Since many people who are unfamiliar with the field of life coaching but are looking to work with a life coach have this problem, I'll be very pleased if this proves useful as a resource for your and their quest. So may these tips serve you - and anyone who you know might benefit from them.
Firstly, establish and write down the criteria for selection of your life coach. If you find, say, 10 coaches online whose websites you like the look of, how will you shortlist them? How will you decide whom of those 10 you'll contact? And once you've contacted and spoken to the shortlisted, say, 5, how will you know whom to choose? You need some criteria according to which you'll make your selection. Here they are:
1. Location and environment.
Where are you looking to work with your life coach? At your home? At your coach's home? In a public place such as a coffee shop or a hotel lobby? At your chosen location which you'd like your coach to travel to?
If you're willing to travel to either your coach's home or a mutually agreed public place, what's the farthest distance you are willing to travel?
2. Time constraints
How important is your coach's flexibility on time? Some coaches operate strict office hours. After a certain hour they switch off their phones and pack up their operation until a certain hour the next morning. That's it.
Do you want to have your coaching sessions late in the evenings? Perhaps even on a Friday or Saturday evening [when, for example, the rest of your family members are out on the town]? Then consider asking your potential life coach whether s/he would accommodate you on this.
Do you want to have your coaching sessions during the weekends rather than at weekdays? If yes, then you better ask your potential coach whether s/he is willing to coach at weekends! Not all coaches are!
Or do you want to work with a coach who is totally flexible on time, no matter what the day of the week or time of the day? If you have a busy schedule and / or travel a lot, a life coach who offers total flexibility on time will be much more beneficial to you, because you will have the privilege of choosing your sessions when it suits you, rather than when it suits your coach.
Do you want a life coach who works across the timezones? This is immensely beneficial if you're a professional who travels for business most of his/her time. If your coach operates across the timezones, then it really doesn't matter whether it's 3p.m. in New Zealand now and you want your coaching session albeit your life coach resides in Toronto which is 17 hours behind New Zealand! Your coach will make arrangements to be there for you at 3p.m. New Zealand time. See how you'll benefit?
3. Skills and coaching style
What skills or areas of specialization do you want your life coach to have? NLP? Hypnosis? Both in combination? CBT? Ontological? Other? Only you know the answer. And if you don't know the answer, find it before you find your life coach!
Do you want a life coach who has a bias in one area more than others, such as a performance coach, a health coach, or a marriage coach?
What style of coaching would you best respond to? Direct and factual? Metaphorical? Reflective?
4. How do you want your coaching sessions to be conducted?
In person only?
Or you don't mind coaching on the phone?
Or via Skype [video] calls?
Or in a combination of two or all of these means, depending on how you feel for each session?
5. Do you prefer your life coach to be a man or a woman?
6. And finally, the price range. Since coaching is not covered by [in Canada] provincial health insurance plans, the National Health Service in the UK, nor other similar state-funded arrangements in other countries of the world, you'll pay for it out of your pocket. So set your budget and look for a life coach whose fees are within your budget.
