I’m a Life Coach!?!

Last year, Julie and I formed our own company to offer Life Coaching. She initially had a name for it, but we decided to go with something less generic. I came across the brilliant idea of re-naming as Kinstugi Lifecoaches: a name that’s impossible to spell and nobody seems to understand. The idea behind it was great, kintsugi being the Japanese are of putting broken things back together and making them a work of art.

We really got into it. Julie created the logo, built the site, and did everything possible to prepare as for success. She wrote some fantastic blog posts, consulted with me on everything I did within the company, and put us on a pretty good path forward.

I remember being shocked that I was now a life coach. I’d spent the past 16 years in the addictions treatment field, from my early days as a certified counselor with a high school diploma to a certified clinical supervisor with a masters degree. I was more than ready to put the intensity of substance use treatment behind me. Life coaching made perfect sense.

Extensive Life Coach Training…?

We always knew that we wanted to do more than just call ourselves “coaches.” We took every course that seemed reasonable, from Tony Robbins to Amy Porterfield, and finally certification through a reputable certifying body, the Certified Lifecoach Institute. I was always concerned about a lack of credibility and wanted to make sure that we got training to back up whatever claims we made or services we offered.

Let me make this clear: I am a fan of both Tony and Amy. No matter what you may have heard about them, nothing can quite describe the intensive deep dive and immersion these two master coaches provide. I understand that there’s plenty to criticize about their business model. A lot of people have spent thousands of dollars needlessly through their programs. Additionally, thousands of more people have done the same thing with college degrees. “Buyer Beware” is almost always the best advice.

Excellent Training

I thought the training through the Certified Life Coach Institute was outstanding. In fact, I still think it is the single best motivational process training I’ve ever had. My only regret is that I couldn’t use it for Continuing Education Units (CEU’s). Those are the ongoing credits counselors need to have to maintain their licenses.

We also had a blast and met some really cool people. Julie and I took it very seriously, did every exercise possible, and spent hours talking about it after class ended. The training lasted three days, and as one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as a counselor.

Nothing in the training prepared anyone to embark on a meaningful career to actually help people. I had the advantage of a master’s in addiction treatment, so I was pretty well set. Other class members – not so much. There’s no way a weekend course can teach a person everything they need to know about coaching.

It’s All About the Money

I started to discover the “truth” of Life Coaching: it’s all about the money! While we definitely have had good training over the past year, the hard truth is a significant portion of training revolves around how to make money at this thing. Goals and strategies to maximize every single hour, every email, and every blog post. Funnels and conversions, lead magnets, and “master classes”: all designed to get potential customers to spend, spend, and spend some more.

Very early on we came across people completely focused on how much they can charge per session or class, with virtually no attention or focus on providing actual value. After a few months, it was beyond disheartening. Thankfully, Julie has a very secure career and I have a growing private practice as a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist and Clinical Supervisor. We don’t spend thousands of dollars that we don’t have to learn how to take thousands of dollars that you don’t have. You can see my profile on Psychology Today here.

The Life Coach Hunter

The more time I spent researching the field I just got myself into, the bar horrifying things became. Blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels are dedicated to “manifesting” and tuning into your vibrational center to live the life you always wanted. It became very clear that a lot of these people offering services had nothing to offer except glitzy, buzz-word psychobabble.

Then, there are the “recovery coaches,” complete with special programs and proprietary diets that allegedly cure everything from cirrhosis of the liver to alcoholism itself. If you act now, the 90 day program is only $3000, but if you wait until next year the price is going up to $5000. Because that’s what it costs to be cured by a charlatan these days.

I discovered Danielle Ryan just before she got monetized on YouTube. She has a tremendous amount of content based around the scammy world of Life Coaching. This video is a great example of the kind of work she does:

I don’t agree with her on everything. For example,I do think there is a tremendous amount of value in the coursework of Tony Robbins and Amy Porterfield. I admit that a lot of their material is quite expensive, and too many people pay money they can’t afford to get training from them that they don’t need. Overall, though, I think I’d be lost in the weeds without their business, technical, social media, and overall coaching training. It would be interesting to debate her on these issues…

Still, after watching her videos, I couldn’t deny it any longer: the Life Coach industry makes me feel dirty. It was hard to look at our own website and feel good about it. I have no doubt we offered legitimate services and legitimate prices, and both of us are more than qualified in our respective fields. But having “Life Coach” in our business name, I felt like we lost all credibility.

But I am a coach…

Yes, I am a “coach.” It’s a small part of what I do overall: I mostly focus on counseling and clinical supervision, like the Prevention Specialist credential. But coaching is something I enjoy, and it invigorates me to work with someone at that level. It’s refreshing not to be going into the family of origin issues and the entire history of bad decisions. Focusing on the here and now has its place, and it’s a nice place to be in.

The thing is, nothing I can provide as a coach is worth anything near the thousands, and I do mean thousands, of dollars a lot of coaches charge. Julie, with her business background and executive experience, could reasonably charge a premium for what she has to offer. Even then, I don’t think will ever put together a course or program design purely to drain your banking account.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on coaching at the moment. We’ve changed our name, modified our business strategy, and done everything we can so far the distance ourselves from the psychobabble nonsense that gives coaching a bad name. Time will tell if we’ve done enough…