As a content strategist and content coach, who also naturally coaches around topics like positive mindset and business strategy, I believe that most people are coachable, but they may not be coachable at certain points in their lives. This could be because the individual is not ready, nor willing, to change his or her habits, beliefs, behaviors, or actions. Another factor may be that others around this person are wanting him or her to change—but this is an external reason and most often fails.

If any of the above sounds like you, I’m going to give you a virtual gift today: I’m advising you save your precious time and hard-earned money because coaching won’t work for you right now. It’s better if you wait until you’re more open to change.

[fancy_box id=5 linked_cu=3684]YOURS FREE: Click here to take the quiz: How Coachable Are You?[/fancy_box]

What kind of coach are you looking for?

If you are still reading, hopefully you have qualified yourself as someone who is ready for a coach. The world of coaching varies greatly, and I’ve been fortunate to have some powerful coaches in my life:

  • My first business coach, Anastacia Brice, helped me get my business up, running, and profitable in four months flat!
  • My marketing coach, Beth Grant, helped me align my marketing type with my personality, so I could operate from a place of ease and joy.
  • My traffic and sales coach, Sue Dunlevie, helped me learn how to bring more traffic to my website and how to host authentic online trainings and webinars.
  • My podcast coach, Doug Foresta, taught me the ins and outs of producing a kickass podcast show for my first book.
  • My book coach, Jillian Schedneck, is helping me think through and execute my next book—which is focused on Courageous Living through travel. 
  • My Wealth Advisor, Roxanna McKinney, helps my husband and I save for the future life we want to live and ensures that we are financially prepared in terms of insurance, liability, and death benefits.
  • I even have a physical fitness coach right now. His name is Diango Cisee and his bootcamp kicks my butt three times a week!

It’s important for you to understand that coaching is one modality that will help you make changes in your life, business, or relationships. It’s not therapy, medical treatment, or something akin to a 12-step program. On a basic level, here’s the main differences between coaching and therapy:

  1. Coaching is an educational, discovery-based process of human potential; therapy is based on the medical model that says people have psychiatric maladies that need to be repaired.
  2. Coaching focuses on self-exploration, self-knowledge, professional development, performance enhancement and better self-management; therapy seeks to heal emotional wounds.
  3. Coaching takes clients to the highest levels of performance and life satisfaction; therapy seeks to bring clients from a dysfunctional place to a healthy functioning level.

How coachable are you?

Just because you want a coach doesn’t mean that you are coachable. I’ve had to let clients go who were not coachable, and believe me, this is never easy for myself nor the client. However, I refuse to work with clients who are not making forward progress. It’s not a healthy relationship. And…it is not ethical coaching—I shouldn’t be taking payments from clients who are not benefiting from our coaching relationship.

In this video, I explain the qualities of a coachable person. This video is a great resource for two camps of people:

a.) clients who are wondering if they are ready to move into a coaching relationship

b.) coaches who want to qualify clients prior to working with them.

(Feel free to download the quiz, above, which goes with this video. It can be used as a guide.)

I believe that being coachable, even if it makes you feel vulnerable, is the secret to achieving most of the dreams in your life, your business, and your relationships. A great coaching partnership will take you far!