Personal Mentoring – A Blossoming Industry?

Personal Mentoring is an industry undergoing heavy growth in recent years as the reemergence of delegating begins to hit personal development. It’s hard to initially figure out whether this is something we should be lauding or some we should be frowning upon. Should we be encouraging the proactive step of hiring someone who will work with you to develop yourself, or should we see it as a sign of apathy towards personal development?

Well, Loral Langemeier seems to think it’s a good thing. Loral Langemeier has a large presence in the online mentoring field, and her company has grown so large that she now has a team to actually provide coaching classes to clients. Recently she plugged her new book in The Huffington Post:

“In my upcoming book, Put More Cash In Your Pocket, I show you a simple and straightforward approach that will help you put more cash, $1000 or more a month, in your pocket in no time. I’ve helped thousands of people make extra cash fast — people from all different backgrounds, in a variety of situations, all over the world. People just like you. And I do it by helping you to make your life bigger, not smaller.”

This sort of elevator pitch sets Loral Langemeier up as a ‘make $$$ with my book’ “Guru” rather than a considered and professional adviser. However I don’t think that spot truly reflected what Loral is about, and in any case. In fact, a proactive approach to starting a new business, as she recommends to those who buy her book, is a good decision that I recommend to others everyday.

Many have spotted the irony of hiring someone to help you with ‘personal development’, however what I’d say to those people is this: Have you ever read a personal development blog? Have you ever read a personal development book? If so, then in the same way you have allowed others to influence your personal development. And so on consideration, I believe that hiring coaches makes as much sense as reading a good book on the subject. Receiving good knowledge from a mentor can only aid your journey.

What about the fees that these coaches charge? Well, I believe that the decision to hire them is clearly down to the individual. Many people do believe they’re getting good value for money from coaches, and hence the industry has continuing. You cannot really place a value on being inspired, and this means that everyone has a different opinion on how much a life coach should cost.

Ultimately, I don’t see the growth of the life coaching industry as a sign of apathy. In fact, that people are willing to spend up to £100 per hour on a coach to aid them to do so, only reflects the increased importance people have actually placed upon it!