Taking the Effort Out of Coaching - Why you Need ICF Credentialing & Training with Dez Stephens

Paula Shepherd Author

Why is it important to train as a coach with an accredited school? Does getting an ICF credential even matter to you and your business?

Please note this episode was repurposed from a Facebook Live video.

Why is it important to train as a coach with an accredited school? Does getting an ICF credential even matter to you and your business? Dez Stephens, founder of Radiant Coaches Academy shares a big resounding “YES”! Regulation for the coaching industry is coming! Becoming credentialled covers you legally and ethically, it also makes you more attractive to clients. Opening up the possibility of working as an internal coach for corporations, businesses and even the military! Dez shares how many coach schools are not ICF accredited and are therefore regulated, allowing them to offer hidden fees and inaccessible pricing structures. Radiant Coaches’ vision has always been to make high quality, accredited holistic coach training affordable and accessible to all. Dez offers interest free payments, spread over 2 years, and currently Paula’s program Communicate to Elevate is included in your tuition!

In this episode we chat about:

What holistic coaching means.

Why you should pick an ICF accredited school.

The importance of regulation in the coaching industry.

Diversity and inclusion in coach training.

Working with Dez & Paula together.

And so much more!

Connect with Dez:

www.radiantcoachesacademy.com

Timestamps:

(01:40) Dez introduces herself as a humanitarian, film producer & coach trainer.

(02:32) What is a holistic coach?

(04:10) Why you should invest in a coaching certification.

(08:40) Why continued education as a certified coach is important.

(10:55) Should coaching be regulated? Or does it make it inaccessible?

(15:35) Clients are looking for certified coaches.

(19:00) How to get a salaried internal coaching job.

(20:15) How the journey from signing up to getting ICF credentialed works with Radiant.

(22:20) Why students keep returning to Radiant education hours.

(26:00) How being trained and credentialled protects you as a coach.

(30:50) Schools that do not hold an accreditation only offer short term fixes for their clients.

(32:00) How to begin working with Radiant and how Dez offers interest free payment plans over 2 years.

(34:30) How to access coach training & how to develop your business as a coach.

(38:05) Coaching certification programs are for those who have been in a coach for a while.

(42:00) Working with Radiant & Paula.

(50:00) Why training takes the effort out of coaching.

Transcript:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

coach, credential, people, programme, clients, certification, radiant, icf, credentialed, training, coaching certification, dez, money, certified, school, business, international coaching federation, website, pay, credentialing

SPEAKERS

Dez Stephens, Paula Shepherd

Paula Shepherd 00:01

Hi, I'm Paula Shepherd, I went to college to get a good job and make a lot of money. Back then, no one talked about doing what you love. And while I successfully climbed the corporate ladder, I felt like there was something missing. So I left the seemingly comfortable corporate world at 40 years old for the freedom of full time entrepreneurship. Today, I get to help ambitious women go from entrepreneur to competent CEO of their lives and businesses. I created this podcast to share what I've learned with you to make your journey just a little easier, and to connect you with other incredible business owners who took a chance on themselves and who they are becoming. So whether you're just getting started, are all in or just when you hear friendly voice, come on in and sit with us. Now, let's dive in. Day, I have a friend, an amazing mentor does Stevens she is oh my gosh, does. I'm gonna let you introduce yourself here in a second. But does is the reason why I am a coach. So radiant coaches Academy is where I got my coaching certification. And I did it while I was in my corporate job. And I didn't know how I was going to do it. And she helped make that possible. So we're going to talk all about that here in a minute. And also why it's so stinking important for you to have an ICF certification, and credential and what that means and what it even looks like. Dez tell us more about you.

Dez Stephens 01:42

Well beyond being a coach, I'm a humanitarian. I'm a film producer about humanitarian and environmental causes. But as a career, I'm a coach, and I'm a coach trainer. And I'm the founder and CEO of radiant coaches Academy, which basically means that I trained certify and onboard credentialing processes for holistic life coaches, wellness coaches and business coaches. Okay.

Paula Shepherd 02:09

So when someone says they are holistic coach, because this has become a buzzword, and to be honest with you, I wasn't looking for holistic coaching certification, I would just want it to be a coach, I wanted that cert I came from corporate where, you know, you wanted to have the certification that had kind of put you in front of the line. What What do you mean, when you say holistic coach?

Dez Stephens 02:31

Well, we've been a holistic coach training school for 10 years, but you're right is becoming kind of more of a buzzword. Now. What we mean by that is we are coaching the whole person. We know that your money issues affect your health, your body, your relationships, we know that your job affects your home life, we know that everything is connected. So that's primarily what we mean. We don't mean holistic medicine. That's what a lot of people get a little confused about, like, oh, is this like a holistic doctor? No, I mean, you might be a holistic doctor as well. But we also mean that we see our clients as whole, we see them not being flawed or imperfect, we know that they have everything they need to get to where they want to be.

Paula Shepherd 03:15

And it's so true, because again, I had no idea what that even meant. I remember back then kind of Googling, what does this mean, I don't know. And then having the conversation, but the more that I've grown, and through working with radiant, and then in my own business, the more I see that interconnectedness and how important it is how the tendency is for us to jump to the very tangible thing, when it is our sense of self that truly needs to come first. Okay, so let's talk about coaching certifications in general, because everyone out there pretty much anybody can create any certification programme that they want out there. I don't know that many people know that they're not regulated. And specifically when we're talking about coaching certifications, why would somebody invest in a coaching certification over let's say, getting started in their business and just starting to coach people and sell people on coaching?

Dez Stephens 04:12

I have so many answers to this question. Okay. First and foremost, I think it's just protecting ourselves legally. If we coach someone without training, without certification without credentialing, we might be accidentally counselling without a licence and not even realising that's what we're doing. Right. So first of all, you don't want to do anything illegal. Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a coach, right? So you might think coaching is this or that you might be wrong. A lot of people don't know what we do. ICF the international coaching Federation surveys 10s of 1000s of clients and coaches every other year, their last survey determined that in the United States, so I'll just give you that stat. Only 14% of people know what we do when you say the word like life coach or holistic Coach, and of those 14% There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about what we do. So people don't really know what we do. So if you think you might want to try to do something, you don't know what it is really, or you think you know what it is, you might be doing it wrong, you might be harming your clients more than helping them. I'll give you an example. Let's say someone has suicidal ideation. Let's say someone needs a referral to an eating disorder therapist. What if someone needs a therapist referral in general? What if someone starts talking about their past and a trauma and you don't know how to handle it? That's what training is for. So liability number one. Number two, regulation is coming. Like you mentioned, Switzerland's pretty close the US is pretty close. guesstimates right now are between five and 10 years for the whole entire country of the United States. I know you have people outside of the United States, but it's just easier for me to, to reference North America for now. So states where I live, I live in Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee, North Carolina, California, New York, those states will probably go sooner. Imagine therapists before they had a licensure, they didn't have one. And then they did right there on a board. They have a licence, you change it if you move from one state to another, just like a CPA would or an attorney would or physician would right? So we don't yet have that. But we will. And when that comes within five to 10 years in the United States, you are going to probably need 99% In my opinion, you're going to need a credential from the international coaching Federation, ACC PCC or MCC. So you can't get that credential. By the way without certification from a school that holds an accreditation with the international coaching Federation. We're just going to refer to it as ICF for now. So ICF is based in the US but they are international. There are three other Federation's on the planet, but they're pretty small compared to ICF. So in my opinion, which is why my school holds an accreditation with ICF. That's the best one to go with. Because when regulation comes, that entity will likely be the governing board, right? And then yes, will be under a state regulatory board like the massage board or the therapy board, something like that. But that is coming. That is a reality. So the Tony Robbins schools, the Jay Shetty schools, the Brooke Castillo schools, they're not regulated, they do not hold these accreditations. So people go to those schools thinking they're getting the hours or the diploma or the credentials or the whatever they think they need. That's not what they're going to need. Right. So the best way to find a school that holds an accreditation is go to the international coaching Federation website coaching federation.org. Look for a school there were one of them, by the way. That is a guarantee that you're going to get the kind of certification and credentialing you need. And I just want to clarify the difference between the two schools hold accreditations coaches become certified. And then they become credentialed like you follow? Right? So yes, first you found the ICF website, you found our school, you became a certified holistic coach. And then you became a associate certified coach with ICF, you went through all those steps. So when regulation comes, you're going to be just fine.

Paula Shepherd 08:24

Exactly. And the cool thing, I think as well something for people to notice is it's really important to do continue, continue to add, I think, personally, again, Paul's opinion of the of the world and want to talk about this in a little bit more detail too. But when you hold that credential, just like any other profession, in order for you to maintain that you have to have continuing education hours, whereas I don't know how that works with other places in schools. So while yes, you are kind of learning through your own doing and coaching and serving people, there's something to be said about learning in a way that communicates to your clients. I care about the quality of service that I have not just about the marketing that I do that got you here in the first place.

Dez Stephens 09:13

Absolutely. So now another thing to remember about CCI ease. So I hold a PCC credential, it means that I have coached at least 500 hours which I've done way more than that, because I've been a coach for 17 years. I've gotten my training 125 hours live, I have all these things right. I got my mentoring hours and all that. So in order to keep my credential my pcc over the next three years when I get it, I have to have CCS to keep that credential up. So unfortunately, what a lot of schools are doing training schools for coaches, is they kind of slap that ICF website on their, on their, you know, logo on their marketing. And when people go to that school, they think they're actually becoming certified, but the only hour Is that school is offering or the CCE is that credentialed coaches need Mindvalley is one of them just so ever coach, if people have heard of that, the FAQ section says yes, we hold ICF hours but their CCE hours, you don't need those unless you're credentialed. And those aren't going to do you any good regulation comps, right? So it's can be confusing. I always sympathise with someone that's looking to become a coach, because it's, it's kind of the wild west out there, right? So it's very important. You know, I'm not the 1,000% expert in this. But I've been doing this a long time I, I've had a training school for 10 years now. I'm part of the international coaching community. And I can guarantee you that the grandfathering, in when that happens, we'll be credentialed coaches, with ICF, at least in North America, if not beyond. So let's

Paula Shepherd 10:51

talk about that for a second. Because there's a lot of noise around, should coaching be regulated. And you hear people say that that's not good, you can't do that, because people won't be able to afford to do it, and you're pricing it out. And then I always tell people really then go meet Dan Stevens and talk about rating and coaches Academy because there's no other way for I mean, there are other ways, obviously, you make it so simple for anyone who wants to be a coach, to coach. So how do you feel, knowing I know how diverse, equitable and inclusive you are in your environment and what you set up for your coaches, and your and your coach students? How do you feel about that when people say you should not have we shouldn't regulate this? That is that is the patriarchy, we should not be regulating this, everybody should just be able to call themselves a coach and be a coach.

Dez Stephens 11:43

So I have a paradoxical answer to that question. One is I get I totally get that I get that mindset. Because coaching sits since inception, 45 years ago, in the UK, and in the US where it started. It's been male centric, it's been dominant culture, it's been elitist. It's been very expensive to become a coach, very expensive to hire a coach, I get it, I hear you. That's why I started my school. I was a single parent. When I became train, I needed a payment plan. I picked an affordable school I was I loved my school. And then I found out later that I didn't get those right kinds of hours. And I was like, Oh, but I didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know. And I was really frustrated, right? Love my training. But it didn't get quite those hours that I now know I should have gotten right. So when I think about what a life coach does for just a moment, think about what a wellness coach does. Think about what a business coach does, right? Talking about someone's life, their innermost feelings, their their pains, their joys, right? Imagine there's no rule, or regulations around that that's a very intimate experience. And again, like I said, someone might be suicidal and you might not know it, someone might need an extra set of support that you wouldn't understand to refer to, right, there's so much subtlety and complexity there. Why wouldn't we be regulated, that's a very intimate conversation we're having with people about their lives, or their bodies, if you're a wellness coach or their businesses. So that's someone's money. That's someone's health. That's someone's relationships, we, in my opinion, should have an I don't want to say strict, but we should have structure, we should have, in my opinion, regulation, certification, credentialing all of that. So my thought 10 years ago, when I started my school was I want to level the playing field, I want to make sure that everyone and anyone can afford to become a coach. So my idea was, I want to go into new markets where it doesn't exist. I want to give partial scholarships to people who can't afford it, and actually give full scholarships. In some cases. I have a nonprofit that I co founded, for example, in Central America, because I noticed when I visited there, that women didn't seem to have job opportunities. And a colleague of mine who is a World Tourism liaison with the United Nations said, Why don't you train them as coaches, they can coach online, they can make money that way. And I was like, well sign me up. So we've been doing that since 2016. So I'm very open to how can someone become a coach, no matter what income level they are at. I want to make sure it's accessible, which of course is why we do it online as well because I had a woman call me from Romania when we had a Croatian training scheduled or retreat, and she said I will drive 17 hours to come to your Croatian training. Wow. Like, you know, like, if you live in a remote area, you need that accessibility as well. Well, not to mention, you know, internet, do you have internet? Can you access internet? You know, we have refugee students in Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur, who are from Africa and the Middle East? And sometimes it's an issue of Do I have a laptop? Do I have a mobile device? And do I have internet connection? So that's part of accessibility, right? So my goal, my vision, my dream is to make coach training, affordable and accessible, which is exactly what I do.

Paula Shepherd 15:32

So when when people hear that I want them to understand, you know, because we've got coaches, we have coaches in here, let's just say, well, there are people who are having a difficult time or not making as much money as they want. So why why should they? Why would they join a coaching certification programme? If they feel like, well, I should be focusing my time and energy on getting more clients? I know, I know what my answer would be, but I love it.

Dez Stephens 16:00

I was gonna say, my obvious answer to that is when you're certified and credentialed, you'll get more clients. You know, when someone's looking for a coach, let's say you're Googling, you know, let's say the client is going through a divorce, trying to find a life coach, they live in Chicago, so they're gonna Google life coach, divorce Chicago, right? They're gonna see life coach, life coach, certified life coach certified and credential like divorce coach life coach, you know, they're gonna see all that, that search, the potential client is looking for certification, that's part of that survey result that ICF determine is people are looking for certified, they don't know the difference, honestly, between certified and credential, but they're at least looking for someone that's certified not with a weekend certification, a fly by night school, right? They want a serious certification or degree or credential, they are looking for that. So first of all, you're gonna get more clients, you're gonna stand out, and there are approximately 300,000 professional coaches on the planet. Right now. There are nearly a billion people, okay, so the ratio is really good for us, right? There are many of us, there's a lot of people, right, so of those 300,000. And I'm not talking about someone that just calls themselves a life coach. And I don't mean that as a criticism, I just mean, someone that hasn't gone to an accredited school and gaining certification, or credential or both. So 300,000 of us are trained and certified. But only 56,000 of us are members of ICF. And only 40,000 of us hold credentials. So there are only 40,000 credential coaches on the planet. Trust me when someone is googling to try to find a coach that stands out

Paula Shepherd 17:50

in a very 40,000. I didn't even know that you and I are two of those people. And I know, I know a few others, right? Because when people come through your programme, when they finish they, they now receive both their certification. And I don't when I say you get your credential, there are things that you have to do in order to get the credential, you don't have that out. That's an ICF thing, which is what makes having that credential so much more important. So not only do they come through the programme, but they know hey, here's my next step. And this is how that's going to support me in my business. I want to just add here that one of the reasons why I wanted to get an ICF certification. I didn't even know about and kind of know about the credential piece of it. But I was first First things first. My reason my reasoning for doing it was I found out that if I had a certification and credential, that there were companies online that I can apply to to be a coach if I wanted to, and that they would pass clients to me without me having to do all of this upfront work, because I had been vetted through not just a test that I take online, but that I had submit had gone through mentor coaching and had finished or had recorded a coaching session with permission and submitted it to be approved and to have met specific criteria. Right,

Dez Stephens 19:19

absolutely. Okay. So here's another way to think about it. There are internal coaches, you work for a company, you're a coach, those jobs are all over LinkedIn, by the way. So list yourself. Under services under LinkedIn, this is a hack as a coach if you're certified and credential because we're looking for credential coaches, you will not get an internal coaching job without a credential. I can guarantee you that every single job description I've ever seen for an internal coach position, full salary, remote position, they require sort of certification and credentialing and at least the ACC level, better up apps, things like that, where they hire you, you know as a coach, they require credentialing, government contracts, they require credentialing. So, most coach training schools separate this out, they do certification. And then separately, they do mentor coaching. And then separately, they might help you onboard to the credentialing process, we just bundle it all together just to make it super easy. So what that means kind of like you were saying is, the first deployment you get is from radian certified holistic coach, the second diploma you get, that's the credential is from ICF. But we get you all the way up to that like hitting that application button on their website to apply. So everything you need to become a PCC, a professional certified coach, that's that diploma from ICF. Is is already part of, of the tuition and the programme that we offer. The reason I do that is the last thing you want, after you've already paid for a certification is to realise now you have to pay for mentor hours. Now you have to pay to become credential. It's exhausting, financially and otherwise. So we just included all together, make it easy.

Paula Shepherd 21:04

And the other this is this is the part that gets me and it's like so important is that you have forever coaching classes, right? So anyone who has been a part of radiant, who has gone through the programme become certified, credentialed. Those folks all can come back and take classes as part of their continuing education. Correct? Yeah, we

Dez Stephens 21:28

call it forever free trainings, forever free

Paula Shepherd 21:31

trainings. Yeah. So not only do you not have to not only do you get your certification. Plus, it's like a big family. It's so amazing. So amazingly diverse people from all over the world, you know, you, you get this opportunity to then maintain that credential with your continuing education, but without having to pay more money, because you're coming back to the school to do it. And there are so many classes all week long. And all month long, that you can pick and choose what works for you, or what you want to learn about, which is really cool. It's not like going through a course where you have to do this and this and this, and this and this, and you have to show up at the same time, every day, you're really getting the opportunity to do what I love to do is build your build your business around your life and not the other way around. You make it so easy for people to do that does

Dez Stephens 22:24

10 years ago, we knew a lot less about the mind. So we have students from 10 years ago that still keep coming, because we keep learning more, you know about how coaching works well for people. So you there's internal coaching, like I mentioned, there's external coaching, which is like you have your own coaching, practice your marketing, you're finding your own clients, there are corporate wellness contracts, again, you have to be credentialed. There's government contracts, I right now, my school is bidding on a 10 year contract with the military. And we'll need you know, hundreds of coaches, which of course, I have 600 students and 20 countries. So I have my own polar coaches, they require credentialing for the coaches providing services, which is why I reached out in our Facebook group the other days, like, hey, which one are you are credential because I gotta make a list real quick. So it's advantageous to get that credential. And again, the potential client googling you trying to find you, when they're going through divorce or hard time or they're in debt, or they're just sad, or they need support. They don't know the difference. But trust me, when they hit that website, and they see that you're certified, they see that you're credentialed, they start understanding what the international coaching Federation is, they will hire you more likely than they will someone who is not.

Paula Shepherd 23:44

Yeah, and I heard that too, about companies, you know, just going in and saying you're a consultant is one thing, right? And you're looking at your experience, but they really love that idea of coaching and consulting, because they want their executives, you know, whether and I don't even just mean executives in C suite. I mean, they want their employees to get to the point where they're collaborating well, where they're productive, where the business is profitable, where the communication is, is going really well. And that doesn't, it, having a consultant come in only helps in the short term, but when you're coaching, you're helping them really see the possibility and being able to do this long after you've walked out the door. And that is where that that certification, that credential really comes into play. Whether or not people like it or not, that is that is what is expected. When you step in, especially if you want to work with corporations, bigger businesses, associations, having that behind your name doesn't necessarily let you skip the line. But oftentimes it gets you in the door, right? The doorman is there and you can't get in unless you have this thing here and I think it then that's not the only reason to do it. I think personally, one of the most important ways that you can commute Key to the people that you work with is by telling them that you care enough about them to hone the skills that you have, so that you do not do any harm, or that your intention is to always do no harm. And you have a code of ethics to go back to with ICF. Right?

Dez Stephens 25:18

Confidence is part of it, you know, ethics, yes, code of, you know, core competencies, we're learning all that. But when you are highly trained and certified and credential, you are very confident as a coach, it's very hard to coach someone when you're like, I have no idea what I'm going to say right now, I don't know how to handle this, they're crying, I don't know what I need to do right now, that is not a fun place to be for either the coach or the client. So confidence is part of it. And think about a corporation. So you know this because you came from corporate, the number one reason people quit their jobs is they don't like their boss, their middle manager typically. So you can literally go into a company and say, I can coach those middle managers, less people will quit, you know, the expense for the corporation is hiring, managing and retaining employees, right? So you're going to help them with that. They love that, by the way, but they expect you to be credentialed as part of their liability. They can't have coaches and consultants coming in, who aren't highly trained, credentialed in their field and take the risk of what you might say to someone in a room alone, one on one in a session. So it's their protection. It's your protection. Yes, it's part of the big game we're all playing. I get that. But also just one on one, one. Getting training teaches you things like do you need liability insurance? The answer to that is yes. Do you need an indemnity clause in your coaching contract? The answer to that is yes. Do you know the laws of your state and your country, you need to know them, you need to know how they're changing. You need to be protecting yourself, right? If you're an LLC, or a sole proprietor, you need to protect yourself. You don't want to get sued. And we in the United States live in a very litigious culture. So the last thing you want is to be with good intentions, trying to help someone and they sue you. I mean, trust me, I've heard some horror stories. I have a colleague therapist who got so frustrated because a client sued her that she actually became a coach. Because of this, it was so frustrating for her. And it's it's like, it's social, emotional risks that the clients are taking. So you have to protect yourself against that. You don't want a client saying, well, I'll just give you a hypothetical. Let's say you're a client of mine, and you decide, okay, let's say we met when you were still a corporate, I hate my corporate job, I can't wait to be an entrepreneur, I'm gonna give myself a year to do it. I hate it. I hate it, I hate it. And here, here I am coaching you. And you decide, because you're coaching, I'm gonna quit, I'm gonna quit today. And then you have no money. And then you're mad at me, and you sue me and you say, it's my fault that you have no money. Because as a result of your coaching, you quit your job. Like, that sounds weird. But it happens

Paula Shepherd 28:12

totally. And I know those stories of people who've worked with coaches, and quit their jobs, because it looked good for the coach, right to say, Oh, these people left their jobs, but they were left with nothing.

Dez Stephens 28:24

Or I left my marriage, or I love my country, or I changed everything. And it's your fault, because I did it too soon. And it's your fault. It's not your fault. Unless you did something wrong, because you weren't trained, and certified and credentialed. Because you might be doing something wrong, that knowing it. But it's it's part of the protection you're going to have because you're going to know if you need paperwork, and if so what kind?

Paula Shepherd 28:47

Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think that there, I definitely have seen people out there making a lot of money as coaches and I mean, great good for them. This is this is not a judgement zone. But again, a protection mechanism just because you haven't gotten caught and sued yet, doesn't mean it's not coming. Because the more money you make, the more visible you are, the more attention you bring to yourself, which means you have to have all those pieces and parts together legally to protect yourself. And it's that's the business side of it. Right? That's the not so sexy side of it. But it is really important. And I think yes, having that opportunity, one to come to classes and work with radiant, but also to do it in a way that isn't like slapping spaghetti up against the wall. You know, you're not just going to some random person who doesn't have any experience with that because they haven't done it. Ultimately what happens here with radiant is when the shift comes when and and and for other ICF you know, certified schools. When that comes. You know, you want people to be prepared and ready so that there is no blip in their business, there is no blip in their life and their relationship in their income so that they don't have to essentially start over again. Because who knows what that potentially will look like? So what options do you have for people right now? I know it's your 10 year anniversary, which is amazing. Amazing. What options do you have right now, if people wanted to come in and get certified, because I know that they're probably thinking right now, this is way more money than I can afford. This is not something I have time for. I have no idea how I'm gonna do this. This feels really scary. Shouldn't I spend money on more marketing stuff? Like, tell me tell me what's going on right now, every

Dez Stephens 30:45

one more thought I just had, which is what a lot of people don't realise is that schools that do not hold an accreditation with the international coaching Federation, which by the way, when you're a graduate of ours, and theirs, you can coach anyone from anywhere to anyone anywhere, right. So you can be that digital nomad, you can coach anyone in the world remotely, you can travel the world and coach. So that's another thing I just wanted to bring up. But another thing that people don't realise is that other schools that you know, make up their curriculum, again, with good intentions, fall into a category I call cheerleader coaching. And what I mean by that is like, it's very motivational, like you can do it, I believe in you. It's kind of like that Tony Robbins school, like, he's actually more of a motivational speaker than he is a coach, think of it that way, right. But he does ever coach, you know, Coach School with someone else. And what that does is it's a short term fix, it might make someone feel good to hear that it doesn't help them long term. So if you don't know the tools and the techniques, how to really coach someone, well, without trying to pump up their inner tube, you're not really going to help anyone, right? So I just wanted to get that out there. So for 10 years now, we've been doing this, and I'm very proud to say that we do have 600 students in 20 countries. And what I've decided this year is okay, I just want to throw it out there in case you guys don't know, most coach training schools are like, $30,000, it's where they

Paula Shepherd 32:17

are, they really don't have to do any of that research. So I did. Yeah. $1,000,

Dez Stephens 32:21

I would say with credentialing, you know, onboarding, it's like between 25 and 45, depending on where you're looking. Okay. Ours usually is 15 includes all that stuff that oh, by the way, those of those other schools don't include all the things. So for our 10 year anniversary, I just said, well, let's just make it 10,000 instead of 15, because that's normally what our tuition is. So it's like 9997 right now. But what I also do, because I needed that payment plan, when I was that single parent in my training school, was that I stretch payments over two years interest free. Because I know that when we start training someone, they're going to start making money as a coach, and then they can pay their tuition payments every month, right? So that's, that's number one. And it's two years to pay. It's not mandated, every single month, you make a payment. If you can, you can, and maybe you skip one and catch up later, you have two years to pay. You don't have to pay in full before you get your diploma. I've heard I've heard diploma hostage stories, where someone said, Martha Beck is one of these people $1,000 Extra just for your diploma. But they don't tell you that. Oh, no, you get a certification, but you can't get your diploma without paying an additional $1,000. It's just crazy. Anyway, so to your payments. By the way, I do have some partial scholarships. So for lower income, or poverty stricken countries, you know, there are some other options out there. I have, you know, I have ideas rather than I just want to be, like I said, working with anyone, right? I don't want money to be the hindrance, right. So I stretch payments out. But here's another cool thing, Paul, and I figured out recently, one of the greatest frustrations for certified coaches is this feeling of now what? How do I get clients? What do I do? How do I how do I develop a programme? How am I going to get people to sign up for me? Right? So I have a marketing background. We do a little bit of that under training, right. But what Paul and I decided was like, whoa, what if we combined what I do with what she does, because what Paul does is great for post graduation, or as you're graduating now what now what do I do with this, right? How do I get clients? How do I feel my programmes and I cannot say enough about radiant students who have worked with Paul. And it's like, Ah, that was the missing piece, you know, and I won't be honest, I could do that if I wanted to, but I don't want to it's Not my world anymore. My world is training coaches. And I love that part. I don't want to do the fall apart, right? So we have decided, between now we're just trying this out to see if it works between now and June 21. Also, Paulo's communicate to elevate programme is in our tuition it's wrapped in, it's also combined. So not only do you get trained, certified and credentialed, you know the process, the uploading the onboarding for that. But you then can figure out easily like, what do I do with the certification? How do I develop that programme? How do I communicate my message? How do I brand myself? How do I market myself? How do I get clients? Right? If you train a student in a skill, but don't teach them how to get clients, it's a disservice to them.

Paula Shepherd 35:49

I agree. I agree. And I think that there are, you know, when I was part of radiant, several years ago, 2019, I think, is when I graduated, when I did, there was some of that you were doing some of that marketing, we were learning you were doing a lot, a lot more of that stuff and more hands on and now that the business has grown, or the Academy has grown, you have so many other amazing coaches that are coming back in to help educate the coaches that are coming through the programme, which is amazing. I love the sense of community, you know, the things that we stand for are so integrated and true. And I think one of the questions I get all the time is I want to show up in a space where people don't wear I see people that look like me, and I don't mean that look like me, right? I don't just mean women, I mean, people that just people are people, right? And that's how when I look at Radio, when I show up to a class, when I facilitate a training, when I go to a retreat, I see so much diversity. And like everybody on your website, every person is an actual radiant coach, someone that has been in the programme, and to me, no, no, no stock photos. So it's what is the website? Again? It's is it reading coaches.com radian coaches.com. So go to radiant coaches.com. And you'll see exactly what I mean. And this is what it's about. So if you really do truly care about embracing okay, how do I also build this into my business? I mean, does is kind of the unofficial person who's showing people how to do that just very naturally. And the people that you meet are so amazing. So if people are coming in and step away from like, yes, we're doing this partnership together. And I want to talk about that bit, again, quickly. But what is important to me, too, is one of you have people that have been coaching for a while, they are making a little bit of money, but now they're going maybe I should get that coaching certification. Does this make sense for them as well?

Dez Stephens 38:03

Absolutely. You know, I've been coaching for 17 years. So it's funny, when I think about the marketing that I would recommend is based on how I did it. 17 years ago, it was a very different world. I didn't have Google, I didn't have social media, I didn't have a website, you know, it's, it's easier than ever to get clients. I'm just going to say that. And when I say easy, I mean easy. If you're willing to either self market or have someone help you with your marketing, right? So if I was, let's say, I was a money coach, or a relationship coach, and um, you know, I have a few clients. And, you know, I'm doing pretty well and getting the word out. I do also think it's important for that person to become certified and credentialed. I mean, this is the world I live in. So I come from this place, because we're for a couple reasons. One is more clients. It's organically going to happen. More confidence around, I am highly trained to do this. I understand the nuance of what I'm doing. I understand all the tools, all the techniques. The you know, our school is very progressive. I will say that compared to most ICF schools where we're in, you know, we work with human design with Rachael, who I know you work with. We work with Enneagram and Family Constellations in neuroscience and neuro psychology, and whatever works well for our clients, right? We're not the typical intellectual, what I would call headspace kind of training school. We're more in the heart and the gut, and the root kind of space, that holistic place, right? So for someone that's already doing pretty well, or just starting out, it only elevates everything. It elevates your skill, your technique, the nuance, the breadth of the work you're doing. Let's say you want to pull in a human design expert, an Enneagram test, understanding how that can have not just a one on one client, but maybe in a corporate setting with assessments, a contract we're working on right now is assessments, consulting, coaching, strategic planning, organisational design, all of that. And this in this case, it's military personnel. But the training school that I went to, we have contracts with 30,000 employees at IBM and GE, and it's a proprietary model. It's coaching, like remotely like this, you know, through a proprietary web portal, but it's contract work that you can easily step into, and then the clients are already there for you. So in a way, it's like easy marketing, right? Like once your credential, you don't have to hustle as hard, right? Because there are those, and I'm not talking like, you know, the the LinkedIn internal positions, I would say on average, they're about 100k. Base. But trust me, external coaches make a lot more than that. We have our base is 100k. And full time coaching is 15 hours a week now 40, right. So we do online courses. This is what you help people with, right? We do podcasts, we do blogs, we write books, we're speakers, we are multi passion, Easter's. And I'm gonna give you a little hack here. If you don't know, already, most coaches, the bulk of their money is in online courses. Because our clients want more than coaching from us. They want to watch our TED talk, they want to listen to our podcast, I'm not saying you have to do all the things you didn't want to read our blog, or they want to read our book, or they want to learn from us, right, just like a coach goes or no corporate wellness agreement with a company, they want also training, also consulting, also mentoring, also facilitation. So we're more than a coach. But the coaching umbrella is kind of like the spokes in the umbrella are like, I'm an author, I'm a speaker, I do retreats, I wrote a book, here's my podcast, right? Here's my online course, here's my programme, here's my package. Without the proper training and understanding about how that works together, you're missing a lot of money.

Paula Shepherd 42:16

Yes, so it's like being able to work. And this this opportunity, honestly, for to work with Dez. And I say with Dez, but work as part of, you know, radiant coaches Academy. And to be able to get that support from myself and my team inside of our programme communicates Elevate is, I mean, this is unheard of. And like Dez mentioned, the payment opportunities are flexible. So you would reach out to Dez. And she will work with you on how you would get started whether or not it's a good fit for you. And you know, talk about those particular. So I can't just say, Here you go, this is how much it's going to cost you every single month. Because obviously it's going to look a little bit different depending on like she said, she's got some partial scholarships in that thing. But as you are going through that coaching certification, you're going to start getting excited about bringing clients on, you're going to have to do some of the coaching people in for practicum hours. But you also some of those practicum hours have to be paid. Right? So here's your opportunity to learn how to market yourself. And not I don't just mean on social media, I mean, in a way that feels really good to you, by starting out with what is your human design. That's how we start. And, and by the way, great Rachel, who is part of my team, who is a human design expert is also going through the radiant coaches Academy programme as well. So I have people that flow in from radiant, I have people that go to radiant, because they realise how valuable that is. But you have this opportunity to work with a team a copywriter myself, human design expert, and to be integrated into that community of people to grow your business in a way that feels really good to you and honours who you are as a person and what your values are. So like Dez said, you can work 15 hours a week if you want to, to make the money you want and have people to help hold you accountable, yes, to cheer you on, but also to help hold you accountable to the things that you said you want to achieve. So if that is something that you're interested in, if you've been toying with the idea of whether or not you should get a coaching certification and credential I feel like the evidence is compelling enough from the conversation that we've had here and what I know then reach out to Dez because she will have a no pressure conversation with you I don't even need to speak for you does that I know that's how you are I know that's how I am so if anybody's interested in maybe pursuing this you don't know a lot about communicates Elevate, or you want to know my experience personally with radiant, please reach out to me. Otherwise does what does that process look like if someone reaches out out to you. Where would they do that? How would they do that? What does that conversation look like?

Dez Stephens 45:05

So reading coaches.com, or does stevens.com, same place, you can get a hold of me. So a lot of people are surprised when they get on the phone with me. They say like, Why do I have to get on the phone with you? Because they have all that trauma from all those discovery calls? Falls, right? And I say, Well, you know, I have to make sure you're a good fit you, you know, I don't just let anybody in. Because I'm trying to get and you know, this PA, our vibe is so high. We are 600 students, but we are like a small, intimate family, we support each other a lot. My full time job is to support my coaches. So I'm the main trainer. I'm their main retreat facilitator, you're not going to see me as much in the self paced course. But you're going to see me in the live hours, the live zooms. So you talk to me first, some people are like, it's the owner of the company. That's kind of weird, you know, but you know, like you said, no pressure, if it's a good fit, great. If it's not, I might even make a referral. If you live in Europe, if you're a therapist, that might actually be a different conversation, right? But trust me, I know what your good fit might be in my school or not. If someone says to me, How soon can I start making money, you might not be a good fit, the money's gonna come. This is a very lucrative profession. But if your heart is not in this service part of it upfront, you might not be a good fit for us. But a conversation with me 30 minutes on a phone call. We can have a chat. I can let you know. Are you a good fit? I can, you know, answer all your questions about certification, credentialing and all that. Because honestly, if you go to the ICF website, it's a bit of a head scratch. It's like, wow, there's a lot of things I don't I don't understand, right? So have a conversation with me. Everything is self paced. You just start when you're ready. There's no cohorts. But I do remember the other day I talked to someone and she said, I don't want to sign up. And if if I'm going to be only one or one of one or two women of colour in my cohort. And I said, Well, good news, you will not be one, two women of colour in a cohort. And we don't have cohorts, by the way. So you don't have to wait to sign up. You just fold in. Everything's self paced. And like Paula said, we have classes literally all around the clock every single day of the week, so that you can come get your live hours, we have retreats, if you want to come to those. That's a way to earn extra hours pretty quickly. But we just have a conversation. Like I said, the price is 10,000. There's a discount if you pay upfront. There's interest repayments over two years if you need them. Everything's Included certification, credentialing, communicate, to elevate with Paula, the onboarding process, the 10 hours of mentor all the things you need, everything you would need, right? Um, so yeah, it's just a conversation with me or Paula. And we're happy to answer any of your questions.

Paula Shepherd 47:59

I mean, I can't recommend it enough. Because I know it's what gave me the confidence. I tried to tell people and in the very beginning, I was so nervous. And I think I charged the first time I ever charged, I charged $50 an hour, and it was four hours. And I think I've never worked so hard in my entire life for that. But I felt so prepared. Whereas I have had people come in before and say, oh my gosh, I have somebody new that just signed up in my programme to work with me. And I'm really nervous, because am I going to be able to provide them the support they need? Well, now when you go through a programme like this, you have the certification and not even just the certification, but you have the practicum hours. So you know, you get that feedback, you get to learn and understand and practice. And you can do that paid or pro bono. I'm a huge proponent for pro bono, by the way in the beginning. But I definitely think you get that opportunity to become more confident to hone your skills to be part of something bigger than yourself. Dez is so involved in so many places all over the world. And you are always reaching out and asking for volunteers. I know last year you asked for you asked for volunteers, you were coaching. CFL, and was it NFL and CFL prospects. So there's lots of times where a desk will just reach out and say, Hey, I'm looking for people who is there anybody available or anybody in this area. And there's so many opportunities there. So if this is something you've considered, or now that you've listened to us to have this conversation, and it's something that you're interested in exploring, let's just talk about it. There's never any pressure and I can promise you that it it changed everything about the way that I do business and put me exactly where I am right now if I would not have been able to work with radiant, I would probably still be in my corporate job and that is the truth. I would have still been complaining about how I don't want to work for my manager anymore.

Dez Stephens 49:56

I think about all those coaches that are you know last Train, you know, do it on their own, and it's so much effort in their coaching sessions, they're trying so hard to do a good job. You know, training honestly takes the effort out of coaching, it completely explains to you how easy coaching can be. But if you're in your coaching sessions, and you're having a hard time, it's probably because you didn't get the proper training, or, yeah, you didn't get the right training, period, because when you're highly trained, the effort goes away. That feeling of like, I have no idea what I'm doing right here, right now, that feeling actually goes away. And those 20 In our case, we have 20, practicums, 20 people giving you feedback is also 20. Testimonials for your website. It's early marketing. So you know, we're always thinking about that. start charging, even if it's a little bit, right, we're helping you build your practice, not just learn how to coach.

Paula Shepherd 50:57

Yes, oh my gosh, okay. So we could not end on a better note, helping you to build your coaching practice, not just teaching you how to coach. Again, I you you guys have completely I mean, everything I you helped me even write the letter to help me get the funds to be able to do it. So that's how much effort

Dez Stephens 51:19

there's a tip right there. Your accompany my pay for your training. So we can talk about that, too.

Paula Shepherd 51:23

There you go. See, there's lots of ways so don't let the cost or what is the? How much would that mean? I don't even understand what she's talking about in payments, go ask the question, advocate for yourself. There are ways I didn't think there was a way and there was a way for me to not have to pay for it myself. So go explore that with does radiant coaches.com or dead stephens.com. Or you can reach out to me and DMS as well. And I'll have a conversation with you. And then, you know, bring you to death after we talked about that. But again, $10,000 paid over two years. And there's lots of particulars there. And to be able to get your coaching certification, your credential and so much more, while working with myself and my team as part of the courage blueprint and communicate to elevate. I mean, seriously, this is like the steel of a century. So come on, people ask the questions. All right. Do you have anything else you want to add? Before we close out today,

Dez Stephens 52:18

I just want to say to all the coaches and all the people that want to become coaches, thank you, thank you for wanting to serve others. We are more needed than ever right now. And I am so proud to be part of an industry that is providing real support to people who need it, especially at this time on the planet. So thank you for being drawn to this industry. I encourage you to do it if you're drawn to it, because you care and that not everyone cares. So thank you for caring.

Paula Shepherd 52:47

Thank you for listening to this episode of The confidence sessions. I know there are hundreds of 1000s of podcasts and I'm so grateful that you chose to spend your time today with me. Head on over to the courage blueprint.com forward slash podcast to check out the show notes from today's episode, and grab links to all the amazing goodies mentioned today. If you love this episode, as much as I loved making it, make sure you don't miss out on any future ones by hitting the subscribe button right now. See you next time.

Categories: Podcast