When choosing where to get certified as a life coach, it’s wise to train with a life coaching school that has an established community for you to engage with. Because, just as relationships are crucial in your personal life, so too are they important in your professional life.
Here are some of the most significant benefits of choosing a coaching school with a solid community to network within.
1. FIND PRACTICE BUDDIES
When you train as a life coach, you’re required to complete many practice coaching hours to earn your qualification.
Then, should you choose to become accredited with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), you’ll need to complete 100 paid or unpaid coaching hours.
All of these hours must be logged to be valid.
As you can imagine, if you don’t have a solid network to leverage, it can be challenging to log the required amount of practice hours. In addition, there are only so many coaching sessions your friends and family want to undertake!
However, with a large and active coaching community accessible at the click of a mouse, you can find a wide array of committed practice partners with ease.
With each of you being coaches-in-training, you can give one another feedback, helping you evolve your skills and develop your confidence — while making it a smoother and faster process to get qualified.
2. PROBLEM SOLVE (& GET OTHER PEOPLES’ PERSPECTIVES)
The benefits of a strong community don’t just relate to completing your certification — they extend to running your business, too.
Whenever a challenging situation arises in your business or on your coaching journey, it’s beneficial to have different coaches on hand to discuss it with. A problem shared is very often a problem solved in this environment!
Not only do you get the support of like-minded peers and experts by sharing your problem.
The beauty of being within a larger community is that, in doing so, you’ll also get exposed to the diverse range of approaches other people take when tackling the same problem or challenge. This will help to broaden your perspective and possible solutions.
3. TEST AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK ON YOUR IDEAS
A coaching community can act as a sounding board for any business or marketing ideas you have — whether it be launching new client programs, designing branding material (e.g. logos), setting up a website or trying out a new niche.
At The Life Coaching College, our students get lifetime access to the private Facebook Group, which means you’ll be engaging with coaches from all stages of business. So, they really have “been there and done that”.
The community likely includes people who have done what you have wanted to do before, so they will have valuable insights and feedback to share with you to refine or validate your ideas.
4. ACCESS TRUSTED SOURCES OF INFORMATION
As a life coach, you’ll likely work independently much of the time. But you’ll also probably have lots of questions about business, coaching and client work!
Perhaps you’re wondering what platform to use to set up an online course or whether hypnosis is a suitable treatment for a particular ailment.
Instead of wasting time trying to find answers on Google, you can go straight to a network of coaches and trainers and get relevant answers, advice and recommendations in return.
This is far more efficient than trawling Google search results — and the information you receive is often more objective and gleaned from real-world experience.
5. STAY MOTIVATED
Completion rates are proven to be 6X higher for face-to-face training than online courses. We also know they are improved when you have a supportive community to tap into.
An active, engaged coaching community provides motivation, inspiration and a degree of accountability. Without that, it can be easy to get distracted and slack off when life interferes, or challenges arise.
Every time you log into your community Facebook Group, you’ll witness the actions others are taking and the results they’re seeing. This will inspire you to commit to your coaching, follow through on your certification and pursue your business goals with more grit and gumption.
6. GET REFERRALS (& FIND OTHER COACHES TO REFER TO)
Referral networks can provide a solid revenue stream for many life coaches. But to get referrals, you need to have connections, and a coaching community can provide exactly that.
You will often see lots of other coaches in the Facebook Group looking for a specific type of coach to help their client or prospect, and you might be a good fit for them.
This can go the other way, too!
Occasionally you may encounter a prospect or work with a client who isn’t a good fit for you. With access to a strong coaching community, you can find someone else within your network to assist them — supporting you, your client or prospect (and another coach) in the process.
7. FORGE LIFELONG FRIENDSHIPS
No, this isn’t strictly about business, but it is a tangible benefit of a coaching community.
It’s widely accepted that it’s harder to make friends as an adult.
As part of a strong coaching community, you’ll be engaging with a network of like-minded people who want to help others. From there, you can grow enriching friendships based on shared interests and values, just like Nichola Davenport can attest.
8. FORM BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS
A coaching community can provide a valuable source of genuine networking opportunities, and friendships formed within it can even grow into business partnerships!
You could run a program with another person in the network, feature on one another’s podcasts, share audiences or create a shared offer. You may even build a coaching business together! Graduates Dan Hancox & Davy Rowe are great examples of this.
HOW THE LIFE COACHING COLLEGE HARNESSES ‘COMMUNITY’
Here at The Life Coaching College, we deliver in-person coach training across Australia, so you get all the benefits of face-to-face learning when it comes to creating deep relationships.
Beyond that, we also have a 1500-strong private Facebook Group, filled with our trainers (who can be tagged and asked questions), students and graduates.
So, when you’re not in the classroom, you can be inside the online community. This gives you the best of both worlds and a rich source of encouragement, guidance and information at your fingertips to drive success and help you learn and grow.
Interested in becoming a Life Coach in 2022? Read our student stories or explore our ICF-accredited courses here.
