This week's Coach in the Spotlight is Gerri Moore. Gerri went from running an estate agent, to setting up her own life coaching business where she works with individuals who have been affected by ill health and want to get their life back on track, to achieve their personal goals and dreams. Today she shares with us her coaching journey and gives us some insight and tips to those considering a career in life coaching.
I first came across the coaching academy several years ago when I saw a Facebook advert for The Coaching Academy's free 'Introduction to Life Coaching' webinar. I signed up and my first impression was that friendly, welcoming and a professional set up, the introductory training passed in a flash and I left feeling excited about becoming a life coach and knowing I had found something I was completely passionate about.
At the time I was unable to commit to training, I was running an estate agent, and the market conditions meant my time was required there but I never lost sight of joining the life coaching course and it remained as a goal, which I focused on regularly. My circumstance changed in 2021 and I found that I was delighted that I could finally commit to training to become a life coach. I was able to reduce my working hours in my business. I had become a kinship foster carer for my two grandsons and this helped me to be more flexible and to factor in study time. The training was online via Zoom making it much easier to attend.
The quality of the training materials was excellent and during my time as a student the efforts that were made to improve the online learning platform made my training an immersive experience. I connected with some fantastic students through the Facebook group and their support with reciprocal coaching was unexpected. We have developed firm friendships, and this support networking is still serving me well. I would say that the knowledge and skills of the associate trainers really brought the course to life. The engagement through breakout rooms with other students helped me to find inspiration and focus on my coaching skills.
I qualified with my diploma in January 2023 and have started my own practice Dreamlife Coaching. I have a background and training as a Registered general nurse and also as an associate lecturer for The Open University and so I wanted my practice to focus on people’s personal performance and engaging a positive mindset that benefits their goals and dreams. I was inspired to complete further training by working with the coaching academy in NLP and am now qualified as a Master NLP Practitioner. My niche is working with individuals who have been affected by ill health and want to get their life back on track, to achieve their personal goals and dreams.
My need for continued development led me to the Coaching Catalyst Collective run by Sarah Bramell and Rebecca Daniel who are both Coaching Academy trainers. Their coaching supervision model has been essential to my personal development as a coach, they have three main aims in supervision:-
My Coaching Academy training as provided me with some amazing tools and potential questions I can use with clients. As it is important to be fully present as a coach and to make sure my clients are ready to engage productively, I use a tool called the “Jelly Baby Tree” this helps me to understand the clients current state and to take measures if appropriate to gain a state that is the most productive for them to get the best from sessions. One of my favourite questions to use in sessions is “What are the reason that you haven’t achieved your goal already?” This gives me an insight into what limiting beliefs they may hold and how they may have self-sabotaged their success previously.
The biggest barrier I see is moving out of your comfort zone, I would advise people to stretch themselves and not to allow fear to hold them back. Once you receive your study materials, get going and don’t procrastinate. Join the Coaching Academy Students' private Facebook group as this is a really supportive area where you will feel part of the student community. Engage regularly as they understand what you are going through and will be your best cheerleaders and support. Plan time every week and do a little at a time, setting a date you would like to be qualified and work back from there.
Get started early with gaining coaching hours as this can be the biggest hurdle to overcome. Having trained with other organisations, The Coaching Academy has set a really high bar, and this will springboard your coaching practice.
Sign up for the live online training days as soon as you can as this really cements learning and is a place to ask questions and to understand. Put in your first recording for assessment as soon as you feel ready, don’t fear the assessment, as “there is no failure just feedback.” When building your coaching practice, due to the flexible nature of running a life coaching business, many people find they can do it alongside an existing job while they find clients.
Join a coaching supervision group when you qualify as this will support you emotionally and allow you a safe space to develop your skills.
The Coaching Academy was established in 1999, and is now the world's largest coaching school.
In that time we have trained over 14,000 people to become life coaches.
We are accredited by the International Coach Federation and the Association for Coaching, and we're rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot.
