Is online life coaching a good idea for your business?
Right now, and perhaps forever, one of the best ways to connect with clients and coach them is by using online tools. Time to get tech savvy.
Is online life coaching a good idea for your business?
The short and best answer is yes.
The second, longer answer is that it’s not just a good idea but obviously in 2020, with a pandemic that means everyone is working and living differently, it’s a great business idea.
You definitely don’t need to be in the same room as someone to be an effective coach.
By now Zoom is second nature to a lot of us, and there are a stack of other remote or online options including FaceTime, Skype, any kind of video conferencing software can be used to connect with clients—even just an audio phone call (more about that later.)
Everything can be replicated online because coaching doesn’t need you to be physically with someone.
It does need you to be emotionally there. And that can be done using technology as your consulting room.
What that means is that eye contact is vital, and that’s why something like Zoom is better that the afore-mentioned phone. The problem with phones is you’re listening to your client and trying to pick up little subtleties and changes in their emotional state, but you can’t always get the full picture of what’s happening.
You’re having to work out everything from tonality, breathing depth and pace, rather than how someone is looking and behaving.
And when can see the client—and just as importantly, they can see you—they know you are emotionally attentive to them, and it’s one of the things that really helps a coaching session be successful.
Using a remote platform with video capacity, you can look at their eyes, their body language, their movement. That means you can create an emotional connection in a way that is exactly like being in a room with them.
There’s also some benefits and pluses that make remote coaching a good idea and go beyond being in the same room.
First, you can work with anyone, anywhere, and that’s quite powerful when you’re finding clients. You’re not limited to people in your immediate area.
You can connect with people wherever your help is needed, and some clients will actually prefer it because it helps relieve that anxiety that can come with having to drive to a new place they’re not familiar with, find a park. You know the drill.
All you need to do is find a space inside your house where you feel comfortable. Make sure it has good lighting—there are already a ton of online tutorials about how to present yourself best on Zoom—and a pleasant backdrop, maybe with plants or books or a great framed print.
This is called a location independent business and it’s what the world looks like now. The necessity of having an office space is very much gone.
MATT LAVARS
One of Australia's leading coaches, trainers and speakers, and head facilitator at The Coaching Institute. In between mentoring thousands of coaches and leaders all around Australasia and helping others build incredible culture, Matt is passionate about fitness and music. His healthy office lunches whipped up in five minutes are the stuff of legend
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