Hi everyone,
I am 26 years old and have been looking into becoming a life coach for some months, I have done my research and found a course that looks very good and inspiring. My reasons for wanting to become a life coach are fairly simple, I have always had a desire to help others, both in my personal and professional life and from the research I have done, this occupation would suit me almost perfectly.
To give you some background on my person. I studied Politics and Sociology at university and since finishing university I worked in a private college offering vocational qualifications, I worked in a marketing as well as operational role. Currently, I am working for an online job board in the executive sector.
My question/concern: I am 26, am I too young to become a life coach? I have spoken to a few people and some say it depends how you utilize what you learn in your life coaching course and what 'life experience' you have. Others say, I am simply too young and therefore do not have enough 'life experience'.
What do you think?
Thank you in advance for your help.
My question/concern: I am 26, am I too young to become a life coach?.
The question for me is how you will be viewed by your potential client group. Certainly, your client group will at the start be more limited, at 26, than mine, with a wealth of experience in counselling, business management and the NHS - and an additional 35 years!
So, you need to find a way of expanding your client group, by finding specialisms that suit you. With your experience, the obvious suggestion would be work with young people, for instance offering careers advice (for which you will need an additional qualification, but which would fit very well with a vocation in coaching, IMO), advice on exam technique (time management, relaxation, etc), and on relationships (looking at family patterns, the mars and venus thing, etc).
Hi David,
Thank you so much for your very helpful reply.
Working with young people including students and graduates had crossed my mind. Could you perhaps suggest what sort of course would be best for me to take to be able to offer 'careers advice'? Do you have any other suggestions on how best to expand my client group?
Also, do you know much about 'young' life coaches? Have you come across many? Do you know of their general strengths and weaknesses?
Finally, I am also very interested in working for a company where I can use the life coaching skills that I will learn, are you aware of suitable companies who would employ someone such as myself?
Sorry about all the questions, I am just very interested in picking someones' brain, who has so much experience.
I've come across some younger life coaches, though I'm not sure how well they practice or how well received they are by clients.
Remember that life coaching isn't 100% about having life experience yourself that would relate to the clients, but about the life coaching techniques that allow you to assist the client in finding the route and answers to the way they want to go in that aspect of their life that you are working on. Of course having life experience yourself can help with that, but it's not 100% essential to be able to assist in any situation.
All Love and Reiki Hugs
Totally agree with that.
Don't get too hung up on the life experiences thing; its not always about that. If it was, age or some other 'life experience assessment' would be the only criteria for being a life coach. Have confidence in your training, your talent and enthusiasm, empathy, and whatever life experience you have had so far.......it will be enough. Besides, how do you measure life experience? You could be young in age, yet have lots of experience in a particular area......work relationships for example. You could be old in age, but have no experience with children because you have none! Both the young and old have strengths and weaknesses.
Just an aside...........are you really more concerned with your life experience at 26 or the fact that clients will look at you and think you are young? If so, what if you were 45, but looked 28.........some men at 25 are going grey or loosing hair, so look older!
So........just do what you want to do, and work with what you have.
Love
Crystal elf