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How to become a Life Coach in Nigeria
Life coaching is a collaborative partnership between a life
coach and a client where the coach aims to propel the client
towards their personal and professional goals. To achieve this,
life coaches employ:
Starting up a professional coaching career in Nigeria can be
daunting but with the right tools and knowledge, you can easily
build a solid reputation.
Career coaching is on high demand as more individuals are
entering the labour market in doves while jobs are getting
scarcer in Nigeria.
The offering of professional insights to other individuals as
they seek to grow their brand name, get a high paying job and
increasing their career trajectory can be a rewarding business
venture both personally and financially.
If you are good at active listening and are naturally
compassionate towards people facing challenges, you already have
the two main life coaching skills.
Life coaching is a fulfilling profession where you earn by
assisting people in navigating life’s complexities — an endeavor
aligned with your innate talents.
Career counsellors, also known as life coaches, career planner,
career consultant, business coach or personal development coach
help in assisting individuals in changing or establishing
careers.
These career coach or career advisors make use of a variety of
methods to obtain information about their client’s career
choices. This helps them to assess the client's skill set,
personality, goals and educational level.
Therefore, it is safe to say that career coach and career
advisors are one of the most sought-after professions of our
time.
The coaching trend in Nigeria is now becoming fashionable for
individual life and professional career goal.
You also need to decide on your target market. Whether to become
a personal life coach that speaks to individuals on a one-to-one
basis. These might be upwardly mobile individuals or individuals
who have recently been laid off from their position (Mid-level
or higher position).
As a life coach, understanding where your target audiences are
in their leadership lifecycle is essential to the nature of
advice and support you would offer them.
You can also target larger organizations that hire career
coaches and career advisors.
These organizations hire coaches that can offer support to
high-level executives who are struggling with some issues such
as communication skills, negotiation skills or dealing with
difficult people.
These high-executive individuals may require a little push to
help them become successful in their position.
You are also expected to choose how you will offer your coaching
services. These could be coaching from an office, and that
depends on your preference and your budget.
Having an office gives your services a professional look,
especially if you plan on offering workshops or group coaching.
One drawback to this is that this route can add up real quick
depending on your location.
You can also wish to work from home with the help of web
connectivity. These provide a broader reach and is often more
convenient for the coach and the clients.
Other things to keep in mind when starting up your coaching
business and finding students includes
Performing market research which involves a competitive
intelligence analysis, a demand-supply analysis and a price
analysis
Define your methodological support units and the right tools
Design foolproof communication strategies such as setting up a
social network, building responsive websites, entrepreneurial
shows to showcase your ability, through word-of-mouth, referrer
and partnership (Franchising)
Presently, no law in Nigeria regulates the influx of life
coaches and career coaches in the industry. It is an all-comers
affair. Anyone who is of working age and believes that he has
the necessary skills and knowledge to become a personal coach
can come into the business.
All you need to do is to just declare yourself as a life or
career coach on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin or any other
platform and Viola you are on It.
Is that simple, isn’t it!
But in reality, things are not as simple as it seems to be.
To be employed as a life coach or career coach by any coaching
firm, it is often required that you show some certification to
prove that you are capable and recognized.
Even when you need to work solo or self-employed, most clients
wish to know your academic qualification or what professional
certifications that you have acquired - except if you have made
a name in the industry ab initio.
These could be that you have specific training or coaching
training experience in a particular business. It gives you a
comparative advantage that can help you to stand-out among other
competitors.
With this, you can seduce prospects and convert them into future
customers.
While it is not compulsory to acquire any certification or
degree in the field of professional coaching, some schools or
organizations in Nigeria offers certain certification and
diploma programs through private training.
Examples include the International Coach Federation (ICF),
Master Coach University, The Institute for Professional
Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), Spencer Institute etc.
A Nigeria Institute
Chartered Institute of Corporate Mentoring and Coaching,
Nigeria. Source: Coachcampus Image
What To Charge For Your Professional Coaching Lessons?
Charging a fee is a thorny issue when it comes to the art of
coaching. It is quite difficult to estimate an exact figure to
charge when it comes to clients, especially when you are new to
the business.
How much you're to charge your clients depend on your level of
expertise, experience and the needs of your target client.
While starting out, you may want to discount your price to build
your brand name and business.
Another factor that determines the price to charge is the basis
of your work with the clients. Some may wish to work with you on
an hourly basis, weekly or monthly basics while others may
prefer to work with you on a project-by-project basis.
Depending on your skills, experience and speciality as well as
the nature of the individual that you are coaching or company
hiring you, you can expect to charge between ₦5000 to ₦150,000
per hour.
The charge rate also differs based on your location.
A professional coach in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt may charge
₦100 000 per hour while another of his counterpart in Ibadan or
Kano State might charge a much lower price.
Another factor to consider is the type of coaching you are into.
An executive coach may charge ₦350 000 per hour, while a
business coach might take around ₦100 000 to ₦150 000. A general
career coach or life coach might charge around ₦ 5000 to ₦25 000
per session
It is necessary to identify the monetary value of your work
while aligning it to the prices charged by your competitors.
This will enable you to determine a relative market price for
your services.
Note that the bigger the company, the higher the bill will be.
Always remember that each professional coaching practitioner is
free to fix their own rate according to what they consider fair
and their training courses.
Here is how a training and professional coaching plan is
prepared
Interview session: This involves the first meeting with the
client. As a professional career or business coach, you are
expected to carry out an evaluation session, also known as the
exploratory session. Here, everything is put out, the worries,
frustration and the challenges of the present situation.
Identify the reasons why the client set-up a meeting with you
while he is talking. What motivated the client to request for
your services, change their jobs, or issues faced. Find out what
skills and knowledge that the client is expected to learn or
unlearn, and reason for the change in management style, managing
stress with investors, negotiation impasse etc.
Now the coach needs to find or bring up a set of answers to the
examination of their client.
Recommends a solution to the issues raised using a proposed
technique. This is to ascertain if the outcome was the desired
one.
Remember that a training plan or coaching course can be more
detailed depending on the nature of the coaching session. The
first sessions are usually aimed at gauging the capacity of the
client to progress fast or not.
This is why the methodology used in a coaching session is meant
to be a guide and not a micromanagement plan.
Don’t forget to participate in both online and offline
networking opportunities. Attend industry events, join relevant
groups, and engage in conversations. Establishing connections
within your industry can lead to referrals and collaborations.
Get our Practical Guide on How to be a Life Coach in Nigeria.
This Training will focus on the coaching professions in Nigeria
and tips on how to start up as a life coach and ways to find
your first client.
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