Coaching vs. Consulting

Have you ever wondered what is the difference between a Coach and a Consultant? Find out in this new article.

In 2018, I wanted to reset my business after some time off. Since I was a child, I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. After graduating from Business School, I have been successful, and failed as well, losing everything in the process. I know what failure feels like, at the business level (no more cash, payment recovery, …) but also at the psychological level (no more motivation, anxiety, burnout, several months of depression). No matter how hard life seems to get, there is a moment when you feel at the bottom of the pit, and you just want to climb back up. That moment was when I decided to enroll in a world-class online program to build my consulting business. I had taken their online free webinar, it seemed credible and professional, and I ended up signing up for the course, investing $2500 (a financial stretch for me at the time).

A few months into the class, I had increased my coaching fees and gained confidence, a good return on investment. I could do that thanks to a great decision I made: taking a full time job as a Career Coach. This allowed me to build my confidence and coaching skills through work, while serving others, and having a steady cashflow that would remove my anxiety around money.

There was a caveat though. I discovered how much time I would need to spend online to build my business, and how much time I was spending on screens. Furthermore, I did not resonate with the label “Consultant”. A consultant is an expert in his field. I do not see myself as an expert. As a consultant, you pick a niche, and you focus your attention on serving clients in that niche. Investing in this class taught me one thing: I do not want to be a consultant. I do not want to do online marketing.

What I do is called coaching. In coaching, the client is the expert in his own life. My coach, Rich Litvin, is not an expert in everything I am an expert in. In fact, I enjoy that he is very different from me, including at a spiritual level. This is what helps me the most. He asks me the right questions. He challenges me and my blind spots. Last December I spent 3 days being coached by him in Los Angeles, and boy did his coaching transform me.

In coaching, I use my right brain hemisphere, which is responsible for the use of intuition. This allows me to tune into my clients needs and aspirations, without buying into the story that holds them back. In consulting, the left hemisphere is more used, using logic, rationality, processes and models. Obviously, an expert consultant can be highly intuitive, and an excellent coach uses models and frameworks as well. But overall, the type of coaching I practice is highly intuitive, which is why it delivers such great results.

To understand some fundamental distinctions between coaching and consulting, you can look at the table below:

So, what do you need the most?

Do you need somebody to tell you what to do and provide you with answers?

Or do you need somebody to challenge you and ask you the right questions?

If you feel that you need a coach, you might not really need a coach. What you might need is to focus on what is important and some of the basics to run your business. If you still think you need a coach, it can be helpful to know that they are two categories of coaches:

Coaches and High-Performance Coaches.

Coaches can help you with goal setting, to motivate you and hold you accountable.

However, if you are already a High Performer, you probably don’t need a coach. You are already driven, you already set goals for yourself, you don’t need external motivation, and you show up for yourself. And, as a High Performer, you are probably a champion of keeping help out, because you feel that self-reliance is key to your success. That is when a High-Performance coach can be of most benefit to you.

A High-Performance Coach will challenge you more than you challenge yourself, he will help you dream bigger than you dared to dream and achieve truly impossible goals. He will help you to do so effortlessly, tapping into your Zone of Genius, and playing at your edge. He will help you feel more alive than ever and achieve ever greater success while having fun.

There are thousands of coaches out there in the world, but only a handful can truly help High Performers get to the next level of their game.

If you are a High Performer, and would like to discuss your next big challenge, feel free to reach out to have a conversation.