"But my life is not perfect. So, who am I to give people advice about their lives?"

I hear that more often than you could imagine.

I hear it from people who want to be a coach but haven't found the nerve to pursue it.

I hear it from new students who wandered into coach training excited but anxious.

I hear it from students on the verge of graduating who are beyond ready but still tentative about being visible.

I hear it from new coaches who are not showing up for their businesses because they are juggling shame for being human.

I hear it from veteran coaches whose lives have taken unexpected twists and turns they feel shouldn't have happened to someone who "has it together."

And whenever I hear this, I wonder what we think coaching is about. Our relationships with our clients should NOT be about us.

Our relationships with our clients are 100% about them, and feeling any kind of need to center ourselves as the hero/shero with the perfect aspirational life in our client's stories does not bode well for doing heart-centered work.

Thinking your life is not tidy enough to be a coach is a whole lot of ego-driven self-centering wrapped up in self-deprecation.

I am an open book. My clients know me. Most of them know details about my life. They care about me the way they care about other humans in their lives - in a general way. However, make no mistake, what they are paying the big bucks for is my expertise, not my model-perfect drama-free life.

And for the record, yes, there is drama.

I argue with my kid. Sometimes I completely lose my shit.

Sometimes I feel anxious or depressed.

My husband and I don't always agree on everything. Sometimes we handle that better than other times.

Some days I feel insecure.

I have it in me to go weeks without any meaningful self-care.

Last week, during a client session, I opened a window and screamed profanities at someone working on our property outside - I'd just fucking had it with this person doing their work right outside the front door, causing my dogs to bark continuously and acting like they didn't notice. I failed to mute myself and yelled in my client's ear. Do you know how hard it is not to be agitated after forty-five minutes of five dogs barking non-stop?

A couple of weeks ago, I wasn't managing my stress well and didn't get good sleep. I sobbed on the phone with a client who had a parent going to hospice. I was just too tired to be all calm, cool, and collected. I had to admit to my client my lack of sleep was probably making me more emotional than was appropriate for that moment.

This week I was meandering leisurely through the grocery store when a client I'd confirmed with the night before texted, wondering if I was going to show up for our session. Obvious oops...  Our refrigerator went tits up last week. We'd been functioning out of a tiny loaner frig. We finally had a new our new refrigerator delivered, and all I could think about was buying food.

Today my schedule was back-to-back. I had way too many calls scheduled to be sane. By mid-day, I had only eaten a fist full of vitamins. My stomach was wrecked, and I had to message my client for a delayed start time so I could eat. I legitimately thought I might puke during the session if I didn't.

I do not "have it all together."

However, what I do have is a lot of training, experience, and plenty of clients who know my life, like their lives, often feel like the fragile balancing act of being fucking human.

The reason coach training is so important is this: 

When we learn solid, functional, practical, and effective coaching theory, skills, and strategies, we no longer have to put ourselves, our successes, and our failures on center stage. Our training elevates our work above the marketing dumpster fire of selling a perfect life.

A well-trained coach can serve clients who don't have any use for our personal stories but will find massive value in the hands of a skilled coach. This makes client markets way more diverse than people who are just like us or want to be just like us.

If you attempt to sell your branded perfect fantasy life, you will only appeal to potential clients who are inspired by or want that life. That is like building a practice on quicksand. No one is always perfect, and eventually, that news will leak out somewhere.

If you freeze and fail to even start down the road on your journey to becoming a coach, you will be giving all your power to your very fragile ego, who's always going to tell you you're not enough. That part of your ego is a lying bastard.

I know your life is not perfect.

In fact, I know your life is messy, and stressful most of the time, with lose-ends and unresolved nonsense you're juggling on the daily. I know this because you are human.

If you're feeling the love for it, you absolutely should get some training under your belt, let yourself be human, and be a great coach. 

The Coaching Guild trains rebels, misfits, artists, and creatives. We work with the wild ones who will make a difference on their own terms. If you are a good trouble-maker, who wants to change the world, one client at a time, check us out.

The Coaching Guild offers a comprehensive coach training program to help individuals become certified coaches.

Our program is designed to teach the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in the coaching industry. We cover a wide range of topics, including brain science, behavioral science, identity shifting, science based deliberate creation, and more. Additionally, our we teach organic sales and marketing skills every step of the way so our students have the tools they need to succeed. We believe that with the right training, anyone can become a successful coach. Join The Coaching Guild and start your journey to becoming a certified coach today.