Becoming a Life Coach; Facing Fears and a Little Chocolate
Becoming a life coach is as easy as facing down fears, being yourself, and eating chocolate. What could be better?
Fear #1 What if I Fail?
So? What if you did fail?
What, specifically would the most spectacular failure possible actually look like in your life? What would be the consequences? Go wild and let your imagination bring up the scariest possibilities. Then write it all down and then ask yourself – how likely is this? Could I survive it? What could I put in place to decrease the possibility of any of those things happening?
Life goes by really fast. If you don’t try now, what will be your regrets later? You can’t change regrets. However, you can strategize ways to cushion failures. Which seems scarier in the long run: risking failure, or never trying?
Imagine yourself as a fully qualified life coach with hours of practical experience from coaching classmates, volunteer clients, friends and family. If you never did get a profitable life coaching business off the ground, with your new training, what else are you now equipped to do?
Don’t Make Tomorrow’s Decisions Based on Who You Are Today
After the amount of training, practical experience and personal growth it takes to earn a credible certification ( I’m assuming here you’re going to do more than an 8 hour DIY video course) you will not be the same person you are today.
The fear of failure is based on the future you can see today, with the knowledge and skills you have right now, from the place where you’re standing on this mountain we call life.
After you have climbed out of your comfort zone and reached a new height as a professionally trained life coach, you will be able to see farther. You’ll see new horizons, more opportunities and possibilities that are beyond your vision today. You will not be the same person you are today.
Just think what coaching credentials could do for your resume!
For now, to help lessen some of the fear, take a moment a brainstorm a list of potential income earning options you can see, from today’s vantage point, should the spectacular failure actually happen and you need a back up plan.
Fear #2 I Hate Marketing. How will I get Clients?
Oh Lordy, I hate sales too. Sales, as we usually imagine it, is someone pestering and manipulating us to spend money we don’t have, to buy things we don’t need, in order to keep from hurting their feelings. Who wants to be that person? It conjures up images of writing and paying for ads, networking with strangers, dressing up and pretending to be something we are not.
Thankfully the field of coaching is not about pushy salesmanship. It’s about attracting our ideal client by being our authentic self. Yeah! Our dream business and ideal clients are found by knowing and living out what we value, what we have to offer, and the contribution we want to make.
3 Simple Components of Easy Marketing
Know yourself
Live authentically
“Marketing” as a coach means living out who you are around your peeps. Make connections, build relationships as the person you already are. Volunteer in organizations where your ideal client is a member or participant. Offer to help. Hold workshops, do a presentation, mentor for free. Give out of your abundant gifts. Your abundance gifts is not money. It’s time, talent, expertise and passion. You will build a natural, organic network. Life coach businesses run on referrals, not ads, not imposing on strangers with the perfect sales pitch
Fear #3 Do I Really Want to be a Life Coach? Is it Worth it?
Darn comfort zones! Always trying to hold us back with doubts and negative thoughts. They are a trap. Just like a well-worn, comfy couch that is almost impossible to climb out of with our dignity intact, once you sink in, getting out of its cozy embrace seems like too much work.
Change IS hard. Even when our current situation sucks, changing it can feel wrong. You are literally in a battle against your brain. Learning, and doing, new things requires the efforts of our frontal lobe where the executive functioning part of the brain lives. That little 2 oz hunk of tissue is a huge fuel hog. It takes a lot of physical food energy to think!
Rabbit Trail (and chocolate) ahead
By the way, eating plenty of healthy fats and carbs is your friend when you want to make major life changes. That, and chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. LOL
Those foods are the fuel your brain needs to work optimally. Eating a lot of junk food will almost certainly doom to failure any attempt at change. Without the fuel to think deeply and change your thoughts toward a new direction, your brain will tire easily and protest loudly.
Our brains are hardwired to conserve energy. Even on a good day when we have eaten well, it will push back against changing. We’ve all felt the effects. When you know, logically, you need to start something new, like an exercise routine, many days you won’t “feel” like it. All those excuses that come to mind? That’s your brain trying to avoid the hard work of learning something new.
The brain prefers to turn routine, repeated actions into habits. Mindlessly following the same old path to brush your teeth, make breakfast, drive to work, are all signs your brain is doing its thing.
Learning something new, like an exercise routine, or how to become a life coach is a drain on brain resources that your body simply doesn’t want to use up if it doesn’t have to. So it protests. Your own brain will actually do sneaky things to undermine your desire by offering up thoughts like “This feels wrong!” “Is it really worth it?” “Do I really want this?” “Maybe things will just get better on their own.”
The best offense is a good defense – know the signs. Know what’s coming and be prepared to counter it. Are you willing to push through the discomfort? For that is all it is, a bit of an unsettled feeling, nothing more. It’s like a paper tiger. Push past it and get on with your dream. Make the decision now that your authentic self, that spirit-led, heart-felt, soulful person deep inside is ready to live its truth and walk in its power.
Your biggest enemy is going to be your own brain and the same old habits and thoughts it’s been throwing at you forever.
You Can Do This!
Our fears tend to hide in the dark shadows of our brain as vague, undefined blobs of doubt. Taking the time to bring them out into the open to shine the light of day on them, gives them definition. We can see them for what they are and make plans to face them down.
Take the next step to get started by designing your own Roadmap to a Life Coaching Business
