Today, we are diving into how to succeed as a career coach. There is a lot of noise online these days and it seems like there are a ton of career coaches out there right? It might seem a little overwhelming. I started my career as a career coach and for the past 6 years have learned a lot and witnessed a lot of changes in the industry.
I gathered some of the top questions about how to succeed as a career coach on the podcast today. If you have ever thought of becoming a career coach or want to grow your career coaching business even more, you will love this episode. Let’s dive in!
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There is no specific background required to become a career coach. In fact, anyone can claim to be one! So how do you stand out as a true career coach from those just claiming to be career coaches? Simple. Do they have related experiences in the field they are coaching on? What were the results of those experiences? Did they receive amazing feedback? Were they able to build credibility among those they know?
In other words, in order to become a career coach, you do not need to finish a 4-5 years course in career coaching (although that would be a big plus). You just need to build your reputation as one.
Here’s how Psych Central defined career coaching:
“Career coaching is a great way to get personal help with establishing your professional goals, making career decisions, creating and executing plans, and overcoming obstacles that may come in your way.” – Tracy Brisson (Founder and CEO of ‘The Opportunities Project’).
At Classy Career Girl, career coaching is a way of helping people land jobs that they love or start businesses that are in line with their passions. That’s why integrating modern career coaching strategies are vital to being an effective coach.
So how does one start building a career coach business? Here are a few tips from Anna Runyan, the Founder and CEO of Classy Career Girl, from our podcast interview today:
Do you think career coaching is still a profitable business or slowly dying?
As long as people need jobs, they need help finding jobs. There are many things that a career coach can help with such as figuring out what career is best for you, resume, LinkedIn and interviewing. I would find your specialty and focus in on that. There are also different industries that you can focus on as well. Are you an expert at tech, startups or creative industries?
I think what set me apart is really focusing in on the what is your calling piece and WHAT IS your ideal career fit. I felt like that is what is missing from most coaches and trainings. The first step. You don’t just start an online job search or updating your resume. Most people that come to work with me have no idea that 80% of jobs are found through networking and they hate updating their resume.
There are people unhappy in their jobs everywhere so career coaching is not disappearing at all. With today’s online world, and new career opportunities available to us, it’s only growing. People need a guide and a mentor. I think today’s millennials are more focused than ever on making a difference and an impact. There is so much that you can do to make this happen and you doing it first helps you become that role model.
I just heard this quote from Simon Sinek author of Start With Why. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
If you can bring your why into your business and what you do and what you believe, those people who believe the same things will want to work with you.
Do you find more success with people wanting career coaching or business coaching? I fear that not many people care about career coaching?
There are the exact same number of members in Love Your Career Formula and Corporate Rescue Plan. My mission is to help women find jobs they love or start businesses they love. It doesn’t matter to me which one they want to do, the same strategies apply in starting the right business for you. I don’t want you to start and grow a business you hate.
My favorite client case studies are when a woman starts Love Your Career Formula and ends up in Corporate Rescue Plan later because she realizes that she wants to start a business! 🙂 That’s when I know I am doing the right thing.
This is an interesting question because I only added business coaching as my market kept telling me they wanted it. That’s the most important thing, what does your market want and need. What are they asking you for advice on?
I have the exact same people in my business coaching programs as I do my career coaching programs which is astonishing. I keep waiting for one to grow faster but each time at I look at the numbers, they are exactly the same. So there’s a need for both BUT the market for business coaching right now is oversaturated with so many people saying they are gurus on social media and making six figures in 1 month promises….
I have another mentor Ryan Deiss and what he says is that when things that overpopulated and noisy online like they are right now, you have to whisper to stand out. That’s the model I follow. I like to whisper instead of raise my hands up and down. I think you’ll find me and CCG around a lot longer than many of these other business coaches. I am building a brand and not just positioning myself for income right now and that’s what makes me different.
Note: If you have never built a successful business before, please don’t become a business coach. I think this is where it’s really important that you model what you teach. For me, CCG is a business where we make money in many different areas besides business coaching and have many different streams of income coming in. Most business coaches have one income model and that is business coaching which I don’t think is always an honest way of doing business.
How did find success in career coaching? How did/do you find and connect with your clients?
My consistent success came from:
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Webinars to strategy sessions to individual coaching
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A 5-week online course to strategy sessions to individual coaching
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A live event to a 5-week online course to strategy sessions to individual coaching