Do you need that Coaching Certification?
Most new and aspiring coaches assume you need to complete a coaching certification program in order to build a successful coaching business. They figure it’s a must starting point to owning a powerful and profitable coaching business.
The truth is that you don’t need a coaching certification to build a successful coaching business. Often, the time and money that coaches spend on certification programs stalls their progress.
Here’s the truth that I know some won’t like to hear: if you want to build a profitable coaching business that really helps people, you don’t need to go to coaching school.
Now, before I ruffle too many feathers, let me clarify something. I don’t believe that all coach training programs are a waste of time or money. Education and knowledge is always an advantage. What I do believe is that most people would be better off investing in resources that teach them the ins and out of how to create a business.
By all means please, learn the fundamentals of coaching and business. But you don’t need to drop $10,000 plus and one year (or more) of your life on a coaching certification program. I will tell you why…
Will that Coaching Certification help you?
I’ll be completely honest the most skilled and successful
coaches I know aren’t certified. Very successful coaches who have created huge profitable business-like Tony Robbins, for example, never went to a traditional coaching certification. Likewise, there are a lot of terrible coaches out there who are certified.
Again, it’s not that I’m against certifications. I’m a psychotherapist and I’m all for learning. But what I want you to understand is that it’s not a prerequisite or a requirement.
I feel compelled to share this because I meet so many amazing people who would be so successful as coaches but are paralyzed because they believe they must go back to school and invest thousands in order to start.
Many decide to get more education and certifications in the hope that it will make them feel more confident and less of a fraud. They feel (many times because they’ve been told) that receiving credentials will immediately make them experts. And that it’s all they need to make their business successful and profitable. But sadly, it won’t.
If confidence and “fraud syndrome” is what keeps them from getting out there and sharing their message a piece of paper will not fix it. These coaches will still have the same feeling of unworthiness after the program ends. Often the coaches that I find struggling the most are ones who got certified. Sadly, many quit and never create the business they dreamed about.
The Coaching Certification isn’t doing the work, you are!
The reality is that most people in need of a coach don’t really care if you’re certified or not. What they want to know without a doubt is that you’re the expert that has the solution to their problem.
I have honestly never been asked by a client whether I have a coaching certification. Your sales and marketing should be focused on your potential clients’ problems, frustrations and desires. Talk less about yourself and more about the results you get for your clients.
Get to work creating your business and then in the course of growing and expanding, if you want, you can get more education and certifications to take you to the next level. Once you have the money, time and energy to do it without struggling!
Please hear this! A coaching certification does not equal a profitable coaching business. It’s sad when I meet coaches that have invested thousands upon thousands in their certifications believing that’s all they needed. That once they finished the clients would just come (mostly because that’s what they were told and sold on).
Coaching is not the hard part for most. Getting clients is. Even though some certification programs attempt to teach business, it’s not their zone of genius and they’ll basically just tell you to start networking. That’s not even close to what creating a sustainable flow of clients requires.
You are credible in your zone of genius!
If credibility is what you seek there are many different sources of credibility. And, to be truthful with you in coaching, certifications are the weakest ones out there.
Credibility that comes from your personal success story and your client results is far more powerful. But the ultimate form of powerful credibility is having your potential clients feel 100% that you understand their situation and that you have the solution to their problem.
Your potential clients must like and trust you before they will say ‘Yes!” to working with you. That means you must create a connection, a bond, with your audience. And you do that by consistently sharing value that lets them know you are the expert they need.
Let’s recap for a moment, I’m not saying that a coaching certification is something you should never invest in. What I am saying is that if that’s the one thing keeping you from launching your coaching business then don’t let it be an obstacle anymore. And if someone is trying to convince you to sign up for a high end coaching certification program with the marketing promise that it will be all you need for your clients to buy from you then run. A certification just like a college degree won’t guarantee your success!