How do you know if a coach certification program is good or not? How can you properly hire the right coach? What are the red flags that you should be looking for to make sure the program that’s right for you (and doesn’t suck)?

I’m calling out my people in this episode, stay tuned to learn how to find a coach certification program that doesn’t suck. Welcome to the everyday intuitive podcast. I’m your host, Heather Alice, she intuitive life coach trainer status quo, shaker and founder of Atmana Coaching Academy. Listen in each week to break up with your comfort zone, claim yourself confidence and radically.

Your role as an intuitive healer mentor and sought after coach let’s get within and get after it. Hey, Atmana intuitive. It is so good to be back on the show with you. I have been busy, busy. Busy down here in Florida in my home office, preparing and prepping and doing all the fun things for our upcoming certification program that is launching on October 7th.

And it really put me in mind to do a podcast on helping you. Really drill down on the key components that you would need to focus on to find a high quality training program that truly is right for you, right. For your goals, right. For your purpose. So this. Podcast is also really inspired by conversations that I have had with many of my coach trainees.

And here is a sad and strange statistic about half the clients who I speak with or who come to me. to receive their coach certification. Half of these people have one thing in common and this one thing in common, low key kind of pisses me off because I think it’s completely uncalled for unnecessary and unfair to you.

The person who is seeking a quality education in the field of coaching. And the one thing that they all have in common is that they already have a coach certification of some. Meaning they’ve already spent their hard earned money and time. The two most precious resources a human has. Right? Well, there’s three precious resources, your time, your money and your energy.

Right? So two of the top three resources you’ve got, you’re spending that on a certification. to get the support you need, but then ultimately feeling that it’s not enough or it’s incomplete. Most of the people I speak to are really wanting to, you know, get it right the second time as it were. And so this really, I don’t know why it’s upsetting to me.

It just really is. I feel like. You shouldn’t have to go through that. Right? You should know the questions to ask. There should be a process in place for you to just get this right the first time. So, you know, don’t get me wrong. I’m jazzed to work with every client who comes in my door. I believe that the people we train here at Atmana are the best of the best.

They are the most called the most inspired and the most. Hey, I’m doing this for the right reasons, type of. Coach. And it’s the funniest thing in the world, despite any of my coaches, the backgrounds that they have, whether they’ve been coaching, where they haven’t, whether they’ve had a certification or not.

One of the most thrilling things that I love to see that I think my clients get out of our program is that their confidence skyrockets and really their intuitive abilities are allowed to flourish. Sore. And instead of it being something, they felt that they need to hide. It actually becomes something that they lead their life with.

It becomes, you know, the top of the conversation, not something they mention in the background. So as much as I love that for you. It makes me want to cry for your bank account. because I don’t feel like you should have to do that. I feel like you should be able to trust the people that you hire. And let’s be honest, you know, and are industry like coaching that’s completely deregulated.

You really kind of are on your own to figure out how to hire the right person. So my intention with this podcast is to help you. Have a couple of feathers in your cap, on the right things you need to be looking for so that you can make a really good decision for you. And if you’re listening to this podcast and you’re like, girl, I ain’t even trying to come over here and get coach certified.

That’s okay. If you listen to everything in this podcast, it’s gonna really help, you know, highlight, you know, kind of ping some lights in your mind on questions you should be asking. Anytime you hire a mentor or a coach to support you. Okay. So a lot of the questions that people ask me are this, how do I properly vet and hire the right trainer?

Right? Like the right person. And then how do I properly vet the program itself? What should you be looking for in a certification program? In other words, how do you know if the program is good or not? Right. Because you’re. Coach trainer you have no idea the skills that you’re supposed to be learning and the metrics that a coach educator would use to ascertain the skill level that you possess on any one, given skill here in

We have 33 coach skills that we learn, and yes, we have rubrics for how we assess a coach’s comprehension of those skills. Right. You know, what are the red flags? That’s another question I’ve been asked a lot. Like how would I know that it’s not for me. Okay. So we are gonna. Over this in this episode, because you know what, you don’t know what you don’t know.

And what you don’t know is what always ends you up falling ass backwards, into, you know, really spending a shitload of time and money on the wrong program or the wrong mentor. In my world over here in, this is a crime against humanity and I am on a mission to fix that because it’s just completely uncalled for.

Okay. So here’s what we’re gonna go over. We’re gonna talk about the two areas you need to drill down into to find the right program. We’re gonna look at the right questions and I got a whole slew of them for you. Okay. We’re gonna look at the right questions. You need to ask in order to figure out if the program’s right for you.

I got a sneaky little. That I want you to use on the person that you’re talking to that represents this program. That’s gonna help you see if they’re legit or full of it. And then two red flags that mean you should run away, run away. If they respond poorly to the two things I’m gonna tell you to do. and at the end, we’re gonna go over some good reasons that you should want to get a coach certification based on facts and faith and not FOMO and fear.

Okay. Because I really do believe that you deserve to be trained the right way the first time in a program that you resonate with. And. A person that really has the power to mentor you in the way that you need, because the right coach training program can completely revolutionize the way that you show up as a healer, as an intuitive, and also as a successful business person in the world.

But you have to pick. The right program first, it has to be a match. Okay. Other than that, don’t do it. You’re just wasting your money. Just don’t. Okay. It’s like going to college, like I’m not going until I know the major I wanna pick. So, you know, I think it’s important also before we dive into this, it’s really important to take.

Becoming a coach seriously, since it is deregulated, there can be kind of this nonchalant. Oh, well, you know, I’m gonna just hang out a shingle and, you know, call myself a coach. And in reality, coaching is a very specific discipline. A very specific skill set that you need to master just like any other profession.

Right. A surgeon has to master specific skills. A car mechanic has to know how to take a transmission apart. Right? These are things you have to know how to skillfully do to call yourself. A surgeon or a car mechanic and it’s the same with a coach. Okay. So what we’re going through right here, what we’re about to dive into is gonna help you ascertain is this program going to teach you that can this person you’re talking to that you’re considering hiring.

Are they going to give you those skills and are they gonna do it in a way that works for you? So at the end of the process, right, as you’re on the other side of this massive decision, you just made to change your profession and become a coach, you will be sitting there going hell today. Yeah, man, I did the right thing, you know, and you’re not gonna end up in a conversation with somebody else a year or two later, you know, plopping down another however much money it is, you know, to continue on with your life’s purpose.

So let’s jump in. So the two components I want you to drill down into to make sure that you’re making a good decision is you need to be asking questions about one, the instructor, like the owner of the company and, or the instructors of the company. And the second is the program itself. Okay. So these are the two areas you’re gonna drill down into.

So let’s start with the instructor slash owner of the company. You wanna be asking who owns this company or who runs the company? Sometimes it’s the same person. Sometimes it isn’t, but you wanna know who is in charge here? What is that person all about? What is their background? What makes them tick?

Another question is what are their core values? What do they stand? Right. You should be able to pick that up on their website. If it’s not on their website, when you do your consult call, ask them, ask them, and they should be able to rattle that off for you. What are their values? What do they stand for?

Why are they doing what they are doing? Why do they specifically want to be training coaches? Another thing that you want to ask are the qualifications and the educational background that this person. So in other words, you’re trying to get a feel for, is this person qualified to teach you this specific set of skills to become a coach?

Okay. And I am actually going to, I wasn’t planning on doing this, but I’m just gonna go ahead and do it because as I’m recording this episode, I’m realizing that you don’t even know what those skills are, so I’m, or you might not know. Right. So if you don’t know. I’m gonna include in the show notes, a link to the mono core coaching competencies skills map for you to have some type of an idea of what these core skills are.

Okay. And in Atmana we teach two types of skills. We teach core just traditional coaching skills as outlined by the international coach Federation. And then we also teach intuitive coaching skills, which are exclusively, you know, crafted by. Again, you wanna just be ascertaining. How is this person in a position to mentor you?

Right. So what are their qualifications? What’s their educational background. And then you wanna be asking what’s their direct or indirect experience in doing training itself. Okay. So one, what is their background? So they could say something like, oh, you know, I have a, you know, a bachelor’s degree in business management and you know, I’ve been coaching for 10 years, whatever.

So you just wanna know cuz all of that matters again, this is a legitimate profession. All of that stuff matters. If you’re gonna pay a person money, you deserve to know how are they qualified to do this and how long have they been doing it? Okay. So we’ll take myself for an example. I have a bachelor’s in psych.

I have a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. I hold three coaching degrees, three hypnotherapy certifications. I’ve been coaching for 20 years. I’ve been in business for seven and I’ve been coach training professionally for three. Right. Notice how I can just rattle that off. And it doesn’t bother me at all.

When people ask me that, I think you should ask me that. Right? So that is what you’re drilling down into. You wanna make sure a person can answer those questions now let’s move on to the program. okay. Now we’re moving into kind of the nuts and bolts is your educational experience. Is the program itself that educational experience you’re gonna have in the program, is that right for you?

So you want to investigate and really try to assess the depth and the quality. Of the content that you’re going to be learning. So in other words, what is in this program on my enrollment calls with my clients, I actually will not enroll them until I share screen on zoom, open up the back end of my membership site and literally walk them through.

Every module. I’m like, this is what you’re doing week one. Here’s what you’re doing week two, you know? And by the time I’m through it, my client’s like, okay, fine. I wanna enroll already. And I’m like, actually, it’s really important for me to show you this. Right. Cuz I feel like I owe you that that’s my job to show you here is what you’re buying so here’s what you’re going to be learning.

So you wanna look at that overall content? And just see. Okay. Is that peaking your interest? Does that feel right to you? How does it map onto the skills you already have? How is it mapping onto your lived experience? How is it mapping onto the qualifications you are already bringing to the table? Is it dissonant?

Does it feel like it doesn’t mesh or are you looking at that going? Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. This is really gonna help me expand and. Right. Another thing you wanna ask is how does learning take place? Are there live classes? Is there video content? You know, is it in PDF? Are you gonna be sitting there reading PDFs?

How are you actually going to learn? And then what is the medium through which you learn? Right. So do they have a membership side? Is it in a Facebook group? Do you do it on a phone? I mean, most people do zoom calls now, but don’t take that for granted. You want to ask that question specifically? Another thing you wanna know is what type of support do they offer?

How do you get questions answered? If you get stuck, if you need help, if you feel overwhelmed, what is the process they have in place to support you in the event that that happens? How are they going to support you if an unforeseen life event happens, right. You just never know. So what is their take on how they approach working with you in that scenario?

I mean, okay. So as of this recording, we are in the middle of, you know, the COVID crisis. Right. So all of a sudden now, you know, people are homeschooling their kids. Your kid might have to be on zoom at the time of classes. So are you gonna record that? How would you catch up? Right. You wanna know what’s the contingency plan?

Another thing is what is the length of the program? So I have seen coach cert, you know, become a master certified coach. It’s like a six week program. Ladies and gentlemen, I will gladly throw shade all over that shit. You are not learning how to coach a person in six weeks. It’s not happening. I don’t care who says what it’s not period happening, period.

So if you are going to enroll in a program, that’s gonna give you a certification in six. That is fine. Just know really the only thing you’re getting out of that is to be able to throw up a bullshit piece of paper on the wall. So you can call yourself a certified coach. I mean, if that’s what you’re after fine, I just have absolute, like, I am like totally contemptuous of that because I think it absolutely dishonors this beautiful, wonderful, rich profess.

Of being a healer. Okay. So here are some guidelines for, I think, anything less than six. For you to become a really well rounded, high quality coach that could work with basically anybody, right? Again, the coaching skills that you should be learning work on all humans, right? Of course you niche down from a business perspective, but the coaching skills are coaching skills.

These skills map on to the human experience of change and evolution . So you wanna be qualified to work with anybody, but have the freedom to choose your client. Right, as you step into business. So my recommendation is anything less than six months is probably not gonna get you there. I would say I personally wouldn’t enroll in anything less than four or five.

That would be like super cutting into the quick six months would be a minimum. my program is a year. You have six months cuz it takes about six months to move through content. If you did a module every two week, which is moving really quick, cuz there’s a ton of content, but you know, you can get through content in approximately six months, but then you have to be supported in the learning of that, the execution of that.

Right? How do you build your business? How do you put all those C. Pieces in place. How do you, you know, start practicing with clients? How do you cultivate confidence in your skills? You should be shepherded and held through that process. And in my world, it takes about a year to do that, right? So I would say anything less than six months is doing you a disservice look for programs that are six months to a year.

And then also you wanna ask them, what is the certification criteria? How is that tracked and assessed? What will you need to do specifically in order to qualify for certification? I would also ask how long does that certification last? If they have a time cap on it, what do you need to do in order to stay certified?

All of those things you should be thinking about now, let’s talk about the trick question to discover. If this program is legit. Or full of it. So I want you to go old school on these people go old school. Here’s a trick. I want you to ask the person you’re talking to. If you can speak on the phone with a past client, with someone they have trained, ask for a phone number or an email address where you could then set an appointment to speak directly to a real human who has trained with.

okay. Back in the old days, this is how we did business. You got on the phone, you talked to real people who have done it. There is no reason why you should not be able to ask for that. Okay. You wanna be talking to real people? In my program, I offer that I don’t even wait for my potential enrollee to. Ask me for that.

I say, if you want me to give you the name and phone number of a person who has trained with me, I’d be more than happy to do that. And I have plenty of clients that I have worked with who are absolutely thrilled to get on the phone with my new clients, to talk to them about their experience. Okay. I have more people that I could shake a stick at that are willing to do it.

And I actually encourage my enrollee to do it because, you know, don’t take my word for it. Dr. Real people who’ve been through the program. So if they are unwilling to do that, that is a red flag. Okay. That’s red flag. Number one, if they are not willing to give you that to me. That says something and maybe I’m being super conservative and super old school, but I’ve been doing this.

I’ve been coaching for a long time. And here’s what I know about coaching. When you’re a good coach, you are standing in a place of true. Deep place of God, for lack of a better way to say it like specialness in a person’s life, right. When you’re doing your job as a coach, you’re really helping a person change their lives.

You’re helping them accomplish their dreams. And because of that, you’re someone they don’t forget. Do you know what I mean? And so if you’re a good coach at all, you should have a slew of. Who are like, hell yeah. I’ll talk to him. I’d love to talk to him. A girl, anything I can do. I got your back. Every client you work with should be feeling that way.

So what’s the big deal. Why wouldn’t you do it? so if they won’t or can’t do that red flag runaway and another red flag, runaway is I want you to be all up in the face about these questions. I’m talking about all up in their face. I want you to be like, mm, wait one more. Mm, wait one more like, yeah, this is a lot of questions.

Yeah, most people don’t ask these questions. I know I get it, but you’re not most people. You are a smart savvy business person who isn’t gonna be taken for a ride. And, oh my gosh, serves and sisters, I have known people who have been taken to the cleaners on programs. I’m talking to the tune of 25, K 30 K.

For training programs to get in and be like, uh, the fuck, like this is not even coming close to mapping on to, you know, marketing was great training experience, not so much. And you know what, you’re not getting your money back because you’re not getting your money back because you didn’t ask the right questions and it kind of really is on you.

You know, you have to do that vet. So if they get irritated by you asking all of these questions and or they. Let you talk to a past client, then I would say just to me, that would be an, a deal breaker and I would just walk away. Okay. Now let’s talk about some good reasons to wanna get certified because I get asked this a lot too, and I’m gonna do another episode on.

Weighing the pros and cons of getting certified. Like, do you need a certification? If so, you know, how and why? And you know, I’m gonna do a whole other episode on this. So stay tuned for that. But I do wanna talk about some good reasons to wanna get a certification. If you have been practicing coaching for a while.

But you would like to deepen your skill. That’s a great reason to get an additional certification. If you are new and you wanna start out in your professional career the right way, the first time, that is also another good reason to find a program that works for you. Another reason I hear a lot is if you wanna specifically mentor.

Under the teacher who runs that program. So in other words, you’re not like necessarily in love with the program, but you feel like, like the program’s great, right? But really the draw for you is the mentor themselves. You just feel really connected to or inspired by the person who is running that training program.

That’s a great reason why, because that is how we really move the needle on growth is being around. Who we trust and who we know will really love us and shepherd us through, you know, the process we need to go through to become, you know, the greater version of ourselves. And then the fourth is to learn specific skills taught only.

By that educational institution. So I’ll give you an example in . I have plenty of coaches who already have certifications. Some of them have even gone through ICF. Some of them are even ICF certified, right? Like they’ve been through all the basic or the, you know, traditional skills, but they want the intuitive skills piece.

That is a completely separate skillset. That they don’t have training on and the only place they’re gonna get it and get it right. if I do say so myself is Atmana right. So that’s a good reason too, if you’re just like, yeah. You know, I really would love to learn this skill. So I’m a certified heart math.

Life coach. I don’t teach their method at all, but I really love that company. I love what they stand for. I love their methodology. I think they’re great people. So I was like, mm, heck yeah, man, I’m doing this right. So it’s not like I needed it, but I just really, really resonated with it. And it really strengthened my knowledge, my depth of skill, really, I think just made me a, a better well rounded and.

You know, a deeper, better coach because I have that experience and that area that I resonated with. Okay. So this is how to find a coaching program that doesn’t suck. That’s perfect for you. Okay. So check, show notes, hop over to my website@heatheraliceshea.com podcast. And I’m gonna have links to. The coaching skills that any one given training program should be teaching you.

I’m gonna put that in. I’m also gonna have a little cheat sheet on these questions that I just posed to you. I’m gonna have this for you to be able to download as well, because I know I just gave you a ton of information and you’re probably like, oh, I can’t remember all of that. So I’m gonna have just. A little PDF that you can download to make it easy for you to print that out.

And as you explore programs, you can ask all these questions. And then also a link to our training program. It’s at Heather dot ComCom and intuitive coach. And lo I’m gonna tell you guys, we are rev up for our next cohort. Class and our early bird list is full. So if you’re interested in that, go to the show notes, go to the website, Heather.

Aha. You can click on the nav, become a coach and you can get on our early bird list to check out the program as we roll it out. Okay. Together we rise. okay. Let’s wrap up with three quick things. So my intention for this podcast is to be of impactful service to you. And one of the ways that I can tell how well I’m doing that is by reading honest reviews of the pod.

So the reviews really allow me to see the topics and the ideas that are resonating with you. The most. So I would be forever honored and grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes for the show. And I get super excited every time a review comes in, because it helps me stay in my purpose. And in my intention of supporting the coaches and entrepreneurs out there doing the heavy lifting of helping other people heal and expand and grow.

So if it feels aligned, go to Heatheraliceshea.com/podcast, and show me some love by leaving me. Built review and to express my gratitude each week, I read the names of everyone who leaves a review as a thank you to you for helping this podcast thrive. And speaking of showing the love, did you know that I make 100% free tip sheets for almost every episode on this podcast?

Why? Yes I do. So you can go to Heatheraliceshea.com/podcast, tip sheets, and enter in your name and best email address. And I will send you over a page link where you can download them all into your little heart is content. And the third and final thing is that I get emails each week asking how to begin the process of becoming an intuitive coach or from existing coaches and therapists who would like to begin applying intuition in their session.

So, if you are interested or you feel called and would just like to explore, uh, the services that we offer over at Monica coaching academy, then just head over to my website at Heather, a shade.com and check out our different offerings for coaches and creatives, who would like to explore intuitive development, business development.

Or both. So that is it for this episode. My lovely, remember, you are more powerful than you can possibly imagine. So step into your greatness and stay after it.