Coaching and Mentoring

Many people find themselves coaching and mentoring others in the course of their jobs or their daily lives. If this has happened to you and you have a flair for helping people develop their potential, you might consider a career setting up your own business as a life coach or trainer 

Differences Between Coaching and Mentoring

Mentoring often involves helping people in areas related to your own experience, for example assisting junior members of a team in the workplace. If you have found yourself in the role of mentoring, you might be suited to training or consultancy.

Coaching tends to be more about bringing out the best in someone else, by encouraging them to set goals and work towards them, in other words, improving their life skills rather than teaching them a specific skill.

Life coaching is a very popular career choice, providing work for many individuals who enjoy working with people and want to work from home. If you are looking for ways to earn a good income – potentially a six figure income – and you want to help other people to make the most of their potential, take a closer look at life coaching.

A life coach works one to one, usually by telephone and email, with clients who want to improve their lives in one or more specific areas.

Life coaches focus on areas such as careers, relationships, success and business. Some limit their coaching to one or two areas, while others offer a more general service. Life coaches are employed to to help clients overcome a particular challenge such as making a career change or increasing their business success, in other words, helping them to reach their goals.

Life coaching is not yet certified by a nationally recognized body, but there are a number of courses available to give you the skills you need to start your business, for example, you might like to check out this Life Coaching Business Report. which will provide you with much of the information you need to set up your business. If you already have relevant qualifications in areas like careers guidance or counselling, this may be all you need.

The main skills you will need are the ability to communicate well and to listen to other people. If you already have some expertise in a relevant area, you may be ready to start up right away. Otherwise, you could check out the training courses available.

Setting up Your Business in Coaching or Mentoring

You can also have a look at what the competition is doing – it’s always good to have competition and don’t forget that you have the opportunity to work with clients from all over the world – in fact anyone who can access a computer and phone. So take a look at what other coaches are offering and their charges to give you some idea of how you could structure your business. You should also decide on your USP or unique selling point, as this will set you apart from other coaches and will appeal to clients who need your specific skills.

You will have to set up a website, either by learning the skills yourself or by paying someone else to do it. If you do get someone else to do it, you’ll need to know the basics so that you can add information and make changes when you want to.

Once you have established your site, you’ll need to learn how to get visitors to it. Some methods you can try are article marketing and search engine optimization. Or if you have an advertising budget, you can use pay per click advertising such as Google Adwords or you can place ads on Craigslist and other online advertising sites.

If you enjoy working with people, but want to work at home, coaching and mentoring could be the foundation of a great career move for you.