Business.

Life.

When you’re balancing family and income generation, they’re both linked.

But what about your need for coaching? If you are considering investing in a coach, should you also invest in both? And what’s the difference, anyway?

Put simply, the main difference between life coaching and business coaching is about emphasis.

Although many of the core principles and methods are the same – accountability, planning, goal-setting and focus – when it comes to choosing business coaching, the critical difference is that the results it aims to create are directly tied to your business success and growth.

Life coaching measures its own success in well-being.

Business success may be part of that satisfaction but it’s only one ingredient in a well-balanced recipe of overall fulfilment.

If business coaching is ultimately about the success of a collective, life coaching is all about individuals.

Your Goals – Your Choice

If business growth is what you’re really after, a business coach will be focused on specific goal-setting, organisational culture and ways to streamline business systems for more efficient business performance. It’s a journey that can also deliver an improvement in personal growth, too – but it’s a by-product of what your business will experience.

For more focused personal development, a life coach could be more up your alley but, whoever you choose, research is a critical factor.

Coaching, In any form, is an unregulated industry and one that is, unfortunately, polluted by a range of providers who charge big dollars and do not deliver consistent, positive outcomes. Investing in yourself is a potentially valuable experience but it can go horribly wrong if you end up wasting your hard-earned money on unprofessional service providers who do not have the skill or experience to take you to the next level.

When it comes to choosing a coach who will make a difference in your personal or professional life, ask yourself what it is you actually want to achieve – and do you have a time-frame in which you hope to attain those goals? Talk about your expectations with the coach during your initial interview with them and if they don’t have the right answers to your questions, keep looking.

Be Specific For Best Results

Life coaches can work on specific areas of self-development that may be holding you back in other areas of your life. Depending on your own circumstances, you may want assistance to coach you through effective weight management, better time management, dealing with spending issues and bad debt habits, or other addictive behaviours.

Similarly, although a good business coach will look at all aspects of your business to help you achieve your goals, some do have specific skills they focus on – such as marketing, HR, or financial management.

To gain the best possible results, finding the ideal match is an important first step.

Word-Of- Mouth Is A Powerful Thing

Ask your prospective coach for connections to former or current clients you can talk to – and ask them what they gained from the experience of being coached (and how much it cost them along the way). Verifying a proven history of helping someone like yourself overcome specific issues you might also be facing might be the reassurance you need to choose their coaching service.