FIVE REASONS BECOMING A COACH SHOULD BE LIKE GOING TO TRADE SCHOOL.

What all coaching courses and degrees—be it kinesiology or sports science—are missing is a practical application of the knowledge you learn in the course. While some are better than others, nothing can replace real-life applications.

This is what our coach diploma program seeks to do: to provide a practical internship—including mentorship, sales training and building a book of real-life clients—that helps coaches eventually be able to earn a professional wage as a full-time career coach.

Five Reasons Learning to Coach Should be Treated like a Trade

1. Theory In The Real World

Even if your knowledge of energy systems is sound, this doesn’t mean you have any idea how to put together a training program to help someone improve their ability to flush out lactic acid. 

And even if you know the nuts and bolts of what a perfect clean looks like, that doesn’t mean you know if a clean is an appropriate movement for any given individual, let alone how to teach them how to do one. 

And even if you understand the concepts of periodization, that doesn’t mean you know how to develop loyal relationships with clients who are prepared to put their health and fitness in your hands for the next 10 years, nor does it mean you have any idea how to ask someone for $1,000 for 10 personal training sessions. 

The reality is theoretical knowledge is just that: theoretical. 

But to learn how to assess and correct movements, build effective training programs, and bring on, develop relationships with, and retain clients, there must be a practical component to your journey. 


2. Hands-On Learning From Others

Observing, shadowing, and asking questions of a senior coach is way more useful to a new coach than reading another article or book on program design. 

Thus, mentorship is the heart of our coach diploma program; it’s what allows our coaches to understand how they will eventually apply the knowledge they have into a real-world environment. 

Bottom line: The power of learning from those who came before you is sound. 


3. Earn While You Learn

Once a new coach has both knowledge and a better understanding of how to apply that knowledge to real clients, it’s time they can start earning as they continue to learn.

In our system, junior apprentices earn a smaller percentage of their clients’ revenue until they have a certain number of clients. At this point, they graduate to become a senior apprentice and eventually an associate coach. Each step of the internship process allows them to earn a greater percentage of the revenue they generate.

In this sense, coaches start to see that the better they are at bringing on new clients and at keeping the clients they have, the more money they’ll be able to make. The process essentially teaches them what the real world looks like as entrepreneurs: If they’re not generating and keeping business, their bottom line will suffer. Period. 

We find that this merit-based system creates more successful coaches who are willing to do what it takes to be the best they can be. 


4. Selecting Continued Education That Makes Sense

Along the way, coaches will hit stumbling blocks or plateaus and seek new information and knowledge to help move forward and become even more successful. 

That being said, in the practical, real-world environment of coaching, this means coaches will select courses, not just for the sake of taking a new course and gaining a new letter next to their name, but for the sake of making them a more successful coach.

One of the big ones here is sales training—a practical course that is never included in theory-based coaching courses yet is a crucial skill for the professional coach.


5. Relationships Can’t Be Built In A Book

Coaches are in the relationship business. So no matter how much theoretical knowledge you have about the human body, fitness and nutrition, it’s all for naught if you can’t connect with people.

And learning how to connect with—learning to be dead honest with your clients because you have their best interest in mind—takes a certain amount of trial and error and hands-on learning that can never be learned through a course. 

It’s all about getting your hands dirty, making mistakes, and honing your trade. 

- Emily Beers 

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