The first reaction of acquaintances to my work with a coach was - "it's expensive!" The second is interest: the more I wrote on social networks about my experience, the more questions I had. And when people saw my results, they began to ask for contacts of coaches and advice on choosing a mentor.

In what situations do you need a coach?

What does a coach work with? The coach works with clients' requests for personal and professional growth. A request is a specific definition of what tasks you want to solve while working with a coach. To work out means to find some solution to the request, in which the client understands where and how to move on. A request can be a goal that you have set for yourself, but do not know how to achieve it with minimal resources. A clearly formulated request is half the success.

To process a request, the coach unlocks your potential: he actively listens, asks clear questions that help you define the goal, make a plan, make a decision, create ideas, move to actions to achieve a result. Helps to determine what skills and knowledge you lack to achieve it. Fixes your attention on where you want to be, keeps the focus on the result, motivates, helps to understand what causes stress.

A coach can help in various areas:

• Move forward in your career, for example, you have reached the ceiling in your career and do not understand where to move on - the coach will help you determine the vector;
• Improve professional or personal skills, such as personal effectiveness or emotional intelligence;
• Deal with motivation, friendships, personal or work relationships.

Coaches have a specialization: someone works only with business topics and does not work with personal life. There is executive coaching specifically for top management and business coaching to improve the results of individual company employees. Sessions are group and individual. Professional coaches can work with different requests, because the technique is the same - I’ll tell you about it separately.

What are the guarantees of the result. There is no guarantee that working with a coach will solve your issue. It's just a conductor. The effectiveness of coaching depends on two components. This is the professionalism and experience of the coach: the more experience, the faster the result, as well as the person's readiness for change. Often people think that they are ready to change something, and when it comes to action, they stop or play for time. This is due to the fact that the goal that a person has set for himself does not coincide with his true desires. A coach helps you understand what you really want - and this is also the result: you will stop wasting resources on unnecessary things and concentrate on what is important. Coaching is a partnership, but the responsibility for decisions and the chosen path lies with the client.

For the coach, the results are just as important as for the client: he invests his experience and emotions in the success of each client, because this is also his result as a professional.

Why did I turn to a coach?

I first came to coaching three years ago. I was just beginning my career as a PR consultant. Everything was stable at work, but I wanted to reach a new professional level, and I had two clear requests.

The first is whether it is worth opening a PR agency. By that time I was already working for myself, but there were doubts whether I was ready for entrepreneurship. Owning a business means completely different tasks: finding and hiring employees, building business processes, motivating a team - this is a new experience and skills.

The second question is how to become more confident in negotiations. At the time, I was afraid to say no and be pushy if a client offered the wrong solution. I was embarrassed to talk about my successes. It seemed to me that no one was interested in my achievements and successes, or that if I started listing strong cases, they would think that I was praising myself. Such beliefs are called triggers - I thought for others and hung labels, this triggered a behavior pattern that prevented me from building communication with clients, and for them to evaluate my experience.

During six sessions in the format of personal meetings, the requests were resolved:

• I realized that it was too early to open an agency: I was internally unprepared for this and I lacked leadership qualities.
• I began to confidently talk about my experience and cases at meetings and answer questions.
• I realized that consulting is an area in which I want to develop, so I outlined the next step - development towards international projects.

How does the first meeting go?

The first introductory meeting is always free, it is called a chemistry session. It takes place in person over a cup of coffee or remotely via Skype. On it, the coach talks about himself, how he works, and the client talks about his requests. The meeting is to see if you understand each other, if the coach can work with your request.

The coach must announce the rules of cooperation, familiarize you with the contract, which necessarily contains a clause on confidentiality. Typically, coaches spend a minimum of five sessions in order for the collaboration to really be effective.

The coach has no right to give advice, express personal opinion, criticize your actions or inaction. His task is to ask effective questions and encourage you to realize and develop, to give feedback. Conversations are held according to the SMART scheme - this is a technology for setting and formulating goals, the dialogue of any coaching is built on it. At the beginning of each meeting, you determine the request for the current moment, at the end, you evaluate the effectiveness of the dialogue.

What has coaching given me?

After working with the first coach, I reached a new level and doubled my income in six months, which I did not expect at all. I realized that for me this is a powerful catalyst for success, which helped:

Reach your goal faster. When I talk to a mentor, I reach my goals 2-3 times faster compared to my past experience. It's like going uphill with an instructor or alone. After meeting with my business consultant, my level of motivation and inspiration is so high that for another three months I work more efficiently and focused.

Deal with impostor syndrome. I became more confident in negotiating, making presentations for potential clients, which increased the level of my work, appreciated my experience, achievements, cases more - I realized that all this is the result of my work. I felt my value as a specialist.

Keep the focus on "yours". I realized that I would succeed if I worked with people with a similar way of thinking - with those who value honesty in work and developed emotional intelligence. I began to ask more questions before signing a contract and pay attention to how a person communicates with the team. This helps to quickly make a decision on cooperation.

I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather sacrifice my ambition to build a big company than work with people I don't feel comfortable with.

Working with a coach for me is a regular development and work on myself. Sometimes I take a break for six months to comprehend everything and get used to the new settings, to let them take root. When I understand that these techniques have become a part of me, I again invest in my development.

Coach Requirements

There are two main criteria to consider when choosing a coach.

Certification. A professional coach must have an international certificate - this is a guarantee that he studied according to the standards, listened to the theory and practiced under the supervision of coaches. Some of the most reputable coaching schools in the world are the International Erickson Coaching University and the International Coaching Association ICF.

Skill level. A quantitative indicator of professionalism is a certificate of qualification.

—

It all started when I was working as a freelance writer and I wanted to make more money. I had a good portfolio and my writing skills were above average, but there was something missing.

I needed someone to guide me through the process of making more money. That is when I found out about copywriting coaching.

I enrolled in a copywriting course with a coach and it changed my life for the better!