How To Become a Career Coach

Last week, I shared a conversation I had with our Director of Client Success, Phillip. Specifically, I shared that the fact that too many coaches try to learn everything, and this one things trips up new coaches and delays their ability to help and impact people's lives.

Well, this week, I had a conversation with Kimberly Ramsawak, who helps give us a solution to this.

We had the privilege of helping Kimberly with her coaching business (even before we officially started our Professional Career Coach Training and Certification program).

She never had a desire to become a career coach, or an entrepreneur for that matter.

She spent over 20 years in the corporate world, largely working in marketing and sales. A lot of her work led to travel a lot around the world (in some cases, this made friends and family jealous).

After a string of different changes, she ended up in the tourism and travel industry.

Once, she was asked by student about how to get into the industry, so Kimberly helped her craft her resume, which led to her getting a travel job with more than a $30,000 raise.

That's when it clicked for her.

She realized that there was an opportunity to help people by creating extreme value (a $30,000 raise with a job you love is pretty substantial)!

Kimberly didn't waste time by trying to learn everything - she just took what she already knew.

She began helping others get into the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. Then in 2014, she formalized her coaching business and began to narrow and fine-tune her target market.

Again, notice that she didn't have to know everything about every industry. Kimberly just took her own experience in the travel and tourism industries to help people.

She leaned into her own experience and passion to start and grow her coaching business.

You can do the same thing - look at your own history and experience. Look at your own likes and strengths. Specifically look at where they intersect.

Do you see that niche of people that you can help? It might not be a big group, but it's enough for you to help.

To binge-listen to all the Career Coach episodes: https://www.happentoyourcareer.com/how-to-become-a-career-coach-podcast/

Or check our our Professional Career Coach Training program

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Career Coach!

Everyday I'm in conversations with aspiring, new or even established coaches. And as you can imagine it's a lot of conversations, and time and time again I see the same… well…. The same 7 things pop up that restrict these folks from becoming amazing coaches, trip people up from starting and having profitable coaching business. We see these time and time again.

Phillip, our Director of Client Success here at Happen To Your Career, joins us today to talk about these 7 things that trip up new coaches.

To binge-listen to all the Career Coach episodes: https://www.happentoyourcareer.com/how-to-become-a-career-coach-podcast/

Or check our our Professional Career Coach Training program

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Career Coach!

When I say the word "badass," what comes to mind?

Someone who knows what they want?

Someone who breaks down walls standing in their way?

Someone who finds, and keeps finding, ultimate career and life happiness?

That's how I think of it, and whether you realize it or not, that kind of life is totally possible for you.

Last year, I interviewed Jen Sincero, NYT bestselling author of hilarious, sarcastic, and no-nonsense self-help books. During our chat, Jen told me the 5 ways she's currently making sure she maintains her high level of badassery.

To binge-listen to all the Career Coach episodes: https://www.happentoyourcareer.com/how-to-become-a-career-coach-podcast/

Or check our our Professional Career Coach Training program

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Career Coach!

Having opened his eyes to a world of extreme poverty combined with the life-threatening situations of Civil War, Luis Velasquez suffered through and survived 3 brain tumors, lost his career and his relationships, and still found the resilience in him to "bloom where he was planted."

This resilience expert explains his life as a series of severe and happy accidents that taught him how to thrive, rather than just survive.

Along the way, Luis learned several important lessons:

• I don't wanna be fearless. I wanna fear less. And by assuming I wanna fear less, it gives me permission not to be perfect. It gives me permission to be messy. So, I seek improvement rather than perfection.
• Satisfaction comes from outside: you always want more. Fulfillment is internal: you don't need all the money in the world to have that. You can find it at any level.
• For me, what has made the difference in surviving and thriving is understanding that I have choices and that I can adapt to whatever situation I have. I have a mother who says that I can't control the rain, but I can control if I get wet or not.

Optimism, a mindset of abundance, being grateful for what you have, and being resourceful about the options that are available to you, helps you thrive, rather than just survive.

"The idea that you are a work in progress helps you be resilient. Possibilities are endless; whatever is going on in your life, this too shall pass. Focus on what you can control, don't try to battle what you can't control. My wife and I were deciding whether we should have children, because my world can change completely from one year to next, and one day I said: I don't want my death to rule my life."

To binge-listen to all the Career Coach episodes: https://www.happentoyourcareer.com/how-to-become-a-career-coach-podcast/

Or check our our Professional Career Coach Training program

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Career Coach!

"My overall definition of success is helping other people succeed."

Allison Curbow has staked this claim for herself. Her journey to become a career coach started only 18 months ago.

Allison went from being a person with a background that was scattered between different industries, and who lived in an environment where entrepreneurship was considered a scary and alien entity.

"I was in Oil and Gas industry, and I was in sales industry, and home construction, and wielding, and procurement – all over the board. It drove me crazy."

Having liked some things in every job she had taken up, but not being a fan of everything in any one of those, she set out to find something that satisfied her and suited her.

"I didn't even know what it would require me to decide who I wanna be. I was just blindly walking along, without knowing that I had to decide in myself what kind of life I wanted. I didn't realize how much I was following other people's perceptions of what I should do."

18 months ago, she had no clue that career coaching was going to be the career path for her, but she knew that something was missing.

She found the Happen To Your Career podcast, and joined Career Change Bootcamp shortly afterwards.

She later heard about the first cohort of our Professional Career Coach Training and Certification program. Intrigued, she joined the live webinar and was hooked.

Allison joined that first cohort of PCC, learning so much about how to become a career coach.

She not only works as a career coach, she is now also on the Happen To Your Career team.

To binge-listen to all the Career Coach episodes: https://www.happentoyourcareer.com/how-to-become-a-career-coach-podcast/

Or check our our Professional Career Coach Training program

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Career Coach!

Over the last 6 years, I’ve learned something crazy about helping people just like you start (or grow) coaching businesses.

It’s something that I wouldn’t have anticipated (even though I went through it myself)

It has to do with making the decision to become a coach.

Last week, we announced that PCC was opening for our next cohort starting in September.

While we announced that price was increasing, we failed to mention the bonuses that we've added if you act quickly. If you register by August 9, 2019...

If becoming a career coach or growing a career coaching practice and experience the flexibility and exhilaration of helping people in that very direct way that a coaching practice can bring then here’s what I would suggest to you. 

Drop me personally an email and say “I want to be one of the 20” and we will send you more information, the application and if we think you could be a great fit for the program.

I have gotten to know Christie Mims over the over the years and really respect the business that she's built around career coaching around helping people with their careers in a variety of different ways. And we'll get to bring her on and showcase not just her story, and how this has happened for her. But some of the ways that I would say she has even really, really crafted that, that fit within her business I'm going to go so far as to say, shaped the industry in a lot of different ways.

Christie was a fancy pants consultant in DC. And she got to the point where she was just miserable. And her career, even though it was really lucrative, and she felt all this guilt.

And so Christie started investigating all these other careers: she was looking at becoming a shoe designer; there was a brief period where she thought maybe she just wanted to work for Bravo TV, and produce the real housewives.

But one thing that Christie also looked into was coaching, because a lot of the consultants she worked with were getting certified as coaches. And it seemed like an interesting career. And it was something that she thought would be at least she could use it as a consultant.

So as part of her career research when she was investigating different job paths, Christie signed up for a coaching weekend, and she was super cynical. But she showed up and just fell in love with it. It was like being in the desert. And then all of a sudden someone offers you a glass of water. And it was amazing.

But she was terrified when she quit her job to start coaching full-time.

"So I was continuing as a consultant and I started to set up some business stuff, but I was still I was still pretty afraid. So nothing happened right away. But eventually, I mustered up my courage to quit my job and go full time as the coach because I just, you know, was looking around thinking, I was on the DC metro, and I was just thinking, like, Am I going to wake up 10 years from now, because these people look like they died 10 years ago, you know, I just gonna wake up 10 years from now. And just cuz, you know, is this my life like I at least have to try? I owe it to myself to try."

But Christie started her career coaching business anyway. Her business grew and adapted over the years.

On the podcast today, she not only shares about the struggles and fears she had to overcome, but also gives practical advice for those just getting started - and to start in a way that won't overwhelm you in the process.

To binge-listen to all the Career Coach episodes: https://www.happentoyourcareer.com/how-to-become-a-career-coach-podcast/

Or check our our Professional Career Coach Training program

Check out the Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Career Coach!

I’m sharing this with you again because we’re about to close the doors to PCC for this cohort.

May 3, 2019, is the last day that we’ll accept applications, so you’ll need to let us know right away if you’re interested in joining us.