Getting Back To The Basics of Life Coaching

There is an awful lot of noise out there in the online coaching industry.

There are formulas for becoming more visible, and frameworks meant to help us become more magnetic and attractive to our "ideal client." Then there are the promises about making six-figures and becoming a lucrative business, and what seems like an endless stream of advice about what we should be doing to grow and be successful.

Don't get me wrong. As someone who has been in the online coaching space for the last twelve years, I agree that there is good information out there. I've benefited myself from following some of the advice and suggestions from other coaches, content creators, and entrepreneurs.

Some of it is genuinely useful, and lately, a lot of it deserves a closer look.

I want to welcome you to my new blog, Trauma Informed By Design. Here, I write about my experiences within the life coaching industry, and topics like ethically mindful coaching, trauma informed care, thoughtful marketing, and the realities of building a coaching practice -- the things that the online coaching industry doesn't seem to want to talk about. This is for coaches and service providers who want to grow, but don't want to lose themselves in the process.

I want you to hold onto the vision you have for the work that you want to put out into the world. You need someone who will keep it real with you. This blog is the place where we take that closer look.

Becoming a better coach isn't just about who you know, how much money you have, and whose rooms you're standing in. It's not just about consuming more information and learning more coaching techniques. Our journey to becoming better coaches starts with developing the capacity to think critically, notice nuance, be able to hold space in our body for more than one view, idea, or personal truth, the ability to develop, adhere to, and work within ethical boundaries, understand the impact of our power and influence, and maintain the ability to stay curious about the human sitting in front of us without biases getting in the way of the relational aspects of our work.

If we do talk about techniques here, I'll also include ways that you can apply them within your client sessions, and any resources that might help you out. Building a coaching practice isn't just about how visible we can be, finding the perfect marketing formula, or how much money we can make. Yet these are often what the online coaching industry focuses on the most.

Online life coaching culture has glamorized life coaching to a degree and has enabled unethical marketing strategies to become what people gravitate towards, for far too long. This is because they are taught by coaches who coach other coaches to do the same things. Patterns and methodologies are being passed on and shared in spaces over and over again.

The Starting Point

In order for the online coaching industry to continue to survive, and for coaches to do well in a competitive market right from the start, we need to go back to the basics.

Let's start by learning how to communicate value without the urgency, and fake numbers. Saying no to things that are exploiting people's vulnerability. Drop expectations that don't fit or feel good. No one wants to hand over their autonomy and discernment with their credit card.

What Can You Find Here?

Some practical guidance that you can take or leave. Conversations about coaching skills, marketing, trauma informed principles and practice in our work, leadership for today's world, ethical mindfulness, growth, and sometimes, some uncomfortable truths about the online coaching industry. I keep it real with you here.

I want you to know that this space is an invitation for you to think for yourself. Consider perhaps what you've observed and experienced, and how you feel. Good coaching shouldn't replace discernment with doctrine. Done well, it supports the expansion of our capacity and strengthen our ability to use it. I think the same should go for coaching education, mentorship, and thought leadership in the online coaching space.

These are the kinds of conversations and aim that I want to have here, and I hope you'll join me.