Success Coaching: The Resource Empowering High Achievers
Do you have a vision for success in your life or career but want some support making it come to fruition? In this article, learn why success coaching may be a great resource for you. We’ll cover all you need to know about success coaching—what it is, who it’s for, and how you can hire a coach for yourself.
What Is a Success Coach?
At the core, a success coach assists individuals in achieving their personal and professional goals. By providing insights, tools, and techniques tailored to each person's unique challenges, success coaches bring clarity and direction.
Success coaches are there to support you at every step in whatever it is you want to succeed in—whether it be business success, relationship success, financial success, and more.
Sometimes similar to productivity coaching, this personal development resource is rooted in an understanding of human behavior and motivation. Drawing from cognitive behavioral techniques to holistic approaches, a success coach is equipped to be supportive on a range of topics. They're a guiding light, illuminating the path to your version of success, no matter how you define it.
Success Stories Often Start with Coaching
There’s a reason coaching may have come to mind when you were mapping out the road to your own success. Some of today’s highest achieving people in sports, art, and business accredit their success to coaching.
Look no further than this list of 21 successful people who had coaches. From Bill Gates to Christiano Ronaldo to Oprah Winfrey and more—there’s no shortage of major success stories that are tied to the coaching industry.
What Does a Success Coach Do?
Every journey to success is unique. But behind many successful individuals stands a dedicated success coach. While the specifics of a coach’s approach can vary, the overarching theme is consistent for most coaches: to guide, support, and empower clients towards achieving their goals.
Most success coaches focus on some predictable topics, including:
Identifying Goals: The journey begins by mapping out what success looks to you. It's about defining clear, achievable goals that resonate with the client's aspirations.
Developing Action Plans: Once the destination is clear, the next step is charting the course. A success coach helps you craft bespoke strategies, ensuring they're aligned with your strengths, resources, and timelines.
Holding Them Accountable: Goals and plans are just the start. Real progress requires commitment, and a success coach serves as an accountability partner, ensuring that you remain committed to the course of action.
Checking in on Progress: Coaching sessions are the backbone of the engagement. They provide an opportunity to gauge progress, adjust strategies, and address any roadblocks that emerge along the way.
Celebrating Wins: Every milestone, big or small, deserves recognition. Celebrating achievements not only boosts morale but reinforces the value of the journey, keeping you, the client, motivated and focused.
Beyond the coaching work, a great coach may also have systems or offerings in place to enhance the experience. For example, some coaches may include texting support outside of live sessions to make sure you get round-the-clock attention.
Similarly, some coaches may use online tools to document notes, progress, and “assignments” to work on between sessions. Every coach is different, but these additional bells and whistles may add value depending on what you want in your experience.
In sum, a success coach operates at the intersection of mentorship, strategy, and cheerleading. They can provide value whether you're launching a new venture, navigating personal challenges, or simply seeking to elevate your life's trajectory.
Examples of Who Might Hire a Coach
A great coaching engagement meets you wherever you are in life. Whether you're seeking to reshape your mindset or strategize tangible steps towards your goals, success coaching can craft and mold around your needs. And since your own definition of success is entirely personal, there really is no limitation to who might want to work with a success coach. Ultimately, if you have goals and are able to articulate what success might look like for yourself, you stand to benefit from this type of coaching.
That said, here are some of the most common examples of who might hire a success coach. For each, we cover why they might want to hire a coach and what they might work on throughout the process.
Entrepreneurs
Why: Navigating the challenges of starting and scaling a business can be daunting. With a multitude of roles to juggle and decisions to make, entrepreneurs often face a wide range of ups and downs. Success as an entrepreneur hinges on one’s ability to develop both hard and soft skills to navigate the journey.
What They Might Work On: Entrepreneurs working with a success coach are likely to focus on improving leadership skills, time management, setting clear business goals, creating effective business strategies, increasing resilience, and dealing with failure.
Professionals Transitioning Careers
Why: Changing careers often means venturing into unfamiliar territories. Professionals making such transitions may grapple with uncertainty, the need for new skills, and understanding a new industry or domain.
What They Might Work On: Professionals entering a career transition may turn to success coaching for help building confidence, acquiring new skills, refining personal branding, setting achievable goals, networking strategies, and interviewing practice.
Executives and C-Level Leaders
Why: Successfully leading at the executive level comes with a unique set of pressures and challenges. From high-stakes decision making, to team and budget management, to personal career advancement, executives are particularly motivated to see success in their roles.
What They Might Work On: Executives utilizing coaching may focus on improving leadership capabilities, decision-making skills, dealing with corporate politics, balancing work and personal life, strategic thinking, and optimizing overall performance. Note that for these areas of focus, one may seek out performance coaching or leadership coaching—both adjacent and similar coaching niches.
Individuals Facing Major Life Transitions
Why: Major life transitions can create a mix of emotions. Most individuals in a major transition are able to articulate what “success” would like for their given situation. For example, someone moving to a new location may define success as “feeling settled, comfortable, and surrounded by lots of new friends within a year.”
What They Might Work On: Major life transitions present lots of subject matter for coaching, including renewed goal setting, new habit and routine development, and building resilience.
Artists and Creatives
Why: Artists may want to work with a success coach in order maximize their artistic potential. Not to mention, balancing artistic passion with the necessities of making a living can be challenging. Coaching offers a space to work towards artistic success—however you may define it (this may also be referred to as creative coaching by some).
What They Might Work On: Artists and creatives may work with a coach to build confidence in their work, set clear goals, overcome writer’s block, manage financial uncertainties, and develop consistency in creative output amidst personal and professional pressures.
These examples—although not at all exhaustive—highlight the versatility of success coaching. A great coach can cater to the unique needs of various individuals across different walks of life. The underlying goal is to empower individuals to tap into their potential and navigate the challenges they face more effectively, making success more attainable.
Success Coaching FAQs
If you’re serious about hiring a coach, it’s good to do extensive homework. For some quick-hit information, here are popular success coaching FAQs for you to review.
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In 2022, the average fee of a one hour coaching session in the US was $244. Like any other sole practitioner industry, what you’ll pay depends on a handful of variables, including the coach’s years of experience, specialties, and overall level of demand. Expect success coaching to cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000/month, depending on the number of sessions and length of each session. text goes here
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Most success coaches offer either a rolling month-to-month type of agreement, or a package deal that typically lasts 3 or 6 months. While some clients may want to hire a coach for a specific life event, other clients prefer to have an ongoing coaching relationship that lasts indefinitely. It’s common for results to compound the longer you engage with coaching and the stronger your coach-client relationship becomes.
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Today, most coaches operate at least part of their businesses virtually. Coaching sessions commonly take place via video platforms like Zoom or Google Meet, or by phone call.
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Coaching and therapy are similar in that they are both a form of wellness support. Coaching, however, take a different approach than therapy in that it is much more structured around goal setting, accountability, and making progress towards goals. Traditionally, therapy is more about unpacking one’s past and coping with challenges past and present.
Finding a Coach: What to Look for & Hiring Tips
The right coach can make all the difference. But given that success is a deeply personal concept, it's essential to find a coach who resonates with your specific goals. If, for instance, your ambition is to bolster your confidence, zeroing in on a coach with expertise in confidence and self-esteem building can be a game-changer.
You’re on the right track if you’re already searching for a “success” coach. That suggests you know enough about what you want to not just look for any coach on the market. To find a great success coach, here are some hiring tips that may help:
Find a coach with relevant experience: So you want to find a success coach—but in what exactly are you trying to achieve success? Your answer should heavily influence your search. If you want success in business, find someone who has been there before. If you want to successfully transform your mindset or outlook on life, find a transformation coach who specializes in that work. Identifying relevant experience is a great initial filter for your search.
Talk to a few coaches: Shop around for the perfect fit. Most coaches will let you schedule a free compatibility call to test the waters. Talking to a few coaches will give you some reference points that make it easier to identify a great match
Track down qualified coaches: There’s no shortage of sites where you can find coaches. Some are better than others. The key is to do your homework. Search around on sites like LinkedIn, a)plan coaching, and the International Coaching Federation (ICF) to find some qualified candidates.
Finally, don’t miss our 7-step guide to hiring a life coach. As with all types of coaching, there’s never a better time to start. Best of luck on your success coaching journey!
