More progress

I'm now done with the coach training! Since I didn't write about the last 3 classes, I'll just mention that one was a practice session, the next to last was going through a mock ongoing session as a class, and the last was a review and discussion of how we'd be using our training in our careers. Prior to the last class I actually did a little research on how much coaches charge per hour and what it'd take to make a living just doing it independently. While it is possible to make a living as an independent coach with your own clients, it's not the route I see myself pursuing right off the bat. I'd need more experience, I'd need to know how to operate my own business, I'd need professional liability insurance...and while I love the idea of working for myself, I still kinda need the stability that would come from working for someone else. For now. One of the perks you get with certification from Wellcoaches is that they list you on their website in their database of coaches so consumers can still find you and hire you if they want. And there are some other cool things you can get, like continuing education credits (which are needed to maintain certification anyway), networking, industry info, etc. It's all stuff I'm planning to get into once I get the certification.

Which brings me to that. I started studying for the written exam already, and I've started looking for practice clients. So far I just have my sister and my dad, and although we're not supposed to use friends or family, I'm still gonna coach them anyway. It's actually not easy to find people despite the coaching being free. But oh well. One cool thing that happened the other day was my reaching out to a friend from my undergrad days who's now teaching yoga. I mentioned that I was doing this wellness coaching and she said she was doing the exact same thing! I haven't gotten a chance to catch up with her yet, but what a coincidence :)

I also went to the 'find a coach' section of the wellcoaches site just to see who is coaching in FL and what the listings look like for when I possibly get one of my own. It was cool to read the bios for different people and to see what their specialties were. While many of the coaches I see claim to 'be' other things like dietitians, fitness specialists / personal trainers, nurses, etc., I am not anything other than a coach, period. Yeah, my degree was in exercise science, but I didn't use it for anything except to get into coaching because coaching appealed to me more. I hope that's not a bad thing. I don't think it'll hold me back from getting a job with a company as a wellness coach. And I'm thinking that once I get started, who knows where things will lead? The cool thing now is that I won't be doing something 'dead-end' or 'temporary'. I'll actually be doing something of my own choosing.