I hear questions from highly sensitive people (HSPs) about whether being a coach is a good fit for them. They have concerns about their energy, other people’s energy, and whether self-employment could work. These kinds of worries stopped me from exploring it for years.
I hope this post will help you find some answers. As an HSP myself, I love being a coach.
Would being a coach work for me as an HSP?
I kept meaning to write up my answers for you to these common concerns. Then an HSP coach colleague, Willow McIntosh, wrote about his responses to the common questions. As I read what he wrote, I found myself saying “me too!” and “so true” a lot. So I invited him to post his responses here and he said yes.
Willow is a coach and training facilitator for HSPs. He is from the UK. He understands High Sensory Intelligence®, as he calls it, and how it can be put to practical use as a coach, therapist, or healer. He provides classes and training in how to do that, through his work at Inluminance.
At the end of his post below, I added notes about coach training and making self-employment work.
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Guest post by Willow McIntosh
Willow McIntosh
Before I became a full time coach and facilitator I had several concerns as an HSP.
I wanted to know whether I would get too tired coaching day in day out.
I knew that from experience that when I was asked to coach people as a favour, I would often feel quite drained afterwards.
I also used to get worried about whether I would know what I was doing when it came to coaching professionally.
For instance, what would be the main area of coaching that I would focus on?
Also wouldn’t I be taking on my clients issues and negativity? How would this affect my own well being?
Yet what was on my the mind the most, was that I knew I wanted to work with people more than anything.
I had this deep calling within me to support the pursuit of purpose in others. It was the conversation I always wanted to have.
Then, everything changed for me when I began to get training to develop my high sensory coaching abilities.
When I began to understand that the area of life I was most fascinated by, was the very area I was naturally gifted at facilitating.
Which has always been the case for all the high sensory people we have now trained at Inluminance in our High Sensory Coach Training.
So since I started this path back in 2009, what do I know now about the concerns I have mentioned above?
Here’s how I answer these questions now:
Am I going to get too tired?
As I got going in my business, I realised that we always have the option of creating the coaching business that will work for our needs.
For instance, you may decide you would like to run two or three sessions per day only, with a basis of core clients that pay well. It is not a requirement to have to do 8 or more sessions a day, every day.
You can still earn a living in this way with the potential to increase your income, without having to overwhelm yourself with too many clients.
As an HSP, won’t I get really drained taking on my clients' issues and negativity?
This is a great question and a very important area to discuss. What is most important to consider when starting a coaching business is who your ideal clients are.
Usually our ideal clients are versions of ourselves. In other words people who share similar values, a similar purpose and a similar ‘why’ in life.
They are usually people who are a couple of steps behind on a similar life path to you.
When we meet people like this, there is an instant connection. We feel a resonance and a knowing inside that the person in front of us is willing to do the work required to make progress and evolve.
Conversely, when we meet or invite someone to a discovery call who is not ready and willing to do what is required to change, we will be able to feel that.
This is the difference between a coaching session that is energising and one that is draining. It boils down to who we are coaching.
How will I know I will be able to coach?
This is a question we get a lot when speaking with an HSP who is interested in becoming a coach.
Whilst it may not be clear right now, your own life path is your credibility as a coach.
You will find that the area of coaching that appeals to you the most, will be an area that already both fascinates and challenges you.
In other words, there will be an innate interest in you about a particular area of life. Sometimes this takes a little facilitation to help you see what this is, however I assure you it is there.
Once you identify this area, you will see that you already have a lifetime of working with this challenge.
The good news is you don’t need to have mastered this area. The fact that you have been in the arena of challenge, will mean you already have a great deal of experience in this area.
As a high sensory person, you have the advantage of being able to process the world around you more deeply. This means there is a wonderful phenomena awaiting your discovery…
It means that the ability to process more deeply serves the area of life that most fascinates you.
It is a phenomena we have observed in all the high sensory people we have trained over the years at Inluminance.
Your version of this is awaiting your discovery and will help you to realise just how suited and naturally gifted you are at coaching or supporting your own ideal clients.
What is the earning potential of being a coach?
Once you are clear on your own innate area of expertise, you will also reveal your own innate methodology.
Once you have some experience of seeing this in action during sessions with your ideal clients, you will begin to understand your value more and more.
This then opens several possibilities. You may just want to work with a core set of clients on an ongoing basis.
However you also have the opportunity of working in groups on an ongoing basis, if this resonates for you. This will allow you to scale and earn more.
Once you become established in your own methodology, you will have the opportunity to create courses, books, programs and other valuable resources for your niche, potentially increasing your earning potential.
The most important thing to recognise is that you are unique and no one has had the life path you have. Even if your area of expertise is common, no one else has the angle of experience and perception you do.
All of this can be quite difficult to see by ourselves, and this was the case for me too.
To be able to speak to another HSP who has walked this path for many years, can be invaluable. I would be happy to speak with you.
To Connect with Willow
To dive into what all this looks like for you and get a more bespoke set of answers to these questions above, you are most welcome to book a free discovery call with me.
I will be able to help you see the area you are most suited to coach in. I will be able to help you to see why being an HSP sets you apart from many counselors and therapists.
I will be able to show you the path so you can start to see yourself in action, and all the ways to create the business and lifestyle most suited to you.
If this is resonating for you, please feel free to book a call with me via the Inluminance website.
There will be no obligation to work with me, it will be my pleasure to share the 13 years of experience I have, working self-employed in alignment with my own high sensory purpose.
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Coach Training Tips from Val
I believe it’s important to get some training as a coach. It will be enjoyable and improve your confidence and ability to make it work for you. Starting a training can actually help you know if it’s a good fit. You don’t have to commit to the whole training process to give it a try.
I think Willow’s free intro class and the opportunity to speak with him is a great starting place for exploration. (Available via his website.)
I did both an in-person intensive coaching training and Willow’s training and I found it all valuable. I appreciated the HSP focus of Willow’s training, whereas I didn’t always feel understood in my earlier coach training. I have also been a guest teacher in Willow’s coach training community.
If you’re in the place of wondering if you’d be a good coach, and you relate to being a high sensory person, I think Willow’s training is a great place for gaining path clarity and some coach training and practice. It could be all you need to get started as a coach.
Already a coach and wondering how to make it work?
I’ve been a self-employed career/business/purpose coach since 2009. I help introverts and HSPs (like me) who want to make a difference — in a way that fits our energy and our practical needs too. ~ Val Nelson Coaching | SOULpreneurs Circle | Courses | Newsletter | LinkedIn
I appreciate feedback, good and bad. You can comment below or email.
It might not feel like it right now, but work can be energizing and fulfilling, even for introverts and HSPs. There is a way. Here are 3 paths to find your way to your right career path.
