The phrase ‘seeking professional help can come with some very real stigma attached, but why, in so many aspects of our lives are we reluctant to get the help of a trained expert? If you feel like you’re failing to reach your potential, or you just need a little bit of a fine-tune to help you progress and gain greater fulfilment, or looking to grow in both personal and professional aspects then hiring a Life Coach can help transform your life.
A Life Coach is a skilled professional that empowers others to help achieve their goals, whether personally or in the workplace. But finding the person best placed to support you isn’t always the easiest first step.
You only need to see the amount that ‘How to find a life coach’ appears in google searches to realise that many people out there are having difficulty and this is not surprising. It’s a really rapidly growing industry but there are so many facets to it that it can be hard to find the right individual. We’re going to demystify the search and help you discover where to find the best life coach for men.
So, where do you begin with finding a Life Coach?
Life Coach Directories.
Whether you’re looking for virtual or in-person sessions, an online directory can be one of the fastest ways to find a Life Coach. Several platforms will allow you to filter your results; the benefit of this is that you can immediately narrow your search to the coaching specialism you’re interested in, and also by location to find those most conveniently located for you.
It is important to note that some, but not all, online directories will require coaches to submit their credentials before they can be listed. It’s a little-known fact, but life coaching is not currently regulated so being able to filter by coaches accredited to a recognised body such as the Royal Society for Public Health, can help you check that your coach is trained and qualified.
There are a couple of downsides to using this method, firstly, the databases aren’t always up to date so you could waste valuable time chasing coaches that are no longer available. It also means that you’re unable to get a feel for the coach or their style so you have no real way of knowing whether they’ll be a good fit for you.
A directory search may be convenient but it can also be impersonal and sometimes hard to verify.
Personal Recommendation.
A personal recommendation is the most reliable way for the majority of people to find a coach. Most of us would trust the judgement of a friend or family member so it’s natural that you will follow up with their suggestion. It is, however, important to bear in mind that no two Life Coaching experiences will be the same; you won’t have the same motivations for seeking Life Coaching and you won’t develop the same relationship with your coach.
If your friend had used a Life Coach to help reorient their life after recovering from addiction then it’s likely that their coach wouldn’t be the specialist you’re looking for to strengthen your business leadership skills. If your personality is extremely methodical and you like to take time to think things through then a coach recommended by your impetuous, instinctive friend might not result in the dynamic you’re looking for.
These points don’t necessarily invalidate their recommendation though; firstly because a good coach will be adaptable and able to amend their coaching style to fit your needs, an ability known as mirroring. Secondly, most coaches will offer you a free session before you commit so that you can see if it feels right to you.
The good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth approach can be a good idea, particularly if you’re not an avid user of technology, but you need to approach any recommendation with an open mind and assess for yourself.
Online Search.
Finally, you can just look for a Life Coach by using a search engine. As with anything typed into a search engine the results here can be seemingly endless, a search for ‘life coaches near me’ using our location at Future Fit HQ returns over five pages of results!
You can obviously increase the specificity of your search by adding additional terms by searching for the type of coaching you require; ‘mindset coach near Doncaster’ ‘relationship coach in Swansea’ or ‘Coach for midlife man in Canterbury’ but no matter what, this method will need you to do your own research.
This means visiting their website, looking at their qualification and background, and reading through any reviews available. Ultimately, this might mean you can be more reassured by their veracity than using either of the other methods but without the recommendation of a friend or the quality check of a directory, this is down to you.
Googling (other search engines are available!) will give you complete freedom of choice but does require more work and if your time is already pushed then this may not be for you.
All three methods have their advantages and disadvantages and you may find the decision of how to find a coach is down to you and what you deem most important; convenience and speed, the opinion of some whose judgement you trust or autonomy over the whole process.
Regardless of how you find a coach, almost all of them will offer a free session to see if they are a good fit for you- the success of your coaching journey will depend hugely on the rapport you build with your coach so it’s this step that’s really key to making an informed choice. Last but not least, remember that feeling safe and comfortable is very important, and for this reason, the chance to try out your prospective coach is a huge benefit.
You’ve found a potential coach, how do you know if they’re the one for you?
It isn’t just about chemistry! You need to feel confident that your Life Coach can evaluate your goals and explain their process and the steps you’ll take to get there. Don’t be afraid to enquire about pricing; the cost of a session can vary and whilst the average is around £290 per hour, it can be as low as £85 or as high as £489 depending upon location and experience.
If the coaching specialism you require isn’t immediately clear then these free sessions may provide you with some clarity- for example, you may believe you want to work with a Relationship Coach but then realise that a Confidence Coach would be of greater benefit. Part of what makes a coach a good fit can be their personal experience rather than their expertise on paper; if you’re looking to work with an Anxiety Coach then finding a coach that has grappled with anxiety will give them a perspective that training alone perhaps cannot offer.
At the end of the day, you have to work with someone within your budget, someone whose story you resonate with, and someone that shares the values you believe are important. It’s not about finding the most well-known mentor or the coach with the most supplementary qualifications, it’s about opting for someone you feel is right for your specific needs.