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don't ever hire A fake. A phony. A fraud! Panic set in when I first let’s pause for a moment, take a deep breath,
heard that to be a good coach you must have a
coach. How could I insist that everyone needs
a coach a coach, if I never had a coach? I was about one
year into running my Health Coaching business,
Steph’s Harmonious Health, when I heard this
until on a podcast I love and I had never worked with
a coach…or had I?
I was confident that I was a good coach and
you getting better with every client session. I must
have had a coach then, right?
read The more I pondered on this claim the more I
recognized that I DID have a coach…in fact, I
had many! I didn’t call any of them, “coach,” yet
this as I listed them in my mind, I realized that they
all indeed had coach-like qualities. (Please un-
derstand—I’m a very literal person, so the term
“coach” threw me off at first!)
There was my favorite college professor who
instilled the joy of teaching in me. My first
personal trainer who very sneakily and casually
(and magically it seemed!) had me doing exer-
cises I never considered possible for myself. My
yoga instructor who always speaks with such
eloquence and flows effortlessly through her
practice. My high school algebra II teacher who
trusted my ability so much that she asked me to
tutor her nieces and nephews. My senior year
English teacher who never gave out A’s, but
gave them to me and insisted that I write for the
high school paper. And on and on! These are all
“coaches” who I never referred to as coaches,
but who I admire, learned so much from, and
took shiny nuggets from to load my bag of
coaching tricks.
Stephanie And did I hire them? Well in a round-about way I
hired most of them!
Am I working with coaches right now? Yes! Will I
hire more “coaches” in the future? Absolutely!
Effective coaches are valuable.
Since running my Health Coaching business for
over 3.5 years, I’ve concluded that there are
some things all potential clients need to know. If
you’re quick to make decisions, that’s great, but
Contributing Author: STEPHANIE SORICELLI
14
the best kind of accountability to meet your
and hang with me here while I explain what to
look for in your potential coach AND in yourself
before making that big choice.
Commitment vs. Interest
Are YOU ready? Are you really ready? During the
no-fee consultations I offer to potential clients,
one of the very last questions I ask them reads
like this, “On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the
most, how committed are you to reaching your
wellness goals?” Notice the word “committed.”
Sure, I end up working with clients here and
there who are “interested” in transforming their
lives, but it’s so much more rewarding for both
parties involved when the client is committed
and stepping up with an “all-in” attitude. I love
all of my clients, but I LOVE the clients who are
willing to actually test out my advice, who come
to me a little dusty and worn, the ones who
answer that question with, “Ten!”
This is where you, as the potential client, need to
go inward. Before your search for the ideal
coach, meditate on your next steps. Are you
willing to take advice or are you more of the “I
can do this on my own” type of person. One is
neither right nor wrong, but it is so much easier
to work with a coach if you are ready, listening,
and committed.
Accountability
I often tell my clients when first working with
them, my main role in our partnership is ac-
countability. Sure, I might share nuggets of
wisdom here and there, provide them with
a-ha moments for their journey, and have done
gies every day, so why aren’t you doing it? You
countless hours of research on nearly all things
wellness-related, but you know to eat your veg-
know it’s good to exercise, you bought that gym
membership, you purchased all of those work-
out DVDs, and so why is that not happening yet?
you accountable to reaching your goals. Any
type of coach offers accountability, so when
I know why! Most likely, there is no one holding
hiring your coach, determine who can provide
needs.
A Match That Feels Good
After a consultation and actually, now that I
consider it, upon first meeting or conversa-
tion, I can almost always sense how a client/
coach relationship will be. When a potential
client comes directly to me, I always get a good
feeling. Sometimes I need to what I call, “dance”
a little or “date” a potential client before I get
those feels! And those relationships go lovely
most of the time as well. However, there have
been a few potentials here and there…and I bet
they feel it too…it’s as if they’re attempting to
destroy the relationship before we even get to
the “dance!” In these situations, I typically “can’t Health helps you have a healthy heart, body and soul
make room in my calendar” or the relationship
fizzles out before any real commitment is made.
I can also offer an example from the client’s per-
spective. From the moment I met my first
personal trainer (before I even knew we’d be
working together), I could tell he was a cool guy, Coach, entrepreneur and lover of everything harmony, Steph’s Harmonious
down-to-earth, and full of energy. When I found
out he’d be training me, I was really excited!
Most might not believe it now, but putting
myself in a gym environment at that time and
asking for a trainer was a very vulnerable situa-
tion for me, so I had to be sure I felt comfortable
with the trainer I was going to be working with.
I ended up working out with that trainer for
nearly two years—in the months leading up to
my wedding and then afterwards. He is actually
part of the reason why I decided to become a
trainer. He always made training look fun and he
helped me so much without pushing me…gen-
tle nudges, yes, but pushing, no.
personal training behind. Noooooo!
Then, one day, he decided to leave the world of
After he left, I was thrown to several different
trainers who were all okay, but none quite as
committed and easy to work with as my first
trainer. This is a perfect example of knowing
Search for your ideal coach! It’s really important!
when the client/coach relationship is ideal.
And if you happen to hire a so-so coach…
HOT PURSUIT NATION 15