I have created this material about life coaching for all of you interested in this new and thriving business field. I addressed what is coaching, the difference between coaching, therapy, counseling and mentoring and who are the coaching clients. I then talk about the benefits of working with a coach, the way in which I work with my clients, how can you get the most out of your coaching and last but not least, the policies and procedures in coaching. I invite you to study this material. If you have any questions please send them in as comments on this document.

What is life coaching

Coaching is becoming one of the leading tools that successful people use to live an extraordinary life and obtain the results they desire. Through weekly coaching sessions my clients identify what is most important to them and then start to direct their thoughts, actions and their word towards achieving their objectives and their life vision. In order to have an extraordinary life it is absolutely necessary to know where you are, where you want to be and you must be willing to travel the distance between the two points. Your commitment to your life through coaching will give you access to balance, life joy, energy, financial wealth, focus and practical actions in all fields of life.

As your coach I will:

Ø      Encourage you to discover that vision of life that will truly inspire you

Ø      Ask you to do more than you did so far towards achieving this vision

Ø      Help you focus your attention to produce better and more rapid results

Ø      Provide you with the tools, methods and structure to achieve this vision.

What is the difference between therapy, consultancy, mentoring and coaching?

Coaching is not therapy; therapy generally treats the past and the client's trauma and seeks a cure. It isn't consultancy either, as in this case the consultant analyzes the situation, gives advice and provides the client with answers to the questions and problems he is dealing with.

Coaching isn't mentoring either, when someone more experience shares their success and teaches the client to succeed as well.

Coaching is more oriented towards results, towards the present situation and the client's future. As a coach I provide you with support to find your own answers, make choices on your own and I accompany you in the process of achieving objectives. It is a co-creative, equal partnership.

Who works with a coach?

Entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals and people in transition are some of the people who typically work with a coach. Regardless of their professional endeavor, all my clients have one thing in common: they are all successful, resourceful and powerful people who want more for their life. If you observe professional athletes: do you know someone who hasn't worked with a coach in order to win and achieve performance? Nadia Comaneci was a diamante of Romanian gymnastics and still she knew the value of a coach that worked directly with her, that showed her things she might not see, someone to encourage and challenge her permanently. This is who I am for you. Coaching means having a personal coach for your life!

The benefits of working with a coach

It was proven that coaching works when two conditions are met:

ü      The client is willing to learn, grow and take actions in his life

ü      There is a difference, a distance between where the client is in the present and where he wishes to be

These are the two necessary elements for a successful coaching relationship, in which you can develop the best strategy, implement an action plan and get the results you want. Anything is possible through a coaching relationship.

Together with a coach:

YOU CAN ACT MORE, BETTER, MORE EFFICIENT

Because you established those objectives that you truly wish to achieve

The first step is to find out what you truly want in your life. I will help you distinguish what you want versus what you should do, what would be cautious to do, what you are recommended to do, what you know how to do. After creating your objectives which should be harmonized with your personal and professional values and vision, you will notice that you will naturally and constantly act towards achieving them.

YOU CAN HAVE A BALLANCED LIFE

Because you created it for yourself

Professional success is greater when you have the experience of personal fulfillment. We will observe the way you can take care of yourself and be responsible at the work place at the same time.

YOU CAN CHALLENGE YOURSELF MORE AND MORE

And still without overworking yourself

When you have a trustworthy partner by your side you can challenge yourself, you can expand more and more. You can start creating great plans. I am pleased to support my clients regardless of how bold their projects are.

YOU CAN MAKE BETTER DECISIONS BOTH ON PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LEVEL

Because you are focused on the final results

All my clients use me to share their ideas and projects. And that is because they have seen what it is like to have by their side someone who cares about their success and who can also be objective and able to give them an external perspective. You will notice that sometimes if you talk to someone about what concerns you; it will be enough to clear things out for you.

YOU CAN CREATE FINANCIAL WELFARE

You are worth more than you earn at the moment

Lots of people deserve more than they earn financially. If you are not satisfied with this aspect we will work on increasing your business, on creating a financial plan for current expenses and a strategy to increase future incomes.

YOU CAN HAVE A HIGHER ENERGY AND VITALITY LEVEL

Without wasting yourself uselessly

We will identify those situations, persons or things that "squeeze out" your energy and we will create a strategy to eliminate them. We will simultaneously focus our attention on what provides you with energy, what you like and ways to maximize this "load". When you are happy, productive and unstressed life is much richer and more beautiful.

YOU CAN ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION

And you can direct it towards what you want

Most of my clients during the coaching program reach a point where they talk about their spiritual evolution. I am pleased to work with them to create a development plan and to follow it in time.

How I train my clients

As a coach I will research, ask questions, encourage and challenge you in various fields so that you authentically discover who you are. In the same time I will make sure that we won't diverge from your objectives, values and vision. However my commitment is towards you as an individual and not so much towards the initially established objectives, as they may change in time.

Our coaching relation is created by both parts; this is why I very much appreciate the feedback as a means to develop and shape this relationship. Although I have a great commitment in this trip, you will eventually be responsible for the actions and achieved results.

What I expect from a client

I invite you to work together only when you will be willing to give your best in the coaching program. And if at a certain point I will notice that your standard dropped, I will draw your attention. If together we will observe that you are actually not willing at the moment to extend, to work with yourself I will understand and do everything necessary to complete our partnership in an amiable way, and in the future you will have the possibility to come back with a coaching claim in any moment.

I will ask you different specific things

From time to time I will directly ask you to act in a certain direction, for instance: "My request is to obtain X result by the end of this month". You can accept my request, you can make a counter-offer (for example: "I cannot produce X, but I can produce Y by the end of this month") or you can refuse (this is a very rare case). I will continue to support you, regardless of your answer to my request.

I can give advice

If I am certain of something, a situation, information, and if you are open I will suggest various solutions to a problem or ways to profit from a certain opportunity. If I am not certain I will clearly specify that. In both cases I invite you to use what best suits you from what I tell you and to use you reasoning capacity.

I communicate directly

If at some point I notice you are stuck on a subject I will tell you. Usually in a few minutes conversation you can have the opportunity to identify the barrier and surpass it. Whatever the case may be, if delicate subjects appear you have the possibility to refuse the conversation. I will just invite you to observe certain aspects, I will not impose anything.

I give homework

I will usually ask you to identify two or three objectives or actions for the period between two sessions. I will sometimes challenge you beyond your comfort area. If I ask too much, please tell me. If you want to "extend" more than I suggested, I also ask you to tell me.

I am permanently here for you

I know how to listen. If at some point you are confronted by something, you are upset or you have a problem (even with me or the coaching process),or if you are on the verge to make a great achievement, or you can't wait to tell me about a great leap, feel free to call me or send me an e-mail - anytime.

How you can get maximum benefits from coaching

I want you to benefit as much as possible from our phone conversations and the period between them. This guide presents a few things that you can do to maximize the value from coaching.

Focus you attention on what you truly want

Coaching works best when you have clear objectives based on your authentic values. First I invite you to meditate deeply about how you want your life to look like. Then identify the distance between how things are now and how you would want them to be. Lots of people get stuck in this process, this is why if you are not certain about what you want to achieve, coaching is an excellent instrument that can clear things out.

Discover who you are

Working with a coach is the very efficient way to grow. Most people who hire a coach want to work on clear specific objectives. However in this process many clients discover themselves at different levels and sometimes they change their objectives so that they will be closer to whom they really are. This process to acknowledge the self is natural and it is not necessary to focus your attention on it, but only to realize that it will most probably happen. Accelerated personal and professional development is one of the features of coaching.

Double your availability to work with a coach

One aspect of working with me as a coach is that I will ask a lot from you. Not exaggerated, but more than you asked of yourselves lately. I ask you to be willing to experiment new points of view and life conceptions. I will invite you to tell the truth about what isn't working in your life as desired, I will ask you to raise you standard levels and establish higher objectives than the comfortable ones. However in the end you will decide what is best for yourselves; the more willing you are to grow, the greater the coaching benefits.

Show up prepared to every coaching session

To get maximum value from the coaching session, my request is to prepare a written agenda for each session. Lots of my clients use the "Session preparation form".

It is not necessary to be a long process that requires a lot of time; usually 10-20 minutes are enough to fill it in. Investing such a short time to prepare the session and to fax or e-mail it to will have an extraordinary impact on our conversation.

Do your homework

Each week you will chose the actions and objectives you will focus your attention on at the next session. I expect you to honor your promises and I will work with you to make sure that you establish realistic and achievable objectives. If you know a packed up week waits for you, your homework can be very simple, like meditating on a certain perspective. If you have more time you can have in mind a greater project. Regardless of your choice, I will hold you responsible and encourage you to challenge yourself more.

Politics & procedures

How we will meet

We will talk by phone or online for 45 minutes, three times a month. Usually we will schedule the conversations at the same hour in the same day of the week for three weeks in a row. The weeks in which we have no session scheduled are a great opportunity for you to get involved in achieving your objectives.

Changes/Annulments

I ask you to consider coaching sessions a priority. In the rare situations in which it will be necessary to reschedule a session, please notify me at least 48 hours in advance. Otherwise, I will ask you to pay for sessions cancelled in the last minute. Emergencies make an exception.

Additional time

You can call or e-mail me between sessions if you can't wait to share a success with me, if you need an advice or you are challenged by a certain situation. I am available between sessions and I will be happy to offer this level of additional services. It won't cost you extra, my only request is to maintain additional conversations to a maximum of 10 minutes.

The initial coaching period

Although I don't close formal agreements with the clients, I recommend you to commit to a coaching program of 6 months or 1 year. There are lots of benefits in long term coaching. Because this experience will be as valuable as possible, I encourage you to commit to yourselves at one of these two types of programs.

Confidentiality

For the integrity and the value of the coaching relationship it is important to be open and honest to each other. From this perspective, what we discuss will remain strictly confidential.

Recommendations

Many of my clients found out about me from a recommendation. If coaching helped you obtain the results you wanted in your life, please share your experience with others. You can direct to me anyone you consider that would be interested in what coaching offers. I will be delighted to schedule a free 30 minutes coaching session with any person you recommend.