“Hi, I’m looking for a business coach to support me, is that you?”

This is an actual email I received one time, and here is the thing Pam, while it was nice that someone took the time to send me an email, asking such request leaves things incomplete for both of us.

And let me tell ya, hiring a coach is very similar to dating someone. Hear me out here:

When you hire a coach, there has to be chemistry and synergy, if you don’t vibe, things won’t work.

Believe me, I’ve done it. I did a quick search in a moment of panic when I thought everything I was doing was not working (turns out I was surviving on 4 hours of sleep and lots of coffee, but that's for another story), found someone, went to the website, scrolled a bit and saw the photo of her crossing a street smiling with a flowy skirt in Paris while the text next to that photo said something along the lines of “I can support your journey into the best version of yourself. Book your call here.”

I booked the call, she asked me a ton of questions, offered me the package, and off we went with our coach/coachee relationship. With this particular coach, the thing that annoyed me the most is that she left me in the waiting room for 3-5 minutes waiting. Every. Time. And her waiting room wasn’t even set up, it was the generic zoom room that simply says “the host will let you in shortly” ugh.

By the way, you can absolutely brand your zoom waiting room because the experience of your clients start from the moment they click that link. Actually before, but you catch my drift here.

I felt disrespected, even though it was only a couple of minutes I’d have to wait, it would have made a difference if she acknowledged it. She never did. So now I ask potential coaches if they start their call on the dot, or if they have back to back calls ours might start a bit later. This question has surprised some people, but it matters to me.

This particular coach was actually great, she just wasn't the great I needed. 

So, if you are looking to hire a life coach, a business coach, a relationship coach, a plant caring coach, or any type of support, it’s important that you ask them questions also.

Think about previous experiences you’ve had and what you didn't like. This is what matters to you.

In case you're drawing a blank, here are some questions you could ask before hiring a coach:

• Who are your current and past clients?

  • Make sure you frame this in a way that shows you’re looking for affinity, not details. If you’re talking to a financial coach, the question could be “Who are your current clients when it comes to their financial journey? Are they beginners? More experienced? Etc”

• How do you see our work together will help me improve XYZ?

• How do you measure success?

• What happens once we have finished our engagement?

• What are some wins you can share from past clients?

• If we end up not being a good fit, do you have referrals?

  • I think this question is important because it shows the network of your coach. If people come to me for business and they’re looking to get funding, I refer them to coach friends who have that experience in fundraising and business exiting. If someone is working through some limiting beliefs and we uncover some deep rooted trauma that needs to be worked on in therapy, I refer them to their therapist or therapist I know.

See, Pam working with a coach needs to be aligned with what you ultimately want to achieve and what is important to you, because it isn’t just about the coaching the coach does, but their way of working also.

Yes, their online presence is important, believe me I just went through my own end-of-year-website-review (it’s so grueling) and there’s soooo many things that need to be updated. Asking questions before signing on that dotted line truly matters because there could be missing information from their online messaging.

I share this today because this time of year is the season of beginnings and new habit building, I hope it supports you now or another time when you need it.