How do you know which coach is best for you?

If you google coaching, be that life coaching or executive coaching there appears to be a lot of choice available to you. You can search geographically to find someone close in location to you but, in reality, technology means that any coach is accessible if you are comfortable with being coached over Skype for example. Many clients never meet their coach in person because all their sessions are over Skype. It works for them and that is what is important.

Coaches often categorise themselves. For example, they are life coaches, or career coaches, or relationship coaches. This can be really helpful if you know which area of your life you want support. You may not really know and understand why you don't feel like your normal self. Perhaps you can't put your finger on one thing and in fact, it feels like everything is getting the better of you. This doesn't make the selection process any easier. Clients often come to coaching with a query about what do to with their career but end up talking about values and purpose and what drives them. You don't need a specialist coach, what you need is someone who can help you see the bigger picture.

My advice would be to reach out and connect with a coach. Consider it like any other purchase you make in life. Take recommendations, read testimonials and give them a call. You should never feel obliged or pressured into committing to a session. My advice is can you talk to them? It is a simple as that. Trust in your gut feeling, the facts that are available to you and trust yourself to know what is the right choice.

Money! How much should you pay for coaching? This is a hard one to answer. In the same way that there are lots of coaching specialisations, there are also a wealth of prices you could pay. Again, my advice is trust in your gut feeling and the facts available to you. If a price looks lower than everyone else's prices you might want to ask why and equally if they are too high you might want to ask why.

In short, it is a bit of a minefield but making contact has to be the best place to start.