The 9 Kinds of Coaches (and 3 Ways to Choose the Right Coach for You)

Find out what coaching is, the various kinds of coaches, and how to pick a coach based on your personal needs and values

New to coaching? Here’s what coaching is:

Coaching is simply a tool to help you get from Point A to Point B. Unlike counseling, advising, or therapy, coaching is a conversation that encourages new ideas and introspection to help you move forward.

Now, you might feel like you can get to Point B on your own, but often times there are a lot of tasks to juggle, fears to overcome, strategies to work out, obstacles to reassess, and approaches to uncover that are a lot to take on. It may take you a long time to get to where you want to be, or you may not even get there at all.

Coaching can help you follow through with your goals faster and in a more meaningful way.

The 9 Kinds of Coaching Specialties

Remember, coaching is simply a tool. So what separates these coaches from one another is the solutions that they help you achieve. In other words, they are all using coaching as a method but the topics and end results that you work on together will be different.

Also, note that there are sub-specialties for each of these areas. For example, a social media coach would fit under the Business Coach category since they help with the marketing side of a business strategy.

There are also cases where some coaches may overlap in two different areas. For example, a fitness coach that helps people design their bodies may also be a performance coach who helps them with getting stronger and building endurance.

1. Business Coach

   The end result that business coaches work towards is helping business owners make more money. The content of your coaching conversations would include topics like:

   1. getting a business started

   2. identifying revenue goals

   3. developing a sales and marketing plan

   4. strategizing how to grow and scale a successful business

2. Leadership Coach

   The end result that leadership coaches work towards is helping people who are guiding others (this could be anyone from a first-time manager to a CEO) step into their role and become better at things like:

   1. how to influence team members

   2. improving communication

   3. dealing with high-stakes conversations

   4. improving productivity and time management

   5. develop clear visions and communicate that vision

3. Performance Coach

   The end result that performance coaches work towards is often connected to habit change and optimizing what people are already implementing so they can go from good to great. A big part of being a performance coach is holding people accountable so they can see more results. Here are some examples:

   1. design habits you need to consistently practice

   2. encouraging you to think bigger and step out of your comfort zone

   3. develop a winner’s mindset

   4. get strong with resilience

4. Financial Coach

   The end result that financial coaches work towards is helping you have a healthy relationship with money. It can also be about seeing the connection between how your money habits are a reflection of your self-worth.

   1. Your money mindset (going from scarcity to abundance mindset)

   2. Identifying ways to save money

   3. Developing strategize to bring in more money

   4. Going from feeling like money controls you to having money available to you to serve your needs

5. Career Coach

   The end result that career coaches help with could either be helping you find your next job or helping you find more joy in your current job. Typical topics that go into a career coaching experience include:

   1. Helping you identify a match between your strengths and interest and what kinds of jobs to look for

   2. Improving your personal branding by reviewing/re-writing your resume, LinkedIn profile, and cover letters

   3. Encouraging you to network and set goals for applying for new jobs

   4. Mock interview preparation

   5. Salary negotiation

6. Health Coach

   Sometimes it’s difficult to put your needs first, and that’s what a Health Coach can help you do. “Health” is a broad word; the end result that health coaches support may look like any of the following:

   1. Work-life balance

   2. Stress management

   3. Developing a daily routine

   4. Getting better sleep

   5. Improving your diet

   6. Helping hold you accountable to an exercise routine

7. Life Coach

   Life Coaching is usually one of the vague categories for people to understand straight off the bat, so an easier way to think of a Life Coach is a person who helps with transformation. The reason why life coaching is more about transformation is since the work you’re doing comes more from within; it’s about seeing how your dream can be tangible and identifying what needs to shift internally so you can create a better world for yourself. This could look like:

   1. Finding your purpose if you’re feeling like you’re unfulfilled

   2. Having the courage to try things you feel called towards but felt you couldn’t do because of expectations others have placed on you or that you’ve placed on yourself

   3. Helping you build a mindfulness practice

   4. Learning more about yourself when entering a new situation (like living in a new culture)

8. Fitness Coach

   Fitness coaches are a little different from Health Coaches because the focus may be more on exercise habits and body design as opposed to simply building a wellness routine. Working with a fitness coach would look like:

   1. Having someone hold you accountable to exercising

   2. Helping you identify what kind of body you’re aiming to design and providing you with an exercise and nutrition plan that will help you get there

   3. Doing periodic check-ins to see how much progress you’re making and what may need to be adjusted to your game plan to keep you on track.

9. Relationship Coach

   There are many kinds of relationship coaches but the broader one is a person who helps with romantic relationships. This could look like:

   1. Helping you get confident to “get back out there” after a breakup

   2. Encouraging you to date and not get discouraged

   3. Offering time for reflection after dates to help you see how the person was and wasn’t a match and why

   4. Helping you create the space to allow someone into your life

The 3 ways to identify the right coach for you

Well, for starters, think about what kind of result you are looking to achieve and the list above should help point you in the right direction as to what category of coach you are looking to engage with.

But there are two other points you want to consider:

1. What kind of qualifications does the coach have?

It’s up to you to decide how you want to define the word “qualifications”.

For you, “qualifications” may mean:

• a person who has achieved something you want to achieve

• a person who holds a certification from a reputable coaching school

• a certain level of experience as a coach (Coaches who hold a certification from the International Federation of Coaches (ICF) are those who are vetted as practicing coaching methodologies, and ethics, and having a certain number of coaching hours verified).

• a person who you find encouraging

…and you may pick one or a mix of each.

Just know this: there are people who identify as a “coach” who may not have any formal training as a coach. And there are coaches who have certifications to help you go from point A to point B, but who may not have any personal experience in your area of interest. It’s up to you what criteria are essential.

2. Does the coach have the style you enjoy (alternatively, do you feel comfortable with the coach)?

Beyond knowing what end result you need help with and what qualifications you want your coach to possess, the last element is picking someone who you feel comfortable with.

Every coach has their own style so you’ll likely have the best experience and results with someone who you enjoy speaking with and/or who has common interests as you.

So, what kind of coach am I?

My journey to narrowing down my coaching focus was a difficult one because in the process of developing my coaching approach, I experienced coaching people in 5 of these 9 categories (Leadership Coaching, Career Coaching, Health Coaching, Performance Coaching, and Life Coaching)!

Over time, I found that there are two categories of coaching that resonate with me the most: Leadership Coaching and Health Coaching. My zone of genius as a coach is where these two intersect, which is helping leaders who are overwhelmed level-up with a sense of balance and ease.

It is typical for people who are ambitious with advancing their careers to also be people who are hard on themselves, doubt their capabilities, put work needs above personal needs, and take on more than their capacity as they find it hard to establish boundaries.

I enjoy helping them leverage their strengths toward problem-solving, think from a place of power than a place of fear, get better at communicating their capacity and their needs, and develop work-life balance to help them find fulfillment in their work and life.

Here’s what to do next

I’d do some research on coaches now that you have this knowledge handy. And if you feel I’d be a great fit for you, feel free to reach out to me to get started.