Life Coaching Styles: Is It Best to Coach Your Clients In-Person or Virtually?

As the founder of Brave Thinking Institute, I’m often asked which method of coaching clients is best: virtually or in-person?

The answer is that one isn’t necessarily better than the other…

But they both have their pros and cons, and which one is best for YOU will depend on your personality and the kind of life and life coaching business that you’d love to create.

I believe that life coaching is both a sacred calling, and one of the most rewarding professions you can pursue. As a heart-centered life coach, not only do you have the opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of your clients, but you also have the freedom to set your own hours and work from anywhere you choose.

RELATED: What is a life coach?

So if you’re thinking about becoming a life coach, or you already are one but you want some guidance on how to best serve your clients and grow your business, keep reading to discover which life coaching style is the best fit for you. 

Face-to-face vs. virtually? Freedom and flexibility vs. more engagement?

In-person coaching

Pros:

Whether you’re coaching clients one-on-one or in a group, in-person coaching allows you to interact more closely with your client, to share your energy with them, and to bond with them on a level that can be hard to match if you are coaching by phone or Skype.

Coaching clients in person and in a group environment can also give them the ability to network with their fellow students!

This gives your clients the added benefit of peer inspiration, productivity and momentum that can propel them quickly toward their dreams.

Cons:

In-person coaching offers less flexibility than coaching clients virtually.

With the in-person life coaching style, you need to either stick with coaching clients in your geographic area, or host events that are life-changing enough that people will want to travel to them.

If you want to travel yourself, you’ll need to either arrange a coaching program or event in the area to which you’re traveling, or temporarily put your life coaching business on hold while you’re away.

Virtual coaching

The pros:

Coaching your clients virtually, either by phone or Skype, offers you the opportunity for a huge amount of flexibility in your life coaching business.

With this life coaching style, you can coach your clients from anywhere in the world.

In fact, one of our certified life coaches had a client whose dream was to run in a marathon atop the Great Wall of China.

Janette heard this and thought,

“That is such a wonderful dream. I would love that dream, too!”

And the client said,

“Well then, come with me!”

Janette checked her calendar, and saw that she had a full roster of clients.

But because she coached all of her clients by phone or Skype, she went to China, ran the marathon, and coached her clients from her hotel room on the other side of the world!

The cons:

As I mentioned above, coaching your clients by phone or Skype may not give you the same level of personal connection and shared energy as the face-to-face, in-person life coaching style.

Some people worry about not being tech-savvy enough (although we’ve pulled some resources together to help you get over that).

However, if you have a proven, step-by-step transformational curriculum to guide your clients through (as we give our coaches at Brave Thinking Institute), your clients will still experience extraordinary results that transform their lives.

So what’s best for you, in-person or virtual coaching?

If you don’t travel very much, you prefer working with people face-to-face, and you live in a populous area where you have the opportunity to connect with many people who may be interested in life coaching… than in-person coaching is likely the best life coaching style for you.

If you like a lot of freedom and flexibility in your schedule, you love to travel often, and you live in a small town or rural area and you want to seek clients from more populous places, virtual coaching may be the best option for you.

My favorite solution is to use a hybrid style

Personally, I use a combination of in-person coaching at my various events, and virtual group coaching calls to allow me to serve many clients at once, while giving me the freedom and flexibility to travel.

Bottom line, as a life coach, you get to design the business and a life that you love, just as you support your clients in creating lives that they love.

So the life coaching style you select, either virtually or in-person, ultimately comes down to what you would love most.

For more proven, step-by-step strategies on how to start or grow a successful life-coaching business that makes a profound and lasting difference in the lives of others while creating a life you love, click here to download my FREE ebook, Are You Meant to Be a Life Coach?