Do you hear the phrase “life coach” and involuntarily cringe or roll your eyes? If so, I don’t blame you. In fact, we are not so different, you and I. Thanks to the widely held belief that coaching can be done by anyone with some life experience and advice to give, the profession of coaching has gained a questionable reputation. For most of my life, I held the idea that coaching is for people who are somehow weak-minded and unable to make smart decisions for themselves. I mean, why would any reasonably intelligent, mature adult need someone to tell them how to live?
Like many people, I spent the pandemic years re-evaluating myself and how I want to live my life. I took some classes, worked on myself, and became a mother. As any parent can attest, the addition of a child rocked my world in many ways, mostly good, but still… That change combined with COVID-related travel restrictions really curtailed my wanderlust (Any airfare expense has now doubled!), and I had to identify new passions. One of those passions has turned out to be professional coaching.
As my “About Me” paragraph now states I am an ICF accredited Professional Coach, specializing in Travel Coaching as well as Career and Leadership Coaching. I now have over 100 hours and more than a year of coaching experience. I have completed ICF accredited coaching courses at both George Mason University and The Travel Coach Network.
One of the first things I learned through my studies is that coaching is NOT about giving advice, or even mentoring. Coaching is client-led, future-focused and goal oriented. As your coach, I can help you identify your strengths, resources and barriers, and help you design strategies to accomplish your goals. With me as your coach, you will be able to gain self-awareness and turn challenges into victories. The goal of each session or series of sessions is determined by the client and can change as the client’s needs change. As mentioned above, my specialization is in travel coaching, but many of my coaching hours were earned providing executive career coaching as well as general life and relationship coaching.
If you are interested in trying out coaching, I offer one introductory session free of charge. During this session, we will spend approximately 15-30 minutes discussing both of our expectations of our time together and any overarching challenges or goals you may have. Afterwards, if you feel that coaching is for you, we will continue into a complimentary 30 minute coaching session, After our free session, I will send you a fee schedule for any future coaching sessions. Email me at eatshoptour@gmail.com to set up your complimentary session!
Wendy S. Ham
Founder, Eat Shop Tour LLC