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 and they helped me to begin to understand principles about law of attraction, energy, personality, behaviour, communication, and relationship dynamics.
I also began meeting 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 developed 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 90% 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 consciously and continuously practice the principles but think that they can teach them easily because they have read and understand them intellectually.
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 from the beginning. 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?
"Yachts, dream exotic vacations, cruises, and constant bliss!"... Now that I have your attention... this is very typically far from the reality.
The lifestyle of a life coach or executive coach 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 $10,000.00 - 80,000.00 per year depending on their fees and the number of clients they see each week. Executive coaches and business coaches who have full practices tend to earn much more and can earn as much as $250,000.00 or more 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 becomes nearly limitless. And some coaches also venture out into professional speaking, training, and workshops. That can increase a coaches income dramatically."
4. Do you have any recommendations regarding what training school is best?:
"I don't actually recommend any specific coaching school as I have noticed that some 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 absolutely necessary unless you want to work with corporations who normally ask for it - through an EAP program for example.
If you are just beginning as a life coach, executive coach or business coach, the key for you to authentically help people and attract clients will come down to three things: your own inner clarity, personal magnetism and credentials. Certification can help you with all three if you don't already have a strong background in your own personal development. It will definitely though give you some degree of credential and for that reason can be extremely useful.
When I was younger I was asked by some potential clients if I was certified. Now, all of my clients are either referrals or have attended one of my seminars and simply appreciate what I do and how I work, so there is no need for it for me at this point.
There are three main coaching schools who offer full certification programs for coaches that I have researched and could refer one to: www.coachville.com, ICF, and CTI. My favorite choice is coachville and I consider this to be the best resource for life and business coaching on the planet."
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. I always recommend looking for two things when looking for a coach: a pure, authentic connection with between you and the coach AND experience. The first element can be enough to trump the second if the coach does not a great deal of experience, but this will only last for so long before you evolve beyond just a simple connection."
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:
a) As you do, you become recognized for that specific group, consequently 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. b) 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 on your part for an upcoming 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 mentally and intuitively tap into each client and read the Prep Form they sent to me the day before or morning of. My first coach and mentor used this with me and I really liked how it helped me to prepare as a client for our calls. So I developed my own form and now use it with clients as well. 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."
8. I have registered for a certification program and there is so much involved how will I be able to learn it all?
"Depending on the training program, keep in mind what you are seeing is the FULL Enchilada of what is involved in creating the creme de la creme of coaching practices/businesses. Some of it may already natural for you (however you may not be conscious that you already do it or can) while a great deal of it is more formal and meant to serve the purpose of certification.
Remember too that this is helping to prepare you in a broader perspective for whomever you work with, being adults or youths, executives, individuals or business owners. As you gain experience coaching, your own style will come through and what you have learned within that particular program will support that. If you work with students you may be less formal, while if you eventually decide to coach executives down the road for the example, you may go more formal. You will discover what feels best for you as you progress over time.
My background is very unconventional and I am fortunate to have attracted spiritual and mental/emotional/health mentors since I was 16. I spent years studying with them along with my own self development and research. So I essentially went through my own training program for 11 years and continue to do that now on my own. It wasn't until I hired my first business coach though Michael, that my business developed as I didn't have a background in starting a business. So once I had that and combined both, it helped me to get where I am today.
One of the top coaches and in fact founders of coaching, who I consider a mentor even though I never spoke with him or met him once said, it takes working with about 500 clients before a coach really develops any type of Mastery. I tend to agree with this for coaches who have not completed a great deal of their own inner work prior, which is most coaches. If you however, have a psychotherapy background, or lived and practiced and really understanding and know what you have read and likely studied in seminars and workshops, then you may already be naturally very connected which moves you light years beyond other coaches who may just be starting."
9. Does age matter in terms of being a life coach?
"Well, I began officially life consulting/coaching at age 27 and compared to some was light years ahead what anyone else was doing. I recently coached a 22 year old who has become a life coach and is now working with teens and youths and more significantly I am working with an 18 year old who is currently taking a certified coaching program. He is definitely light years ahead of where I was at his age. He know that this is the career and life path for him and as such his clarity is incredible for 18. Not to mention he is already working with me as a life and business coach, which is something I did not do until about age 30.
"Wisdom comes neither from age nor experience, it comes from the soul which is eternal." -Joshua Zuchter
The true key to coaching Mastery is degree of connection. The more connected one is to his/her inner clarity, the more effective that individual will be in helping others. With that said this 18 year old is quite connected and I see him being able to coach others as eloquently and effectively as anyone.
The one benefit of age is experience. However, and with that said, it is not a matter of quantity of years, but rather the depth of learning and quality that comes through experience that matters most."
