FreelanceCoach Blog

Often we feel that our life is stuck at a saturation point. Be it your career, health or relationship, it is usually difficult to perceive the small changes that happen on a daily basis. This is why I often perform a time travel back to my past.

No, I haven’t been luck to invent a time machine or stumble upon a magical lamp. This is a simple exercise that I strongly believe everyone should once in a while. Time travel in this context, is done by writing a letter from the past you to the present you.

Take a piece of paper, and imagine yourself to be the person you were 5 years ago. Write a letter, dividing it into 5 major sub-headings. Each of these sub-headings would focus on important areas of your life.

The first area should be your quality of life. What changes would you want to bring in your character and personality? What bad habits would you want to get rid of, and the good ones you wish to imbibe upon.

Young people do not focus much on being healthy, but they should. How healthy would you be in the next 5 years, on a scale of 10 where 10 is healthiest and 1 being not healthy at all?

The third and fourth areas can be interchangeable, considering the importance of each in your life. Some people value relationship or love over career while for others career comes first. Whichever sub-heading you wish to prefix before career and love, here are a list of questions that you can include in your letter:

For career; what are your reasons for choosing a particular profession, and do you see yourself content and successful after 5 years? What is your 5 year’s goal with respect to money, promotion and work-life balance?

Relationship is a tricky scenario as most people starts to mature and think of relationship differently with age. This should be a fun part to write on. State down what is your current view about relationship and love, are you the no-strings attached type or is it happily ever after for you since the first date. Is your present perception likely to stick even after 5 years? What changes you would, if you could bring in your future relationships?

After you are done with the letter, come back to the present and analyze whether you have lived up to your expectations. Note how your life has changed, which areas have improved and which needs working upon.

This simple exercise would give you an insight on how your life has changed over the past couple of years, and how you wish for it to change more during times to come.

By Alison Bourget

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If your business is going to be successful, you must have a team that works together, but sometimes that is much easier said than done.  Teams that work together are happier, more efficient, and more effective.  You just can’t buy a good team, but you can work on building one through team coaching. 

Team coaching involves working with the team as a whole rather than with individual members of the team.  There is an important distinction between team coaching and other types of coaching because the goal is a unified team rather than a group of individuals with peaceful autonomy.  Does your team need some coaching to get back on track?  Here are four reasons it might:

1. Teamwork – The most basic reason your team may need some coaching is simply because your team members may have a difficult time understanding the fact that there is no “I” in team.  When you got up this morning, the parts of your body all fulfilled their purpose without much work from you.  Each part filled a role easily and efficiently without you having to think too much about it.  This is the ultimate aim of team coaching.
2. Group goals – Sometimes team members have difficulties thinking in terms of the team.  They may set individual goals for what they want to have done when, but these individual goals often go against the grain of the team as a whole.  The only way all parts of the team are going to work together in unison is if all of the goals of the individual team members are in alignment with the overall goal of the group as a whole.
3. Culture – Another issue many teams face is cultural differences.  This is about much more than simply race or religion.  The culture of the team deals with the basic daily habits of each individual.  One team member may be a morning person while another is a night owl.  They have different cultures in terms of the time of day when they are most productive.  However, a team that’s truly working together will play into these strengths, leaning more on the morning person early in the day and more on the night owl in the afternoon and / or evening hours.
4. Communication – Team members must also be able to communicate well in order to work together.  The form communications take depends largely on the task at hand.  No two teams are the same, so it’s up to the team leader to decide which form of communication works the best for what they are tasked with doing.

Through team coaching, all of these elements of running a team come together smoothly.  It’s important that you think about the team as a whole rather than as a group of individuals because in its essence, a team is one unit.  In order to operate cohesively, they must be treated as one body with many parts.  A successful team coach understands this and is able to train the team to operate as one.

Wishing all the Best,

FreelanceCoach Team

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All coaches, consults, advisors and mentors that are working in Freelance Coach.com must conduct themselves professionally and ethically, by making use of the standards set according to the profession of coaching. While offering services on the site, it is important to follow a set of rules and general guidelines that are put forth by Freelance Coach.com.

A) General Code of Professional Conduct- As a coach, consultant, advisor or mentor offering services on Freelance Coach.com, I agree to:

• Not knowingly mislead or misrepresent the professional coaching, consulting, advisory or mentoring services I am offering on FreelanceCoach.com
• Not make any false claims about my credentials or experience.
• Understand and appreciate the work of others without claiming the work of others as my own, which could open me up to legal action filed by a third party.
• Be on the lookout for any personal issues that might interfere with my ability to provide professional coaching, consulting, advisory or mentoring services that are of the highest quality. In situations where I feel the need to seek professional assistance determining the appropriate course of action, I will do so.
• Offer all of my services on FreelanceCoach.com in accordance with this code of ethics.
• Perform all of my research professionally and according to the highest standards of scientific practice. I will carry out all of the necessary research in connection with each case I receive on FreelanceCoach.com in a way that will keep all of those with any relationship to the matter away from harm. All of my research will be conducted in compliance with the laws of the country I am conducting the research in.
• Handle all files and documentations connected to clients accepting my services through FreelanceCoach.com with discretion and confidentiality, in accordance to all agreements and laws pertaining to the privacy and security of the client.
• Use all contact information provided through FreelanceCoach.com only in ways that are authorized by FreelanceCoach.com

B) Conflict of General Statement- As a coach, consultant, mentor or advisor offering services on FreelanceCoach.com, I agree to:

• Do everything I can to avoid any conflict of interest. • Disclose all conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest.
• Disclose all additional compensation to or from outside parties that come about as a result of working with that client or sponsor.
• Trade my services for non-monetary compensation only when it will not create a conflict of interest or otherwise damage the relationship I have with my client, sponsor, or with FreelanceCoach.com.
• Will not purposely take advantage of the relationships I have with my clients other than via compensation as put forth in the terms of our agreement.

C) Professional Code for Working with Clients- As a coach, advisor, mentor or consultant offering services on Freelance Coach.com, I agree to:

• Not purposefully misrepresent how my sponsor or client will benefit from the coaching I will give them.
• Not purposely provide any information that I know to be false or to provide any advice I know to be misleading. • Set forth an agreement with clear terms with each client and / or sponsor and honor such agreements.
• Either before or at the first meeting with a client, explain what they can expect from our coaching, mentoring, advising or consulting sessions, their rights and limitations of privacy, compensation arrangements, and all other terms of our contract for coaching, advisory, mentoring or consultation services.
• Create strict boundaries that are appropriate for each case and sensitive to the culture of my client’s lifestyle, especially when relating to all physical contact.
• Not have sexual relations with any current sponsors or clients.
• Respect each client or sponsor’s decision to put an end to our coaching agreement at any time and for any reason within the terms of the contract.
• Remain watchful for signs that my client no longer is receiving any benefits from working with me during our coaching sessions.
• Suggest a change in the client’s coaching, advisory, and mentoring or consultation situation when I feel that I can no longer assist them or whenever I deem it to be necessary to do so.

Pledge To Adhere To FreelanceCoach.Com Standards Of Conduct

As a coach, mentor, advisor or consultant providing services on FreelanceCoach.com, I agree to adhere to all legal and ethical obligations to all parties involved, including the general public. I pledge to adhere to the FreelanceCoach.com Code of Ethics and to use these ethical standards in all coaching relationships secured through FreelanceCoach.com.

If FreelanceCoach.com finds me to be in breach of this pledge or any part of this Code of Ethics, I agree that FreelanceCoach.com may decide to sanction me, up to and including a ban on my FreelanceCoach.com account.

Wishing all the Best, FreelanceCoach Team

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The realization that you need a life coach can be a frightening one.  

Most people are hesitant to admit they need help figuring things out, but this world is much more complicated than it was just 20 years ago.  Today we are pulled in numerous different directions and our plates are just too full.  How are we supposed to balance it all?  In many cases, a life coach is the answer.  So how can we set ourselves up for success in working with a coach?  Here are five tips to help you out.

1. Be open to change.  One of the greatest barriers to effective coaching is simply not being open to change.  You’re hiring a life coach to help you make some major changes in your life.  Maybe you want to go from disorganized to organized.  Perhaps you’re having trouble finding a balance between work and your personal life.  Whatever it is that you’ve decided to work on, you must be committed to the idea of change or nothing your coach will try to help you with will stick with you in the long run.
2. Create a solid coaching plan and follow it.  Just like anything else in life, you need a plan in order to succeed.  A coaching plan sets out your goals and a timeline for you to achieve them by.  Of course a coaching plan is only as good as your ability and decision to follow it.  If you’re going to stay on track with the changes you want to make, you’ve got to stick to it as closely as you can.
3. Ready yourself for success.  Sometimes we have a defeatist outlook that needs to be overcome in order for coaching to be effective.  If you aren’t prepared to succeed, then you probably won’t.  The right coach will be able to help you unlock your ability to find success.
4. Prepare to work hard.  Making changes in your life is never easy.  It takes a lot of hard work, but if you have the proper guidance, you will be able to make those changes.  Just don’t expect to be able to sit back and relax.  Working with a life coach can and should be demanding—just as demanding as life was before you started working on difficult areas of life.
5. Remember that you’re still in the driver’s seat.  A life coach (or any other type of coach, for that matter) shouldn’t do the heavy lifting for you.  If he or she is starting to pull you out of the driver’s seat of your own life, then they aren’t doing their job.  The whole point of having a life coach is learning how to adapt to whatever is in your life.  Effective coaching leaves you in the driver’s seat while assisting you by providing sign posts along the way.

Working with a life coach will enable you to get your life back on track.  There are so many different directions life tries to take us in that it’s easy to feel like we’re drowning in all life has to offer. But when you know how to set yourself up for success in working with a life coach, you’ll discover what truly effective coaching is like.  

Wishing all the Best,

FreelanceCoach Team

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Now you have a list with lots of clients interested in your coaching niche and you are ready to place the calls. How can you make sure you will be effective?

To help you having productive calls, we’ve gathered some practical tips from other coaches based on their experience.

Tip 1: Define your objective for every call. Ask yourself before calling every client: "What do I want to achieve from this call? How can I be effective in making this client understand the benefits of my coaching services and enrol as my client?”

Tip 2: Be prepared. Prepare questions for your call using your call objective. Make a list with possible questions the clients might ask and have them handy. Read the questions and answers few times before the calls. It will give you more confidence when the questions arise.

Tip 3: Have smart, attractive opening lines. You have about 10 seconds to pick your listener’s interests regarding your services. Check our separate article for Opening statements for more details. 

Tip 4: During the call – ask effective questions. You know this client is interested in your coaching niche services but you want to make sure that you are a good fit for each other. So, don’t be shy in asking questions that will qualify him as your client.

Tip 5: Get feedback. During your discussion ask feedback questions like "How do you feel about this?", “Would this work for you?”, etc. You have to engage your customer so he can relate to your services.

Tip 6: Ask one question at a time. Give your listener time to understand and respond to your questions. We know you are very excited to share with your customer all the wonderful services you offer but it is very important to let him process the information.

Tip 7: Be confident. Prepare yourself before each call and be confident whenever you answer to questions. The client is already interested in your services and you know your services very well. You are a great coach!

Tip 8: Stay focused until the end. As the call is reaching the end point you want to make sure that your listener understood the value of your services and is committed to move forward.

You can ask questions like “When can we start working together?”Although this might seem a bold question it will make the listener realize what he wants. He might decide to sign up with you, refuse the services at this time or request more information. Whichever answer he will give, you must be prepared and stay focused.

If you both decide that you need to send him more information by email or fax make sure that the interlocutor is really interested in your information. If the listener is interested he will commit to review your material and prepare question for the next time you call.

Establish a clear date when you can follow up with him and what actions you expect from him.

Tip 9: Thank your listener for his time and finish the call.

To many successful calls!

Anda Tudor, Career Coach   February 19th, 2012                                                                                                                    

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In today’s world, coaching is becoming more and more important; people are looking to improve themselves and the life they are living. Therefore you, as a person with high dreams, willing to help people to grow bigger and be a part of the positive change in the world go and take coaching classes thinking that at the end of these the clients will come running to you. Are you one of them?

You tried to obtain clients by talking to friends, giving free sessions to anyone listens to you, etc. But you want more, you know that you have a lot to offer and you want to use your talent. But what to do? 

    Telemarketing is a successful method for selling different services like cable TV, charity, insurance, etc. Maybe you wouldn’t think that this is right for coaching as you want the client to be willing to be coached and interested in coaching already. I would like you to think again.

Telemarketing is an integral part of any business. It is not about ringing as many people as possible; it's about ringing the right people. By speaking to the decision makers from a carefully selected leads generator list of potential clients/customers etc, you can help maximise your coaching business potential.

There are many advantages for doing telemarketing for your coaching business:

• You’ll expand rapidly your clients’ network. Telesales is unrivalled in its effectiveness to make connections. How else could you speak to hundreds of potential clients in so short a time period?

• No geographic boundaries. With telemarketing you have the opportunity to reach anyone, anywhere in the world. 

• Find new opportunities that you couldn’t find elsewhere. If you listen carefully to people on the phone, you can discover opportunities that you never knew existed. A client that you called might know somebody that is going through a change and needs guidance and support.

• You’ll develop more as a coach as you will expand your knowledge about asking questions and relating to different types of customers

If you want to bring your coaching business to different dimensions, consider telemarketing as an important tool for this.

Anda Tudor                                                                                          February 17^th, 2012

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Most people have goals that they would like to achieve in their lives, but all too often life itself gets in the way by presenting unexpected challenges and demands which make it hard for them to move forwards and realize their full potential.  In other cases, it isn’t so much life’s events which hold them back, but rather the perceptions of themselves that they have built up over the years.  Their lack of self-esteem and self-confidence act as barriers, leaving them convinced that even trying to reach for their dreams is a waste of time and effort.  Many of these individuals, however, can be helped by a life coach to find the courage and the motivation required to turn their dreams into reality, and if this is a career that you have ever considered, then read on to find out which important qualities go into the making of a great life coach.

1. Life experience – Leading others through the challenges of life to achieve success requires that you too have walked in your clients’ shoes.  Good life coaches have a wealth of life experience and have actively come through difficult times themselves and found happiness and success at the other end. 

1. Positive attitude – Having a positive outlook on life and a “can do” attitude is absolutely essential for a good life coach if he or she is to be able to help and encourage others deal with difficult situations.  

1. Authenticity – Good life coaches are people who “walk the talk,” who are genuinely in control of their lives and who can demonstrate through their own reputations and levels of success that life coaching is more than just theory, but that it actually works.

1. Dedication – Those who seek the help of a life coach need to feel that they can trust the individual they are working with, and this requires the utmost in dedication from the coach him or herself.  A good life coach demonstrates through his or her interactions with a client that he or she has the commitment to be there as a constant guide and champion.  

1. Honesty – Honesty is absolutely imperative in dealing with life coaching clients, even if the truth might be difficult to hear.  Pussy-footing around issues ultimately doesn’t help individuals to make positive strides forward, so a good life coach needs to exhibit honesty while at the same time dealing sensitively with difficult truths.

1. Respect for others – An effective life coach must feel and demonstrate respect for him or herself, as well as for his or her clients, no matter the problems that the individual is experiencing or the individual’s race, color or background.

1. Empathy – Good life coaches don’t just help to steer their clients towards their chosen aims and objectives in life, but they also act as champions and supporters.  To do this, they need to be able to empathize with the problems and feelings of others.

1. The ability to listen – Life coaches and their clients work hand-in-hand to design and execute tailor-made solutions to tricky problems and situations.  First class listening skills are essential so that life coaches can quickly get to the root of clients’ issues and so that they can help them to develop solutions which are appropriate to their circumstances and their personalities.

Anda Tudor, Life Coach                                                                                                  October 3, 2011

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The world and the lives of everyone in it are constantly in a state of flux and literally nothing is impervious to change.  With so much change going on around us on a daily basis, it might be easy to think that we humans would have become more accepting of it over time, but in fact the fear of change is something which huge numbers of people struggle with constantly throughout the course of their lives.  In many cases, that fear is so great that it effectively paralyzes individuals, leaving them unable to strive to be the best that they can or to achieve everything that they are capable of.  Instead of living their lives to the full and embracing new opportunities, they feel compelled to stick with what is familiar and what they perceive to be safe.

The idea that there is safety in trying to avoid or resist change is of course a myth, because not only is it bound to happen anyway,  but the very act of putting up resistance or failing to accept it simply leaves people feeling unprepared and out of control.  In burying their heads in the sand and failing to face up to the reality of situations, their fears escalate and the situations themselves are often allowed to worsen.  Not only this though, but when life presents them with wonderful new opportunities that they feel unable to grasp, they are left feeling filled with regret at their unfulfilled potential.      

We only have to think about some of life’s most stressful events such as marriage, divorce, moving house, changing jobs and bereavement to realize that the reason they typically feel so traumatic is because, alongside raising other sometimes disturbing feelings, they all involve change and adjustment.  Out of these changes, however, good things and great happiness and success often come and people are allowed to learn and develop.  In order for these things to happen, however, requires that change is managed in a positive and constructive way, and this is where various types of online coaching can help people to move forwards.

Online coaching comes in many different forms, including life coaching, health coaching and various types of business coaching, including executive, leadership and sales coaching.  Carried out in a secure online environment using e-mail or voice and video technologies such as Skype, online coaching provides an effective and convenient way for those who typically struggle with accepting and welcoming change into their lives to manage it successfully and in such a way that they are able to meet their life’s goals and objectives.  Whether your business or personal relationships, your career, your home or financial situation or your health are being affected by change, online coaching provides you with the help of an expert in that particular area of life to guide you through.  With the aid of a road map which fully allows you to take control of your own life, and the support and encouragement of an online coach, you too can move past the fear to embrace a brighter future.

Anda Tudor, Life Coach                                           September 16, 2011

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Despite the tremendous importance of money and finance in all aspects of our lives, very few people benefit from any kind of formal guidance in how to deal with either.  For most of us, it is simply a case of learning our lessons by watching how those around us deal with financial matters and then muddling through accordingly.  Although help is available through formal training for anyone who wishes to improve their sense of financial awareness in the home or business setting, such courses are typically only able to provide generic information which students then have to interpret to fit their own sets of circumstances.  With the help of online coaching, however, anyone can receive personalized guidance which is tailor-made to address their own unique situations and needs and geared towards helping them meet their own specific financial aims or those of the companies that they work for.

Especially in today’s tough economic times, it is imperative that managers, executives, leaders and business owners possess high levels of financial astuteness if their companies are going to thrive rather than merely survive and if they are to avoid the unfortunate scenario where employees have to be laid off or they themselves risk losing their jobs or watching their businesses go under.  With greater financial awareness and a better understanding of how specific decisions will ultimately impact on the business, companies can better secure their financial futures and the jobs of those that they employ.

The business world, of course, isn’t the only place where a lack of financial awareness can potentially lead to disaster, or at the very least financial difficulties or the failure to make maximum use of the resources available.  In the home too, the ability to understand finance and to be able to budget is vital if families are going to be able to deal with their financial commitments and to prepare for future events such as their children’s educations and weddings or to realize their own personal ambitions such as setting up a small home business.  With so much uncertainty in the job market, making sure that they have sufficient put by to protect them should the specter of unemployment make its presence felt or just having enough put by to deal with the unexpected can mean that families can live contentedly and without endless stress and worry.

When you work alongside a coach in the online coaching environment, one of the enormous benefits that you receive is that the help and guidance is related specifically to your own unique situation.  Online coaching which is provided to private individuals, for example, takes into account their own incomings and outgoings and what they themselves hope to achieve at the end of the day.  Online coaching in relation to businesses, on the other hand, helps managers, executives, leaders and business owners to manage the resources for which they are responsible in such a way as to achieve the best possible results.  In some cases, financial awareness coaching is provided as a standalone, whereas in others it forms just one element of a wider executive, leadership or sales coaching program.

Anda Tudor, Life Coach                                                                                         September 14, 2011

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Human nature is such that most people have a huge tendency to either underestimate or undervalue their natural skills and talents, as well as their learned abilities.  In the course of our careers and our personal relationships, not to mention in the course of our lives in general, however, every single one of us builds daily on our own unique knowledge and experience, and not only is this immensely useful to ourselves as individuals, but also to other people.  Although we might assume that what we have learnt is common knowledge and thus of little value to others, in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

The person who has worked his or her way up through the ranks to become a top leader or executive is somebody who has a unique perspective on the challenges to be met along every step of the way.  In the course of his or her rise to success, this individual will have used a good deal of trial and error to get the right results, and this is experience which could be used to save others endless hours of wasted time and effort.  They will have identified shortcuts too, which again could be employed by others to similar good effect.  Just as importantly though, someone who has been through the experience themselves will understand the feelings and emotions involved in the process, as well as all of the practical concerns and issues, making them an ideal candidate for helping others through executive or leadership coaching.

In a completely different area of life, meanwhile, a person who has struggled with but overcome health-related issues such as those related to diet or exercise will also have learned many extremely valuable lessons along the way.  From the vast amounts of often conflicting information and advice which is available, they will have been through the process of sorting out what works from what doesn’t and come up with usable strategies which could equally well be employed by others.  Once again, with the relevant training and qualification to act as an online coach, such a person could be in a position to offer invaluable support and guidance through health coaching services, while at the same time developing their own coaching business as a self-employed individual.  Those with backgrounds in the healthcare industry too can easily use their knowledge and skills in the health coaching arena.

Life coaching, which typically focuses on helping others to achieve their full potential across a whole variety of aspects of life, is a form of online coaching which many people find highly appealing, not least because the very process of coaching others contributes to their own personal development.  While many countries currently do not regulate the provision of life coaching services, anyone who is considering becoming a life coach is strongly advised to acquire relevant training and qualifications to secure their professional credibility and reputation.

Remember, your experience could be extremely valuable to others and it could form the basis of a profitable online coaching business. 

Anda Tudor, Life Coach                                        August 18, 2011

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