All six clients completed!!!!

Well it's been just over one year since I started coaching and I have now completed my 6th and final client required for my qualification. I just have to wait for them to send in their feed back forms and I will be able to apply for my coaching qualification.

I have decided to continue coaching 1-2 clients per week for free until I have received my qualification and for the foreseeable future. Even when I start charging next year I will still reserve a space for 1-2 free of charge clients.

When I do begin to charge I estimate that my initial charges will be £400 per month, this will include 4 sessions per month and unlimited email contact. I've come to this figure by looking around at similar personal services around the London area and also taking into consideration the type of client I wish to take on. The additional factor is that i wish to make enough money to cover my existing pay from my current day job.

Help! Need two more people!

Well it's been a year since I started my training and I have already coached 5 people through the full 6 sessions. Also numerous one off sessions. Sadly one of my 6 session clients has gone non-responsive with out completing the feedback forms :-( so I have to do at least another two people for the full course to complete my training.

I've posted a few comments from my previous clients on my website, http://www.pgb-life-coaching.info

If you know someone that would benefit from these free sessions, froma nearly qualified :-) coach then please either send me their telephone number so that I can have a chat with them, or drop me a line viaemail.

Thanks very much!

Paul Bailey
http://www.pgb-life-coaching.info

Progress update

I've now completed 4 clients. Two of them have already sent back their appraisal forms. Some really great feed back. I'll have to put up a couple of comments that they gave me.

I've booked an appointment with a new client that will start with me next week. So I still need at least one more to complete my portfolio, assuming that everyone else I have already completed sends in their forms.

If you know anyone that may be interested send them to my website so that they can contact me. Http://www.pgbailey.com

Halfway through!

I've now completed 2 more clients, I already have another one underway and have begun advertising for the final 2 clients. So I feel like I'm at the halfway mark.

After the Easter break I will begin to review my work so far and start to get my course work up to scratch so that once I complete my client portfolio I can apply for my qualification. I've had a couple of people contact me through my website as possible clients but until I speak with them and make sure they aren't completely barking I'll keep searching for more.

I'm almost thinking about what I will do once I have completed my course. I'm considering continuing the free sessions in the evenings, just so that I keep praticing and gaining experience. Although I'll no longer advertise as offering a free service, I may suggest a free taster and see how that goes. At the moment, I feel the experience is more important than the money. Especially as I would only be able to do the coaching a couple of nights a week as I still have a full time job, so it's hardly going to be bringing in anything more than a bit of pocket money.

One client done, 5 more to go

I completed my 6th and final session with my first client that started being coached by me in early November. I must admit I actually felt quite emotional. I had been coaching him every week, for sixs weeks, bar a small break for Christmas. Although the main objective is to complete the sessions and get the feedback form so I can earn the credits, I actually felt far more envolved that I expeted too. It really took me by surprise how much I cared about how this person had grown since we first started talking in Novmember. Also how he was going to continue on from this point. I seriously hope that he drops me an email every so often just to let me know how he is getting on.

Three more (free) clients

I've coached three new people over the last two days. Two went swimmingly well and the other one was strange. I can't quite put my finger on what was the problem. I can't really say more otherwise I'll be in breach of confidence. But I'll be very interested to see what happens next week.

I'll be doing my last coaching sessions for this year with these three people next week. Then I'll be having a break for until the new year.

I've decided to do coaching on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with a maximum of two sessions per night. That way it will be easy to keep a work/life/coaching balance without it taking over. Which could be quite easy! I'd much rather be coaching than working my current job for sure. But until I pass my qualification and start charging for the coaching sessions I'm just going to have to take things easy.

I've worked out that I only need about 10 more points and then all I'll have to do is complete my 6 coaching clients/sessions and I'll be able to apply for my basic qualification.

I've decided to just go for the basic qualification this time round as I've never been a great one to study, so I'm setting myself an easy goal that I know I can acheive. Maybe later, once I have more experience I go for something with a bit more clout. Maybe....

Another URL

I've had to set up a new URL http://www.pgb-life-coaching.info as it appears my of site http://www.pgbailey.com seems to have earned itseft a bad reputation and has been banned from some companies firewalls. I'm glad I didn't pay for those business cards in the end! As it looks like I'm going to have to order some more from http://www.vistaprint.co.uk

It hasn't caused me too much of a problem other than trying to remember what it is! I've tried registering this one but it's going to take a while as it's a completely fresh one. My old address had been hanging around for years so was already registered, all I had to do was update it and eventually it would get picked up by the search engines.

Although the whole website seems to be creating just enough interest. I get about 4 people per week asking for more information so it's nice at this early stage to see that I'm already getting responses. I have to remember that due to the run up to Christmas that a lot of people may wait until the new year to start a coaching session.

Search Engines

Now comes the hard bit, trying to get my website registered and listed on search engines. I've done all my keywords and meta tags and submitted them to all the places I can think of, I guess now I just have to wait. I hate the fact that it takes so long to see if what you have done has been a success. I guess it's to stop people from constantly tweaking their website and resubmitting it to get the highest position. So far I've only managed to get a listing on www.hotbot.de when you type in "life coach" I am listed 4th. Which would be GREAT if it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to get a high listing on UK engines. I'm just hoping that this is a good sign and that I just need to wait and the others should follow suit shortly........ boy I hate waiting!

Business Cards

I've just given out a load of my new business cards to people at work. Really bizarre sensation! I'm actually shaking a little from the worry of what people would say. Most people logged straight on to my website. Which again, caused me stress. Mainly because I'm worried about spelling mistakes or something silly that would embarrass me.

I guess I just thought that people would look at the card and say something trivial and then forget about it. But instead they started asking lots of questions instead.

Well hopefully I'll be a little less surprised at the response next time.

2 new possible coaching clients!

Wow after just a few days my new website http//www.pgbailey.com has drawn the atttention of two people interested in receiving some life coaching sessions.

As I am still training I'm offering 6 free sessions as these will give me credits towards my final qualification.

I'll let you know if they do decide to take me up on my offer.

Also today my business cards turned up. Every small step seems to take me closer to becoming a life coach for real.

What is a life coach

For those in the USA, I'm sure you have all heard of a life coach and what they are. Some may have already used their service. Would be interesting to find out if you benefitted from it or found it a waste of time.

For us in the UK mentioning the phrase "Life Coach" causes and instant look of confusion as people try to work out which sport it relates to. Their next reaction tends to be one of - "So it's like councelling then?"

So to quickly some up. A life coach is someone that will help you achieve your goals in the shortest time possible. If you aren't sure what those goals are, a life coach is someone you can bounce ideas off and will help you find out what is really important to you, then your life coach will help you work towards acheiveing that goal.

PGBailey UK Life Coach

Wow, my first Blog entry. (well actually my second as I just tried to save my first and it wiped it). I once had a diary page on my personal website but I'm now using this to promote my new profession as a Life Coach.

You can have a look yourself at http://www.pgbailey.com

But please be gentle I'm still working on it.