Reaching a goal is much easier when we believe in ourselves and our abilities. And when someone empowers, motivates, and reminds us of our skills and resources, it’s even more achievable.
You could be this inspirational force for others by becoming a coach. Coaching is a life-changing service that helps people reach their full potential and get more out of life. Studies show that an average American rates their happiness a six out of ten. And a coach can help bridge the four-point gap between people’s feelings and their potential satisfaction.
While all types of coaches inspire their clients to stay the course and make positive changes, inspirational coaches (or inspiration coaches) particularly focus on this aspect. These coaches stave off negativity and guide their clients toward a positive outlook in the face of self-doubt.
If you have a natural gift for building people up and an interest in coaching, you’re an excellent candidate. Here’s everything you need to know about what an inspirational coach does, how to become one, and this niche’s benefits.
What does an inspirational coach do?
Inspirational coaches perform much of the same work as others in the coaching industry. For instance, they help clients identify areas of dissatisfaction, strengths and weaknesses, and potential roadblocks. They also guide clients through setting finite, achievable goals before outlining action items.
So why would a client choose to work with an inspirational coach instead of another professional in the industry, such as a life coach? Inspirational coaches have the edge over clients who seek constant encouragement and respond well to straightforward feedback. These coaches are mentors and support clients. They also help clients overcome mental blocks and avoid procrastination.
How do coaches help clients find inspiration?
Think about the people closest to you. If you had to prompt them to change, everyone would require a different approach, right? Since everyone thinks and reacts differently, inspirational coaches guide clients toward their inspiration sources. Here are some tactics they use:
- Encourage curiosity: When people feel stuck, it’s often because they haven’t found their passion, the right career path, or strong relationships. Coaches motivate clients to try new activities, such as painting classes, and identify what moves them.
- Promote awareness: People lack satisfaction because they focus heavily on the past and future and miss the present. Journaling, meditating, and staying aware help clients focus on what excites them or eases anxiety. Coaches use these insights to guide clients toward jobs and extracurricular activities that increase happiness.
- Create a vision board: Coaches ask clients to create a vision board by finding images representing an ideal life. These concrete visuals help clients feel excited about the future and set goals to make dreams a reality.
The benefits of inspirational coaching
Once clients become more aware of their limiting beliefs and identify a more fulfilling vision of their lives, they can embark on the journey to betterment. Besides reaching goals, clients can expect to receive long-term tools and benefits that will continue improving their well-being even after they stop working with a coach. Here are a few:
- Identifying blockers: Clients who identify their limiting beliefs can continue to face them in the future. For example, a client who shies away from growth opportunities due to imposter syndrome may later pinpoint this irrational thought and squash it.
- Finding true motivation: External motivation only gets people so far. They must believe in their dreams and know why they want to achieve them. Once people discover their inner motivation, they become better at goal-setting and inspiring themselves to reach their objectives.
- Developing self-confidence: Inspirational coaching helps clients build self-assurance. Coaches guide clients toward goals, helping them chart action items to achieve these objectives. This helps clients believe in themselves and feel capable.
- Improving decision-making skills: Coaches show clients how to map a route toward goals and infuse it with productive action items. Coaches also encourage introspection and recharting when needed. These actions help clients develop better decision-making skills they can transfer to everyday life.
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How to become an inspirational coach
Anyone interested in becoming an inspirational coach already has the essential background they’ll need: the desire to mentor others. But aspiring candidates should also consider the below steps:
- Gain experience: Before launching a coaching career, gain experience mentoring others in the workplace or as a volunteer. Whether you train peers in a new skill at a tech company where you work or tutor English as a Second Language (ESL) students over the weekend, this mentoring experience boosts your resume and helps you become better at supporting others.
- Train in a related field: Take a motivational coaching course from reputable institutions, such as Udemy, or study visualization, mindfulness, or intrinsic motivation. Consider learning more about neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a sensory technique through which people change their outlook by determining limiting thoughts or biases.
- Launch your business: Before starting your business, write a plan to delineate your mission, target audience, and marketing strategy. Look at your financials and determine your overhead, start-up fees, and expected return on investment. As a point of reference, inspirational coaches can expect to earn around $45,000 annually. Once you’ve set up your business, launch it by creating an online presence (a website and LinkedIn page) and social media accounts.
- Take your first clients: Consider offering a discounted rate to your first clients. Run a promotion from your social networks or reach out to anyone interested in your services. You’ll learn how much time and energy the work takes before booking your schedule with new clients.
Tips for creating a successful inspirational coaching business
Inspirational coaches perform sensitive work. They’re the wind beneath a client’s wings, potentially at a difficult time in a client’s life. Become the best inspirational coach possible by implementing the following tips:
- Set goals: You can learn how to be inspirational if you introspect and proactively work on self-improvement. Take the learnings from each experience with a client, and use them to offer better sessions and services.
- Focus on the client’s journey: Each client is different, and you’ll have to help them unlock their motivations and what matters to them to create a more satisfying life. Approach each case with curiosity and an open mind. Actively listen as the client speaks, expecting to learn, not assuming you know what they’ll say.
- Stay in touch: Your clients may experience a dip in motivation when working toward their action items between sessions. Keep the proverbial door open by reminding your clients they can send you a message and ask for advice.
Stay close to your clients with Practice
As a coach, you want to build a strategic partnership with your clients, ensuring individuals seeking your services are in safe hands.
And Practice’s Client Management Software helps you do that and more. Our CRM tool, designed with coaches in mind, provides a secure messaging platform to send contracts, schedule appointments, and stay in constant contact with clients. Inspirational clients can benefit from this close connection, allowing them to check in whenever they lose steam.
You can also keep your skills fresh and professional motivation high by exploring The Practice Blog, which offers a wealth of resources on everything coaching –– from inspirational quotes for coaches to online coaches to boost your knowledge. Try it today.
