Should You Choose A Life Coach Training Program or a Health Coach Training Program?

October 31st, 2017 | no comments

In my first year of becoming a life coach and entrepreneur I realized my beliefs and judgements about successful women who made a lot of money were going to hold me back.

Because, I believed…

In order to be CEO, your own boss and make a 6-figure or more income, you had to sacrifice the time you spend doing other things you love.

So, I worked on that belief and I created a vision that allowed me to enjoy success in all the ways I craved without sacrificing the other things that mattered to me. I soon realized that when your intuition is guiding you to make a change, it’s time.

Many women come to me after graduating a health coach training because they have changed their minds. They don’t want to talk about kale for the rest of their lives. You may be trying to figure out what kind of training you want now, so you don’t have to make a shift in the future!

It’s Coaching Q&A week here on Wake Up Wednesday, where one of the women from our tribe stops by with a question that’s been on her mind as she’s growing her coaching business. You get to drop into our conversation around it, and we all get to learn something new from each other.

I got to jam on a fascinating question from Christine Guenette, a life coach and yoga instructor who’s also a graduate of my all-in life coaching program, Mentor Masterclass. Her signature program “Chakra Needs” is all about her magic formula for making decisions with ease and confidence.

Lately, Christine has found her clients are coming to her with a question that many of you may also be thinking over:

“Should I choose a life coach training or a health coach training program?”

I shared my answer with Christine so she could get another perspective as she works with her own clients. PRESS PLAY on the video below to hear my answer and listen in on our discussion!

If you’re torn between a life coach training program and a health coach training program, you’re actually experiencing an interpersonal conflict.

You might still be stuck on how you can best be of service to the world! It might be helpful for you to think back to the basics of how each type of coach works with her clients. A life coach helps her clients decide what they really want in life, and how to get it. A health coach often comes in at a different entry point and is trained to help her client with issues concerning food and the body.

Think back to your own story and passion, and your natural expertise. For example, do you have something in your life that’s made you learn important lessons around food or the body system? Do you feel drawn to speak about these things? A health coach training program might be for you.

On the other hand, do you feel like your personal journey is more about, for example, the mindset shifts it took to make that happen? Has it been more about the habitat shifting you’ve needed to do in your outer world? Your journey might be pointing you towards life coach training.

Make sure you’re clear on the differences between life coach training and health coach training.

With health coach training, you won’t be going as deeply into things like mindset shifts, accountability shifts, taking action, shifting your habitat, and more. Instead you’ll spend most of your time learning the ins and outs of food and the body.

In life coach training, you’ll get a little bit of health coach training, but you’ll learn less about the science of the body and more about, for example, the mindset shifts you’ll need to take action and integrate the things you’re learning about food.

As someone who runs a life coach training program, most of my students come to me after having completed a health coach training program! They started doing a health coach training, and one of two things have happened:

They’re burned out on talking about kale! They need a break from talking about nutrition and the body and saying the same things with every client.
They’re finding their clients aren’t taking action! They know how to teach their clients about food and the body, but don’t know how to get down to the deep mindset shifts it takes to put this knowledge into action.

On the other hand, about 10% of the women in Mentor Masterclass discover they want to talk more about health and end up going into a health coach training program because they do know they love talking about it and sharing their knowledge around topics like food and nutrition.

More women seem to be drawn to add-on life coach training after health coach training than the other way around. In other words, life coach training is all that most women find they need.

Sometimes there’s a deep fear around choosing a niche for yourself as a coach.

If you choose health coach training, in some ways it might feel easier because it seems like you’ll be handed a niche! But keep in mind that there are also tons of health coaches out there in today’s flooded market, so you’ll still need to decide what you’ll do specifically within the health coaching industry.

You’ll still need to look at your own path of transformation – is it rooted more in the nitty-gritty pieces of your health, or is it more about the transformations of your inner and outer world that are more along the lines of life coach training?

If you’re a health coach, do you feel you have the tools and techniques to make sure your clients take action? If so, a health coach training program might be sufficient for you. If you find you want to also talk about the deeper issues behind health, you might find a life coach training program to be a better fit for you.

Remember – this isn’t as much about training as you might think. It’s much more about you and your own journey!

If you have any more questions around this, please drop them into the comments below. Christine and I would love to jump in and feel into the answers along with the rest of our sister tribe!

All my love,