Coaching is a popular occupation these days - and just about anyone can call themselves a coach. Life coaches, executive coaches, and business coaches all operate in an unregulated marketplace. Many coaches belong to one of the professional coaching associations, but it's not a condition of practice. Some coaches work within a defined learning structure and undergo regular assessment, while others coach because they think they can.

There's a paradox for sole practitioner coaches. They became a coach because they enjoy human interaction - and yet they've ended up working alone. Great coaches need feedback and challenge if they're to be effective and who better to give guidance than an experienced coach? This mentoring process is akin to a supervisor working with a counsellor or psychotherapist.

Coaches enjoy working with people to change their behaviour, grow their business and improve their life. They help people achieve their goals, often re-defining those goals along the way.

In particular, coaches say they came into the job:

• for better job satisfaction by helping others
• to maximise working time flexibility - other commitments can be accommodated around coaching sessions to align your work values with your life values
• because being a coach brings personal development and coaches grow as clients learn
• low overheads reduce the worry of a regular and fixed financial outlay.

Working in a coaching community brings further benefits:

• steeper learning curve gives clients maximum value
• personal growth through feedback and learning
• well-tried coaching models and processes
• stimulating dialogue with other professionals in the same field
• varied learning examples to show clients alternative approaches to thought and action
• within a large coaching community, such as a global organisation, coaches enjoy working in a multi-cultural environment - and this in turn adds to their own client credibility
• client leads from other coaches.

Coaches come from all walks of life and typical backgrounds include line management, staff roles such as learning and development, sales or general management. Clients say women returners and those who've taken early retirement bring a wealth of business wisdom, while younger coaches bring the youthful challenge of fresh eyes to a business scenario.

The coaching profession brings job satisfaction, variety, personal growth, and independence - plus the potential to create a steady income stream through regular, scheduled client sessions. There aren't many jobs that can deliver all this, while at the same time bringing personal freedom and flexibility.

Part one looked at coaching from a business perspective.

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