Online Coaching for Beginners

As the internet became more popular and accessible, people started searching for ways to learn a new skill or develop their existing ones. This led to the rise of online learning. Today, there are countless websites that offer online learning for anyone who wants to improve their skills in a particular area. Coaching is one of these areas. It has been demonstrated time and time again that working with a coach helps individuals reach goals faster and reach higher levels of performance overall. More people are turning to online coaches today as they can access this type of learning from the comfort of their own home without leaving their day job.

What is Online Coaching?

Online coaching fits into the category of self-improvement. It is a person who helps an individual or group of individuals achieve personal, professional, spiritual, or educational goals. The facilitators are trained coaches who help individuals by providing feedback on their actions and giving them insights on how to improve their skills. As a coach, you will provide guidance to your clients in the form of strategies and tactics for success. You will have a plan for each client and assist them with developing their long-term goals as well as short-term goals. While coaching is not for everyone, it has been shown that those who choose to work with a coach experience greater success than those who don’t. The benefits of online coaching include: * An increase in productivity * A decrease in stress levels * More confidence * Greater self-esteem

Asking "What" Questions

When working with your clients, it is important to ask them some questions and determine what they want out of the experience and where they want to improve. For instance, if your client wants to gain clarity about a certain topic, your first coaching question can dig deeper on that topic.  If they are trying to develop a particular skill set, like leadership skills or public speaking skills, then your coaching questions might try to expand on what it might feel like to do those things well. “What” questions allow you to lead the client down a road of their choosing because they are the ones answering the “what”. You are simply asking them to expand on areas of focus that they already chose to follow.

Finding Clients

One of the biggest challenges that coaches have to face when they decide to start their business is finding clients. As a coach, you’ll be competing with other professionals for the attention of your potential customers. This can become overwhelming if you don’t know where to find your audience. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to reach out and recruit new prospects. You can try advertising on sites like LinkedIn or reaching out to people in your personal network who might be interested in working with a coach. Additionally, you can use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to share information about your coaching services and reach your audience. It’s important that you make sure that everything you do is authentic so that it doesn’t come off as spammy which will reduce the likelihood of people responding positively to what you have to offer. 

Scheduling Clients

One of the benefits that online coaches have is their flexibility. With online coaching, you can schedule your clients to work with them at a time that is convenient for the both of you. This allows you to tailor your coaching experience based on your personal schedule and what’s going on in your life. This benefit holds true for both sides as well. The coach has the flexibility to find a time that works best for their client, which not only helps them achieve a lot more but also helps them succeed faster. 

Videoconferencing 101

One of the most popular options for online coaching is videoconferencing. This is especially true for online coaches that offer one-on-one sessions. Often, these types of coaches will use a service like Zoom, Skype or Google Meet to do their work. These platforms are easy to use and come with a range of features that make them easy to use for both the coach and their client. They also provide ways for people who are far away from each other to still have a session together. By using these tools, it’s almost impossible not to have a successful coaching session or training session with your coach. Now, as you can imagine there are many benefits to working with an online coach, but the one thing that makes them so popular is the convenience factor. You don’t have to leave your day job or schedule time off just because you need help learning something new or developing skills in an area you already know well.

Taking Notes

When you start booking sessions, and especially when you’ve got more than one client, you should start taking notes either during or after the session. If you record your video sessions you can easily review and take notes after the session. This allows you to recap and remember everything before the next coaching session. You can send reminders to your clients about goals or tasks they agreed to do. The coaching process becomes easier because you can keep all your notes in one place and review them at any point in time. 

FAQs

What's the difference between coaching and teaching?

Coaching is a type of personal development that provides guidance and support to individuals, teams and organizations that allows the client to direct the process and come up with their own answers. Teaching is delivering a pre-design curriculum of topical information to students and usually assessing their understanding of the information.  

Is Zoom the best meeting app for online coaching?

Zoom has set the standard for videoconferencing and has led the pack since about 2019. Other popular apps are Google Meet (formerly Hangouts), and Microsoft’s Skype and Teams.

What are the best apps for scheduling online coaching sessions?

Calendly is probably the most popular scheduling app but there are lots of alternatives like Tidycal and Acuity Scheduling. You can also use a free option like Google Calendar.