Can anyone tell me of their experience with Life coaching? What are the best courses to do and how have you found employment after this? has it been rewarding? Who is the best organisation to be registered with?
I added it on to my other insurances (hypnotherapy, NLP and EFT) so I didn't actually bother joining one of the coaching organisations, plus I see it as secondary to my hypnotherapy practice anyway.
99% of life coaches are self-employed, so don't expect to find employment with it, you will be sadly disappointed.
I do find it rewarding, most of my clients are high end of the market who seem to have lost track a bit with their life and/or career and very quickly get back on track. These are mainly high earners, business owners/directors, professions and a few celebrities and others from performing arts. I find it advantageous that I'm also a hypnotherapist, it means that if there's an area they are struggling with such as confidence, addictions etc that I can utilise my other skills to speed the process up.
With regard to courses, they vary so much that you really do need to find the right one for you. I attended a free weekend seminar and hated every second of it, it was what I call the "americanised" (no offence to Americans on here) ott cheesy end of the scale which I just find annoying but for others it might be exactly what they're interested in. It wasn't for me so I trained elsewhere. Obviously these free weekends are done to try and sell you their courses, several companies operate this way. It's good as a taster but they are very good at selling so it can be quite easy to be caught up in it. Course costs range anywhere between about £750 and £10,000.
The standard does seem to vary greatly too, I've come across several business coaches who are completely unsuccessful in their own business, have no prior business knowledge/experience whatsoever and yet they advertise themselves as business coaches. Is there an area you are looking to specialise in?
So to summarise: It's very rewarding, can even be fun, but you will need to work hard to get your business off the ground, there's a lot of competition out there but self-improvement is also a big market.
I recommend Smartfoundations Health and Well-being Coach course it's very practical see