Life coach certification through an ICF accredited course, was a disappointing experience for us both. Here's why you should beware:
Life Coach Certification Horror Story
Self Made Coaches
My wife and I started life coaching together 22-years ago. We loved helping people and were naturally talented at it. Though we weren't certified, we decided to do it professionally anyway. Within a few years we built a successful practice from scratch, using our self-taught coaching methods. And thanks to our industry shattering 90% success rate everyone wanted to work with us. Including Congressmen, Fortune 500 company CEO's, high profile actors, and pro athletes. They called us The Amazing Clarks, because we empowered people to live amazing lives.
Hollywood Opportunity
One day, we were contacted by Dr. Drew Pinsky's people. He was launching his "Life Changers" TV show and was selecting the best experts in their fields from around the globe to be on his elite team of experts. Hence, out of thousands of choices he chose us to be his "go to" life coaches. It was a huge honor but there was a catch. We needed to get certified for legal reasons. So, we registered at one of the top ICF accredited courses in So Cal. It was a 3-day course that cost us a small fortune. But as soon as we walked in the class things went south.
ICF ACCREDITED COURSE
We immediately realized that the training was out dated and full of fluff. It was basically common sense stuff everyone already knew. They unnecessarily stretched it out over a 3 day period to give the illusion they were providing more value then they actually were. At one point the intoxicated instructor admitted his life was a mess and started asking us about our coaching methods. The next thing you know we were practically teaching the course. But we felt bad for the students and were happy to share what we knew in order to help them be successful.
MAKE LEMONADE
On the 3rd day we got our certificates but students felt the ICF course didn't provide the quality of training they needed. They loved the training we shared and pleaded with us to start our own course. We said yes because we wanted them to be successful. We created "LOALCA." No more time wasting, fluff-filled, overpriced ICF courses. Now they could get world class training & certification in just 1-day. The course took off and we certified over 3,000 coaches since 2010. Once again the Universe took a negative experience and turned it into a positive one!