Clients can expect to reap significant benefits from life coaching, this being confirmed by studies consistently showing a return on investment greater than 500% and trainee satisfaction rates that exceed 98%. In general, the value of the achievements accomplished through life coaching is five times greater than the amount paid for the service. The client fixes the coaching objectives, and the life coach becomes the vehicle through which those goals become a reality. Life coaching services include but are not limited to the following:
- Establishing an empowering partnership to enable clients to achieve their goals;
- Teaching or helping clients to develop new skills;
- Assisting trainees in setting and realizing proactive goals;
- Helping clients surmount fears and obstacles;
- Identifying trainees' self-imposed impediments and assisting them in removing them so that they can achieve their goals;
- Equipping clients with the skills needed to effectuate change in an area of their life;
- Teaching trainees how to handle personal challenges and life transitions;
- Assisting clients in making choices that lead to a fulfilling and balanced life;
- Helping trainees find solutions;
- Teaching clients ways to balance family, work, and personal aspects of their lives;
- Suggesting potential career paths that correspond to trainees' talents;
- Motivating clients to exceed their expectations;
- Serving as a launching pad for new ideas;
- Guiding trainees towards self-improvement and discovery of what truly motivates them;
- Helping clients discover truths about themselves and find their sense of direction and purpose in life.
Some of the most common types of coaches are as follows:
1. Professional life coach
Some of the tasks performed by this personal coach include:
- Showing clients how to establish priorities;
- Improving trainees' time-management skills;
- Helping clients to fund the growth of their enterprise;
- Providing trainees the tools for experiencing a greater sense of fulfillment in their jobs
- Teaching clients to delegate and supervise in a more efficacious manner;
- Assisting trainees in climbing the corporate ladder faster;
- Sharpening their communication skills; and
- Helping clients create a successful online marketing campaign.
2.
Personal life coach This type of life coach provides numerous services including:
- Teaching clients parenting skills;
- Enhancing trainees' communication skills;
- Showing clients how to achieve more balance and harmony in their lives;
- Helping trainees overcome obstacles and meet challenges;
- Motivating clients to achieve their dream(s);
- Guiding clients towards their core values;
- Assisting trainees with goal-setting;
- Providing them the tools to improve their personal and business relationships; and
- Helping clients find the relationship they are searching for.
3.
Spiritual life coach Spiritual life coaches help trainees to:
- learn new challenge-coping methods;
- make sound and balanced decisions;
- regain their strength and sense of contentment;
- find their life purpose and discover their gifts;
- achieve their dreams;
- practice meditation;
- make life transitions;
- achieve a sense of physical and emotional well-being, happines, and inner peace;
- obtain greater satisfaction in their current job;
- liberate themselves from a past relationship or a toxic relationship;
- resolve a difficult relationship or situation in the workplace;
- tackle issues or problems in their personal lives;
- adopt a healthy and balanced lifestyle;
- manage stress; and
- find a balance between personal relationships and work.
4.
Life coach for women This kind of life coach often provides training for parents, mothers, and women writers, among other groups. A life coach for women helps clients:
- Balance their personal and professional lives;
- Forge more meaningful relationships;
- Improve self-confidence and self-esteem;
- Make meaningful changes;
- Enhance communication;
- Work through life or career transitions; and
- Minimize stress and reduce anxiety.
While life coaches are trained to be generalists, many are specialists in one or more areas such as:
- Couples coaching;
- Group coaching;
- Intimacy and relationships coaching;
- Spiritual coaching;
- Parenting and family coaching;
- Personal development coaching;
- Corporate coaching;
- Transition coaching;
- Health, lifestyle and wellness coaching;
- Leadership development coaching;
- Executive coaching;
- Stress management coaching;
- Aging coaching;
- Management coaching;
- Self-actualization and self-discovery coaching;
- Business and sales success coaching;
- Budgeting and finance coaching
- Artistic creativity coaching;
- Time management coaching;
- Motivational coaching;
- Career planning and advancement coaching; and
- Small business and entrepreneurial coaching.
To find life coach services, prospective trainees may consult a web-based coaching directory. By entering their city, state, and country and choosing a coaching category (i.e. relationships, marketing, conflict management, finance, spirituality, life purpose, communication), visitors have access to an online life coach. Upon finding a life coach, clients may offer the gift of life coaching to a loved one. A future trainee can also find a life coach who offers free sample sessions, which would enable the former to ensure that the two are a good fit and that there is personal chemistry between them. Prospective trainees should opt for a certified life coach since he or she receives advanced training and consents to abide by an ethical code and high conduct standards set by the International Coach Federation (ICF), which accredits coach-training schools.