What Everybody Ought to Know about Life Coaches

By Guest Blogger: Jessika Baptist

As I share that I am a life coach, I’ve come across a lot of myths about what it means to be a life coach or to have one. I have sensed worry, judgement and general confusion around what it means to work with a life coach and what it takes to become one.

Having been a part of Jeannine Yoder’s Mentor Masterclass for almost a year now, I feel grateful to be able to share the truth about life coaches. Personally, it has allowed me to take the bold step into walking my talk (with it all) and it has given me the freedom to explore.

As a coach I know:

Coaches don’t know EVERYTHING.  When I signed up for Mentor Masterclass, it felt exciting to be in a space where I could realize my capacity, make money AND help others remove the things holding them back in their own lives, but I also felt resistant towards putting myself out there, feeling as though I had to know everything to be trusted or deemed valuable.

I thought doing this would make me the “perfect” coach, able to solve anything in a heartbeat but instead it made me realize that I was being everything but, focusing on myself and not the ways in which I could help others and truly be of service, my original intent.

Most importantly, it made me realize the true meaning of walking my talk and understanding that life is a journey not a destination (click to tweet).  Even though we may have more tools in our vaults, express ourselves in ways that some don’t understand and call ourselves “coaches”, what everybody ought to know about life coaches is that we’re human beings too and even though we may have the same desires:

Every Life Coach IS Different.  What everybody ought to know about life coaches is that despite the fact that we ALL have a genuine desire to improve the quality of our clients’ lives as well as our own, it doesn’t mean we’ll EVER deliver it the same way or have the capability to.  We’ve all lived through our OWN unique experiences and even though we may have the same message, we all have different parts to deliver.

There’s NO way that our interpretation of life could EVER be copied or duplicated, even if we’re referring to the same area of life, specific outcomes, or saying the EXACT same thing another person is saying at the same time.

What everybody ought to know about life coaches is that there’s no way that we could ever prescribe to a mold or try to create one to fit into.  We ALL live, breathe and experience our lives in different ways, and our unique ability to remain open and able to tap into all the ways we can truly provide value is how we come to understand that:

Coaches provide tools not outcomes. As coaches, we have the opportunity to influence our clients to make changes in their lives but what everybody ought to know about life coaches is that the client is the one who ultimately decides what they can, will and won’t do in their own lives.

At the end of the day, our clients live with themselves, despite the fact that they may have been inspired by us or something they’ve heard or seen done before. Despite what we discover in a session or commit to following through on, our clients will ALWAYS do what feels right for them…  even if it isn’t what’s right for their overall vision or well-being.

What everybody ought to know about life coaches is this: we EMPOWER our clients with the tools they need to see what’s working, what’s not and how it ultimately affects their ability to transform it and lead the lives they were born and brought here too… We don’t provide answers; we help our clients achieve them.

And we truly enjoy what we do.

We’ve all come together with a deep desire to provide value to our clients but we all have different perspectives about our impact and what we’re doing so I’d love to know what everybody ought to know about life coaches from your point of view:

What’s one thing you desire most for your clients or potential clients to know about you and your business? How will you use the points above to communicate your desires in your business?

I look forward to reading your comments below!

Thanks for reading.

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