So You're Thinking About Being a Life Coach?

I first heard the term "life coach" when I rented the Metallica documentary, "Some Kind of Monster." The metal band paid their life coach $40,000 a month to teach them how to stop fighting with one another. I had wanted to be a therapist in college, but my mom told me I'd never make any money (For the record, she said the same thing about writing; I just chose not to listen). Life coaching seemed similar to therapy, so I set about learning all I could about the field. There's no one definition of life coaching: The International Coach Federation, the only association of professional coaches, defines it as "an ongoing relationship which focuses on clients taking action towards the realization of their visions and goals…faster than would be possible otherwise." Others say a life coach is "your own personal cheerleader." To me, a coach says to a client, "You have problems. I'm going to help you find solutions." But the definition I like best comes from my own life coach, Sharon. She described coaches as "people who help you figure out where your heart is, and how you can get there." I know where my heart wants to be one day: I love living in New York City now, but in 10 years, I want to be living in a yellow house in the woods, with a bunch of white malteses (my husband's heart is there too, but I think he envisions bigger dogs). I had always thought that to pay that mortgage, I'd be a freelance writer. But after the documentary, I realized I could coach as well. According to the ICF, there are at least 11,000 coaches across the globe, 56% of whom are in the United States. And they're doing well. The New York Times reported that some coaches have noticed a "doubling and even tripling of demand for their services in the last three or four years." So now, I'll coach you on the field of life coaching.

Lesson #1: Decide if you'd really be good at it.