Coaching is an interactive process that helps individuals and organizations to develop more rapidly and produce more satisfying results. Coaches work with clients in all areas including business, career, finances, health and relationships. As a result of coaching, clients set better goals, take more action, make better decisions, and more fully use their natural strengths.

Professional coaches are trained to listen and observe, to customize their approach to the individual client’s needs, and to elicit solutions and strategies from the client. They believe that the client is naturally creative and resourceful and that the coach’s job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources and creativity that the client already has. While the coach provides feedback and an objective perspective, the client is responsible for taking the steps to produce the results he or she desires.

Personal and life coaching represents the largest portion of the market. It first developed in the United States. The corporate coaching market is smaller in size.

The market is very broad-based. Typical customers include retired persons, people in transition phases of their lives (i.e. those coming to the end of their career or work lives), Baby Boomers, and even college students. College students’ parents may pay for coaches to help their children with career counseling, so that they have more focus or get a jump on the competition of new graduates. Coaches may also work for people starting a new business, or for small business owners that are looking to grow their ventures.

Recessions are actually good for the coaching business. In these rough times, there is more demand for career coaching and help getting over lay-offs.

People hire a coach when they are starting a new business, making a career transition, reevaluating their lifestyle choices or simply feel ready for a personal or professional breakthrough.

The coaching field is unregulated. No license is required. Consequently, anyone can be a coach. The profession is painfully aware that inept coaching makes the field look bad. As a result, the field’s main trade group, the International Coaching Federation, stresses its ethics guidelines and certification programs. As of last November, only about 18% of ICF members had put in the hours and training to be certified. The ICF credentials coaches, but is independent of the estimated 250-300 different training programs that exist. Some of these programs are home study, while others use courses given at local universities. The oldest training program around is “coachu.com”.

The Costs

Most coaches working with individuals charge between $200 and $500 per month for one  half-hour call per week. Executive coaches charge more and have clients who work with them for an hour or two a week. Average hourly fees range from $100 to $200 per hour. Corporate coaching or other coaching related programs are priced substantially higher. Most clients stay with a personal coach for six months, but many stay longer, depending on what they are doing.

With as few as 15 regular clients, a diligent coach can earn $50,000 per year working part-time from home. The ICF (the field’s trade group) estimates that coaches have an average annual income ranging from $35,000 to $100,000+. Some specialty coaches can make much more.

It is estimated by various sources that there are currently 16,000+ part-time and full-time coaches worldwide. A November 2002 Wall Street Journal article said that as many as 25,000 people in the United States now call themselves life or work coaches. This is double the figure of 1999. There is no doubt that the field is becoming more widely recognized and is growing. As an example, the ICF had just 1,500 members in 1999. This has more than tripled to 6,200 today. One interesting aspect of the field--many coaches have their own personal coaches as well (kind of like a psychiatrist having his own psychiatrist).

Topics Personal Coaches Help You With

Some Personal/Life Coaching specialties include:

·        Life planning

·        Life vision & enhancement

·        Extreme self care

·        Spirituality

·        Relationships (singles, couples, families, etc.)

·        Health & Fitness

·        Creativity

·        Financial Freedom

·        Organization

·        Children/Teens/College Students

·        Attention Deficit Disorder

There are even “niche coaches”, who specialize in coaching farmers, lesbians, housewives, comedians, golfers, or smokers.

Coaching Trade Groups

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the largest non-profit professional association worldwide of personal and business coaches with more than 6,200 members and 139 chapters in 29 countries worldwide. The ICF was founded in 1992 and originally incorporated as the National Association of Professional Coaches, Inc.

International Coaching Federation, 1444 “I” Street N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC  20005   (202-712-9039, 888-423-3131            President: Judy Feld

Website: www.coachfederation.org.

Other Sources

One interesting website you may want to check out is operated by a self-growth guru that has been on the scene for a long time, John Gray. He was also the author of the bestseller: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. He now operates a life coaching service for the public. See www.askmarsvenus.com for details. Be forewarned, this phone advice does not come cheaply--either $1.99 or $1.00 per minute, depending on the plan you choose. They are also actively recruiting coaches, who can work at home.