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May
01

What about life coaching and teenagers?

By | Coaching Resources

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It’s Q and A time!Question and answers - life coach certification

Here’s a question from someone who has been getting our emails but hasn’t participated in any of our coach training yet. She asks a great question… so I wanted to share it.

Hi Mitch
I have been journaling the questions on the mini course every day and I have gone through your video series you offer free.  Thank you for making these tools available and your right it has gotten me very excited not only re: the prospect of becoming a life coach but re: your life coach training and certification as well.  
One of your emails directed me to a blog post where you had said one of the most important coaching tools you ever used was the phone!  What a revelation and I couldn’t agree more that with our time crunched society this would probably be the only way to help our Allies.  I am wondering though if that would also be true for coaching teenagers? Would you counsel coaches to only coach over the phone or do you think they need a little more one on one? I’m kinda on the fence and wondered what you thought.
Big Fan
Lynn

 Here was my response:

Lynn -

Great to hear from you!

Thanks for all of you kind feedback as well.  That means a lot!

As for teens and using the phone for coaching… that is a good question. 

In this case… I’d highly suggest experimenting.  See what works best for you.

I haven’t had a lot of experience with coaching teens (other than our own kids)… but I’ve had a few young clients over the years.  In a few cases, I decided to break with my norm of coaching via the phone and I chose to coach them face to face.  In most cases… I found that they actually needed someone to sit across from them, look them in the eye AND show them that I was visibly engaged.

I don’t find that adults need that as much. 

In fact, most of my (adult) clients find it very safe to talk via a phone call… where they can find a setting that works for them where they don’t have to worry about being interrupted or overheard.

But… with many of today’s teens… they NEED to see the engagement.  They can’t just hear it.  They need to see it.

So yes… I’d say if you’re feeling called to work with teens… experiment with it and see what works best for you.

Image representing Skype as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

One last thought… is that using the phone and/or technology… does expand your potential reach.  For example, since I do all of my coaching via the phone… I can work with anyone in the world.  I’m not limited by any kind of geographical restrictions.  So one additional “experiment” that you might want to try is using technology like SKYPE.  That way your teenage client could “see” you but you wouldn’t be limited by only working with young ones in your area.

(One word of caution though… as you know… some kids have been brought up on tech.  So you might need to think of some ways to make them comfortable but at the same time… not have them check out due to a conditioned response to looking at computer screens.  BUT… again… it’s certainly worth some experiments to see what works best for you and the kiddos you’re feeling called to!)

Keep up the good work and thanks for the great question!

I hope that helps!

Talk soon,

Mitch

And… I hope that helps you too!

How might you experiment with your potential coaching clients?  What tools might you try?  Join in the conversation.  Comment and let us know.

Keep dreaming big and helping others to do the same,

Mitch Matthews

PS – More information…

If you’re thinking about becoming a coach but you’re not sure if it’s for you… check out the FREE mini-course Lynn has been participating in called “THE 5 CRITICAL QUESTIONS: 5 Questions I wish someone had asked before I became a coach.”

 

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Jan
17

An Interview with Time Coach and Author Elizabeth Saunders

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I’m excited to bring you this interview with Time Coach and Author Elizabeth Grace Saunders.

Elizabeth Saunders

Elizabeth Saunders

She’s a self-proclaimed “accidental entrepreneur.” She has gone from launching a successful freelance writing business at the young age of 23 to developing a healthy speaking career.  Then she uncovered a true passion for helping people to live lives where they accomplished more while experiencing more peace and less stress.

In fact, she now coaches clients from around the world and has become a recognized expert in time management… err… I mean “TIME INVESTMENT.”

That’s right.

Elizabeth is quick to offer clarification that she doesn’t promote “time management.”  Instead she believes in what she calls “time investment.”  In fact, she helps audiences, organizations and individuals master these concepts.

And recently… she published a book on this very topic.

It’s called…

“The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment – How to achieve More Success with Less Stress.”

saunders-book-coverThe book is is designed to help readers overcome the frustrating cycle of exhaustion and overwhelm. Elizabeth introduces unique time investment and work-life balance paradigms and reveals how to experience lasting change. The book also includes 40+ ready-made routines on topics like clearing email, meeting deadlines, going to bed on time, exercising, and maintaining friendships plus a step-by-step guide to creating customized routines. Plus, the book explores how to go beyond managing your time to effective time investment so you can not only keep up with life but enjoy the process.

Well… recently I was able to catch up with Elizabeth and we were about to talk about her journey to becoming a coach as well as her process for uncovering her true passions and finding her ideal coaching clients.  Plus, we dive into the subject of her book and talk about specific strategies that any new or established life coach could apply in their own life… let alone help their clients apply as well.

Enjoy the interview below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you’d like to find Elizabeth’s book on Amazon, simply click here.

If you’d like to find out more about Elizabeth’s coaching practice, simply click here.

If you’d like to read one of Elizabeth’s recent posts in the Harvard Business Review, simply click here.

Oh… and just as a fun back story… Elizabeth was a part of our initial offerings of the Coach Mindset.  That’s right.  She was one of the first graduates of our Elite Life Coach Training and Certification back in 2007.  So it’s fun to see how she has taken this and truly made it her own.

Needless to say, we’re very proud of Elizabeth AND we can’t wait to see where she goes next!

No matter what… we know that she’ll be impacting the globe and making it more brilliant and less stressful as she goes!

Keep dreaming big and helping others to do the same,

Mitch Matthews

 

 

Dec
07

LIFE COACH TRAINING: Who can you partner with?

By | Coaching Resources

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I’m often asked by new (as well as established) life coaches… “How can I promote my life coaching (or my business coaching) practice?”

Some have small budgets… some have significant funds to put behind their promotional efforts… but either way… people are looking for effective and powerful ways to get the word out about what they do.

My first response is a combination of two questions…

Who is your AVATAR?

In other words… who is your ideal life coaching client?  Who do you do your best work with?  Who do you love to help?  Who do you want to build your life coaching practice around?

Who else serves them?

In other words… who offers other products or services to your ideal client?  Who’s helping them in a different way?

Then… I ask a third question…

How could you partner with them?

In other words… where there might be opportunities to help each other as you serve your AVATAR… and… in the process… get the word out about what you do!

A CASE STUDY:

Let me offer up a specific case study from my own life coaching and business coaching practice.

One of my AVATAR profiles (my ideal clients for coaching and speaking) is the person who needs to dream and think bigger.  They need to innovate and develop new solutions.  Whether it’s for themselves or their organization… they need to shift their thinking process… look for new opportunities… and then pursue them.

In my area… there is a community college that is freakishly innovative.  In fact, they are nationally recognized for their cutting edge strategies… they are at the center of innovation for our region… AND each year… they shut down classes for a week to have “iweek.”

During that week… they bring in various speakers and leaders to celebrate and study innovation.

All that to be said… we have a similar AVATAR.  We serve that AVATAR in different ways… but our approaches compliment one another.

So… over the past few years… I’ve partnered with them on iweek.

Initially… I connected with the leader of iweek through a mutual friend.  Then we talked shop and compared notes on our approaches to innovation.  Then I offered to do a breakout session for iweek… for free.  Again… I was looking for the win-win.  (I don’t do much speaking for free anymore… but this was a great opportunity to get in front of a room of my AVATAR and help an organization that helps my AVATAR… so again… WIN-WIN!)

That went well… so our partnership has grown.  We’ve collaborated on more and more projects.

For example, an article I wrote on innovation was just featured in a quarterly magazine that they publish that is delivered (n some cases… hand delivered) to the desks of key leaders in my region.  Plus, it’s available online too.  To read the article… you can click here.

Now… have I been paid for these efforts?  Nope.

But has it been a WIN-WIN?  Absolutely!

I’ve gained new clients (both coaching and speaking) from this activity, I’ve been able to grow as a local authority on the subject and I’ve been able to develop other freakishly cool relationships through this collaboration.

So I’m grateful… and excited.

I’m grateful for the business and the relationships.

I’m excited for what it’s done for my business.  AND I’m excited because this is a strategy that YOU can use too!

THINK ABOUT IT…

Who also serves your AVATAR… your ideal client?

How might you partner with them to help them… expand your reach and grow your business in the process?

Give it some thought… and just see where it takes you.

Then… let us know what you come up with.

Keep dreaming big and helping others to do the same,

Mitch Matthews

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