Would You Hire A Dolphin To Be Your Life Coach?

I bet you like dolphins don’t you?

Everybody loves dolphins, even Great White Sharks love them (for lunch), so I think it’s fair to say dolphin love is universal.

After all, they’re intelligent,  adorable and always seem to be smiling and looking on the bright side of life..

They can also do cute tricks, are grateful for the fish and never eat human beings unlike the aforementioned nasty Great White.

What’s not to love about all that?

But Would You Hire A Dolphin To Be Your Life Coach?

My guess is you probably wouldn’t.

Leaving aside the logistical headache of needing two tons of fish to satisfy their excessive payment terms, and having to learn scuba diving (they only ever do face-to-face coaching as Skype is even more unreliable under water), they just don’t make great Life Coaches.

Their questioning techniques are very poor due to an inability to talk English or any other human language.

Sure they may be great listeners and will always give you an encouraging grin and high pitched squeak when you hit a goal, but is that really enough, or would you expect a tad more from your Life Coach?

How About A Sunset?

I’m presuming you’d not hire a dolphin, but what about a glorious, stunning and majestic sunset?

No? Seriously? Well that’s disappointing because we’re talking about the power of the Universe here and surely having the Universe as your coach would be a good thing?

So we have ruled out dolphins and sunsets. What about a logo, would you hire a logo to be your coach?

No?

Jeez I’m trying here, who would you hire then Mr or Ms Picky?

You Probably Want To Hire A Human Being, Right?

I suppose that’s sensible as Human Beings do make great Life Coaches.

In fact I’d go as go as far to say that if you were to compile a list of the 1,000 most effective Life Coaches in the world there wouldn’t be any cute aquatic mammals, forces of nature or trademarks on the list.

Isn’t it weird that we know people hire people to become their Life Coaches, yet some Coaches offer as the first point of contact an image of something totally abstract.

I have seen a Life Coach use a dolphin as an avatar on Social Media. I have also seen sunsets, beaches, cartoon, logos, quotes and possibly the worst of the bunch, an empty avatar.

The Life Coaching relationship is a close one, or at least it should be. People will hire you first and foremost because they connect with and like you.

You’re A Life Coach Not Nike, Apple, Or Starbucks

Having something other than yourself as an avatar or on your website home page will not help promote that connection.

On several occasions I have had Life Coaches who I was working with tell me they are too nervous to put a picture of themselves on their site or as a Social Media avatar.

The reasons have varied from social anxiety to being overweight to the quite ridiculous, “I’m unattractive”, which I have heard twice.

I could easily compile a list of successful Life Coaches who are not exactly oil paintings and guess what, I’d be near the top!

Side note here: I once posted on A Daring Adventure that I thought I possessed the looks of Brad Pitt and a body to make Zeus weep with shame.

Shortly after I got an e-mail from a lady informing me I was an arrogant ass and she’d unsubscribed. I sent a one line reply, “Do you not think I have mirrors in my house?”

The only people who judge a Life Coach on his or her looks are the kind of people you don’t want as clients because you’re going to waste hours trying to gently help them understand they are a judgmental bastard!

Life Coaching is brutally competitive as I’m sure you know. As such you need to use every possible method to connect quickly with people who land on your website or meet you on Social Media.

A nice warm, welcoming smiling picture of yourself is the single most effective way to do that.

Your business is about connecting, if you can’t or won’t connect with people do yourself a favor and take up another career.

Installing An Avatar

if you are new to all this Social Media malarkey you may not know how to install an avatar that is tied to your e-mail address and will follow you everywhere.

Many applications these days will allow you to use your Facebook or Twitter profile picture. However there are still thousands of blogs (mine included) that don’t and this is where you need a gravatar (a globally recognized avatar).

You can click here to install one. It’s dead easy,  entirely free and means that when you leave a blog comment people see you and not some randomly generated image.

Just no dolphins. Ok? Are we clear on the dolphin front?

Image: ‘Dolphin’ Courtesy of Leo Reynolds