Written by: Sarah Tricker Alchemy, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Modern technology has opened our whole world into one small community. Not only is information freely available at our fingertips, so is the connection to people. I remember as a young child having a pen pal that we would write to in a school in France as part of our French class. From a seaside school in England to a French town was not even that far, just a quick ferry ride between the two. Today we can travel easily and cheaply with the added simplicity of connecting with people through many means such as Facebook groups. Our tribes are easy to access.
With social media platforms came the wave of new coaches. It does not really matter which platform you choose to use today there are thousands of people selling you their lifestyle. People living in grand homes, sitting on beaches, or in exotic countries. The message is clear and you are most likely bombarded every day. You can have it all with just five minutes work lying on the beach.
Is it really that simple?
It is important to begin by looking deeper into the journey of the coach you are hiring. I invested in my certification for coaching in 2017. Personally, I still feel like I am new into this industry however, maybe I am one of the older generations now. Coaching has shifted and changed so much in these few years, and is continuing to shift. I started as a high school teacher. It was a big leap of faith to leave a secure job that included a good living wage, pensions, and benefits. What use is all of that if I was miserable?
Here is one of the messages we are constantly fed. My children were the end of the Millennials and into Gen Z. They really have this view on life that if you don’t like it change it. That saturated into my life. I took the leap of faith and left my career. Stacked on my bookshelf are all the usual suspects; How to Win Friends and Influence People; Think and Grow Rich; The Secret; The Magic; Ask and It Is Given; the list goes on. Simple right, as long as you have the right mindset and take action you will become rich and famous. The fake it until you make it attitude!
This is rampant in the coaching industry! Keep in mind that I went to university to learn how to teach. The process and everything that is in the background is deeper than people may think. It is a three year degree to learn all of these skills just to be proficient. Yet, we are in a world where any Joe blog can create a course and charge high end prices for them. Now understand, I am not saying that people can’t teach if they don’t have a teaching degree.
Let me tell you a story. In 2021, I invested in a coaching course to learn some new skills in how to increase my coaching with the use of social media. The lady who ran it was indeed a successful coach, she had a great platform, a great team, and was living the dream. Definitely cannot deny that was her reality. So here I am, in this group with a cohort of women. Now I’ve already told you I left my teaching career and at this point had already been coaching for four years. I had over 100 people who had completed my coaching programs. I had created four programs with a process and people who had actually gone through them and made changes. Within this program were multiple women who were like yeah I want to be a coach. No training, just an idea in their heads.
We all have to start somewhere right? Absolutely! Once upon a time we all had just an idea in our head and here we are today with it actualized. Here lies my beef with the fake it until you make it mentality we have in this industry. The creator of this course is telling these people, with no coaching experience, with no training, that they can create $5K programs. You don’t need a website, you don’t need experience, and you don’t even need to have a completed program. Just set it up and sell! As a trained teacher who has been thrown in at the deep end planning and executing a course on a whim is terribly hard work. Honestly, how would you feel if you spent $5K on program that someone hadn’t even created or even run through? You need your beta group to test run your theory and those people need to know they are the beta.
There is a saturation of coaches in the new world as people are in search of the one fix pill. Everyone who is a coach has been though something in their lives and wants to help others get through it. A lot of time there are still coaches who are selling fugazi. It is true that when we create a coaching program we are condensing our own life lessons into a new process. There is a real disservice to the promises that are made when people sign up to coaching. People, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, there is no one fix pill.
Whatever you are healing; relationships, health, money; the list goes on, there are layers upon layers of work that needs to be done. Spending $5K on a course that guarantees you’ll make $10k in 30 days is not going to happen. It might for a few and for a short term fix. Paradigms and habits take time to shift to be replaced with better ones. Life is going to going to continue to throw curb balls and you’ll need to work on the next layer.
It takes 20 years to become an overnight success! I always thought that to be a negative saying until I became an entrepreneur. Then I started to realize that all of these people who flash their wealth don’t often talk about the years of struggle they had to get to where they are now. That a lot of time people are capitalizing on the lack that is rampant in others’ lives. Before you are dazzled by the empty promises of thousands of coaches please do your diligence and really look into who they are and what they actually do. What have they persevered through and is their process a proven one?
Sarah is a spiritual life coach. She has created her own process which allows women to tap into their intuition and discover their authentic self. If you want to look into the shadow and unpack the parts of you that you may fear Sarah can guide you through this healing process. It is not a one fix pill and you will have to put in the work. However, what you will discover on the other side you cannot even imagine today! If your soul is calling Sarah would love to connect with you to find out if we are a fit for one another.
Follow Sarah on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit her website for more info!
Sarah Tricker Alchemy, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sarah Tricker Alchemy is a change-maker and has the ability to see what lies in the unseen and unexplained. After realizing her dream to become an educator, Sarah soon understood she herself was not fulfilling her life purpose. In 2016 she began the journey of entrepreneurship and had been forging her way to true authenticity. Sarah is a Public Speaker & Spiritual Empowerment Coach helping women who are in transition within their life. With her gift as a healer, she facilitates women in finding their authentic selves as well as their life purpose. Every moment is a miracle, and there is always opportunity even when you cannot see it.
