Since many people who are not familiar or vaguely familiar with life coaching but are looking to work with a life coach have this dilemma, I’ll be very pleased if this article serves as a useful resource for you.

Firstly, establish and write the criteria for selecting a life coach.  

If you find 10 coaches online whose websites you like, how will you shortlist them?  How will you decide which of the 10 you’ll contact?  And once you’ve spoken to the shortlisted, how will you know who to choose?  You need some criteria according to which you’ll choose.  Hence here they are:

1. Place  

• Where are you looking to work with a life coach?  At your home?  At your coach’s base?  In a public place such as a coffee shop / hotel lobby?  At your chosen location which you’d like your coach to come to? Online?
• If you’re willing to travel to either the coach’s plase or a mutually agreed public place, what’s the farthest distance you are willing to travel?

2. Time 

• How important is the life coach’s flexibility on time?  Some coaches operate office hours.  After a certain hour they switch off the phones until a certain hour the next morning.
• Do you want to have coaching sessions late in the evenings?  On a Friday or Saturday evening [when your family members are out]?  Then consider asking the potential life coach whether s/he would coach at these times.
• Similarly, do you want to have coaching at weekends rather than on weekdays?  If yes, ask the potential coach whether s/he is willing to coach at weekends.  Not all coaches are!
• Or do you want to work with a coach who is totally flexible on time, no matter what the day of the week or time of the day?  If you have a busy schedule and / or travel a lot, a life coach who offers total flexibility on time will be much more beneficial, because you will be free to choose session times that suit you, not the coach.
• Do you want a life coach who works across the time zones?  This is immensely beneficial if you travel a lot.  If your coach operates across the time zones, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s 3p.m. in New Zealand now and you want a coaching session albeit your life coach resides in Toronto which is 17 hours behind New Zealand!  Your coach will be there for you at 3p.m. of New Zealand time.

3. Skills and coaching style

•  What skills or specialisation do you want the life coach to have?  NLP?  Hypnosis?  Both?  CBT?  Ontological?  Other?  Only you know the answer.  If you don’t know the answer, find it, then find a life coach!
• Do you want a life coach who has a bias in one area more than others, such as a learning difficulties coach, a coach in retail, or a landlord and tenant coach?
• Furthermore, what style of coaching would you best respond to?  Direct and factual? Metaphorical?  Reflective?

4. How do you want coaching sessions to be conducted?

• In person only?
• On the phone?
• On Skype or Zoom?
• In a combination of two or all means, depending on how you feel and what you can do for each session?

5. Do you prefer the life coach to be a man or a woman?

6. And finally, the price range.

Since coaching is not funded by the state, you will pay for it from your pocket.  Hence set a budget and look for a life coach whose fees are within the budget.  You will definitely find huge value in life coaching! So would you like to  start a conversation?

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