Recently Joshua appeared in Metronews Canada Newspaper, where he answered questions about becoming a life coach. You can view the article by clicking here.
1. How did you get started in coaching?
Ever since I can remember (age 2 or so) I have always had an interest in helping people and affecting positive change in the world. I also had an interest in understanding what we can achieve beyond what we think is possible. I eventually took courses in various healing modalities as you can see in my bio www.joshuazuchter.com/Joshua_bio_Toronto.html and they helped me to begin to understand principles about law of attraction, energy, personality, behaviour, communication, and relationship dynamics. I became involved with two what I would call master teachers, one of whom I studied with for 5 years, the other each week for 8 years. My work in that group for 8 years involved learning how to connect with our intuition and inner wisdom was also my introduction and initial study of metaphysics. Although they did not call themselves personal life coaches, they really were using many principles associated with life coaching and through my interactions with them I developed my own style and technique for helping people.
While involved in that group and after the group ended I began my own work and developed a new technique called Core Journaling. From this process I have furthered my understanding of the human mind, consciousness, and principles of attraction. I started a part-time practice in 1998 and began a full- time life coaching practice in 2002.
My practice started out very slowly being in a conservative city at the time and not really having the connections I needed in the community to really establish myself. Eventually I moved to Toronto and have had a full practice ever since.
2. Is it easy to get a life coaching business off the ground or is it a struggle?
I can say without a doubt it is not easy for most (about 80% of the life coaches who begin coaching). The main tip I recommend to those who want to become a business coach or life coach, specifically a law of attraction coach is to practice and play with, over and over, the tools that they know.
I often come across law of attraction coaches who don't really understand the principles but think that they can teach them easily because they have read and understand them.
I recommend to most coaches who are starting to find a niche, to find a market of people that they already connect with and know and then once they feel they have to a certain degree mastered their craft of law of attraction coaching, that they can then start promoting themselves as such.
The other recommendation I have is to hire a coach early on so that you can learn about the business side of coaching as this is why many coaches either don't get their business going or struggle. And as a side, it is also beneficial to have a mentor, someone who has a practice in another city or province or country (who you won't be competing with) who you can call on every now and then and learn more about what's involved in creating the kind of practice that you are wanting.
3. What is the lifestyle of a personal coach like?
This depends on the success of the coach. The lifestyle is essentially the same as any other business owner except that if you are coaching executives or individuals you will be working a great deal after 5 pm and possibly on weekends if you create your practice like that.
If you choose to work mostly with entrepreneurs your schedule will more closely mirror a 9-5 schedule if you create it and promote it as such.
On average, personal life coaches earn approximately $20,000.00 - 80,000.00 per year depending on their fees and the number of clients they see in the week. Executive coaches and business coaches who have full practices tend to earn much more and can earn as much as $250,000.00 per year depending on the number of clients they are working with and their coaching fees. Keep in mind that some coaches develop products including cds and books to complement their specialities. As a result the income potential for them can be nearly limitless.
4. Do you have any recommendations regarding what training school is best?:
I don't actually recommend any coaching school as I have noticed that most people who go through their trainings get more into their head rather than their intuition or heart. This being said, I also know of some coaches who are very good at what they do who are certified. But I have noticed that those individuals were already very good before they became certified. So I don't believe certification is necessary unless you want to work with corporations who normally ask for it.
One of the best coaching schools and resources for becoming a life coach is Coachville. www.coachville.com. I consider this to be the best resource for life and business coaching on the planet and knowing how they work I recommend taking their coaching program if you are looking for one. CTI is another I would suggest looking into.
5. I know it is in my best interest to hire a life coach for myself - should this be done during my training or afterwards?
I highly recommend hiring a life coach during your training and continuing afterwards, rather than hiring one just afterwards. It would be useful to hire one not associated with your coaching training program as this will give you a connection and a more well-rounded coaching experience with someone who may have a different coaching style.
6. Is it better to specialize as a personal life coach or be more general for a wider audience?
It is nearly always best to specialize or focus on a specific niche for a couple of reasons:
1. As you do that, you become recognized for that specific group and more and more people are able to easily refer friends and colleagues to you (ie - You specialize in coaching families - as more families find out about you and you help them, when their friends ask if they know of someone that can help their family, you would come to mind. If you were just promoting yourself as a personal life coach, because there are already many personal life coaches, they wouldn't necessarily think of you.
2. There is a saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none." It is far greater to become a master in one particular area not only for others but also for yourself. My particular area of expertise is energy, the mind, and consciousness. Because these aspects of self-discovery underlie all things, it allows me to apply the principles that I teach to all other areas of life and business very easily. This is how I have been able to successfully work with the many different types of people that I have worked with and have helped.
Once you have specialized and are much more recognized in your particular specialty, then it would be fine to branch out into another or others.
7. As a life coach, is there any preparation involved for a session? And if so, how do you prepare for your life coaching sessions?
This really depends on what school you study with. My typical days start with my computer turned on and ready to use in case we want to work on something that requires research through the web. I keep my computer files organized not just for me, but also so that if we are in a session and I want access to a quote or reference or sample form letter, I know exactly where they are and within 30 seconds can pull it up. My true preparation occurs every day in between the calls. I core journal, meditate, do my best to maintain good health, exercise, get sun as often as possible, and use the techniques I teach on a daily basis. I also make sure to balance my "work" with some unplug time watching movies and getting together with people I care about.
Before each session, I tap into each client and read the Prep Form they sent to me. Depending on what the client also wants to discuss in the call I may come up with protocols and steps to take. In essence if a client is very focused with what he/she wants I create a very focused protocol or action plan for us to go through during the session and for them to take away and work with between sessions.
