The 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic has made almost all of the globe re-evaluate the long-term and short-term goals of their business… and the coaching industry is no different.

From massive layoffs & furloughs to big corporations declaring bankruptcy, to absolutely every large gathering or live event canceled until at least 2021; cross-functionally destroying layers of industry from transportation to publicity, not since the Great Recession of 2008 has there been such an upheaval in the markets of commerce and trade, felt by literally…everyone.

But this time has hit much harder and has been far more expansively income-crushing across the entire globe, with many impatient prior-employed people researching “how to start a side-hustle” or get online training to boost their resume; start a new career all-together (40% of jobs may never come back), or even planning to leave the corporate world altogether to build a start-up business from the trusty word-of-mouth referrals method and direct network marketing, if that is even a possibility against unemployment checks that has cast a safety net over some families. Click this link to read up on various side hustles.

A lot of “essential workers” at times, being paid less than just staying at home and collecting.

Coming from us at Ultimate Spark! Coaching, a fast-emerging 5-star rated coaching certification described as “exceptional” and “holistically empowering”, aforementioned coaching areas below are our 6 best areas of focus and redirection for you as celebrated in our 90-day program.

If it feels like it is time for you to “multi-niche” or switch your coaching industry focus altogether, read on to find out what we deem as the Future of the Coaching Industry hottest trends.

#1. Life Coaching

“Coaching is an ongoing relationship between the professional coach and the client, which focuses on the client taking action toward the realization of their vision, goals or desires.”

International Coaching Federation

Coming from being a ICF-certified Life, Business & Law of Attraction Coach myself, being multi-niche has allowed me to be more flexible with my clientele and eventually design my own coaching certification that has certified 135 new coaches on..drumroll… finding their own niche prior to entering the market (which makes sense rather than just winging it against the market.)

The journey through these 6 niches has been incredibly self-exploratory for the coaches, as much as it inspired and drove me as their “Coach Trainer” to become better on multiple levels for my students right back.

But… if I didn’t spend the last 7 years exploring the process of coaching my clients in multiple areas first; as a Life, Business and Law of Attraction Coach, even doing this in Miami, NYC and now Chicago (all different types of energy of people)…well, I would not have grown so very much as a person to have even created my program that…Ta Da!

Let’s one explore many niches prior to entering the market… Ah! The Beautiful Journey.

Isn’t that the point of coaching, reaching our potential anyway?

With the U.S. estimated market value of personal coaching at “$955 million in 2015” “1.02 billion in 2016” and at a “6.7% growth, this will be reaching 1.34 Billion by 2022” (www.MarketResearch.com),

Life Coaching is here to stay and with the current Covid-19 situation making mental health issues our next sad global illness to remedy (it’s actually Mental Health Month here in May 2020), the timing cannot be better to help your business clients on their: long-term life goals, confidence, motivation and life issues to truly support their self-development, learning and growing and…to come up with a strong plan of action post Covid-19 and into 2021, and perhaps, even the next few years.

As Tony Robbins shared, “Training by itself increased client productivity by 22.4%, but training combined with weekly life coaching increased client productivity by 88%”..

So is it very important that the “cash” and the “mindset” of your clients are both properly balanced and that we all get back into the game of life to 360 degrees by supporting their BUSINESSES!

#2. Business Coaching 2.0

(Expand your Audiences or Shift your Pricing)

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

– Michael Jordan

So you are all about helping your clients identify business strategies and opportunities for creating business growth, increasing revenue, becoming a more effective leader, thriving in hard times, recruiting and retaining top talent (the list goes on).

What I love most about business coaching is the numbers! We can get mentally into the game with life coaching, but with BUSINESS coaching, the game is literally scored! From percentages to price quotes, to conversion rates, to time frames, budgets, margins, profits and assets vs. liabilities, etc., it is easy to understand why so many of you choose business Coaching as the track in the first place.

But with the current issues of Covid-19, with nearly everyone’s businesses or employment status devastated or affected in some way across the globe, can’t you adjust your pricing to support those who lost their jobs just… a little bit? Or:

• Offer a freebie or free trial? Focus on struggling mid-size businesses getting back on the right path with your coaching via payment plans?
• How about offering free Financial Management training online or tools so THEY can afford your services later on?
• Navigate the cost/expense ratio of hiring new employees against the budget, sooner rather than later?

Then there is the possibility of perhaps, coaching a new audience. You were coaching corporate CEO’s before…now how about now you give a little back and also coach single mothers in a group coaching experience, because well… you were once a single mother yourself (albeit now.. a 6 figure one).

How about this:

“Forrester has predicted that the global loss in the retail sector will likely hit $2.1 trillion in 2020 and will take four years to overtake the levels of growth seen before the pandemic.

Although the impact will likely vary across different regions, it is thought that non-grocery offline sales will see a 20% decline in growth overall, while eCommerce growth will remain mostly neutral according to posts like this eCom Babes reviews.

In the US, sales are expected to drop by $321 billion this year, down 9.1% from 2019, and there’s a similar picture for Canadian retail spending, which is predicted to fall 7.7% (a loss of $25 billion).” (https://econsultancy.com).

The retail industry and business of all sizes need your help now.

Perhaps time to switch up a few things?                                   

#3. Health Coaching

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”

Mahatma Gandhi

If I had to put my money on the best niche to break into for 2020 and probably the next 5 years, it would be for sure Health Coaching, 100%.

With the expectation that “Health Coaching Market Revenue Will Grow By $1.7 Billion By 2022, New Research Data Says” (MarketResearch) and this was written prior to Covid-19, imagining how obsessive the entire globe has gotten about their health during Covid-19…my hand is raised as well…

And we predict it won’t be changing for a long time, so this might be your time to fly high and ride that wave into the Health Coaching track.

Think about it: Anyone who has been thinking about losing weight…quitting cigarettes…meditating to balance life or career stress…boosting their immune system with proper nutrition..quit any addictions…building stronger social support systems for mental well-being…I mean, many potential clients are eager to work with a Health Coach or will soon be.

Connecting this with the “Business Coaching” niche, maybe this means you will start helping Corporations or small to mid-sized businesses by creating a Corporate Wellness program or setting up a Health Fair.

Maybe focus on coaching executives or the C-Suite on enhancing “work/life balance” on their own lives about the stresses of the furloughs and layoffs on their mental health, or especially health resources for their current staff of very loyal employees.

There is a lot more you can do with your Business Coaching track than just looking at the numbers, maybe looking at strategies to lessen the numbers of potential sick days coming up in 2021?

#4. Relationship/Love Coaching

“As for my secret to staying married, my wife tells me that if I ever decide to leave, she is coming with me.”

– Jon Bon Jovi

The effect of Covid-19 on marriages, families and relationships has been extreme, to say the least.

As stated, “A wave of divorce filings is expected to break across the country when COVID-19 confinement ends, according to several divorce attorneys…Tension bred by forced proximity is only one reason cited for a spike in divorce after the COVID-19 crisis. Katz has found that it may also be due to the fact that people are coming to terms with their mortality and want to make positive changes in their lives.” (ABCNews).

And many people who are thinking about finally becoming a Love, Family or Relationship Coach should really think about it some more. We two thumbs up approve.

Then there are the financial aspects of divorce & dirty breakups, the splitting up of material or financial resources, the coordinated costs of move-outs, the heated deferred rental payment arrangements to landlords, sharp increases in domestic violence and child abuse, and even legal expenses for court cases on any of these things, all giving the opportunity for a new plan of action Business Coaching-wise, per a better family-planning solution post Covid-19.

With everyone’s mortality on the table and time being more precious than ever, people worldwide are finally determining that self-love and self-sufficiency is the real need AND solution…and that hiring a  Relationship Coach for oneself after all the debris settles might be that first step to proper “time-management”.

#5. Relaxation and Play Coaching

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it solely on these accounts”

– Mark Twain

The Travel Industry has had an incredible once-in-a-century type of upheaval and utter pause due to Covid-19, not to mention the complete and absolute closure of all small or large gatherings, festivals, concerts and all live events in general on the face of the Earth…so much so that not one beach, hiking trail or park has been left for the population to relax at.. Talk about overkill.

As shared, “In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, few industries have fallen as far and as fast as tourism.

The technological revolution that brought us closer together by making travel and tourism easy and affordable—a revolution that fueled one billion trips a year—is helpless in halting a virus that demands we shelter in place.

Taking a snapshot of tourism losses is difficult, as the data changes as quickly as the virus spreads. If the pandemic continues for several more months, the World Travel and Tourism Council, the trade group representing major global travel companies, projects a global loss of 75 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in revenue.

Losses come daily; as of April 2, British Airways is reportedly poised to suspend 36,000 staffers.” (National Geographic)

But people will demand travel post-Covid-19 and there will be a lot of it! Get ready to pack your bags and bikini, because it will be on!

When I first designed my course, I envisioned the Relaxation & Play category to be a fast-approaching trend of the future, but little did I imagine a virus would be the cause of this.

Sitting at home for months, some people saving a lot of money due to not expending resources on other non-essential entertainment or social activity, nights-out-in-the-town, dinners with friends and the such..trust me when I say post Covid-19, being a Relaxation & Play Coach will matter a lot, and it might be time to consider it.

Whether it is corporations that realize that virtual happy hours DO matter, but in REAL LIFE…(who knew?) and morale-boosting team-building social events should be the norm for employee wellness on the regular, not as a function, Relaxation, and Play, or so-called “Work/Life Balance”, coaches will be in demand.

What also will be realized is that those national conferences, team-building retreats, and meetings with new people face-to-face at trade shows actually MATTERED for business growth and was actually a seriously good expense on the budget. GSE AV recommends using video walls to make your tradeshow booth more engaging and interesting.

That relationships and first impressions are better made first in-person, not ZOOM (how tired are we all of virtual summits really?).

Or the matter of people at home needing someone to help them restructure their schedules due to kids being homeschooled, or maybe working remotely for real forever…and learning how to stop the workday.

Well, Relaxation & Play Coaches will soon fulfill that need.

Plus helping to direct people on how to financially budget right for those who have canceled travel plans this time around, hosting new social events with sanitary concerns in place, and building the confidence to travel far and wide & meeting new faces that make our lives so much more meaningful.

And finally…

#6. Spirituality Coaching

“Spirituality is not the renunciation of life; it is the art of living fully.” 

Acharya Prashant

The transcendental life is what matters now…family, friends, and our passions and hobbies. Not the numbers that exist in our bank accounts, nor how much we can all invest for the next few generations “just-in case” since it has been proven just bluntly that our lives can certainly change in just a split moment.

With something as disruptive as a global pandemic like Covid-19, people simply have realized what truly matters.

That they have full responsibility over their remaining time on Earth and a karmic responsibility to the environment, all creatures that live on this planet and each other.

Being one globe experiencing this terrible thing together, makes all of us a collective and the emotions felt “Universal”, there is no denying the value of Spirituality Coaching in our times.

It might be important post-Covid 19 as a Business Coach to see the “Spirituality of Money” and how people will respond differently to the use of their time for trade of numbers in a bank account, countless years and decades exchanged for material resources that clutter our houses and ruin our planet..how at times we have wrecked our immune systems by trading toxic work environments for a salary, false partners and long air-polluting commutes…how at the end of the day, the #1 thing to take care of first is YOU..and your mind, body, and spirit.

That is is not about pharmaceuticals, not about vaccines and it’s power plays, but rather it is about our food supply system, the access to unbiased, honest and free education, our basic survival needs met as a society, the liberty to be self-sufficient in creating our own resources like farming, that the mind has scientifically proven to heal the body just based on thought and the “placebo effect” not due to a pill..

….and that no one wants to grow old and be dependent on a harsh and unpredictable medical system that is reliant on politics and power.

That the simpler way of life has more MEANING..and we are responsible for each other globally on an environmental level and there are things to care about and remember, holistic & natural things that the ancients have always used and known, and we need to focus on preventive care, not fix the issue after the matter.

As the famous Indian Guru Deepak Chopra shared with CNBC (April 2020)..

“Here are three levels of response to the COVID-19 outbreak:

• How it affects us physically, mentally, and spiritually.
• The physical response came first, and by now everyone knows about self-isolation, social distancing, and testing.
• The second effect, on our psyches, is being experienced personally but with only fitful answers and advice.
• The best advice in the mental area is meditation and yoga, relaxation techniques, and paying attention every day to finding not just relaxation but joy and comfort in your life.”

So too must we all connect with our own mental health BEFORE business.

Now..Business Coaches..so how is YOUR current mental health?

Returning to one’s intrinsic life values might be the right path to re-direct or strengthen your Business Coaching practice… for 2021 and beyond in exciting, new areas of the future that certainly have a strong need…

Are you ready & prepared to contribute to this new world?

by Emily Correa