It can be quite difficult to find an online coach who meets your needs. While there are various types of coaches around, you should always go for the ones who specialize in the areas of your interest. When it comes to life coaches, you can find some who have the right experience, training, and certification in relationships, careers, self-growth, and many other fields.
Because it can be tricky to find the best coach, you need to be careful before you attempt to hire them. It is in your best interest to first meet the potential life coach and be sure to ask them the right questions, such as how long they have been practicing. Besides, you need to find out their educational background and their qualifications. This post explains how you can find the best online coach.
Hiring an online coach with the right training
Coaching online is quite a new field compared to other professionals like the medical field. This makes it hard to find the proper life coach who has the required skills and training.
Therefore, it’s crucial to go for a life coach who has practiced for some time and understands what it takes to help you to succeed. In this way, you can avoid hiring someone who doesn’t have the proper training, skills, or experience required for you to be successful.
Although many coaching training schools are offering various programs, it’s still challenging to get the right life coach. You see, credible certification needs at least a year for someone to complete. Therefore, finding a life coach who went through this program is better than hiring someone who just finished an introductory life coaching training.
Remember, there is no shortcut to achieving your goals. This is why you should always consider finding a life coach who can help you achieve your goals regardless of your budget constraints.
Where to find a proper online coach
If you go for an online life coach, you don’t need to get someone who is near your area. This is because online coaches can administer their sessions anywhere in the world through the latest technologies, like Skype. Life coaching is about the conversation, meaning you don’t need to be physically present for your coach to do their job.
This is the reason why online coaching services are conducted over the phone or other communication channels. This means they can do their sessions with you online, allowing you to be flexible.
Online coaching services have also become popular for many other good reasons. The major reason is that you are assured of having privacy and comfort in your environment. As a result, you can be more open and honest with your life coach, especially when it comes to uncovering deeper issues. For these reasons, to find the best online coach, you need to do the following:
A matching service
An online matching service is a great starting point to find the right life coach who is experienced and qualified. However, most of the matching services require you to provide them with more details, such as the goals that you need to achieve.
Keep in mind that they keep their focus on you rather than on the online coach. This is because they already have a database of life coaches, so the idea is to find someone who meets your requirements.
Depending on your needs, your coaching style preferences, and personality, you can find a suitable life coach pretty quickly. Even better, if you find a reliable matching service, you can have peace of mind knowing that the best online coach can be found without any hassles.
Get a referral
This is another good way to find a life coach that meets your criteria. After all, being referred to an online coach from a family member, friend, or colleague can give you the confidence of finding the right person.
Understandably, for some people, it can be uncomfortable to ask for a referral from other people. However, consulting your network, especially those you can trust should not be an intimidating activity.
People who achieve their goals in life after using a life coach tend to be more open about their accomplishments and might be willing to share with you about their experiences.
Do extensive research
Thanks to the availability of the internet, it’s now pretty easy to research the products and services that you need to buy. In the same way, you can check for local online coaches on the resources, such as Yelp.
The best part about services like Yelp is that you can read reviews from previous clients. The more positive reviews you read about a specific life coach, the more likely that person can meet your expectations.
Alternatively, you can use an online coaching directory to find an online coach that fits your desires. Thankfully, there are several directories to choose from, and most of them give you various options. You can find career coaches, family coaches, etc, but you need to have adequate time to go through hundreds of online coaches.
Meeting with your online coach
The good news with online coaches is that many of them are accessible at any time. Once you have identified the right coach, you should find out if they have flexible working hours or not. Aside from this, check the most convenient way you can have your sessions, and make sure that the preferred communication channel should be suitable for both parties.
Keep in mind that a life coach may have a network of their previous clients who communicate with another. Therefore, it will be in your best interest to get in contact with those clients to find out their experiences with the life coach.
The first meeting with your online coach is the most important one. You should use this opportunity to learn more about their services, especially if they offer extra training materials. They might also give you a chance to ask them any pertinent questions that may require some clarification on their coaching services.
If you are uncomfortable with the first coaching session, you will likely find it tough to benefit from their services. Hence, you should look for another online life coach immediately before you can waste your time and financial resources.