Our main objective here at the National Coach Academy is to enable aspiring coaches to reach their full professional potential. One of the most effective ways to educate students about the world of coaching is by offering them a window into the world of real, practicing coaches and showing them all the different ways coaches make a difference in the lives of their clients.
We hope today’s interview adds another insightful glimpse into the dynamic world of coaching.
Today we are interviewing Rose Walker. Rose Walker is an author, freelance writer, consultant, writing instructor, coach, blogger and speaker. She has a degree in Business from The University of Phoenix, studied Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations at The University of Memphis and has her certificate as a Relationship Coach from IAP Career College.
NCA: Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with?
Rose: My coaching practice is very much one-on-one. I work with a lot of clients who are at a place in life where they need to walk away from things. They need to let go. A lot of my clients have been in relationships that they need to move on from or they are stuck in a job that they are unhappy about and need to let go.
I work with clients on starting the path of letting go of a situation, whether it’s a career, a person, a friendship, or a lifestyle that they need to start over with. I work with a lot of clients that need to let go.
I tell my clients, “You only have one life — one shot at life.” If you worked on it, compromised, tried to figure it out, and you are still unhappy, it’s time to let go.
NCA: What initially got you interested in this career path?
Rose: Coaching was something that I was doing all the time. You know how there’s always a family member or a friend that everybody talks to? That was me. I’m a very good listener and I’m very good at analyzing things. I was talking to a family member about one of their situations and I listened and I gave my advice. At the time that I did that, he was like, “You’re right. This is what I need to do.”
A light bulb went off and I was like, “I want to be a coach.” I had been doing this for a long time, I enjoy doing it, and — not bragging or anything — but I’m good at it. That’s what I specialize in. I told the person, “You know, I should charge you, because you always come to me with your drama.” [laughing] I said, “You know, I think I want to be a coach.”
After I finished talking with him, I really thought about it. I was in a transitional stage in my life, preparing for what I wanted to do next. I thought to myself, “I really want to work with people. I feel that I have something to give. This is what I’ve been doing all my life. Why not make this a career?”
That’s how I got into coaching.
It is one of the careers that you don’t have to have Master’s degrees and a lot of education. I did attend IAP College for Coaching and have my certificate, but being a coach is really about experience and expertise.
I have actually gone through it — that’s why I can coach someone. I’ve been divorced. I worked with clients with death, with losing a sibling or a parent or someone else. I lost my only son to pneumonia in 2008 and two years later, I lost my mom. I had to relocate. I can work with you and coach you on how to start over with life. I’ve had toxic friendships that I’ve had to walk away from.
Everything that I offer as a service is actually something that I have experienced, have expertise in, and have gone through. That is the way I can coach someone else. I’ve lived it.
I thought to myself, “I really want to work with people. I feel that I have something to give. This is what I’ve been doing all my life. Why not make this a career?”
NCA: What would you say is the most rewarding part of working with your clients and on the flip side of that, what is the most challenging aspect of the work that you do?
Rose: The most rewarding is after working with a client and doing several sessions and I see the change. I see the growth. I see they really got what we’ve been working on. When you have someone that really works with you continuously and you, each week and each month, can see development, you can see the outline that you’ve given them and they’ve accomplished it, that is the greatest thing in the world.
The hardest thing is that some people do not want to face that they do need to make a change. Sometimes, you have to really break barriers down. After I talk to my clients and really pinpoint what the issue is, there’s sometimes a barrier up that I have to break down before we could actually get into all of the different steps and phases of coaching.
NCA: Can you think of a mentor or a coach who was the most vital to your success?
Rose: One of my mentors was very vital in helping me to understand that coaching is a business. Coaching is one-on-one: you can do it over the phone, over Skype, or even meeting with someone at Starbucks. But he really worked with me and emphasized that “You need to set it up, approach it with your paperwork as a business, because it is a business.” And because you don’t have to have a huge office or be in a five storey building, coaches don’t think about the business side of it.
He also told me to set it up step by step. Don’t try to rush. Take your time. Build your clientele slowly. Keep control of your clientele. Don’t just accept any client because sometimes, you won’t fit. One of the things he guided me on was, “Make sure you and the client fit because it’s not just about making some money. Because if you and the client don’t fit, it’s not going to be plausible for the client.”
That was one of the most important things that my mentor taught me about coaching — to go into it as a business.
NCA: What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who is just starting out in their coaching career?
Rose: Find your niche. Don’t just pick a topic or a subject to coach on. Try to find something that is unique, too, because the coaching field is getting very competitive. There are more and more coaches.
Make sure your niche is something that you do have experience and expertise in so you can fully help a client. It has to be a personal experience. My niche is letting go. I know from my own personal life that I am a person who really likes change. I know that’s crazy because a lot of people don’t like change, but I like change. I’ve let go of a lot of things in my life. I know that I can work with someone and guide them on letting go. That’s my niche.
