We've all been there or know someone that's been there...digitally connecting with someone that seems too good to be true, but choosing to believing in what they're offering anyway!

• 🎣 They say all the right things to attract you and keep you interested. 
• 🎣 Promise you magic beans for your magic beanstalk.
• 🎣 And they sell you "the dream"

And only after you're on their hook, do you realize, you've been CATFISHED! 🙀 🐟

I truly believe most coaches want to do good in the world and make a living sharing their gifts and changing lives. 

That being said, catfishing is more common than we may think in the online coaching space. That's because some coaches prioritize fancy pants marketing  over the actual delivery of their offer and promise. 

One of the hardest (and most important) lessons I ever learned was getting catfished by a well known online business coach. To this day, their sales page is one of the greatest things I've ever read. It ticked all the boxes and questions i...

Many things in the personal and professional growth space are luxuries and tools:

1:1 coaching, masterminds, meditation classes, wellness supplements or adaptogens for making health tonics, acupuncture, etc. We hear so much marketing around what you NEED. “You NEED this herb tonic to be healthy.” “You NEED this seminar to be successful/happy.”

And with coaching, it's especially prevalent. I can't tell you how many times I've heard fellow coaches says, "So and so really needs a coach. He just doesn't get ‘it’." or ''She needs coaching, because she doesn't even realise she's looking for all the answers in the wrong places." And if I'm being honest, I was guilty of this too years ago fresh out of coach training and eager to help the world. I’d meet people that I thought “needed” coaching. The reality is that you probably don't NEED coaching. You won’t die without it. BUT you will massively benefit from it if you have a specific goal, insecurity or challenge you'd like help fulfilling....

Hiring a great coach can be overwhelming, because there are so many to choose from.

So how do you know if a coach is great? This question can be tricky to answer.I'm going to be perfectly honest with you: Coaching is not  regulated industry. Let me say that again: Coaching is NOT a regulated industry. Medicine, Nutrition, Psychology, Law, etc. are all regulated under professional bodies and industry regulations. Coaching is not.

• ANYONE can say they're a coach—no certification required. There are a lot of coaching school and certification programs that train and certify coaches along best practices under the International Coaching Federation (ICF)—it's sort of like the ‘United Nations of Coaching”—it doesn't have any actual authority over anyone, but attempts to put best practices around coaching. I graduated from the top coaching school that complies strictly with ICF best practices, because I value becoming an expert in anything that I undertake.
  
  
• BUT let me say that just because ...

The coaching industry is growing by the thousands each year. If you spend any time online, you’ll find coaches specializing in almost everything—life coaching, business coaching, millennial coaching, wealth coaching, menopausal women coaching, corporate coaching, relationship coaching, etc. Hiring a coach is a powerful way of shortening the distance between where you are today and where you want to be.

But how do you actually understand what coaching is before deciding whether to hire a coach?

Here are 4 things to know:

1. Coaching is NOT Therapy.Coaching and therapy are not the same modalities. They both are healing modalities that aim to help clients work through their behavioral or emotional obstacles. But typically, they use different means of getting results. Although some forms of therapy are forward focused, most psychotherapy tends to focus on the past. It looks backwards to analyze why you are the way you are. Life coaching, on the other hand, tends to be forward looking. ...