients - they
will observe your reactions, your facial
expressions, your physical presence,
the way you walk and talk, and they will
listen to what you have to say. They
may even hang on to your every word,
and attempt to emulate you. If you
appear to be festooned in self-doubt,
lack energy and enthusiasm, are unsure
about what you are saying, or if you are
offering advice on how to lose weight
but are carrying an excessive amount of
it yourself - you may appear to be less
than convincing to your clients.
A coach needs to be able
to focus on the client they
are working with and the
issue at hand.
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WHAT TOOLS DOES A
LIFE COACH NEED
Whilst coaches may come from a range
of backgrounds and there is no specific
background required or previous
employment area which sets some out
as having an advantage, there are skills
which can be learnt or enhanced to
improve effectiveness as a life coach.
As we have said earlier, some life
coaches may focus on specific areas,
such as business coaching, weight
loss, careers counselling, and so on.
Other coaches may prefer to work
with a wide range of client concerns.
So the skills required by life coaches
may vary considerably depending on
their specialties. However, there are
some skills that most life coaches will
require in order to work successfully
with clients, and so as to run their own
successful life coaching practice.
FOCUS
A coach needs to be able to focus on
the client they are working with and the
issue at hand. This sounds obvious, but
if they are not able to focus on what the
client is saying and pay attention, then
important issues can be missed.
ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS
A coach needs to be able to organise
their time well. They should be able to

make appointments, allow sufficient
time and be prepared. How can a
client be expected to trust them to help
their time management if the coach
themselves turns up late without the
correct information they require?
BUSINESS SKILLS
Business skills are important. A coach
needs to be able to keep satisfactory
accounts or books, plan their diary,
keep up to date with their taxes,
insurance and so on. Anything that
would be required from anyone running
a business will be required by the self-
employed life coach.
MARKETING
A coach may be the most brilliant coach
on the planet, but if no-one knows about
them and their services, they will not
gain any clients and make any income,
so marketing can be very important.
A coach may use paid advertising,
such as in newspapers, magazines, or
website adverts, but there are also other
forms of advertising that can be free
such as the use of social media such as
twitter, facebook, blogging, forums, and
so on. The life coach may also choose
to have their own website, perhaps
with a contact enquiry form where a
client can make a brief enquiry to see
whether their goal(s) is something
the coach is able to help them with.
They may also rely on word of mouth
where satisfied past clients give them
a positive appraisal to potential new
clients (though this obviously takes a
little time to establish). Those with a
website might include client testimonials
to promote their services. A coach may
take many steps to ensure that clients
in their area know where they are, and
what they can help them with.
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NETWORKING
Linked to marketing skills is networking.
Life coaches need to be approachable,
personable, friendly and helpful. They
should be enthusiastic, empathic
and have a sense of humour and
patience. Possessing these qualities
can obviously be important in helping
clients to gain new customers, but also
new business contacts. Networking
amongst business associates is now
quite common. This may be done
in the virtual world via online social
networking, forums, and so on, but it
can also be done through ‘traditional’
face-to-face meetings. Business
people in a specific town may meet up
at regular events, such as luncheons
or breakfasts, social events and
so on. Professionals belonging to
certain associations are also likely to
attend regular meetings. A life coach
might attend seminars, workshops,
or conferences held by related
professions where they can make new
acquaintances with other professionals
who might refer clients unsuited to their
line of work to the coach. There are
many different ways that a life coach
can make themselves known.
Imagine a life coach who works with
people to help them change their
careers and improve their businesses.
They may attend monthly business
meetings with people in Town B. By
doing so, they start talking to potential
clients, or people who may know
potential clients – their name becomes
known, they develop a reputation and
can gain clients for their business now,
as well as promote the likelihood of
future business.
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PROBLEM SOLVING Imagine a young father goes to visit

An important skill for any life coach is
problem solving. A client goes to see
a life coach so that they can achieve
their goals. They may not see how to
change their behaviour or resolve a
problem, but a life coach needs to be
able to listen to what they say and make
suggestions on how they can change
their life. Without this ability, the life
coach will not really go far. As outlined
previously, to truly help a client, a coach
has to ensure that they are REALLY
listening to what the client has to say.
So obviously, a very important skill for
any life coach is ‘listening’.
LISTENING SKILLS
A coach really does need to listen to a
client to be able to accurately determine
what that client needs. Although many
clients will share common problems and
needs, it is a mistake to take a blanket
approach to life coaching, or to assume
that all clients need the same things.
a life coach. His wife is the main
breadwinner and he has therefore
decided to stay at home and care for
the children. The children are close
to starting school and he has set up
his own business working from home.
This has proved quite successful and
is getting better and better. He comes
to you because he wants to find ways
to improve his business, to look at
networking possibilities, and so forth.
However, underneath all this, the main
problem is not growing the business, but
actually his own time management and
guilt. He is finding it hard to fit the work
in. His wife is used to him doing the
main caring for the children and is not
very supportive or willing to change. He
does not know how to find the time to fit
his business into his life.

A coach’s first task is to determine

exactly what each client needs. This
requires careful and active listening.

Language is used to express

information. A client may meet with a
life coach and tell the coach a great
deal. But they might also be hiding
information from the coach. This could
be due to embarrassment, fear of
appearing silly or stupid in front of the
life coach, feelings of shame or guilt,
and so on. This information may not
be relevant to the coaching process, A coach’s first task is
but sometimes it may be, so the coach to determine exactly
needs to be able to encourage a client
to feel comfortable and secure with
what each client needs.
them in order that they can reveal This requires listening.
pertinent information.

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Clearly, there are issues relating to his
relationship with his wife and his time
management. Then there is the guilt. He
feels guilty answering work calls or emails,
when he should be with his children. He
is ashamed to admit that he may need
additional child care support when the
children start school to grow this business.
All of these issues may be beneath the
surface, but all of these issues may
affect how his business grows.
He may not say any of this to the life
coach, but his posture, non-verbal cues
and some verbal cues may actually
send a message to the coach that there
are other issues involved.
Therefore, a coach must be prepared to
‘actively’ listen to each client in order to
better understand what the client really
thinks and feels.
‘Active listening’ involves listening on
several levels: listening to the words the
client says; listening to the tone of voice
and language used; and observing the
client’s body language.
This holistic approach to listening will
provide the coach with many clues to
the client’s real attitude and feelings,
which may not be expressed in words,
and which may even be hidden by the
client’s words. Some basic guidelines to
active listening are as follows:
■■ Maintain eye contact - to show
that you are really interested in
what the client has to say. This will
also encourage the client to speak
more freely. (However, since some
cultures discourage sustained
eye contact, take your cue from
the client. If he/she makes eye
contact, so can you; but if the client
continually averts his/her eyes, you
might be wiser to do the same).
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■■ Be quiet and listen - do not confuse
listening (which is one set of actions)
with giving advice or suggestions
(another set of actions). Your
listening task is to encourage the
client to speak.
■■ Try to work out the main message
- ask yourself, “What is the client
thinking or feeling?” and “What
facts do I need to confirm that I
have understood? You can find out
by asking short, open questions,
such as “How did you feel when that
happened?” or “What is the main
thing that you dislike about that?”
■■ Check that you understand what
the client is actually trying to
communicate. You can do this by
‘clarification’ and ‘paraphrasing’.
Clarification means finding out
exactly what the other person
means. You can do this with an
open question like, “Can you explain
what you mean by ‘fear of failure’
so that I understand exactly what
you’re saying?” Paraphrasing means
checking that you have understood
something by re-stating it in your
own words. For example, you might
ask, “So what you are saying is that
you feel that everyone is dumping
responsibility for managing the family
on you. Is that correct?” or “Can I
just check that I have understood
you? I think you are saying that…Do
I have an accurate picture?”
■■ Accept the person’s feelings -
without judgement or opinion.
■■ Remain calm, unemotional and
empathetic - your role as a coach is
to be receptive, to try to understand
the client and support him/her through
change and growth, not to judge.
Empathy is the quality of showing
care without becoming involved.

A summary after a
coaching session allows
the client to say if you are
on or off track.
■■ Summarise - you should always
check what you think the client
really wants and needs, and ensure
that the client agrees with you that
these are his or her main needs.
A summary is where you make a
short statement about what you
believe the client has said. You
might summarise after a period of
time within a coaching session, and
you should always do so at the end
of the session. The summary could
relate to what they are seeking and
any obstacles that are in the way.
For instance, you might say “If I
have heard you correctly, you would
like to achieve X but you’re not sure
if you can because of Y. Does that
sound right?” Having the check at
the end allows the client to say no if
you are off track and they can then
explain once more what they were
trying to say. This may stimulate
considerable discussion.
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Giving Clear Instructions
Instructions should always be clear,
not only to you, but also to the client.
This means that you must consider
the following:
■■ What the client already knows
■■ What must be explained
■■ How much the client can absorb at
one time
■■ How to help the client remember all
the instructions
■■ How to ensure that the client has
understood your instructions completely.
Some guidelines for giving clear
instructions are:
■■ Begin by getting the client’s
complete attention, perhaps by
pointing out what can be gained
from carrying out the task.
■■ Go over the whole process first, and
describe the desired result, again
emphasising how the client will benefit.
■■ Describe the process in
chronological order.
■■ Note any safety considerations or
contingencies.
■■ Demonstrate to the client what
should be done where possible.
■■ Encourage the client to ask
questions and clarify, and explain
your answers fully to them.
■■ Set any timeline for the task, if required.
■■ Repeat the objective of the
instructions, and what successful
completion looks like.

WHAT GUIDES YOUR
ACTIONS
When working with clients, we need to
consider specific areas:
■■ Ethical & Legal Issues
■■ Risk
■■ Profitability – for you and the client
1) ETHICAL AND LEGAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Anyone working in a profession which
deals with client welfare owes it to the
client to be as competent as possible.
This means staying up to date with
current thinking, theories, and practices
and striving to offer the best service you
can to your client.
A life coach needs to be ethical for
many reasons; and part of coaching
others involves helping the client to
establish a work ethic as well.
Maintaining Boundaries
An important aspect of coaching is
maintaining boundaries. A client may
come to a coach and reveal personal
and intimate details about themselves
that they may not want to tell another
person. This can cause quite an intense
relationship. Therefore, the coach needs
to be aware of the boundaries to the
client-coach relationship. They should
make the client aware that there will
be no intimate or personal relationship
between them. Their relationship is a
client-coach professional relationship.
They should always talk at the
times which have been specified as
appropriate working hours by the coach.
For example, the coach may advise
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the client that they will book meetings
and answer calls between 9am to 8pm
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,
9am to 5pm Tuesdays and Thursdays,
9am to 3pm Saturdays, and never
on Sundays. They should therefore
encourage the client to stick to those
hours. If they tell the client it is alright
to call at other times, the client may
do so and then there is a suggestion
that their relationship is different or
somehow more special than those with
other clients, which can again cause
issues. Therefore, the coach needs to
be strict with their boundaries. They
should always meet each other in a
professional way.
Informed Consent
As with counselling, a coach must
make the client aware of informed
consent. This is where the coach
makes the client aware of how the
coaching process will work and the
fully informed client agrees to this. It is
discussed at the onset of coaching and
any limitations to the coaching process,
as well as expected outcomes are
reviewed. As such, the client takes an
active role in the process and they are
able to make choices of benefit to them.
If a client decides they want to end
the coaching process before goals
have been attained, then their decision
should be respected even if they seem
to be making good progress or it seems
rather rash. The coach may attempt to
encourage the client to continue with
the coaching if they genuinely believe
it to be in the client’s best interest, but
they should never attempt to coerce the
client into participation.
If conflicts arise between the coach and
client, whether personal, or in relation
to the client’s goals, and these conflicts
cannot be resolved through mediation or

negotiation, then the coach must either
end the coaching relationship or refer
the client to another coach if they are
aware of someone else who might be
able to help.
Confidentiality
This is also linked to informed consent,
the coach should make the client aware
that their meetings are confidential,
however it is confidentiality with a ‘but’.
For example, if the client reveals that
they are thinking of harming themselves
or have/will harm someone else, they
should be aware the coach will report
them to appropriate authorities or
services where they can be better
helped. Likewise, if a court of law
requested information about the client
from the coach, they would be obliged
to provide it.
Confidentiality is key to
developing a trusting
working relationship
between coach and client.
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In all professions, confidentiality
comprises both ethical oaths and legal
statutes. It is the key to developing a
trusting working relationship between
the coach and client. Confidentiality
may be breached simply by involving
well-meaning helpers in the coaching
process without first acquiring the
client’s consent. The protection of
private client information is paramount
to encouraging the client to engage
openly in coaching. Protection of a
client’s secrets, private thoughts,
and feelings are also required by
ethical decency. Coaches are obliged
to discuss the nature and scope of
confidentiality with their clients, and also
reveal any limitations to confidentiality.
For instance, if the coach is likely to
discuss any aspects of the client’s
coaching in a professional manner
with supervisors, colleagues, or other
professionals so as to be able to provide
a better service, then they should let
the client know this. Where this may
happen, the coach should protect the
client’s identity by referring to them as
Mr or Mrs X or just using initials.
Professional licensing bodies
incorporate legal and ethical
confidentiality mandates and
highlight them as an important part of
professional practice. All clients are
entitled to confidentiality unless they
have given permission for disclosure.
Even where permission for disclosure
has been granted, secrets and private
thoughts should not be revealed.
Whilst it may not be possible to join
a professional licensing body for life
coaching, depending on your location
and whether or not one exists due to
the relative newness of life coaching
as a profession, you should at least
familiarise yourself with the ethical
and legal guidelines of the caring
professions such as counselling and
psychology, or contact coaching bodies

overseas for their guidelines and abide
by them.
Multicultural Differences
As more and more societies become
cosmopolitan, it is important for
the coach to consider multicultural
differences. Since many approaches to
coaching have evolved from techniques
originally devised for use in counselling
white, middle class, middle aged people
living in Western societies, members
of minority groups are not well catered
for. To treat all clients in the same way
would be unethical. If a client comes
to you from a background you are
unfamiliar with, you should take time
to try and understand where they are
coming from so that you can relate to
them in an appropriate manner.
Legalities
There are different legal requirements
in different countries. A life coach
should always check on the legal
requirements of working with clients
before proceeding with life coaching
work. As well as supporting a client, a
life coach also needs to ensure that they
are protected from legal issues, public
liability, and so on. This means taking
out appropriate insurance policies and/
or becoming a member of a suitable
professional body.
2) RISKS
Risks are an important issue in life
coaching, and are things which will
guide a coaches actions. We will look
at risk management in greater detail in
chapter 5. Here we shall briefly review
some potential risks.
Risks are a factor in any profession.
In life coaching the risks involved
may affect the client or the coach (or
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both). Many of the risks involved are
subsumed within the main legal and
ethical considerations which we have
already reviewed, and it is the neglect
of these which poses risks which may
have serious repercussions for the
coach. In terms of the client there are a
number of things to be wary of.
Unusual cases - as a coach, you
may come across some unusual
cases where a client is seeking
to satisfy a goal which may seem
unethical or potentially illegal. For
instance, they may wish to build up
their physical fitness and strength in
order to physically confront or attack
someone they deem has done them
wrong, or they may wish to build up
the confidence to mount a legal battle
in a case which could disadvantage
an innocent third party. If you were to
assist the client in their ambition you
may find yourself under investigation. If
you have any doubt about the legality or
morality of a client’s goals you should
politely refuse to work with them.
Risks to the client - the most obvious
psychological risk to the client is that you
are unable to help them attain their goals.
In this case, they may feel less confident
about themselves and feel worse overall
than they did before they came to see
you. This is why setting achievable and
realistic goals is so important, and why
goals need to be carefully monitored and
adjusted where necessary.
Another psychological risk is that a
client comes to see you when in reality
they need help from a health care
professional such as a psychologist or
psychiatrist. It is extremely important to
refer these people on rather than attempt
to help them, unless you are qualified to
do so. Setting goals is not going to help
them overcome underlying disorders and
may only exacerbate their symptoms.

Gathering as much
information as possible
about a client will help you
to avoid making dubious
decisions or offering
erroneous suggestions.
Physical risks towards the client are also
an important consideration. For instance,
you should not instruct a client who has
physical post-surgery complications to
undertake strenuous exercise which
could cause them discomfort, pain,
or relapse. Likewise, you shouldn’t
instruct a client to run along an inner
city route which encourages them to
cross hazardous road junctions. If you
advise a client to eat a particular diet
then you need to know that they do not
have specific allergies to any of the
ingredients they may consume, and
have the appropriate education and
understanding of nutritional needs.
Gathering as much information as
possible about a client will help you
to avoid making dubious decisions or
offering erroneous suggestions.
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3) PROFITABILITY
For whatever reasons a life coach has
decided to work with clients, another
aspect of their daily work they also
need to consider is profitability. A life
coach should not take on a client if
they feel that they probably cannot help
them, this would be unprofessional
and unscrupulous. From the client’s
perspective, you need to be able to
help them in order for them to profit
personally from the experience.
The coach’s ability to help may be
determined through discussion when
a client first makes contact, or it may
be determined through an introductory
interview. A coach should disclose
whether a fee is payable if they do
not take on the client after an initial
interview.
Of course, an introductory screening
session is very helpful, but you may
still find some clients get through this
before you realise that you are not
really helping them. As soon as you
pick up on this you should inform the
client as you have a duty to always
do what is best by them. You might
consider offering some sort of refund,
a percentage of the fee, if after several
sessions you feel that you will not be
able to get them to where they want
to be in the long run. It is much better
to be open and honest than to have
disgruntled clients who may bad mouth
your business.
Many life coaches choose to charge
a set fee for an hour’s meeting with
their clients, but what if a client keeps
phoning you up for support? You may
find that actually you have five hours
contact with them, but are only paid for
one. So when supporting a client, you
need to ensure that you are specific
as to what they are paying for. For
example, you may charge them a set

fee for a block of hours, let’s say for 10
hours support to be reviewed at the end
of that time, or you may charge them for
each individual hour of support.
Some life coaches charge a weekly
fee which includes additional email or
telephone support up to a specified
amount per week. Others may charge
a higher fee for the initial consultation
and then a reduced rate for ongoing
support. Whichever payment method
you choose, a client should be fully
aware of what it includes and whether or
not you will charge for additional phone
calls, emails, or other forms of contact
should they be required.
SUPERVISION
Supervision ensures that a coach
continues to develop professionally
and is able to continue to offer the best
service they can to their clients. Some
life coaches may pay for additional
supervision from a more experienced
life coach as a way to help them
improve as a coach. Given the relative
lack of life coaches in some countries or
regions, it may be necessary to employ
the supervisory services of other types
of coach, such as a business coach, or
to engage with professional supervisors
outside the coaching industry. In some
cases, self-supervision may be the
coaches only option but this could be
enhanced by attending appropriate
workshops or seminars.
TYPES OF SUPERVISION
Supervision can occur in a range of
formats though one-to-one and group
supervision are most usual. Each
type has its own advantages and
disadvantages and the chosen method
will depend on what is the most suitable
or available for the coach.
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One-On-One - this usually involves an
individual coach having supervision with
a more experienced supervisor from the
same discipline and area of practice.
Often it will be that the coach attends
sessions with a supervisor whose
experience is in a different area and
who works in a different location since
most life coaches are self-employed.
Group - this occurs when a group of
professionals contract with a designated
supervisor (usually someone with more
professional experience). In this context,
individuals learn through dialogue
among peers and guidance from the
supervisor. This is a common form
of supervision. There are three main
types:
■■ A group of professionals meeting
with a designated professional
supervisor.
■■ A group of professionals offering
peer supervision to each other
without a designated professional
supervisor. This is sometimes
known as ‘network supervision’.
■■ A team of staff who work together
may also engage in group
supervision.
Self-Supervision - this is the process
by which supervisees’ assume shared
responsibility for improving their own
instructional effectiveness. Self-
supervision might entail analysis
of videotaped instruction, peer
observations, peer teaching, developing
and working toward professional
growth plans, professional reading,
and participating in professional
development activities.
Agency Supervision - this is the activity
of overseeing service quality with a
series of checks and balances. This

may include review of work processes,
output, clinical skill development, record
keeping, and outcomes. It would only be
appropriate for a large organisation but
is probably not suited to coaches.
Delivery Methods
Supervision sessions may be
arranged so that the coach achieves
a certain number of hours per annum.
The preferred way to do this would
be to have supervision at regular
intervals throughout the year, for
instance, a one hour session every
two weeks. The traditional method of
delivery is in person but these days
with improvements in technology
coupled with the difficulties some
coaches or supervisors may face in
physically getting to meeting sites,
telephone and online counselling have
become acceptable.
Telephone supervision - this can be as
productive and supportive as face-to-
face supervision. The main difference
being that body language is not a factor
when working over the phone. This
should not detract from the process
and, indeed, it can prove supportive
because distractions are kept to a
minimum which can help to increase
concentration and focus. Therefore,
telephone supervision can work faster
than meeting in person. Also, working
with a telephone supervisor may enable
some coaches to express themselves
more freely since they have a sense of
anonymity.
Online - this can prove as effective as
face-to-face and telephone supervision,
but it is different again. One popular
method used is Skype, or a similar
application that allows the supervisor
and supervisee to see each other’s
faces, as well as hear their voices.
This method of communication allows
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for many of the benefits of face-to-
face meetings, with the convenience
of not having to travel, and being
able to access people who are not
geographically close. For a new industry
like life coaching this can be a real
advantage as if there are not other life
coaches in your area you will still have
access to life coaches around the world.
This type of supervision compared
to face-to-face sessions does have
the disadvantage of requiring a good
internet connection, and the supervisor
will generally only be able to perceive
facial expressions, rather than the
opportunity to read the supervisee’s full
body language. Other types of online
supervision rely on the written word,
via email or “real-time” online sessions.
These types of sessions will have a
delay in response times. The supervisor
may ask more questions than usual
to support their understanding of the
coach’s issues. The coach may not
be able to answer all these questions
adequately but the process relies on
the coach giving enough appropriate
information to enable productive work
to take place. The supervisor may also
mentor the coach between supervision
sessions if necessary. Using email
supervision usually means that the
coach does a lot of work for themselves,
guided and supported by the supervisor.
The absence of face-to-face cues can
have a large impact on the supervisory
relationship because both the coach
and supervisor have no visual or oral
information at their disposal. Therefore,
even the subtle cues from voices we
may experience on the telephone
are lost. Whilst it’s true that people
who frequently converse in written
form can develop a sophisticated,
expressive way of communicating
with others this is not always the case
and so some information may not be
conveyed accurately.
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In addition, the lack of face-to-face the supervisor will need to clarify how
cues can create an ambiguity in the often they will check their emails and
message. Without seeing their body the timeframe in which they will reply
language, we may not be sure what to emails. In emails there may be a
a person means. This can stir our need to present things formally rather
imagination or force us to project our than as a conversation, so this may
own ideas or wishes onto the person. delay responses.
The lack of face-to-face cues can have
different effects on different people. It
may reduce the sense of intimacy, trust,
and commitment in the supervisory
relationship. Typed text can feel
impersonal, lacking empathy, and so on.
Some people need face-to-face cues
or they may feel less able to be honest
and close. Conversely, other people
may like the ability to be distant from
the supervisor but one would question
whether this will lead to an effective
supervisory process.

How Does Written Online

Supervision Work?
There are two main ways that it
works, either by email or real-time
online sessions. With real-time
sessions, the coach would arrange
an appointment and be online at the
same time as the supervisor using
a ‘live’ messaging service so as to
enable them to speak to each other in
‘real-time’. The disadvantage of this
arrangement is that it relies on typing
speed and accuracy. However, these
problems may disappear over time and
with experience.
The other option is via email. A series
of emails may be equivalent to a
session. The supervisor and coach will
set the times equivalent to an actual
session. The advantage of email is
that the supervisor has time to reflect
before answering and is able to re-read
their email. Another advantage is that
the coach can contact the supervisor
via email with ongoing problems in
between scheduled meetings. However,
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During a real-time
session, if the connection
fails, there is always the
telephone.
One of the main problems with this
type of supervision is that technology
does fail - emails refuse to work, get
lost in cyberspace, computers crash,
and so forth. Therefore, emails should
be acknowledged as soon as possible,
to ensure that they are received and
replied to. The coach should be aware
that if a reply is not received within
a certain time that there may be a
problem with the supervisor’s email/
computer. During a real-time session,
if the connection fails, there is always
the telephone.

Confidentiality is another issue.
Both supervisor and coach must
consider password protection, secure
conferencing, and storage of data. For
example, who else may have access
to the data? Also, the supervisor and
supervisee need to ensure they have
their comments carefully and securely
stored and are using their computer
in a confidential way. Online work
may change in the future with further
improvements in technology - we’ve
already seen how webcams, Skype,
online conferencing, and so forth have
had an impact. Online supervision
requires similar skills to face-to-face
supervision but the supervisor needs to
be aware of the differences in the two
types of supervision.
DEBRIEFING
Supervision can include debriefing.
A debrief is where a coach may tell
a more experienced coach about a
difficult situation they have experienced
in their coaching and look at ways they
could have handled this better. Anyone
who works in intense relationships with
others needs to debrief so as to avoid
burnout. Whilst supervision offers one
way of doing this there are many other
ways that a coach can learn to wind
down after a challenging session.
WHAT IS BURNOUT?
Burnout is a psychological term that
is used to describe the experience
of diminished interest and long term
exhaustion that can be experienced
by anyone, but particularly those who
are involved in stressful professions.
It is almost considered an emotional
exhaustion and reduced sense of
personal accomplishment. This may
include feelings of exhaustion, inefficacy
and cynicism, and a lack of energy. It
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is important to recognise burnout in
clients, but also for the life coach to
recognise burnout in themselves.
In life coaching, this is obviously not
something that would be helpful to
the coach or the client, but will hinder,
and ultimately destroy the coaching
process if left unchecked. A life coach
needs to be able to help the client to
change, by being positive and offering
encouragement. If they are not able to
do this because they are burned out
from helping others, then they will not
really be supportive to their clients.
Most life coaches really enjoy life
coaching, but it can also be stressful.
This constant stress without relief can
leave a life coach feeling helpless and
worn out. When a person is burnt out,
they may find their problems seem
insurmountable. This can threaten their
life coaching practice, their relationships
and their own health. It is important to
deal with burnout as soon as a coach
recognises that they have it. The
longer burnout is allowed to carry on,
the harder it is to break away from the
feelings of burnout.
Besides affecting your life coaching
practice, burnout can start to affect
your own personal and social life. It can
make a coach vulnerable to illnesses
such as colds, flu, and so on.
Burnout can be due to stress, but it is
not the same as feeling stressed. When
we feel stressed, it is because we have
too much to deal with. People who
are stressed often feel that if they get
everything under control that they will
feel better. Burnout is about not enough.
The person may feel empty, lacking in
motivation and beyond caring. They do
not see any hope of positive change in
their life. So they disengage from their

situation and begin to feel detached
and worthless.
Eight hours sleep per
day is regarded by
health professionals
to be paramount to
optimal health.
If a coach recognises they have
burnout, or a client is burnt out, they
may follow strategies such as:
■■ Starting each day with relaxing
rituals - rather than jumping out of
bed straight into the day, they can
try writing in a journal, doing gentle
stretching exercises, reading a few
pages of a book.
■■ Try to eat healthily - certain foods
and additives or preservatives can
build up toxins in our bodies which
may affect our daily performances
and behaviours. Other substances
such as caffeine have addictive
properties which can cause
psychological disturbances such as
mood swings, as well as feelings of
discomfort when levels are low in
our bodies. Other foods obviously
increase risks of diseases such as
heart disease, ulcers, and diabetes.
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■■ Exercise regularly - exercise
not only stimulates our muscles
and bodily systems, but it also
encourages the brain to release
endorphins which make us feel
good. A healthy body promotes a
healthy mind. Make time to engage
in a sporting activity - this gives
you the opportunity to exercise and
socialise at the same time.
■■ Sleep well - between seven and
eight hours sleep per day is
regarded by health professionals to
be paramount to optimal health.
■■ Set boundaries – a coach needs
to be able to say “no” to requests
on their time. As before, they need
to set boundaries of when they are
available to clients and also within
their personal life. Take regular
breaks in your daily work, take at
least one day off per week, and take
the occasional holiday.
■■ Take breaks from technology -
you should set times when they
completely disconnect from
technology. This means no laptop,
tablet, texting, mobile phone, phone
calls, and emails. Moving away from
technology for brief periods can lead
to more business, for instance you
might think about a new service you
wish to offer, or you might use the
time to plan where you would like to
go on holiday.
■■ Nourish your creative side – as well
as allowing time for creativity, a
way to avoid burnout is also to try
something new, a fun project, a new
hobby, things that have nothing to
do with work.
■■ Learn how to manage stress – employ
stress management techniques to
reduce feelings of stress.
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CHAPTER 4 DETERMINING WHAT PEOPLE NEED

HELP WITH

People may come to life coaches for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes they have a very clear idea about what they would
like to achieve. Sometimes they may know they want to change
something but they are not quite sure what it is. They might simply
feel dissatisfied in their life. It might be something the coach has
dealt with before or it may be something completely new. A coach
will need to determine what the person needs help with and whether
they are able to help them.
■■ Review their health - in order to
HOW TO DECIDE IF YOU gain a clearer picture you might
CAN HELP want to know about things like the
client’s medical and psychological
A coach needs to decide if they can history i.e. are they taking any
actually help a client or not. There medication? (this could affect their
may be reasons why the coach may ability to engage in exercise, their
not feel they can help the client, as we choice of diet, their concentration,
mentioned before, such as personality etc.), have they had or do they have
clashes, and so forth. A life coach will a mental health disorder? (which
need to talk to the client in an initial could affect their sleeping patterns,
interview before the client and coach self-confidence, anxiety levels, and
decide whether they can work together. so forth), have they suffered any
In order to arrive at this decision, the injuries which affects their motor
coach may: skills, and so on?

■■ Interview the client - to gain a

better understanding of what the
client wants and how feasible their
goals are. They may also draw
upon observational data during the
interview such as body language,
tone of voice, physical appearance,
and so on.

■■ Ask them to complete a

questionnaire - a general lifestyle
questionnaire or perhaps one
pertaining to a specific area e.g. A questionnaire might also
self-esteem. A questionnaire might
also be used as a screening tool be used as a screening
prior to an interview. tool prior to an interview.

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■■ Look at the client’s past experiences
- do they have any experience which
would help them to achieve their
goals.
■■ Consider your own past experiences
and similar cases - if you share no
common experiences with the client
in the area with which they seek
help, or have had no similar cases,
will you still be able to help them?
(you might, but you should consider
this carefully).
■■ Consider your own personal
experiences – will they have
an effect on your work that is
detrimental to the coaching session?
For example, if you have had a
negative experience that your client
is currently experiencing you may
have an emotional response to
their situation so may not be able to
effectively support them.
If a life coach cannot help the client,
then they should point them towards
another coach or professional who
possibly can.
As we said earlier, sometimes clients
are not open about what their real
issues are, so a life coach will have
to try and find as much information as
possible from the client to be able to
help them.
AREAS FOR COACHING
We shall now look at some specific
areas where help may be needed.
EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS
What emotions is the client
experiencing? The client may come to
a life coach for support to improve how
they work, or for business coaching, but
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they may also be experiencing stress
or burnout, so this can also be affecting
their ability to make decisions and the
running of their business.
People with profound emotional
disturbances such as anxiety and
depressive disorders are not the type of
client a life coach should deal with. They
will respond better to psychological
interventions and should be referred on
to a psychologist or psychiatrist.
However, those with mild anxiety
issues associated with feeling unable to
achieve goals, lack of confidence, low
self-esteem, and so forth can possibly
be helped by a life coach. Obviously,
you need to determine the severity of
any emotional issues to see whether it
is feasible to work with the client.
RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS
Relationship issues are often (but not
always) related to other problems.
People need relationships in their
lives to be “balanced” and complete.
These relationships can be with family,
friends, colleagues (work mates),
neighbours and others. When any of
the relationships in a life come under
pressure, this creates a stress that can
impact upon everything else.
A life coach can help with repairing
damaged relationships, creating
missing relationships, teaching
positive communication strategies and
finding solutions to problems within
relationships. Problems in a relationship
may be caused by the client; perhaps
by the other party; or sometimes simply
by the circumstances. It may not be the
fault of anyone.

A coaching session can help the client
to identify and understand the problems
they are having with relationships, what
role they play in the problems, and what
they can do to make positive changes.
The life coach can provide an objective
view to the clients’ relationships, giving
a perspective that the client may not
receive from their friends or family.
PHYSICAL HEALTH
A client may come to a life coach for
help with a range of physical issues,
such as obesity, fitness, diet, fitness
after disability, smoking, drinking, and so
on. You might think why would someone
who is overweight come to a life coach?
Well most people who are overweight
will have tried a range of fitness clubs,
diets, and so on - but they have not
worked or, if they have, they have not
been able to sustain the improvements.
Therefore, they may come to a life
coach to look at ways in which they
can change their habits and lifestyle.
Someone who is overweight might be
set a number of minor goals such as:
■■ Walking up to the stairs (at home
or at work - instead of using the
elevator).
■■ Swapping unhealthy snacks or
treats for healthier options
■■ Taking a packed lunch to work with
them instead of buying fast food or
canteen food for lunch (to ensure
they stick to a set diet)
All of these can be simple steps
to change how a person eats and
behaves, but sometimes the client may
not see how to make the changes, or
they may need someone to offer them
moral support - someone they can work
with to help keep them on track. So,
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a life coach can encourage a client to
swap their negative behaviours with
positive ones.
WORK PROBLEMS
Most adults spend a large portion of
their time at work. There are many
issues that can arise in the workplace
that can make people unhappy or
dissatisfied. A life coach’s role is to help
the client identify the issues at work that
are causing them grief, and developing
strategies to improve the situation. For
some people this may mean changing
their attitude about their job, for others
it may mean scheduling a meeting with
their boss to discuss their future with
the company and what their options for
promotion or up-skilling may be. For
other people examining their work life
may lead them to the realisation that
they are not happy in their career and
would like to move in another direction,
possibly engaging in further studies.
Other people may need support to
find work. This may include direction
as to what area they would like to gain
employment in, confidence to apply and
interview for a job, setting goals and
action steps for gaining skills for their
dream job, and so on.
Clients may also come to see a life
coach seeking business advice. For life
coaches that specialise in this area,
they will be able to support their client
with a range of advice, from business
planning to time management, and
marketing to personnel management.
For the life coach that doesn’t specialise
in this area, they may be able to help
their client with setting goals, and
managing their own emotions and
behaviour around their business, but
may refer the client to a coach that
specialises in business for specific
business strategies.

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
Unless the life coach is renowned for
their skills in this type of coaching, it
is unlikely that a client will seek out a
life coach solely for coaching in their
finances, but this may be a contributing
or related factor to other problems
the client comes to see you for. Life
coaches should have some knowledge
about finances (in order to efficiently
run and manage their own business),
and therefore be able to offer guidance
to their clients. They will however
need to be careful to avoid specific
financial management advice (such as
suggesting investments) unless qualified
to do so.
Financial problems may be
a contributing or related
factor to other problems.
Generally speaking, the type of work a
life coach could do in this area includes:
■■ Teaching basic skills such as
keeping financial records or making
a budget
■■ Determine a process to work
through in order to get their finances
in order
■■ Help clients connect with the
experts who can help, whether
financial advisors, sources of
funding banks etc.
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PROBLEM SOLVING
A coach may look at how the client deals
with problems. Do they create problems
that are not really there? Are they good
at solving problems? Do they look at
a range of options or are they narrow
minded in how the resolve problems? A
coach may need to encourage a client to
“think outside the box”.
Sometimes just by taking the time to talk
about and examine a problem the client
will be able to come up with their own
solution to the problem. If they are still
struggling to come up with a solution,
often rewording or reframing a problem
can enable a client to see it from a
different perspective and to come up
with different solutions.
Part of problem solving is the ability
to make, and stick to a decision (there
is more on being decisive in the next
section). To do this the client may need
to come up with a range of different
solutions and, with the support of the
life coach, decide which solution is the
most appropriate. After committing to
this decision and trying it out for a while,
the client may find that this solution
doesn’t work for them. Because they
went through the process of coming up
with a range of solutions, they will have
other solutions to come back to and try.
The life coach can play an important
role in this by helping the client to see
the problem from different angles, and
helping them determine when it is time
to try a different approach.
ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING
AND BEING DECISIVE
Assertiveness training includes learning
how to give and take criticism. Some
clients may find this hard. They may
feel “put upon” and worn down. They

may not recognise that accepting the
criticism is a means by which they can
improve themselves, or acknowledge
that by offering criticism someone may
be trying to help them. A coach can
help the client to look at why a person
may say the things they did, and help
the client to make use of that criticism
as a way to move on and improve their
performance and behaviour.
Some clients may find it hard to make
decisions. This may because of their
personality. It may be because they
are stressed, tired, or have so much
on their plate that decisions are hard.
There may seem to be so much going
on in their lives that there are no
easy answers. Imagine that a simple
decision like working an extra day a
week affects so many other areas of
their life – their children, childcare, who
will look after them, they will have less
time for household chores, who will do
that, will they pay for someone to do the
chores, can they fit them in at another
time, do they want to work another
day, will it help financially if they have
to pay for childcare and a cleaner, is
their work pushing them to do another
day and they don’t want to? and so on,
and so on.
All of these factors can make it hard
for a person to make a decision.
Sometimes a life coach may simply
need to encourage the person to think
– what do they really want? Do they
WANT to work another day a week? Yes
or no. Then take it from there.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
As with being decisive, if a person
feels stressed and worn out with too
many demands on them, they may find
that their time management is not so
great either.
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Poor time management is common. Life
coaches commonly hear the complaint
“I don’t have time to do that”, or “I don’t
have enough hours in the day”.
The Pareto Principle (20/80 rule) states:
80% of what you achieve, comes from
20% of what you do, therefore 80% of
what you do only accounts for 20% of
what you achieve.
Revealing and emphasising this rule to a
client can often have a significant impact.
A life coach can sit down with a client
and encourage them to think about how
they plan their day, what they are doing,
and so on. They may find they have so
much to do that they do not sit down and
plan what they have to do. Spending five
minutes each day looking at the tasks
they HAVE to do that day and prioritising
them can be more helpful, than simply
ploughing into all your tasks.
Imagine a case of a young woman
named Jane. She has to write two
reports by the end of the week. She
finds it hard to fit them in. Every
morning she plans to write the reports,
but she starts looking at emails, making
phone calls, working on a project that
is not due for another month, and by
Wednesday she has not even looked
at the urgent projects. Instead, a coach
can encourage Jane to make better use
of her time by planning her days better
through the establishment of small
achievable goals which ultimately lead
to her accomplishing her main goals.
For example, the coach might suggest
that she works on the project from 9am
to 11.30am. She then answers emails
from 11.30am to 1pm, take lunch from
1pm to 2pm, and works on the projects
from 2pm to 3.30pm, before answering
emails and calls from 3.30 to 5pm.

Indicators of Poor Time
Management
Poor time management can impact
upon so many other things in a person’s
life. For this reason, and because it is
so common it is important to always
look out for the following indicators of
poor time management.
■■ Often being late for meetings,
missing deadlines, etc.
■■ Hurrying to finish tasks
■■ Frustration, impatience, decreased
motivation
■■ Poor productivity
■■ Being indecisive
■■ Low energy, tiredness, reduced
sleep, even illness
■■ Language can become less clear
and more verbose
■■ Unwillingness to compromise;
expecting perfection from everyone
else, becoming overly obsessed
with detail
■■ Feeling overwhelmed, withdrawal
from engaging with others
Improving Poor Time
Management
Try the following initiatives:
■■ Determine values and goals in life
■■ Monitor time (Have your client keep
a diary of what is done each hour of
the day, then sit down and analyse
how their time is used)
■■ Prioritise tasks
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■■ Identify issues that are stopping
change (eg. emotional hangups)
■■ Implement management techniques
MOTIVATION
Helping a client maintain motivation
can be a primary benefit for the client
of seeing a life coach, but ultimately
it is not up to the life coach to make
the changes – the client must be
committed to taking action to make
changes in their lives. A client may
come to a life coach with an issue or
problem, but not actually be motivated
to do anything about it. They may
recognise that they have a problem
with their time management, weight,
fitness, or business skills, and so on,
but not actually think that they need to
change. They may not then be REALLY
motivated to change. A life coach will
need to clarify this with the client- that
they need to be committed to change
or they are wasting their own time and
money seeing a life coach.
In order to help the client with their
motivation, the life coach will need
to help the client determine what it is
that motivates them. Working out the
client’s primary motivator will help them
to achieve their goals. For example, if
the client’s goal is to lose 10kg weight
because they are getting married, it may
be more effective to use visualisations
of what they will look like on their
wedding day, or find a picture of a bride
with the figure they would like and place
a picture of their own face and put it
on their fridge, rather than by using a
reward system, such as a holiday or a
special treat.
Motivation is not always as simple as the
example given above, and the thing that
appears to be the primary motivator may
not actually provide the most motivation.
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Consider the example above, there may

be another reason why the bride to be
wants to lose weight for their wedding.
Her mother may have made a comment
about her weight, and this may be
driving her to look sensational on her
wedding day, she may be motivated
because she wants to see the look on
her husband’s face as she walks down
the aisle with her new svelte figure, she
may be wanting to start a family and
realises that she needs to improve her
health, or they may have an activity
planned for their honeymoon that would
require her to be more fit.

Maslow’s theory of motivation gives a

progression of needs that need to be
filled before moving on to the next level.
These needs are:

1. Physiological needs (hunger, thirst).

This is the first need of man and it
is the one he must attain in order
to exist.

2. Safety needs (security, stability).

When man has food and drink, he
needs a roof over his head. Thus he
provides himself with a roof over his
head, however primitive.

3. Belongingness and love need

(affection and identification). When
he is secure, he requires someone
to love and someone to love him. In
other words he needs the affection
and closeness of others.

4. Esteem needs (prestige and self-

respect). The man now becomes
competitive and he wants to excel.
5. The need of self-actualisation. When
he is at peace with himself and
there is nothing further which he
wishes to attain. This is a very rare
condition, achieved by very few.
In order to help the client
with their motivation, the
life coach will need to help
the client determine what
it is that motivates them.

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This theory of needs suggests that the
“lower level” needs must be filled before
the person is motivated to fill “higher”
level needs. So if someone has just
lost their job and is at risk of losing
their home, they will be more motivated
to satisfy their safety needs than their
need for affection.
There are many techniques that a life
coach can use to help their clients
stay motivated. The use of diaries,
report forms, scaling questions, and so
forth can help to stimulate motivation
because the client is able to see
improvements towards targets and goals
which can spur them on. Sometimes just
being there for the client can help them
stay motivated as they have someone to
be accountable to.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
People running their own businesses
and people working in corporations may
seek to improve leadership skills. Those
working in management or who wish
to move into supervisory positions or
to take a more active role in clubs and
societies may also wish to hone their
skills in people management. This area
is linked to assertiveness and decision
making, but a life coach can help a
client to work directly on their leadership
skills and with techniques for working
with people they supervise and lead.
Whilst it may seem that some people
are born leaders, there is no such thing
as a leadership trait and most people
in leadership roles will benefit from
coaching in leadership skills.
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USING DIARIES
When you undertake any work with
clients, it is very useful to encourage
the client to keep a diary or log sheet
of their behaviour. These should
really focus on the area of concern to
them such as weight loss, leadership
skills, self-esteem, and so on. Weekly
changes can then be discussed in the
next session, feedback provided, and
encouragement offered.
Also, logs and diaries may be used to
record events that happen before and
after a situation (especially for use with
cognitive behavioural coaching). For
example, a client may record that they
prepared a report which their employer
was not impressed with. The employer
shouted at them in front of the rest of
office, making the client feel bad.
The coach may encourage the client
to record what happened before
(antecedents) and after (consequences)
this event. For example, the
antecedents might include: they had no
sleep the night before and did not put
any effort into the report, they were not
remotely interested in the report, they
were supposed to do it with a colleague
but in the end the colleague did not
help them, they were annoyed with their
boss and so did not bother to do it well.
After the employer shouted at them,
the consequences might include: they
shouted back at their employer and
walked out, they went and cried in the
toilet, they went home and got drunk.
By looking at behaviours before and
after, the life coach can also look at
factors that could affect how the person
is behaving and what may be affecting
them from optimising their performance.
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CHAPTER 5 RISK MANAGEMENT

The life coach’s role is ultimately to help their client to change

areas of their life in order to get to where they want to be. However,
this is not to be done at any cost. A competent coach is always
mindful of the risks associated with achieving rewards. Sometimes
a programme needs to be vastly altered or abandoned altogether in
order to remove risks. Occasionally, client goals may be discarded
from the outset by the coach.

IDENTIFYING RISK
FACTORS
One way of identifying risks is through
an assessment of a client’s strengths
and weaknesses. A life coach may do
this by interviewing the client, asking
them to complete questionnaires,
observing their behaviour in certain
situations. All of this would have to be in
agreement with the client.

A competent coach is
always mindful of the
risks associated with
achieving rewards.
You wouldn’t expect your G.P. to instruct
you to run in a local marathon if you had
dangerously high blood pressure.
Likewise, a coach should not agree that
a client sets a goal of going bungee
jumping to overcome a fear of heights if
they have a back problem.
Interview Questions
These may be used to assess what
the person is good at and not so good
at. If a client reports that they cannot
climb stairs because they have sciatica
then you wouldn’t instruct them to climb
stairs five times a day as part of a
weight loss programme.
You can conduct a positive asset
search using questions. That is, ask the
client about a time when they achieved
success or were good at something.
Use this to emphasise to the client
that they have certain skills and inner
resources and once you are aware
what the client’s strengths are, you can
play to them so as to avoid risking the
client’s well-being.

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Physical & Mental Health
Assessment
GP reports and accounts of current
and past health problems, medications,
and mental health history are all useful
items of information, not only in terms
of goal-setting and deciding if you and
the client are compatible, but also in
the establishment of potential risk.
Once again the coach would require the
client’s agreement and consent for this,
and it should be discussed at the onset
of coaching when confidentiality and
informed consent are discussed and
agreed upon.
Cognitive Assessment
The coach may perform tests on
the client’s cognitive and intellectual
abilities, including problem solving - or
they may request that their client sees
a clinical psychologist who could test
them and provide reports and analyses
of results to confirm or disprove the
presence of any suspected cognitive
anomalies. If a client has significantly
low IQ you may have to reassess how
you go about setting goals with them
- you certainly wouldn’t want them to
attempt goals which could cause them
injury or embarrassment.
In most cases, you can probably get
a good understanding of a client’s
cognitive ability by discussing
their educational background and
work history.
Personality
You may wish to gather information
about the client’s personality. For
example, are they a risk-taker? Do
they engage in extreme sports, racing,
smoking? Are they a heavy drinker, or
over-eater? Have they transgressed
the law or been arrested? Do they
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attend protest rallies? Someone who
is a risk-taker may be more likely to
come out of their comfort zone (if they
are in one) and meet the challenges
required to attain their goals, but by
the same token they are also more
likely to underestimate the personal
risks involved in their actions -
which could backfire on the coach
if anything happens to them whilst
under instruction.
Conversely, someone who is scared to
take risks will need significantly more
prompting to achieve their goals.
Emotional Assessment
Risks to emotional wellbeing include
things like loss of self-esteem, feelings
of failure, despair, possibly learned
helplessness, heightened anxiety, and
so forth. To avoid the client developing
such problems you should encourage
them to steer clear of goals which
are unlikely to be achieved and to set
small achievable goals on the way to
ultimate goals.
At every opportunity provide
encouragement and positive feedback
to the client, and if they do something
which works encourage them to do
more of it.
TAKING CALCULATED RISKS
Clients are often ‘stuck’ in their comfort
zones. This refers to living in a way
where the client feels comfortable
because they are fully familiar with
and adept at everything they do, and
where they do not wish to take any risks
because to do so could lead to failure
which would invariably lead to feelings
of discomfort. However, in order to grow
and develop a client needs to move
outside that comfort zone. There is

always some degree of risk taken when
a client is coaxed out of their comfort
zone, but the rewards for the client can
be quite immense. A life coach will often
need to encourage the client to move
outside their comfort zone in order
to achieve their goals. To do this, the
coach may encourage the client to think:
■■ What will happen if you move
outside your comfort zone?
■■ What would be so bad if you did
XYZ?
■■ What do you think would happen if
you tried this?
■■ What would be the worst thing that
could happen if you tried X?
■■ What would be the worst thing that
could happen if you didn’t try X?
■■ And so on...
The miracle and scaling questions also
work as a good motivator here:
■■ If you were to wake up tomorrow
morning having come out of your
comfort zone and achieved this,
what would be different?
■■ How would you feel on a scale of
one to 10 where one is dissatisfied
and 10 is elated?
If the client can be encouraged to
visualise what their life would be like if
they did change, then they may be more
willing to move outside their comfort
zone and take risks with their behaviour
and life. By risks, we do not mean
dangerous behaviour, but behaviour that
the client may not feel comfortable with
for a range of reasons. A woman may
be overweight and feel uncomfortable
about going to a gym because she feels
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other people will laugh at her. A coach
may encourage her to think about this
– who is going to laugh at her? What is
the worst that could happen? She may
lose weight? Other people go to the
gym to keep fit and lose weight, so why
should she be any different?
It is also really important to consider
the risks associated with not changing.
For example the risks of someone not
improving their health could be health
complications or disease in the future.
The risk of someone not finding a new
job is being stuck in the same job for
the rest of their life. The risk of not
making changes to the way the client
relates to people is dying alone. Just
the thought of the consequences of not
changing can be enough to give people
the strength to make changes.
Considering the worst possible outcome
of stepping outside of the comfort zone
can also alleviate fear, especially when
the client feels confident that they have
the skills necessary to deal with the
worst possible outcome. When you
put it in plain words, sometimes the
risk may not actually be as bad as the
client initially thought. For example,
your client wants to go on holiday but
is nervous that if they take time off they
will lose their job. If the client looks
at the possible outcomes, they may
realise that there is a chance that they
may not actually lose their job, but in
the worst case scenario they may lose
their job. The client can then be asked
what this would mean for them – is
this something they could cope with?
The client may realise that this would
open up the opportunity to finding a
new, possibly better job. You can also
discuss strategies with how the client
would cope with their job loss in order
to survive financially before they find a
new job. For example, stay with parents,
work part time labouring while looking
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for a new job, find a flatmate, save up

more money before going on holiday
and so on).

Often people have a fear of making

a mistake, but it is through making
mistakes that people learn and grow.
Without taking the risk of making
a mistake, learning may not occur.
Obviously, the life coach should not
encourage the client to take uninformed
and poorly calculated risks, but it can in
fact be a good thing to take some risks,
provided that the risks are appropriate
for the clients capabilities, to deal with
the consequences of the risk.

BEING DECISIVE
Making decisions can be both creative
and analytical. Some people can be
more creative and less analytical; while
others less creative and more analytical.

Different people tend to make decisions

in different ways.

■■ No Thought

■■ Compliant

■■ Logical

■■ Emotional

■■ Intuitive

■■ Hesitant

Whilst there is no right or wrong way to

make decisions, some of these decision It can in fact be a good
making styles are a greater risk than
others, and may be more or less risky in
thing to take some risks,
different situations. Being hesitant may provided that the risks are
lead to missed opportunities. Making appropriate for the clients
decisions with no thought or based
on emotion can be a greater risk than
capabilities.
making a logical decision.

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Whilst a coach may act with varying
degrees of directivity, depending on
their theoretical approach and their
client’s personality, there may be times
when the coach needs to be more
instructional. They may suggest goals
for the client. When they are finding it
hard to move outside their comfort zone,
the coach may suggest small steps for
the client to try so as to gently push
them towards moving outside of their
comfort zone.
They may also set goals and timeframes
to achieve certain goals. If a coach
sets goals it may be because the client
asks the coach to do this, or it may be
because the client appears unable to
see how to set goals. This should only
be done for minor goals and targets.
If a client is unable to establish a long
term or ultimate goal then it would be
unethical to work with them. It is not
your role to tell a client what they should
be aiming for. In setting minor goals,
you can avoid wasting time through
procrastination - but only do so if the
client seems unable to do so.
Setting timeframes is always worthwhile
because it helps to clarify goals. If a
client has a clear idea about what they
are trying to achieve and by when, they
can work towards that. If it becomes
apparent that a timeframe cannot be
met, then it is perfectly acceptable to
adjust it.
Changing Goals
Clients may change their goals. They
may come to a coach for a certain
reason, but find that another issue
takes a greater priority. It may be that
whilst trying to resolve one issue,
another issue arises or they may
successfully change one thing and
move on to another.
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For example, they may come to a life
coach because they would like to retrain
in a new job. They go through a range
of steps with the coach and actually
start a new coaching course. Then
they may find that they lack the skills to
manage their time well and are finding it
hard to fit in studying around their home
life, children’s schooling, and other
issues - so they see the life coach about
their time management.
You may also find that an ultimate goal
which seemed realistic and achievable
at the onset of coaching begins to look
too difficult for the client. Rather than
risk damaging their self-esteem you may
have to rework the ultimate goal with
the client. You may be able to reach a
compromise with the client which would
also be regarded as an accomplishment
by them.
At other times minor goals may have
to be altered or modified because
they pose too much risk to the client’s
physical or emotional well-being or
because perhaps they are no longer
challenging enough.
Altering Techniques &
Programmes
As goals change, then the life coach
may also change the programmes and
methods they are using to support their
client. A coach should always be flexible
and be able to change the plans and
programmes to support the client to fit
in with the client’s needs.
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CHAPTER 6 THE FINAL STEP - HOW TO BECOME A

LIFE COACH

Developing the skills to become a competent life coach is the first

step in the journey to a career in life coaching. The other equally
important step is making an income as a life coach. For some
people this may mean finding a job as a life coach, but because of
the nature of the industry, for the majority of people this will mean
starting your own business.
The other ways in which a life coach
may work for someone else is under
the guise of another job. The fist thing
to understand is that there are many
jobs in society which might not be called
“life coach”, but may utilise life coaching
skills, or involve providing a similar type
of service that a life coach provides.
Related jobs can sometimes evolve and
turn into something which might for all
intents and purposes, be life coaching.
For example:

1. Consider a teacher who

Developing the skills to
become a competent life
coach is the first step in
the journey to a career in
life coaching.
WORKING FOR
SOMEONE ELSE
At the time this book was written it
would be unusual to find a life coach job
advertised to work for someone else.
Most life coach opportunities come from
working within a franchise or similar
situation. In other cases a life coach
may work in a multi-disciplinary team at
a health centre, which may involve the
life coach working for themselves or for
someone else.
demonstrates a certain type of
empathy with students, may be
asked to take on a role of student
counsellor or career advisor.
2. Consider a counsellor who is
confronted by clients who have
fitness issues, eating problems,
financial difficulties, and other
challenges. Over time, a counsellor
may broaden their knowledge and
expertise; and find themself, out of
necessity, helping people across a
broad gambit of issues, beyond just
psychological.
3. An employment consultant may find
themselves utilising life coaching
skills when working with their clients
helping them find employment.

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4. A youth worker, mental health
worker or disabilities worker may
find themselves working with clients
to develop life skills, goal setting,
healthy living, interpersonal skills
and more.
5. A hairdresser or massage therapist
may find themselves having
conversations with their clients
about their client’s lives and
the issues they are having. The
conversations may have some
similarities to a life coaching course,
with the hairdresser or massage
therapist engaging in active listening
and possibly helping the client
structure their thoughts, gain a new
perspective, set goals, etc.
WORKING FOR YOURSELF
To become a life coach you will first
need to develop the necessary skill
set. Most people will start by studying a
Life Coaching short course, certificate
or diploma to learn perspectives
and techniques to help them work
with clients. Your own personal life
experiences and skills will shape
your life coaching practice, and in the
beginning it is wise to specialise in
areas that you already have expertise,
qualifications or experience in.
Capitalising on your existing skills and
networks can be a powerful way to start
your life coaching business. One way
to build a life coaching practice is to
start by offering coaching services in
the area that you have had experience
in, targeting existing clients and utilising
your existing reputation in that area. You
may initially provide a narrower range
of services related to your specialty
and then broaden the services over
time, evolving your business to offer a
comprehensive life coaching service.
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You will most likely find it easier to start
your business building on the strengths
that you already have. If you have a
degree, certificate or work experience in
something; consider how you might use
that existing knowledge and experience
as leverage to get started toward a
career in life coaching. There are many
professions that will develop relevant
skills for life coaching.
Here are some examples of how this
might evolve:
1. If you are already a personal
trainer, after studying life coaching
you might slowly incorporate life
coaching into your training where
appropriate. As you develop as a life
coach you may bring life coaching
aspects into your training more and
more, until you become a specialist
coach that offers your clients a
life coaching service that includes
fitness training where necessary. If
you are interested in health aspects,
it is likely you will also study
nutrition, or psychology so you can
offer a holistic service.
2. If you have experience in business,
maybe running your own business or
working in commerce you may find
that you want to change your career
to help people more. Your journey
into life coaching may start with
studying life coaching to gain some
understanding of this perspective.
You may recognise the value of your
business knowledge and decide to
begin by offering business coaching
services to some of the businesses
you already work with, or your family
and friends. As the needs arise you
may offer coaching around your
client’s personal issues, which over
time may evolve into a more holistic
life coaching approach.

3. If you have worked in a bank you
may have realised that many people
don’t have a clue about finances.
You may be really motivated to
help people and you can see that
this is an area that you know a lot
about, that other people may not. By
studying life coaching you can gain
an understanding of people, and
ways to work with them. You may
start out by helping people manage
their finances, but then realise that
there can be other things involved
that affect people’s spending, like
their self-esteem, work satisfaction,
etc so evolve into offering your clients
a complete life coaching service.
On the other hand, you might be
starting your life coaching career as
a fresh start, and may not be bringing
any professional skills to the table.
This does not mean that you will not
succeed as a life coach, and whether
you recognise it or not, you will still be
bringing years of experience and insight
from your own life experiences. If you
are starting from scratch without an
existing network or client base you may
need a more strategic approach, with a
more aggressive marketing campaign to
get your business up and running.
WHERE TO START
The first thing to recognise is that there
is no set starting point to begin working
toward a business or career as a life
coach. If you look at people who are
successful life coaches, you will find a
mixed bag of backgrounds.
Some commence their career by taking
a comprehensive course of study; while
others may come to it with a wealth
of experience and knowledge built up
through all sorts of life experiences.
Some may be stronger in one aspect
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of the job than others; and that is not
necessarily a bad thing. A life coach
who has extra strengths in the area of
fitness may tend to attract clients with a
greater need of help in that area; while
another who has strengths in the area
of financial and business management
may attract clients with a greater need
in those areas.
You need to recognise that no life coach
can ever be all things to all people; but
over time, and with experience, you may
develop a capacity to help people in any
area they need help.
HOW TO GET CLIENTS
First you will need to be really clear
about the service you are offering, and
who you are offering your services too
(more on this later on in the chapter).
■■ How are you going to structure your
programmes?
■■ Do you have a specialty? Health?
Finance?
■■ Who do you want to deliver your
services to?
To be convincing, and inspire confidence
in potential clients you will need to be able
to succinctly describe your service, and
most importantly how they will benefit.
People are more enticed by the value they
will receive than hearing all about what it
is that you do. So rather then telling them
how you will run the sessions by talking
about their life and their goals, then
working out strategies to help them reach
their goals, say something like “are you
living your dream life? Do you want to?
Well that’s what my life coaching services
can do for you.” These words may not
work for you, so work out something you
can say to entice people to your service
that feels authentic to you.

To get an even better response, you can
tailor your spiel to the individual person
that you are speaking to by responding
to their unique needs and appealing
to their desires. You want the potential
client to be attracted to your services to
fulfil their personal desires. For example
asking, what does your dream life look
like?... listen to their answer then reply
with how you can help them to achieve
this. Just make sure you are genuine!
People are more enticed by
the value they will receive
than hearing all about what
it is that you do.
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Once you have become clear about
your service, your target market, and
how you are going to present your offer,
you will need to start finding yourself
some clients.
Here are some ideas for ways to attract
clients:
■■ Word of mouth is the best way to get
clients. People trust other people’s
opinions, especially if they know the
person, but also even if they don’t.
It may take some time to build your
business through word of mouth, so
you may need to have special offers
to entice people to try your services
and encourage them to recommend
them to their friends. For example
by offering their first session for free
and an additional discount to their
following appointments if they refer
a friend. Encouraging people to
“like” your business on facebook is
one way to help people spread the
word about your service.
■■ Networking is another really
effective tool. You need to get out
there and talk to people about
your business. Even if the person
you speak to doesn’t require your
services, if they come across
someone who does require
coaching, you will be the first
person they think of. Networking
can include social events, as
well as more formal business
networking events. It can include
calling someone up and going for a
coffee, or contacting other similar
professionals.
■■ Share information. This will build
your credibility with potential clients
and inspire them to come and use
your services.

■■ You need to be visible. People who
need to use a life coach need to be
able to find you.
■■ You need to be remembered. If you
are only seen occasionally, you will
not be remembered
■■ You need to be perceived as being
good. If you can build relationships
with other professionals and get
“testimonials”, that helps a lot. If you
present an impressive “profile” or
CV, that helps.
■■ Work on getting referrals. Consider
developing relationships with other
businesses -Financial advisors,
gyms, health professionals etc, may
refer people to you, and you refer
people back to them.
■■ You need to be accessible. When
you are starting out, make yourself
available whenever people want you
(within reason!). If you refuse to give
your phone number, or the phone
always goes to an answer phone; you
will lose clients. If you limit the days
or times of day you are available, you
will make it harder to get clients. If
you make yourself readily available,
any time, anywhere, you are going to
build a business faster.
■■ Get a web site - this is expected
for most businesses today. Include
testimonials - preferably video
testimonials.
■■ Get involved with social media. Just
having a facebook or linked-in account
does not work unless you use them
(daily), and use them in the right way.
■■ Advertising - adverts in newspapers
and magazines might work in some
places, but they can also be an easy
way to waste money.
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■■ Shows, Exhibitions etc -Having a
stand at the right type of show or
exhibition may be a way of getting
a new business started, but again,
many shows can be a big waste of
time and money. Always look at the
numbers of people who go to the
show; the type of people, whether
they are “your potential customers”,
talk to other stand holders and find
out how successful the show has
been for them in past years.
■■ Brochures - can be useful if written
well, but only if you can get them
into the right hands.
■■ Shop front - do not expect you will
get business by leasing a shop or
office and putting a sign up -again
can be a waste of money. You are
better to get a practice moving
before leasing commercial space.
■■ Listings in directories - a directory
of life coaches on the internet might
work for you; but again, consider, in
your locality, will people look for life
coaches this way?
■■ Events -A launch might attract free
media coverage, particularly if you
do something off beat, imaginative &
quirky.
■■ Offering something Free (eg.
free first session, free online
assessment, free book, free
newsletters, free information).
WHAT SERVICES WILL YOU
OFFER?
As discussed throughout the book you
may specialise in an area you already
have experience in, or you may offer a
broad range of services. This may effect
the title that you market yourself as. For
example, if you have qualifications and

experience in business & finance you
might start as a “business coach”, or a
“business and life coach”. If you have
experience in Food and Nutrition; you
may start as a “nutrition and weight loss
consultant” or “health coach”.
Here are some of the services you
may provide:
■■ Debt advice
■■ Weight loss
■■ Careers counselling
■■ Health
■■ Relationships
■■ Self-esteem
■■ Practical life skills e.g. time
management
■■ Physical wellbeing
■■ Physical image
■■ Public and professional image
■■ Setting goals
WHAT SHOULD YOU
CHARGE?
There is no set amount of money you
will earn as a life coach. It will ultimately
depend on the type of service you offer,
your experience, your qualifications, the
country you are in, your confidence and
marketing ability, and the way you have
chosen to structure your fees. To get an
idea, have a look at what other similar
services in your area charge. You may
decide to “undercut” the market price to
try and get clients, or you may choose
to offer an elite service that is much
higher than the going rate. The way
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you price your service may affect the
impression people have about your
service (ie how good it is), the higher
the price the higher the perceived
value – however be careful not to price
yourself too high and price yourself out
of the market.
Generally speaking, as a new life coach
it is likely that you will start with lower
fees and increase them over time.
Another way to increase your potential
salary is to offer group life coaching
sessions where you may charge a lower
fee, but have many more clients at
one time.
To get an idea of what your
fee should be, have a look at
what other similar services
in your area charge.
You may also build into your fees
a programme structure, so people
may pay a certain rate for a one-off
consultation, or a fixed rate for a certain
number of sessions. To get the most
out of life coaching a client will really
need to come and see you more than

once, so offering a fixed price for a
certain number of sessions is probably
the best way to go. You may arrange for
your clients to pay upfront, or pay it off
over time.
As well as offering a flexible course of
sessions, where the coaching continues
indefinitely, you may also consider
preparing a programme of a fixed
length with a set structure and purpose.
For example you may put together a
12week health programme that has
weekly one hour sessions in the first
month with set topics (for example
nutrition in week one, exercise in week
two, psychological aspects in week
three, and healthy lifestyle tips in week
four), followed by a fortnightly one hour
maintenance sessions for the following
9 weeks.
DEVELOP A
BUSINESS PLAN
Developing a business plan is a means
of formalising your thoughts and ideas,
in order to establish a framework and
direction of your business. It outlines the
culture, vision, goals, and objectives of
the new venture. It allows you to think
through all aspects of organising and
operating a small business and assists
them in deciding if the business will
be viable or if new directions should
be taken. It also provides a facility
for examining the consequences of
different strategies, and for determining
what resources are needed to launch (or
expand) the business. This is a really
important tool to help you succeed in
your life coaching business.
You need to know how you will achieve
the goals and objectives you have set.
You can do this by developing an action
plan. This plan should be prioritised and
clearly outline who will be responsible
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for carrying out each activity within the
required time frame.
The main benefits of developing a
business plan are:
■■ it forces you to justify your plans
and actions
■■ it helps test the viability of the
business
■■ it indicates your ability and level of
commitment
■■ it identifies the business’ strengths
and weaknesses
■■ it assists in maintaining the business
operations, especially focusing
attention on the goals and objectives
■■ it assists the business to be
proactive rather than reactive.
Without a business plan, you will only
have a general idea of where you are
going, what you hope to achieve, and
how you intend to go about achieving it.
Business plans need to be flexible and
frequently revised to take into account
any changes that may arise.
All successful entrepreneurs have a
clear idea of where they want their
business to go and how to get there. We
have discussed several of these earlier
on in the chapter, but here are some
things that you will need to have a clear
idea of:
■■ the most appropriate method of
beginning a business – starting from
scratch, buying an existing business,
or buying a franchise
■■ the nature of the life
coaching industry

■■ How you are going to specialise
■■ a realistic estimate of the expected
returns from the business in the
short and medium terms
■■ the starting and ongoing costs and
how these will be financed
■■ the ideal location of the business
■■ the legal requirements
■■ the administrative and managerial
requirements
■■ the relevant market and the specific
target group of customers who will
use their product/service
■■ pricing strategies
■■ market research and the feasibility
of the proposed business
■■ marketing, advertising, and
promotion requirements
■■ employment requirements
■■ the record-keeping and continuing
financial management needed
Having a thorough business plan will
prepare you for success.
Lack of planning can be disastrous, just
like the lack of capital. In all businesses,
the best results come from effective
management. A business plan should
include:
■■ the prime function of the business
■■ the mission statement
■■ plans and strategies
■■ budget projections
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In addition, the business plan should
also detail:
■■ why you want to establish the
business
■■ what steps will be necessary to
achieve those goals
■■ what goals the owner wishes to
achieve in the business
■■ the time frame in which the steps
and goals should be achieved
This can help you to stay on track and
monitor your progress.
THE PLANNING PROCESS
There are a number of factors that must
be taken into account when doing your
business plan. They are as follows:
Forecasting
The process of estimating and
anticipating current and future events,
based on the best information available
at the time. Forecasting is required
when you think about the business you
are going to start up, the effort that will
be required, the products/services to
be sold, the financing of the venture,
legal requirements, and so on. The
assumptions will become the framework
for your business plan, and are required
continually throughout the planning
process.
Business Mission Statement
The mission statement expresses the
underlying purpose of a business and
what it hopes to achieve. By considering
the ultimate goals of the business, you
are able to integrate the minor decisions
with the achievement of these larger

intentions. The purpose of the mission
statement is to guide the decision-
making processes.
The mission statement
expresses the underlying
purpose of a business and
what it hopes to achieve.
Setting goals and objectives
Establishing the outcomes you wish
to achieve, first in a broad sense
(goals) and then more specifically, in
measurable terms (objectives).
■■ What is the business trying to
achieve?
■■ How is the goal/objective to be
achieved?
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■■ When will it be achieved?
Policies
Outlines the plans of action that will
govern the way your business handles
current and future problems. You will
need to formulate policies to cover
such things as workplace health and
safety, quality systems, payment terms,
account customers, complaints, etc.
Programming and scheduling
Establishing priorities and a planned
procedure for the performance of
activities in a given time frame. This
factor of the planning process guides
you in what needs to be done, when
they need to be done, and how long
they should take to complete.
Budgeting
The process of estimating the income
and expenditure for the business is
budgeting. You need to arrange your
finances to meet your objectives. The
budgeting process establishes the
financial objectives of the business
plan. A budget provides both a plan for
activities and a means of comparison,
when actual performance is reviewed.
Developing Procedures
Developing methods of performing
tasks is to ensure the achievement of
your business objectives. There are
guidelines to be followed to achieve
a specified result. Procedures are
developed to govern the handling of
money, the delivery of services, etc.
Going through the process of planning
and starting your own business will help
you develop vital skills to share with
your clients.

SUMMARY OF A
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
The most successful businesses are
usually identified by signs of creativity
and innovation. To be slightly different
distinguishes you from your competition,
and often wins you a larger slice of the
marketplace. To be too different, can put
you right outside favour with the general
public.
Some success strategies:
Competitive advantage
■■ Create and build a business on a
real market opportunity that fills
demand
■■ Find and create opportunities
■■ Be innovative
■■ Identify or create some distinctive
competence and convert this into a
competitive advantage
■■ Realise that the competitive
advantage is only temporary -
continually review and update your
service
Reputation
■■ Ensure the quality of your service is
excellent – it is hard to turn around a
bad reputation.
■■ Create and improve the business’
image
■■ Always strive to be the best – rather
than the biggest
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Business practices
■■ Build on strengths and concentrate
effort and resources
■■ Seek and use expert advise
■■ Recognise the various types of risks
■■ Avoid being overly dependent on
others
■■ Get rid of unprofitable and/or
unsaleable services
■■ Manage the business’ resources
efficiently and effectively
■■ Hire the right people, use them and
involve them in the business, reward
them wisely.
■■ Realise that every business/
management decision and action
will affect the business’ survival
ability
■■ Be decisive and assertive – decide
on the best course of action and
follow it
■■ Regard cash flow as the lifeblood of
the business
■■ Keep good records
■■ Learn from errors made and do not
repeat them
Above all, you will need to believe in
yourself and your business!
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APPENDIX

DISTANCE LEARNING AND ONLINE COURSES

The authors of this book have developed a large variety of

distance learning courses, online, on CD or by correspondence,
which are available through various colleges that are part of the
ACS Global Partners Network.

PSYCHOLOGY
Why Study Psychology?
■■ To understand people around you - at ■■ To work in any “people based” job, from
home, work or play counselling and education to marketing
and welfare
■■ To improve your communication skills

RELEVANT COURSES
Short Courses:
■■ Introduction to Psychology
■■ Psychology & Counselling
■■ Child Psychology
■■ Adolescent Psychology
■■ Educational Psychology
■■ Developmental Psychology
■■ Life Coaching
■■ Stress Management
■■ Industrial Psychology
■■ Conflict Management
■■ Anger Management
■■ Psychological Assessment
■■ Marketing Psychology
■■ Social Psychology
■■ Multicultural Awareness
■■ Abnormal Psychology
■■ Criminal Psychology
■■ Biopsychology I
■■ Biopsychology II
■■ Neuropsychology
■■ Psychopharmacology
■■ Busines Coaching

Qualifications
■■ Certificate in Life Coaching
■■ Certificate in Applied Developmental
Psychology
■■ Certificate in Biopsychology
■■ Certificate in Psychology
■■ Advanced Certificate in Psychology
■■ Associate Diploma in Psychology

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THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF OTHER COURSES OFFERED

BY ACS AFFILIATE NETWORK COLLEGES;
including: Self Sufficiency, Commercial Vegetable Growing, Fruit
Production, Nut Production, Cut Flower Growing, Human Nutrition,
Food Preparation, Business, Writing, Health, Psychology, Environmental
Science and many different diploma and certificate courses...

OTHER BOOKS BY JOHN MASON

John Mason has been writing books since the 1970’s and has over
40 titles published, some as printed books, others as e books. Some
(print) titles are out of print, and now only available as second hand
books or e books. If you have difficulty finding any of Mr Mason’s
titles, you can enquire by email to admin@acs.edu.au

Print Books by John Mason include:

Fun and Fitness Trails, Victorian Dept. of Sport and Recreation, 1978
Starting a Nursery or Herb Farm, Night Owl, 1983 (revised 1994)
The Environment of Play, Leisure Press, New York, 1982
Herb Review, self published, 1987
Landscaping with Herbs, self published, 1988
The Native Plant Expert, self published, 1989
Let’s Grow Gardens, self published, 1990
Growing Ferns, Kangaroo Press, 1990
Commercial Hydroponics, Kangaroo Press, 1990, 2007
Growing Vegetables, Kangaroo Press, 1991
Growing Herbs, Kangaroo Press, 1993
Nursery Management, Kangaroo Press, April 1994
Tropical Gardening, Bay Books, October 1994
Yates Guide to Pests & Diseases, Angus & Robertson, February 1995
Growing Pelargoniums & Geraniums Hyland House 1996
Farm Management Kangaroo Press 1996
Growing Australian Natives Kangaroo Press 1997
Starting a Nursery or Herb Farm (Revised ed) Kangaroo Press 1997
Sustainable Farming Simon & Schuster (Kangaroo Press) Spring 1997
Growing Tropical Plants Simon & Schuster (Kangaroo Press) 1997

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Starting a Landscape or Garden Business Kangaroo Press 1998

Aqua Fitness Kangaroo Press 1999
Growing Conifers Kangaroo Press 1999
Profitable Farming Kangaroo Press 1999
A Beginners Guide to Orchids Hyland House
Aerobic Fitness Kangaroo Press
Trees & Shrubs for Small Places Kangaroo/Simon & Schuster 2000
Propagating from Cuttings Kangaroo/Simon & Schuster 2002
Growing and Using Vegetables and Herbs Kangaroo/Simon & Schuster 2007

E BOOKS BY JOHN MASON AND ACS STAFF INCLUDE:

■■ Trees and Shrubs for Warm Places
■■ Growing Tropical Plants 2nd edition
■■ Starting a Business
■■ The Environment of Play 2nd edition
■■ Farm Management 2nd edition
■■ Growing Conifers 2nd edition
■■ Garden Design Part I
■■ Garden Design Part II
■■ Profitable Farming 2nd edition
■■ Starting a Garden or Landscape
Business 2nd edition
■■ Starting a Nursery or Herb Farm
2nd edition
■■ Aerobic Fitness 2nd edition
■■ Aquafitness 2nd edition
■■ Commercial Hydroponics 3rd edition
■■ Organic Gardening

USEFUL CONTACTS ACS DISTANCE EDUCATION

ACS Distance Education offers a range of vocational and higher
learning courses in horticulture, agriculture and hydroponics.
A full range of courses offered can be seen on the internet.

ACS Distance Education ACS Distance Education UK

P.O. Box 2092 P.O. Box 4171,
Nerang MDC Stourbridge, DY8 2WZ
QLD Australia 4211 United Kingdom
Phone: (+61) 7 5562 1088 Phone: 0800 328 4723 (within UK only)
Fax: (+61) 7 5562 1099 Web: www.acsedu.co.uk
Web: www.acs.edu.au Email: admin@acsedu.co.uk
Email: admin@acs.edu.au

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ACS GLOBAL PARTNERS

To see the latest list of ACS affiliates, please visit:

www.acs.edu.au/about-us/affiliates.aspx

SOCIAL MEDIA
Stay in touch with the authors through our
social media on Facebook, twitter and linked in.

Facebook Australia
http://www.facebook.com/ACSeducation

Facebook UK
http://www.facebook.com/ACSUKcourses

Twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/ACSDistanceEd

Blog
http://acsebook.com/blog.aspx

Linked in Click here.

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