What Kind of Support Can I Get From a Budget Coach?

People seek coaching services for a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons fall under the umbrella of either needing expertise or support.  Budget coaches can have expertise in financial matters, a life coaching or personal coaching background, expertise in the particular software that they’re using and many other areas. Budget coaches might also specialize in specific areas where they have greater expertise than other coaches. Perhaps they are also CPAs or provide executive coaching, career coaching or business coaching. Others specialize in neurodiverse brains, mental health or budgeting for families. Once you have found a coach who has expertise in the areas that are important to you, the next thing to do is think about what kind of support you’re looking for.

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My Background

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I started my career as a teacher and as I was learning that profession I gained a lot of knowledge on how to reach students and best support them. There's a concept in education called "scaffolding" which is the way teachers help students reach for the next step in their learning journey. We look at where the student is and then build a framework for them to explore the next steps. We begin a new skill by doing it with them and then as they practice it we slowly hand over more and more responsibility to them. Each student is different in exactly the style and form the scaffolding takes, and learning how to recognize what works for different types of learners is what makes a great teacher. 

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Another education concept that applies here is IEPs, or individual education plans. These are legal documents for students with various needs (think dyslexia, autism etc.) to make sure the school is providing them the appropriate support and accommodations they need to be successful in school. These supports are intended to level the playing field so to speak. But they are also intended to make sure that the students can do all the amazing things they’re capable of. Imagine a student with dyslexia. Reading can be challenging and slow for them and they can be so focused on decoding that they can’t devote as much brain space to comprehension. Now imagine a math test, with written instructions and story problems. This student might be perfectly capable of all the calculations required on this test, and also have the reasoning skills to determine what the story problems are asking for. But if they can’t read and understand in the time allotted they can’t show their skills. If we provide the student with someone to read the written portions aloud to them or give them extra time to take the test then they are able to demonstrate their skills. We can help them shine in math or other areas while still working with them on their reading skills at other times. 

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When we think about this in the context of coaching the goal is to support the areas that are challenging so that you can focus on building skills in the most important areas or the ones where you are most likely to have success. This might mean that a coach is very hands-on with budgeting out your money with you but you do the day-to-day tracking. Or maybe you need help with the math but are happy to talk all day about your priorities for your money. Support in your budget journey should help you grow and eventually be ready to take it all on, but you need to get there slowly and with the proper support based on your specific needs and strengths. As a learner it is awesome if you can figure out what supports best help you thrive and ask for those supports. Let me give some examples of the kinds of support you might get from a budgeting coach.

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Types of Support

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Accountability

‍You might be someone who struggles with follow through, or needs external motivation to learn a new habit. Even if you have all the understanding and ability to learn how to budget you might need someone to check in on you regularly and keep you focused. A coach can help by scheduling frequent coaching sessions with you. The upcoming session serves as a deadline of sorts to have your budget up to date so that your meeting can be productive. A coach might also send you text or email reminders of tasks to complete between sessions.

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Emotional ‍

Budgeting can be overwhelming and stressful. It can bring up all sorts of complex feelings, especially if you have any sort of financial challenges in your past. Building a relationship with a coach can give you a supportive place to process those feelings and set goals to move forward in a healthy way. A coach can help you focus on your growth and small successes as you work on tackling new skills. Sometimes talking through examples with a coach that aren’t your personal money can help you learn skills without the associated emotional response.

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Math‍

You might be someone who has a challenging relationship with math and numbers. Conceptualizing things numerically doesn't come naturally to you. A good coach can help you set up a budget by asking questions that help them calculate the amounts for you. They might ask you how often you get coffee and what you usually order and then help you set a monthly goal for coffee spending. They might also ask about annual bills and help you set aside the right amount monthly so you're always prepared. If you’re struggling with getting the budget to balance or the accounts to reconcile, a coach can help you with that too.

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Confirmation‍

Do you find yourself asking "am I doing this right?" when you try to budget? Learning a new skill can feel confusing and you might be unsure of yourself. Certain budgeting approaches, while a great return on investment, can be very different from what you are used to. Having a coach walking through the process with you step by step is a great way to gain confidence. As the coach learns your style they might also point you to some content to read that is specific to your situation so that you aren't having to wade through lots of articles that might not help you.

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Verbal Processing‍

Talking about money and finances is still fairly taboo in a lot of circles. We are often taught not to ask people about money and sharing about it can feel vulnerable. I get a lot of clients who tell me that they have no one they can talk to about this stuff. If you are someone who tends to learn best through verbal processing, whether it's asking questions or listening to examples, it can be really hard to learn about a topic that you aren't supposed to talk about. A coach can provide that outlet for talking openly and working through things. Often just having that listening ear can give you the chance to talk it out yourself and come up with a great plan to move forward. 

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Cheerleading‍

Just like how you can't process financial questions with just anyone, you also might not feel comfortable sharing small financial successes either. However, you might feel ok sharing some of your personal life with your budget coach. Most budget coaches I know are great at noticing and celebrating all the small wins with their clients. You might not have noticed that you didn't overdraft at all this month or that your Apple charges have dropped from 10 per week to 5, but your budget coach will. 

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What now?

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As you seek a professional to begin the coaching process I recommend you think about what kind of support is most important to you and begin your coaching relationship by asking for exactly what you need. Read through the list above and let your coach know which things resonate with you. You could also think about other areas of your life where you’ve needed support and let your coach know what helped you or didn’t help at those times.

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What if I’m the coach?

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If you have a coaching business you might find it helpful to review this list with new clients to make sure that you're providing all individuals with the type of support they're seeking, rather than just having the same path for all clients. Maybe consider including a link to it in your introduction email so they can read through it before your initial meeting. 

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You might also find over time that tracking what types of clients tend to need what kinds of support will help you to be most effective with them. For example, I find that clients with very busy/stressful lives tend to need accountability because it’s so easy for budgeting to fall through the cracks otherwise. I find that clients with prior financial trauma benefit from emotional support as well as verbal processing and lots of cheerleading. My clients with super tight budgets need accountability and cheerleading but also often need help with the math, because even people who are good at math can be prone to errors in high stress situations like living paycheck to paycheck.