Before Coaching Others, Coaches NEED Coaching First!

I hate this, but it's becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s world than ever.

Earlier, corporate employees with, let’s say, 20-30 years of experience take up consulting and advisory roles after retirement. Most of the time, the companies they take these roles in are the ones they already had exposure to. Sometimes in a similar industry and sometimes in the same/competitor company.

And when they did it, their enormous experience added to the expertise they showcased. It was value-adding for both parties.

But fast-forward to after the pandemic, with the exclusive growth of the gig economy and coaching market- the downturn is more enormous than the benefits the industry gave in.

Today, corporate employees are teaching youngsters about entrepreneurship.

WHATTT IS THISSS? I don't understand. No really!

A person spending his whole life in a job economy teaching about the gig economy and how to leverage the entrepreneurship market?

It's like a server speaking about how to cook the best food because he knows what’s available and what is used the most.

I mean, you cannot read information and deliver it. At least, that's not what coaching and mentorship are called.

Someone should definitely speak aloud about this!

Recently, I saw a 50-year-old woman with no expertise in counseling or psychology segment coach people about relationships.

Okay, experience teaches more. I agree

But with a broken family and a not-so-harmonious life setting, you cannot speak about relationships!

If you cannot fix yours, how will you help someone else improve theirs?

As much as I appreciate her venture to look out for her professional stepping up, I do not advocate going out in the market ‘counseling’ people when all you do is share your perspective.

I speak about relationships and self-development too. But I share my opinions in my podcast and social media. I never coach people in this segment because though it is my area of interest, I am not qualified to handle counseling and coaching, not because I am not certified but simply because I haven’t done it and created a better impact.

If I decide to get started, I will first try within my known circles, then do a beta, and once I see the transformation I am bringing in, I will launch and get started.

You cannot simply paste ‘any title’ coach against your name if you haven’t done it before.

Corporate employees training on entrepreneurship, Waiters' training on cooking, and training on self-love just because you have created a vision board for yourself are all deluding patterns that create a lack of a standard for the industry by itself.

And more than anything, these are your passion. I agree and appreciate that thought so much. But use your passion relatively. Do not encash it before you can provide value to the audience. Use your passion to create content and share with other people, but wait to start a business because you want to spend more time speaking about something and expect people to pay for things they can find on the first page of Google.

I am writing this not to demotivate or not tell people to start. But rather- do not indulge in something that’s professional without adding a layer of professional persona to it.

So dear aspirants,

Before you start your coaching business, be better at what you do. Polish your skills, and know what you are doing. Take up some coaching sessions.

Be a person who can add real value than give information.

Try your expertise and get right on what you are doing. Then step into the professional market to offer your services. This is not just for professional wellness but predominantly for the right value addition that we can cater towards.

Hope the industry enhances and people get positioned with absolute authority and value addition from a distinct perspective.

All of you have value to add. But choose which value you want to focus on. Because that makes ALL the difference.