Transition Like a True Professional : 5 Key Considerations for Trainee & Newly Qualified Coaches

Learning new things. It’s not just about the knowledge and wisdom and onward contribution that the insight brings. It’s about the journey. It’s about being receptive to new voices, being humble about things to come and about connecting with cohorts. The virtual high fives, the comfort in comparing notes and the tuning into everyone’s ideas and ambitions for after. In fact, as liberating as it is to leave with a life coaching diploma in hand, it can also feel a little strange and lonely to embark on the new.  

Having been through the journey, I remember the fantastic feeling of finishing, but also the tinge of ‘oh heck’ as I looked up at the next proverbial hill ahead. Comfortingly, I’d been building my brand in the background. I’d been calmly working on my website copy and gathering testimonials. I’d been dusting down my little black book and practicing my ‘lift pitch’. I certainly didn’t have every aspect covered, but I was grateful for every bit of background planning as I opened my coaching doors for business. 

With this in mind, I have compiled my top 5 things to bear in mind on the road to your coaching accreditation, to help you gracefully but powerfully gain momentum after finishing.   

1.    Your qualification is not the finishing line  

Your coaching accreditation takes you to the starting point. Use that simple truth to productively shift your mindset and incredible things will happen. 

 It’s so easy to put everything you have into the work you need to do to qualify. Your emotional and practical application is so important. However, try to invest time in some prep work for what comes next and embrace a clear acceptance that the start is yet to come.  

Here are some incredibly simple things you can do to get ahead: 

• Name your practice or describe your service
• Design a daily routine with time for new business, learning, coaching, reflection
• Establish a professional, de-cluttered and client (zoom friendly) workspace 
• Nail that elevator pitch and talk about it /use it wherever you can
• Gather short succinct testimonials. Own your evidence and get ready to use it
• Understand your new business pipeline, know how and where you’ll recruit clients

2.    Hold your vision close to your heart. 

 Your vision needs to light your way. Let it guide you back to basics on what coaching means to you and how it will change your life and the lives of others. 

 It’s unlikely that you signed up to become a professional coach on a whim. A commitment to learning is not a late-night impulse Amazon purchase. Chances are you put a chunk of thought into it, weighing up what contribution it could make in your life and how it fit in your master plan. Many people on my course were learning to add another string to their bow, some were learning to bridge a gap professionally and others were embarking into the unknown as a means of braving a whole new career and business.  

As you come to the end, dust down that vision. Ask yourself what that means in real life and how you will take that forward. And as we tell our clients, start with the end in mind. Create goals based on your personal ending. These may include financial benchmarks, client acquisition goals, networking missions or collaborative achievements. Design your goals your tasks and then your whole daily routine around where you are working to be. Stay mission driven and de-personalise the ‘do’, so that you can calmly and confidently make progress in the right direction.   

3.    Comparison is the thief of joy  

The only path that matters to you is your own. Learn from others, but do not allow comparison to cause you conflict. 

Oh, it is so easy to be blindsided by other people’s stories. Their focus, their wins and their outlook, it can all seem so polished. However, don’t forget that the only truth that matters is your own. You are capable, good enough, strong enough and bright enough to turn this qualification into whatever your heart desires. There will always be people with better networking skills, a bigger portfolio, snazzier contacts or a slicker logo.  

Let everyone else shine in their own way while you find the best way to be you. It is only by working to your authentic strengths that you will carve out a true path for yourself.   

4. Drink all the goodness of your own coaching medicine 

Remember that you quite literally have all the skills you need to nail this. Turn all the brilliant wisdom back on to yourself and give yourself wings to fly. 

I totally forget this from time to time. I get lost down a rabbit hole on social media or start taking new business rejections to heart. Then I step back and remember I am a qualified coach and it truly makes me smile. When this happens, quite simply, stop, breathe, grab a journal or notepad and get coaching. Ask yourself the key questions you’d ask your clients. Work out who’s help you need to fly over the hurdle, work through your limiting beliefs about rejection, approval or failure. Revisit your mission, apply your wisdom on crafting a plan. Then get creative, energise, get some exercise, raise your endorphins, take care of yourself, then plug yourself right back in.   

 5.    Create coaching conversations. Daily.  

In the end, it’s not the fancy pants website or the well written posts that make us great coaches. It’s the ability to facilitate great coaching conversations. 

I’ve recently been coaching an opera singer, who is short on work and spending hours of his life trying to seek new opportunities. It’s been a painful discovery for him to learn that when does get a rare audition, his voice is not as good as it used to be. I asked him what the missing ingredient is in his life. He paused and with a nodding sign said ‘oh, singing, I have been so busy panicking and looking for work, I’ve virtually stopped singing’.  

Don’t be the coach that forgets to coach. Live coaching, breathe coaching and invite coaching conversations in your life wherever you go. Continuing with reciprocal coaching is a great way to keep practicing or joining a mentor programme to watch and coach with others. Whatever you do, raise the importance of coaching, and make it a part of your daily practice by whatever means possible.  

And finally, have faith…

Trust in this. You have the life coaching skills you need to not just qualify, but also set up something that people need from a true coaching professional. The world is ready for you to bravely show up and put something meaningful out there. So, get ready, commit to your plan and follow it through with positive energy and the enthusiasm and will that your next chapter deserves. 

About Author:

Laura is a Coaching Academy graduate, who now runs her own successful coaching business called The Good Vibrations Project. With a background in branding, she’s spent her career helping businesses develop their identity and communicate effectively through an understanding of what sits at the heart of their brand. Armed with these enriching skills and her coaching qualifications, she’s now helping individuals understand what sits at their core.  Laura is passionate about helping people connect with their authentic selves to build inner strength and lead fulfilling, purposeful lives.