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XHolly Worton E-mail: holly.worton@gmail.com Info: Posts by the author (7)

Don’t Be Afraid to Think Beyond Life Coaching

When people think of coaching, they likely think of either life coaching or executive coaching. But the skills we learn at The Smart School can be applied to a number of different areas. Just look at Nick Hardy and Nami Haghighi working with small businesses, Claire Habel with marketing, and Sonia Gill with head teachers. They’ve all been through The Smart School because they wanted to train as a coach, and then they applied their coaching skills to a very specific niche, which was more business-related, rather than personal development.

I decided to train as a coach primarily because I wanted to help people. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to work with women to help them find their life purpose, and I wanted to run weekend and week-long retreats. I was very much focused on training as a life coach, and very determined to become a life coach. Yet as the time went on, and I finished my diploma, and continued to struggle with my business, Nick and some of my colleagues helped me realise that my true niche lay not within life coaching, but within business-related coaching…specifically, in the area of social media. Read more

Filed Under Opinion

XHolly Worton E-mail: holly.worton@gmail.com Info: Posts by the author (7)

The secret to connecting with your niche: know thyself

From the moment I decided I wanted to get involved in coaching, I realised I needed to find a niche. I had already done enough research to know that. Like many, I had no idea what I wanted to focus on, so I started a page in a notebook for ideas. I still have this list, and it’s always entertaining to read through it.

It’s a list that’s made up of personal interests (holistic wellbeing), things I wanted to help people with (life purpose), major life experiences (starting my own business, divorce), etc. I wrote down every niche idea that occurred to me. I did go through a brief period where I thought It would be easiest to just pick two and focus on those, but deep down I knew I had to choose one.

Yet none of them felt quite right. Read more

Filed Under A Day in a Coaching Life

XHolly Worton E-mail: holly.worton@gmail.com Info: Posts by the author (7)

Combining coaching and mentoring for powerful results

I loved Sonia’s To advise or not advise; that is the question post last month. When I first started training and getting in my coaching practise hours I was terribly concerned about advising. I was so afraid that a bit of advice would slip, either directly or in the form of a leading question.

In the end, advice giving wasn’t an issue for me. Maybe it was because my radar was on, but few leading questions passed through my filter, and I can’t remember a session where I actually gave a client direct advice.

Now that I’ve got more coaching experience I, like Sonia, realise that sometimes advice is in order. I’ve moved from focusing on my life purpose coaching niche to social media coaching and consulting. In reality, it’s more consulting than coaching. And if I were purely focusing on coaching, I don’t think the sessions would be as beneficial to my clients. Read more

Filed Under Coaching in Action

XHolly Worton E-mail: holly.worton@gmail.com Info: Posts by the author (7)

Coaching for a proactive life

The other day I was on the Tube, reading a book, when I overheard a segment of the (rather loud) phone conversation of the person sitting across from me. Clearly he hadn’t done something he had said he’d do, but all I heard was his response to the situation: “Well, it’s not my fault because I forgot.” And he kept repeating: “Well I forgot, so it’s not my fault I didn’t do it.” He was clearly convinced that forgetting to do something was a valid excuse for not actually doing it.

So many people have this attitude in life: blaming others for their mistakes, or for not being happy in life, or for not being where they wish they were. They may blame friends, family members, or even the government. These people generally live a reactive life: simply reacting to what they believe happens to them.Coaching is all about living a proactive life: taking responsibility for the outcomes we experience, and planning our steps so we can get to where we want to be in the future. It’s about taking charge of our own lives: accepting that it’s our responsibility for where we are and what we’ve got, and understanding that if something isn’t working, we need to be the ones to make changes. Read more

Filed Under Coaching in Action

XHolly Worton E-mail: holly.worton@gmail.com Info: Posts by the author (7)

The limitless possibilities of coaching

One of the many things I love about coaching is that it’s about so much more than just one hour long, one to one sessions with a client. Coaching skills can be used in so many different ways: group coaching, career coaching, business coaching, youth coaching, spiritual coaching. And coaching techniques can also be combined with a number of other disciplines to create extended breakthrough sessions, seminars, workshops, and retreats. Coaching themes can also be explored in public speaking events, such as The Authentic Happiness Summit, where a group of Smart School coaches are getting together to provide a full day event, with each coach sharing their take on what authentic happiness means to them and how to achieve it. There are endless ways that coaching skills can be used in practice.

From the very beginning of my coaching journey, I knew that I wanted to organise workshops and retreats in addition to doing one to one work with clients. I started out by planning my coaching goals for the year, which included first getting a full schedule of one to one clients, then later working my way toward doing my first workshop by the end of this year, finally starting out 2012 with my first retreat early on in the year. I was so clear on this being the journey: first working with one to one clients, then moving on to bigger group events, that it didn’t occur to me for many months that it could actually work the other way around as well.

It was about halfway through a full day event on public speaking when I had a breakthrough moment and I realised I could actually mix things up. I finally understood that I could work on a number of different projects at the same time: seeking one to one clients, and organising workshops and other events. This more flexible approach has led me to an autumn schedule packed with events: I’m speaking at The Authentic Happiness Summit in September, I have a one day workshop and two weekend workshops planned for the month of October. I’m also planning a full retreat for early February 2012.

One of the great things about having trained at The Smart School is that I’ve got a full community of coaches to work with: like minded people I can bounce ideas off, receive assistance through coaching sessions, and even plan events with. Two of the three events I’ve got planned for October are a joint effort with other Smart School coaches. Making the move to organising group events is so much easier when collaborating with another coach or two. We can all support each other in our first steps, and later move on to creating our own solo events in the future.

And I also look forward to seeing what exciting new events I’ll be creating in the future. Coaching is such a powerful tool for change, capable of creating high impact results in many forms: through one to one sessions with clients, group coaching, seminars, workshops, and retreats. The options are truly limitless.

Filed Under Coaching in Action

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