Business Coaching: How to Work as a Career Builder

Hi C.J.,

I read your story and knew immediately that what you are doing, to help people in life and business, is what I want to do. Will you please elaborate on how I can begin a career in my own town in becoming a life and business coach? Will you share some pitfalls of becoming a life and business coach?

Thank you so much for your time and response.

Respectfully Yours,

Mina

Hi Mina

Another reader had the same question about how to get started helping people build better careers. You may like to read other posts on this topic: Should I Become a Life Coach? and How to Make It as a Career Coach. Those posts can give you more information on how to get started in your area as a business coach, and generally as an entrepreneur.

Overall, I think the pitfalls of being a career coach would depend on the person. You seem very enthused about working as a career coach, building people up for greater success. That’s why this first pitfall may not bother you.

As a coach, you and you alone are responsible for the generation of business because coaching is a referral business. As such, it may take a while to jump start your business, especially if you are not aggressively selling and networking. Initially, I spent about 30 percent or more of my time on marketing and business development, and didn’t hit my stride for about one year. If you don't like sales or selling yourself, this can be a pitfall.

Also, coaching is a cyclical business and, as such, when the economy was hit a while ago I did have fewer clients. People aren’t interested in building new careers during a recession.

Relative to my previous corporate job where I'd have 2-3 meetings a day and my brain would have to switch gears occasionally, coaching is all about switching gears every hour so it can be exhausting mentally. You will meet with many clients in a day, all with different stories and issues that you have to hold in your brain. I'm not sure if this is a pitfall, but it is challenging.

The other challenge is that clients will often come with a lot of pent up emotions that they release during a session. Each coach needs to find their way of acknowledging emotion, but not taking it in or on. This involves having appropriate boundaries, which I developed over time. For those who cannot manage these boundaries, coaching distraught or angry people can be a pitfall.

Best wishes,

C.J.

Comments

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Thanks for providing such a great information here.

[Christa]

Hi CJ,

Can you recommend any specific training courses, companies or schools for career coaching?
I see you are in Seattle, which isn't too far from me in BC, Canada.
I've looked into a few programs out there but I find many pricey programs not being sure if the training is right..
I do have a coach I'm hoping to do some personal training with and I am completing a counselling diploma but would like to pursue coaching to competment my background.
I've enjoyed reading your information and found it helpful.

Thanks