For years, many people saw life coaches as luxuries that only the rich could afford. However, in recent times, life coaches have become part and parcel of many lives. A life coach can help with everything, from your career and mental health to marriage and finances.
In essence, a life coach works with you every step of the way to help you achieve your dreams. They do this by helping you identify your strengths, weaknesses, and potentials.
While life coaches are trained to work with anyone, a black life coach often has the background, desire, and expertise to help black people in particular.
In this article, we’ll walk through all you need to know about black life coaches and how to find the best ones. So, let’s dig in.
Why a Black Life Coach?
There are several reasons why a couple might opt for a black life coach. Here are a few of them:
Trust
Although there are competent white life coaches, black people can be very skeptical about them due to years of racial tension and abuse.
They might prefer people who come from the same background, understand their issues, and see them as a family without any form of prejudice or stereotypes.
Background
A black life coach is likely to understand the particular problems that black women and men often face. Chances are, they might have a similar background to yours, or they’ve dealt with people who have. This means that they’re probably better equipped to help you achieve your goals.
Motivation
Which black superstars inspire you? Michael Jordan? Tiger Woods? Now imagine any of those icons guiding you through life with their insights and counsel.
That’s just what choosing a black life coach does to you, especially if you choose someone who’s accomplished a lot in their field.
How to Find a Black Life Coach
A life coach is like a personal mentor, so you need to choose carefully. Follow the steps below to choose the right coach for your needs.
1. Create a Shortlist
Start by creating a shortlist of coaches. Of course, you can pick one coach and try them out, but this will reduce your chances of finding the absolute best life coach. Here are some ways to come up with a shortlist of black coaches.
Using a Search Engine
Thanks to the internet, finding an experienced and certified life coach who’s black isn’t a difficult task.
Simply hop onto a search engine, preferably Google, and type a query like this: “black life coaches.” Then, scroll through the links and find a suitable option.
Although Google uses your location to try and give results of black coaches near you, you might be better off adding “near me” or the name of your city to the search query. Then, use the results to create your list.
Ask Friends and Family
Another excellent way to get a professional life coach is through word-of-mouth recommendations.
The chances are high that your friends and family have used the services of life coaches who helped them a great deal. If that’s the case, then they’ve likely gone through the process of researching the best black life coaches and choosing one.
Thus, you can ask friends and family for their opinion on the best life coach. Then, create your shortlist from the information they provide.
Look For People Who Inspire You
Who’s better as a life coach than someone who inspires you already? For instance, that best-selling author or motivational speaker might double as a certified coach.
So you can draw up a list of the people who already inspire you and check their websites to see if they offer their services as life coaches.
2. Find Out About Their Qualification and Certification
After coming up with a shortlist, your next step will be to do your due diligence. First, you need to find out if the life coach is certified to render life coaching services, but that’s where it gets tricky.
There are no legal requirements by the government regarding who can render life coaching services. In fact, several organizations offer courses, training programs, and certifications for life coaches.
With the number of training certification courses around, it can be hard to know which ones to trust.
As part of your research, you can look at the certifying organization and its track record to understand the background of your prospective life coach. For instance, the International Coaching Federation (IFC) is an excellent example of an organization with worldwide acclaim that trains coaches.
Beyond the certification of your life coach, you can find out what makes your prospective life coach qualified to render services in that niche. For instance, a black former athlete turned life coach might be a better fit for an upcoming black athlete. And that brings us to the next point.
3. Find Out About Their Specialties
Life coaching is a broad field covering everything from marriage and mental health to business and career development. For the best results, choose a life coach that has extensive knowledge and experience in specific areas to help you overcome your challenges and get success.
That’s why it’s important to discover what areas of your life need work. For instance, if you’re looking for a life coach because you’re falling behind at work, someone who has experience in work-related counseling can serve you best.
In some cases, gender can play a role. For example, black women might prefer female coaches because they might understand their issues better.
4. Find Out How They Get Results
Another crucial thing to find out is how the life coach you’re considering gets results. For example, what methodologies do they use? What style of coaching do they use?
Also, find out about the frequency of their sessions and how long each session lasts. Plus, ask questions about what goes on during such sessions.
Another key thing to consider is whether or not the coach offers online sessions. This would come in handy, especially if you move around a lot or live far away from the coach.
One excellent way to find out more about the operations of your prospective life coach is to read their reviews and case studies. Many businesses have case studies on their websites.
Of course, the case studies on the websites of a life coach business are likely to be full of praise. So for more information, you can read reviews on sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Trustpilot.
5. Book a Free Consultation
Guess what? Many top life coaches offer free consultation services to clients. Yes, you read that right: free consultation. The good thing about such consultations is that you get to experience your coach before any commitment.
Usually, such sessions involve the coach asking you questions and trying to get an idea about you and your needs. However, you also get to ask the coach questions and see if they’re the right fit.
One way to know if a coach is a right fit or not is to check if they have the right personality and temperament to work with you for the long haul.
A good coach should be gentle yet firm. Most importantly, a good coach should be non-judgemental and willing to listen to you.
They also should have the right advice and counsel for you. Remember, a life coach’s key assignment is to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and to point your mental health in the right direction. So if they offer sound counsel, they might be the perfect fit.
Ultimately, take note of the relationship and bond that you build with a prospective life coach during a consultation. Then, make your decision.
It All Depends on You
Following the steps above will help you choose the right black coach. Other factors like money certainly come into play, but ultimately, choose a coach with whom you feel synergy.
All in all, getting successful life coaching depends largely on you. You must think through your decision to get a life coach and be prepared to go through with it. Also, ensure that you give your all and attend every single session.
Follow the instructions and suggestions your life coach gives you unless you think they’re not giving the best advice. In such cases, be sure to communicate and let your life coach know what works and doesn’t work for you.
If you feel a suggestion isn’t going to help much, let your coach know. The best ones consider your thoughts to help you best.
Last Words
Black coaches are an excellent choice if you’re black and want a coach who can understand your needs and background and help you achieve your dreams – alternatively, you can also look for the nearest sex coach.
In this article, we’ve shown you the key steps to follow to get access to the services of a black life coach (see also gay life coach). If these steps seem too cumbersome for you, you can opt for a matching service.
Matching services are companies that have an extensive database of coaches. They look at your profile, and they match you to a black life coach based on your specifications.