Story Angles for Coaching

 

NEW TREND: IN-HOUSE CORPORATE COACHING

IBM and Ernst & Young are among the large corporations that have developed the very first in-house corporate coaching program in Corporate America, and have begun to openly share their positive outcomes, which can be seen in revenue, market share, productivity, recruiting and retention.  Other corporations are joining in to try and find out how they have put these programs together, gotten buy-in from management and are able to account for results.  A recent national survey indicates widespread interest in developing corporate coaching programs.

COACHING IS A LUCRATIVE, EMERGING PROFESSION

If the pressures of modern life are creating a demand for coaches, the appeal of the coach's working lifestyle is also creating a growing supply. Some benefits to the coach include:

• Geographic flexibility
• High hourly rate ($125-$250)
• Work mostly by phone (or e-mail, if you choose)
• Payment monthly in advance
• Clients who are lots of fun/rewarding
• Low entry costs to the field
• A chance to help others
• Great community of coaches to become colleagues/friends with
• Chance to grow oneself.

COACHING CLIENTS CAN GET DRAMATIC RESULTS
 
Coaches can help clients achieve dramatic results.
Some real-life examples:
 Transforming from a heroin-addicted convict to a summa cum laude double master's degreed professional
  surviving cancer
  surviving being run over by a train
  making peace with an estranged parent the night before they die.

Ask for interviews with such coaches and clients.

COACHING IS THE PERFECT RETIREMENT PROFESSION
 
Why would you want to be a coach when you retire from another career? Because clients appreciate your wisdom; compensation is excellent at $125-250 an hour; it's a flexible job you can have for the rest of your life; you're not disconnected from a strong professional community like many other retirees; coaching is intellectually, emotionally and spiritually stimulating; it keeps you young; you're making a significant and positive contribution to society; you have a focus and purpose for your day; you don't have to use a computer or even drive a car if you don't want to - most coaches do their client sessions on the telephone; there are already a lot of people well over the age of 50 who have succeeded at this profession and love their lives now more than ever. Ask for contact numbers of successful coaches in their golden years.

AN INCREDIBLE VARIETY OF COACHING NICHES
 
The best coaches seem to specialize in something they know a lot about. There are parent coaches, career coaches, wellness coaches, chemotherapy coaches, cop coaches, rock-n-roll band coaches, and irresistible attraction coaches, book marketing coaches, chronic care coaches, money coaches, Generation X coaches, Web coaches, stockbroker coaches, healthcare professional coaches and attorney coaches. Ask for interviews with coaches in the niche you're interested in.

VIRTUAL UNIVERSITIES, DISTANCE LEARNING, WIRED CAMPUSES

Online education is a growing field/format of teaching. Coach U is the leader in using synch and asynch and just-in-time training approaches. They seem to  be becoming the model of how other schools will operate, utilizing the convenience, low-cost and effectiveness of information delivery systems including the telephone, teleconferencing, e-mail, online chat, in-person training, printed materials, searchable databases, web-based query, networking, e-mailing lists and expert advisors.

HOW COACHING EMERGED FROM THE DOWNSIZING TREND
 
Two ways:
First: People who have been laid off and can't find work elsewhere due to their age are becoming self-employed AS coaches.
Second: Corporations who have to lay off folks are turning to coaches for outplacement assistance.

COACHES SHOW CLIENTS HOW TO SIMPLIFY THEIR LIVES
 
Downshifting. Simply Living. Voluntary simplicity. Whatever you want to call it, a high percentage of coaches have done this successfully with their own lives and are coaching clients to do so, as well.