While researching different types of coaches (life, career, and executive), I uncovered a refreshing business model from a millennial career coach, Lea Berry. Her program includes coaching, career bootcamps, seminars, personal branding, and an assortment of career services for millennials.
I met Lea Berry last year on LinkedIn when she launched one of her business offerings. With a background as a certified career coach, she and her business partner Roger (who is also her husband) offer an assortment of career services and events. Most importantly, they deliver services for employees who are restless or unhappy with their current situation.
Before elaborating on Lea’s business model, let’s take a brief look at the market. After that, you can comprehend the distinct differences defined by millennial professionals and their coaches
When I started interviewing coaches to better understand the profession, I had no idea there were so many hybrid approaches. For example, some coaches integrate the teachings of yoga into their practice. And, others like Casey Carrol integrate branding with life coaching.
Moreover, there are numerous types of training certifications. Some of them are accredited, and many others are not. Accreditation is offered by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), and Continuing Coach Education (CCE).
A recent search on the International Coaching Federation site resulted in 1877 accredited training programs. Wow! The coaching profession is a fractured industry.
Consequently, choosing a professional to help you with your career is a decision worthy of your research.
And, similar to how they have changed the workplace, millennials as coaches are adapting to their cohort’s needs for personalized career navigation.
Lea Berry was first inspired by one of the most highly visible life coaches, Marie Forleo, who has helped millions of millennials build their businesses via her B-school and Marie-TV trainings. As a GenXer and business pioneer, Marie’s insights into what millennials want with their careers and businesses is a precursor to the generation that challenges the norms of work-life.
With strong positioning as a millennial career coach, Lea helps her generation explore and research what it means to work. And, also why they work and how they work. She poses thoughtful questions and provides some answers in her social presence.
Further, Lea is a content producer, devoting a significant portion of her time contributing to relevant career online conversation.
Her services are visible via webinars, blogs, and social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. She experiments with new product development in an agile way, catering to feedback from her clients.
In other words, if clients request a service, it’s likely Lea and Roger will develop a relevant service.
Her most recent online activities include a Career Accelerator Program (group coaching) Self-Love Challenge, Overcoming Your Imposter sessions. In addition, she offers a resume coaching and interview bootcamp. Some of these activities are services and others are offered to people free of charge to build community and stimulate conversation.
Like lean product developers and smart marketers, Lea and Roger Berry experiment to stay current with what is needed and most effective for their audience.
As a team, they’ve found success in hosting in-person bootcamps, retreats, workshops, and happy hours. For example, they created a Build + Inspire personal and professional retreat that was held earlier this year.
In addition, Lea and Roger also package and deliver trainings customized for a corporate environment to suit the needs of managers and talent directors.
I am intrigued by their ability to provide cost-effective solutions to those not ready or financially able to invest in a 1:1 coaching experience.
The concepts of a one-stop shop or a full-service business model come to mind. However, this is about cost, convenience, and engagement preference. Some millennials may have less to invest in high-end services. Yet, they benefit from relevant offerings to advance their ideas and careers.
Lea and Roger Berry provide multiple offerings to service the many needs and interests of job searchers and career wonderers. Further, their full-service or integrated model of career services include the following:
Let’s delve into more of Lea’s thinking in this brief Q & A. It may clarify your thinking about hiring a coach or becoming one yourself.
Marti: What is your definition of a coach?
Lea: A coach is a partner who understands how to work toward your goals through challenges, wins and everything that life throws at you.
Marti: What type of coach are you?
Lea: I am a life & career coach for those who wants to change, shift, or enhance what they are already doing in their careers.
Marti: Why did you become a coach?
Lea: I am fascinated by human behavior, motivation, and what it takes to create true success. I believe that success is different for everyone, and in order to truly achieve it – you need to be fully authentic with yourself. I grew up with a matriarch type family and there were always lessons, stories and conversations around why we do what we do – this became my lasting passion and why I chose to become a coach.
Marti: How did you decide what type of coach you would pursue?
Lea: I always knew I wanted to work in the career space. I’m very passionate about helping people achieve their goals and navigate the workplace.
Marti: Why do people work with you?
Lea: They work with me for the experience, insights, and true to life stories that I share with them. The real-life aspect of this work is unique compared to other industries. While consulting and mentoring are based on giving advice – coaching allows the client to empower themselves. This in my opinion leads to bigger and better results. My clients walk away more confident in who they are and what they want to be doing.
Marti: What type of certification did you get?
Lea: I received a CPC credential through iPEC.
Marti: What are the top questions that people ask you?
Lea: 1. Why did you become a life coach? 2. How does one get into life coaching? 3. How do I figure out what I should do next?
Marti: What are the top 3 questions you ask them?
Lea: 1. Why are you in your current career? 2. What do you really care about? 3. What can you walk away from this with?
Marti: What are typical problems you help people solve?
Lea: Figuring out what they want to do next in their career, telling their story on paper and in person, and navigating the competitive job market.
Marti: What are the top reasons people seek out help from a coach?
Lea: They are completely fed up with accepting their current job and feel overwhelmed on where to start, unsure where to start, and isolated from asking friends and family who may not “get” where their head is at right now.
Marti: How long do you work with individuals?
Lea: Usually 6 months to 1 year, but I keep in contact with almost all of my clients with new updates and stories which I LOVE.
Marti: What are the benefits of working with a coach?
Lea: Increased confidence, happiness, $, influence, fun, enjoyment, improved health.
Lea keeps focuses her eye on trends. As a result, she meets market needs and adds an element of fun, crafting a new model for working with millennial careerists. Her agile mindset enables her to offer a mix of career training, life coaching, and career coaching.
Meanwhile, as a millennial career coach, Lea seeds the market with valuable content, attracting people to her business. Her pipeline of interested people lead to abundance vs. scarcity. This is in contrast to other coaching recruitment models that may rely on word-of-mouth, or more traditional marketing methods.
In conclusion, there is a strong benefit to an agile mindset, with a flair toward experimentation, when building and sustaining a coaching and training business.
About Lea
Lea Berry is a certified professional Life and Career Coach with expertise in organizational motivation and workforce training and development. She is committed to helping millennials find their career calling and successfully navigate the job market. Website Instagram
Want more articles like this? Check out:
How to Reinvent Yourself with a Career Coach
What is a Career Coach and Who Needs One?
How to Become a Life Coach: An Interview with Casey Carroll
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