I'm starting this thread with the permission of the forum moderators. My purpose is to attempt to gauge whether or not there is an interest in the 2p2 community for mindset and/or life coaching.

I've been kicking around the idea of advertising as a mindset/life coach, but obviously if there's no market then there would be no reason to do so. To be absolutely clear, I am not currently looking for clients. Please do not PM me looking for such services - I will not accept any 2p2 clients unless I officially set up a coaching thread and pay to do so, just like any other coach.

So if you have any opinions on whether or not there would be a market for this type of service, please post in this thread. Also, if you think there is a market, what sort of specific services would you expect to see offered?

As an FYI for those who don't know me, I've been a recreational poker player for about three years, but more germane to this topic, I have a masters in counseling psychology and am currently working on the dissertation for my Ph.D. in counseling. I've worked with a variety of clients with a variety of issues during my schooling/training, and while I'm not licensed as a counselor, I'm license eligible and have all of the necessary schooling (I plan to go into teaching/research, which is why I didn't go the license route).

Thanks for reading and replying.

/interested

I don't know enough about the topic but things I would assume yo should be able to coach on are:

Obvious- Emotion control, focus during long grinds
Less obvious- Memory tricks, mood changing tips, keeping poker focused as a business

there are some coaches already out there (jared tendler (sp?), tommy angelo, travis steffen http://www.deucescracked.com/coaches/Travis-Steffen), etc

i'm sure there are other coaches on other coaching sites as well.

I occasionally see posts like this pop-up and mistakenly assumed that yours was like the others: A poker player who's a novice in the area of psychology. I was happily surprised that it was from someone with an advanced degree in psychology. I think it's really important for there to be others providing services like I do to have this level of education and expertise. It adds credibility to an area that is not only often overlooked, but there's so much garbage out there, poker players have a hard time distinguishing the goods from the rest.

There's definitely a need, it's just a question of what role you want to serve. In my opinion the role of life coach is different than the role of performance/mindset coach. Sure there are parallels in the struggles faced on and off the table, but when it comes to positioning the value you provide, I think it's easier to sell specifics than it is an all encompassing service.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat more.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Yes, I'm aware that there are other mindset/life coaches in the poker world, although I'm not sure how many of them are hooked up with coaching sites and/or have done marketing on 2p2.

I also agree that there are obvious distinctions between mindset coaching (which would tend to be much more poker and poker skill specific) and life coaching (which is far more broad ranging), but TBH I think I'm both qualified to do both and there's probably a need for both within the poker community. If I did specialize, it would probably be life coaching.

Agree

I would expect there to be a similar process to either be a mindset coach and Life coach? It would just differ in what areas they worked on and some would obv over lap as you stated. Also I believe that to even reach a high level or "Zen" one needs to be balanced in life.

Well, the problem with "mind coach" or "life coach" in general is that, unlike calling yourself a psychologist or counselor, these industries are unregulated (currently). Anyone can slap up a sign and call say they are a life coach, whether they have any background or training in any type of coaching or psychology or not.

As a consumer, I think everyone should ask their potential life or mindset coach to discuss their background and training. You wouldn't pay a poker coach who wasn't willing to discuss his background, results, playing/teaching style, and results of his other students, would you? Same concept here, except a mindset or life coach should be able to discuss his/her training, theories of emotion and the mind and how they can help you, and provide prior clients (with their permission) who can state how this helped their game and/or their life.

I'd probably be best at life coaching - I have experience helping clients who have dealt with a variety of minor and major life issues, including major psychological diagnoses - but I think that a good mindset coach will teach skills that transfer over to non-poker areas and vice versa. Learning emotional control to avoid tilt will help you maintain your cool when you are pissed at your girlfriend or your boss, too.

I want to thank ChicagoRy, who has given me the opportunity to do a couple of videos to get some feedback and introduce myself.

If anyone has any feedback, criticism, or suggestions, please feel free to post here, in the video thread, or via PM.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18...poker-1154434/