Top 10 Consulting Skills You Must Have as a Life Consultant

Today, hundreds of thousands of people require someone like you to assist them in making significant changes in their lives. Indeed, the International Consulting Federation assessed the market value of personal consultants in the United States at $1.2 billion in 2016, a figure that I anticipate will continue to climb.

These are conscious of the need for betterment in their life but are unsure where to begin. Changing one’s life is not simple, and even a slight nudge in the correct way from a Life Consultant can make all the difference.

However, you are not the only life consultant; there are hundreds more, many of whom may have more expertise in the industry than you have. Indeed, the same International Consulting Federation research I quoted above indicates that the United States had almost 17,200 Life Consultants in 2011.

2011! Therefore, can you imagine the level of rivalry in the life consulting industry today? The dilemma then becomes how to differentiate yourself from the other consultants out there while still assisting your clients in becoming the most refined versions of themselves possible.

Yes, there is marketing, networking, and various ways to promote yourself. However, this will only go you so far. You will acquire clients, but retaining them is another story.

To retain clients, you must provide them with something they cannot accomplish by themselves: guidance toward the life they desire. And to do so, you’ll need specific characteristics and abilities that will inspire people while also identifying you as a Life Consultant capable of actually making a difference.

However, I hear you asking what these qualities and skills are.

That is precisely what I intend to discuss here, so continue reading. Before you know it, your Life Consulting idea will transform into a profitable, sustainable business capable of taking you far.

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Confidentiality Is Critical As A Life Coach

When clients confide in you as a Life Consultant, they do so out of trust and respect for you and your judgment. To earn their trust, you must maintain complete discretion regardless of who contacts you or the circumstances. This is critical to maintaining the credibility of your life coaching business as well.

I can hear you saying, “Why would I ever disclose client information to another party?”

Scenarios vary, particularly when the consultation sessions are paid for by someone other than the client, such as an employer or a family member. When this occurs, you may be split between doing the right thing and keeping a positive connection with a potentially precious client.

However, keep in mind that you were employed to assist people in making a difference in their life. What people reveal to you will be their most intimate emotions and secrets, which carries a significant responsibility to maintain secrecy regardless of the circumstances.

To avoid being requested to expose personal customer information, I recommend that you establish ground rules from the start. Establish precise and unambiguous boundaries for what information will be shared with the third party paying for the sessions.

This will ensure that you never find yourself in a precarious situation and that you preserve your client’s trust and confidence, which are, after all, the most crucial things for you as a Life Consultant.

Life Consultant Skill 2: Maintain an objective perspective

Empathy is a critical consulting skill that a Life Consultant must possess. That is how you can fully comprehend your client’s situation and assist them in achieving their life objective. Ascertaining that you are asking the appropriate life consulting questions is critical to assist you in viewing the client’s concerns objectively. Here’s additional information on how to ask the proper life consulting questions!

However, empathy has the disadvantage of causing you to develop an unhealthy emotional attachment to a particular client and their difficulties. This can obscure your judgment and make it difficult to consult correctly, erasing any beneficial impact you may have had on your client’s life.

The superb method to tackle a client’s concerns is to empathize with them and then take a step back. The only way to assist them properly is to remain impartial, which is impossible until you have emotionally distanced yourself from the circumstance.

First, you must acknowledge that, like everyone else, you are susceptible to your ideas and biases creeping into your decision-making. Accept that you are human and that your unique perspective may cloud your judgment, jeopardizing the good impact you could have on your client’s life.

After you’ve accomplished this, the next stage is to learn how to keep your prejudices out of consulting to be objective in your approach to assisting your client.

However, I recognize that this is easier said than done. Begin simply by recognizing when your prejudice seeps into your consulting. And if you observe something occurring, take ownership of it, comprehend it, and isolate it before sharing your advice and suggestions with your client. Follow these steps, and you’ll be well on your way to developing a more objective mindset.

3rd Life Consultant Skill: Be Compassionate Yet Firm

Your clients come to you because they cannot take the required actions to improve their lives independently. However, even when they employ you to assist them, this inertia may persist, becoming the first significant hurdle you encounter as a Life Consultant.

The most critical step is to set ground rules before beginning sessions with the client. As early as the first meeting, ensure they understand the function you will play in their lives moving forward as a Life Consultant.

They’re paying you to assist them in identifying and confronting the real challenges they’re facing. At times, this reality will be challenging to swallow and cause discomfort. However, it is critical to realize that this discomfort is only temporary and will disappear quickly if you go forward.

And once it does, it will leave your client with a sense of accomplishment for overcoming the obstacles they were encountering, which will only serve to drive them to make more positive changes in other aspects of their lives.

Thus, while you must be supportive as a Life Consultant, this should not come at your expense to take your ground on critical issues. That is the only way you will ever be able to assist your clients in making positive adjustments and evolving for the better in their life.

4th Life Consultant Skill: Recognize Yourself

Once you become a Life Consultant, I promise that the first question people will ask you is, “What exactly does a Life Consultant do?” So, what exactly do you do? It may not sound like a complex topic, but for many new Life Consultants, answering it briefly and clearly can be challenging.

To begin, the question is not truly about what ALL Life Consultants perform. The question is what you do precisely as a Life Consultant and what you can provide someone who has difficulty making meaningful life changes.

This is one response that you need to consider and prepare for when you begin your career as a Life Consultant. Your response should address how you can make the best possible first impression, as you never know whether the person on the other end is a prospective client.

What, then, do you stand for? What services do you provide to your clients? Why do you believe in people’s inherent capacity to change for the better? Your answer to the issue of what you do as a Life Consultant is a compilation of responses to a variety of different questions, each one as critical as the next.

The more you delve into why you want to be a Life Consultant and the innate characteristics that qualify you for the position, the more you’ll understand who you are.

Once there, the answer to what you do as a Life Consultant will become evident. And if it’s clear to you, you’ll be able to transmit it effectively to anyone you interact with.

Life Consultant Skill 5: Be A Self-Taught Individual

You’ve interviewed a few people and conducted your study. Now that you’ve understood what it takes to be a Life Consultant, you’re ready to start. However, consulting encompasses much more than what may be gleaned from secondhand information. Much more.

Consulting is a skill, and like any other skill, you must receive sufficient training to gain a thorough knowledge of what Life Consulting entails. Because without training, you will discover that you are floundering, effectively ending your Life Consulting profession.

This implies that it is critical to invest the time and effort necessary to earn a recognized Life Consulting Certification before you begin. This will polish your existing skills and provide you with a greater understanding of what is expected of you and assist you in honing the skills necessary to do justice to your position as a Life Consultant.

However, certification is only the beginning. The world continues to evolve, and so do people’s problems. And it would help if you adapted alongside them. Supplement the knowledge gained through your Life Consulting certification with other diplomas and part-time degrees in psychology and counseling.

This distinguishes you from the other Life Consultants out there while also providing you with the skills and information necessary to comprehend your clients’ situations and assist them in achieving their life goals.

Life Consultant Skill 6: Relinquish Your Judgment

It is natural to have biases and views that you find objectionable. There are specific areas in which you will have strong feelings, regions in which your clients may irritate you, and try your patience. This rule generally applies, regardless of your life consulting specialty!

However, as a Life Consultant, you must view each client as someone who can teach you something. Because only then can you indeed be able to respect them, and a client-consultant relationship that lacks mutual regard is doomed to fail.

To be a good Life Consultant, you must be able to accept individuals for who they are, regardless of how strong your personal biases may be. Even if you know your biases, it is critical to conceal them and maintain a polite and respectful relationship with your customer.

However, there will be instances when you find a client’s behavior or beliefs entirely undesirable or unsettling. In such instances, it is preferable to decline to engage with that client to prevent entering into a client-consultant relationship that you know will be detrimental to both parties.

7th Life Consulting Skill: Be An Excellent Listener

This should go without saying, but being an excellent listener is one of the most critical talents a Life Consultant must possess. The more attentive and observant you are, the better you understand your client. Without that, assisting your client in making the changes they desire will be a challenging hill to climb.

“However, is this a skill I can acquire if I am not already an excellent listener?” you may inquire.

Without a doubt. As with any other skill, listening and observational abilities may be polished and perfected until you become an empathic and intuitive consultant. A consultant capable of having a positive influence on people’s lives.

Begin by honing your listening skills by conversing with your friends and family. Hear what they have to say without allowing your emotions or perspective to cloud your judgment. No communication takes place in isolation. Each of them results from a collection of experiences and thoughts that have come together at this moment when you are both speaking.

Attempt to elicit these details from your chat. Please take note of their demeanors, tone of voice, and the rate at which they speak. Soon, you’ll notice small details that provide insight into the dialogue that the actual conversation does not.

And by gaining this information, you may react and express in a way that demonstrates to the other person that you understand and care, strengthening your link.

As you continue to practice, observing and listening will become practically automatic, putting you well on your path to becoming an excellent listener.

Life Consultant Skill 8: Avoid Assuming Complete Responsibility

As a Life Consultant, your client has come to you for you to assist them in making positive changes in their lives. Great.

Your natural reaction is to seize control and coerce them into conforming to their ideal self. However, Life Consulting is not about pushing; instead, it is about gently nudging people on the right path. That is your obligation.

Each Life Consulting session should be guided by the client, as they are the only ones who truly understand what they desire. Your goal is to interrogate and direct them to their destination.

Never insist on a client taking a specific path until you are confident they are prepared for it and understand why this road will get them closer to their ideal self. Because you cannot instill something in them, it must come from inside.

Therefore, rein yourself in and act as a guide for your clientele. You will notice a difference in the way your client develops into the person they desire, and they will be glad that you assisted them in becoming more connected to their inner, genuine self.

9th Life Consultant Skill: Be Adaptable

What do you envision when you consider your career as a Life Consultant? Are you seated in an office with your customer on an excellent couch, listening to them discuss their problems?

Sorry to burst your bubble; this will not always be the case. Typically, your consumers will require your assistance when you least expect it, and they will be in a hurry. In such circumstances, scheduling a session for a later date when both of you can find time to sit across and discuss the topic that is bothering them will be impossible.

That is why most Life Consultants consult their customers by phone or an online video conferencing site like Skype. And if you are not yet comfortable speaking efficiently and comfortably via various means, this is a talent you will need to develop.

You can begin by having more phone discussions with acquaintances rather than texting them. This will train you to converse over the phone, picking up on their inflections and emotions without the aid of visual indicators.

Additionally, there are courses available to assist you in improving. While many of them are geared toward the broader development of your communication abilities, some include parts on phone or video call conversations to assist you in becoming more acquainted with the concept.

Life Consultant Skill 10: Maintain a Dreaming Mindset

As a Life Consultant, it is your responsibility to assist your clients in becoming the persons they desire to be. Their hopes and desires are laid bare in front of you, and it is up to you to assist them in moving closer to and achieving their goals in the most beneficial manner possible.

However, as you progress, you may realize that, while you are receiving a lot of work, you are not receiving a lot of money. And believe me when I say that I understand how it feels to spiral downward, questioning yourself, your actions, and everything that is going on in your life at the time.

Do not be concerned about the negatives; no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to erase them. Rather than that, please focus on the benefits, regardless of how tiny they may be. Celebrate your small victories, such as your first client, your first positive reference, or even your first salary as a Life Consultant.

Each of these is a significant milestone that you should cherish, especially when negative thoughts begin to flood your mind. These small victories will propel you forward and push you to keep dreaming big.

The bigger your aspirations are, the more motivated you will be to pursue them. And before you know it, you’ll have a queue of clients standing outside your door, eager to meet the Life Consultant who has the potential to transform their lives.

That is how you will fulfill your ambition of owning a profitable Life Consulting firm.