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

Contributing Author: STEPHANIE SORICELLI
14 HOT PURSUIT NATION 15