Coaches; 6 Types & 10 Ways They Can Use Online Technology?

In my last post, I discussed the fact that I’ve started using three specific terms to describe the clients that I work with.  In this post, we’re going to focus on the second type of business, coaches. 

Once upon a time the word coach almost exclusively had to do with sports. Over the years, the term has expanded to the point where it can be a bit confusing.  Just what is a coach?

Coaching is a form of development in which a person called a coach supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance.^{– Wikipedia}

Good coaches are charismatic individuals that love interacting with people.  They have abilities to help find and expand on the potential in others by providing inspiration, motivation, and accountability.  Coaching provide their clients with the tools they need to help them with personal and/or professional growth.  Empowering their clients is the key to coaching success.

While sports coaches don’t generally find a use for my services, many other types of coaches find them an important piece of creating a successful coaching business. 

Who might find online technology services helpful?

• Career Coach: A Career Coach assists their clients in identifying personal goals, developing leadership skills and planning career moves. This may include helping clients find new employment opportunities, giving feedback on resumes/ cover letters and establishing strategies for successful job interviews.
• Business Coach: A Business Coach assists and guides business owners in the running of their business.  This includes helping them clarify the vision of their business and how it fits in with their personal goals. They assist clients in moving a business from where it is now to where the business owner wants it to be.
• Financial Coach:  Financial coaches have a passion for helping others improve their finances while working toward personal finance and lifestyle goals. By providing accountability and educational support they assist clients in reaching financial health.
• Health and Wellness Coach:  Health and Wellness Coaches work with clients to help identify their true desires in life and what is most important to them. They assist with the development of personal wellness goals and a plan to reach them. Clients are individuals who want to invest in their personal well-being and are willing to take responsibility and do the work required to make desired changes.
• Life Coach:   A Life Coach works with their clients to help them achieve goals, overcome obstacles and make changes or shifts in their lives. Life coaches can help on both the personal and professional level, assisting and motivating clients to reach their full potential.  They focus on the client’s entire life, so there may be some overlap with career or wellness coaching. Actions and accountability are encouraged in order to follow-through and instigates growth on the personal and professional level. The goal is to help clients focus on the future and move forward toward their goals.
• Relationship Coach:  A Relationship Coach’s goal is to improve their clients’ relationships.  They work with clients who are single and with couples on things like communication skills and conflict resolution strategies. They help their clients discover exactly what it truly is they desire in a dating relationship or long-term partnership.

Some things to note:

Although coaches are skilled at helping their clients achieve success, they are not therapists. Therapists provide treatment. A coach provides support and helps clients find direction, set and reach goals as well as providing needed accountability and motivation when clients may feel overwhelmed or hit a difficult patch.

Another thing to note is that there are also sub-categories under certain coaching designations. For example, some relationship coaches work specifically with certain age groups or strictly with women. My online course, Work From Home as a Virtual Assistant and the one on one work I have done with VA’s is actually considered Home-Based Business Coaching.  

How Coaches Can Benefit from Online Technology

Requiring high levels of focus and concentration to assist their clients, coaches often find themselves with a lack of time within their own businesses. Utilizing online technology can streamline their own business processes, leaving them with more time and the peace of mind needed to ensure their clients are getting the attention they need.

Below are just a few ways online technology can work to benefit a coaching business:

1. Assistance with a high-converting professional website
2. Establishing a social media presence
3. Creating a brand and implementing it across all marketing channels
4. Automating the client onboarding process, including online discovery forms
5. Automate session scheduling
6. Automate invoicing and billing
7. Hosting online webinar events for introducing coaching services or conducting group coaching sessions.
8. Creating coaching courses on an online education platform like Udemy or Teachable
9. Keeping track of client progress using an online project management platform
10. Offer live video coaching sessions to individuals or groups using streaming technology like Zoom.

Coaching can be a rewarding experience for both the client and the coach. Coaches who utilize online technology in their businesses spend less time on the administration of their own businesses and more time focused on helping others reach their potential.