Frequently asked questions

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• What is coaching?

• What can you expect?

• What is a coaching session like?

• What coaching is not

• How do I choose a coach?

• How long will I need to be coached?

• How much does coaching cost?

• What clients do you usually work with?

• Do you offer coaching online or over the phone? 

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WHAT IS COACHING?

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Coaching facilitates growth and change. Through the coaching process, you gain awareness of who you are and what is important to you, discover your potential, removes mental obstacles, builds confidence, in order to bring real, tangible and measurable change in the your life. The mission is to help you reach your goal in the most efficient, effective and rewarding way possible. 

 

A coach thus partners with you to help you find practical solutions to the concrete challenges you may face: how can you make the most of your time, improve leadership and communication, achieve ambitious goals, have a better life balance, understand and use emotions, develop your creative thinking, overcome harmful stress, establish constructive relationships, and so on. Coaching is therefore an action-oriented, future-focused partnership.
 

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?

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A coach guides you through the coaching sessions by asking questions that help you evaluate and decide which steps to take in order to reach your goal or make an important change. Where the session goes is completely up to you, you are the owner of the goals and actions that you set for yourself. You, as the client, have full control of the pace, topic, content and goals of the discussion. You will set short term goals for each session, and if required, you will set longer term goals for your life.

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This work takes attention, focus and self-reflection. It is a process. Coaching is indeed oriented toward concrete impact and results; it is about helping to articulate and achieve objectives that resonate with your inner motives and values. The focus is on your current life and future plans. Before helping to build an action plan, a coach helps you to identify what is specifically important to you and what can make your life truly meaningful and enjoyable.

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Coaches are deeply convinced that people have more potential than they are currently able to display. They are devoted to help people discover, develop, and overcome obstacles, enabling them to find their own solutions.

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WHAT IS A COACHING SESSION LIKE?

 

More precisely, a coaching session will generally include a discovery time near the beginning to figure out where you are, what you are doing, and what you could do to help make a change. During the first coaching session, which takes at least 45 minutes, we start exploring what you would like to focus on. As the discussion evolves, you choose the topics for future sessions. Afterwards, you define one or more goals that are vital to you, and together with your coach, create an action plan to reach those goals. 

 

Immediately after the first session, you will start taking real steps towards your goals. From there, subsequent sessions will be focused on holding you accountable to the steps you should be taking to get where you need to go and tackling problems that may present themselves along the way.

 

During the process, a coach is focused on three main things: that you are taking action, that you are staying accountable, and that your are following through. These three things guarantee success and will be an integral part of how your coaching sessions are handled.

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WHAT COACHING IS NOT

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Coaches act as facilitators. They are neither mentors, nor therapists, nor consultants..

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A coach may offer you suggestions, new ideas, or action steps; they do not give advice or tell you what to do. A coach listens to you and asks the right questions to help you reveal the answers to yourself through discussion, suggestions, brainstorming, and reflection. 

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Therapy and counselling focus on the mental health of a person and search the past for root causes. Coaching focuses on the mental growth of a person and the present, looking to the future for possibilities and how you will achieve it. While a coach may discuss habits and patterns that are a part of your past, he will not stay focused on the “why.” Rather, he will determine “what” and “how” you can change today to be more in line with the future you desire.

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Further, coaching, with its emphasis on process, differs from consulting, which prescribes solutions. A coach is going to be focused on how to get you from point A to point B, with a focus on finding new ways of acting and thinking that will help you reach your goal. He will not, for example, give you data on how to grow your business or how often you need to exercise in order to reach your weight loss goals.

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HOW DO I CHOOSE A COACH? 

 

Making change to your life is a deeply personal event. First look for a coach whose experience and education match your goals. Then, take advantage of their free introduction session to see if you feel a personal rapport with the coach. 

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Be careful! Coaching is unregulated and anyone anywhere can call themselves a coach — look for someone who has done the work to become credentialed by an institution accredited by the International Coaching Federation whose high standards ensure your coach is well prepared to serve you.

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HOW LONG WILL I NEED TO BE COACHED?

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This really depends on you and your goals. Some goals can be met fairly quickly while others take many sessions to get you on the right track and keep you there. 

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I offer several coaching options from a single goal-setting session to coaching packages. In general, a minimum of 6 sessions is recommended to truly benefit from the experience of coaching. All coaching packages start with a free 30-minute discovery consultation. If we decide to work together we will have a second 30-minute call to go over our coaching contract and expectations, prior to our first session.

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HOW MUCH DOES COACHING COST?

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You’re hiring me for a limited period of time to help you move from here to there. During that time, you’ll achieve your goal, develop new skills and have a good time doing it. You’d hire a guide to help you climb an actual mountain; I’ll help you climb this mental mountain.

 

Look at the goal you have and consider the investment in that light. Consider how much you’ve invested in your education, in your vacations, in your wardrobe and home, and consider this investment using the same metrics. Is it worth spending a certain amount of money to start your new job on the right foot, or to have a partner to help you find a new job in 6 months? Don’t count my hours, look at your life: How much is this change worth to you? Coaching is an investment in you, your life today, and your future.

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Each coaching request is unique and therefore requires customised fees, so contact me to find out more!

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WHAT CLIENTS DO YOU USUALLY WORK WITH?

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I don’t have a specific niche like “new moms” or “middle managers”. I coach people through transition. That can be someone graduating from college, having a baby at 42, or preparing to retire at 50. The one thing my clients all have in common is that they do not follow the mainstream path. My clients want more out of their life; they don’t accept comments like, “Well, that’s why it’s called work; you’re not supposed to like it!”. 

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Maybe you want to leave your corporate job and teach. Maybe you want to leave teaching and be a learning and development executive. Maybe you want to design houses for the celebrities; maybe you want to stop being a banker and work in a sustainable business. Maybe you want to leave college, fly to Brazil, and open a surfing school. Maybe you want to travel around the world as a social media influencer, living in a new country every month. Sounds good to me. Let’s figure out how to do that.

My clients live lives of their own design. And I help them create the vision and execute the plan.

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DO YOU OFFER COACHING ONLINE OR OVER THE PHONE? 

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Yes. Coaching online is available and can be an easy and convenient way for you to fit coaching into your schedule. More than 70% of my clients meet me in a private online conference room (Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, MS Teams, FaceTime) for career and life coaching. I love online sessions because we can meet anywhere at almost anytime — before work, over lunch, in the evening. Although some people may prefer the personal in-person experience, online or over the phone sessions also bring clear benefits:

• Scheduling virtual training time with an online coach can often be more convenient. You can meet for 30-45 minutes on your lunch break or take an hour on the weekend, no matter where you are, to sit down and consult with your life coach.

• Avoids expenses such as gas, parking, or hiring a babysitter. 

• Online coaching can also help alleviate the problems of unexpected weather and travel conditions that may keep you from making your in-person appointment.​

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