The coaching industry has seen tremendous growth as organizations place more excellent value on investing in teams and culture. All life coaches help their clients to be happier, more well-rounded and healthier. Whether their clients are looking to build their confidence, improve their relationships or achieve a life-goal – a life coach can help make it happen. Blissful Life Coach is a platform founded by professional development consultant, counsellor and life coach in Bhopal. The company determined to support, help and coach clients to understand their situation and find ways to deal with the challenges and opportunities they're facing. Women Entrepreneur India is delighted to engage in an exclusive interview with Jyotsna Sarwaikar.

Narrate the inception story of blissful life coach.                            

The primary source of inspiration to become a life coach is my life experience itself. I was always surrounded by people standing in the dark and looking for light since my childhood like people struggling with relationships, career, parenting, life skills and whatnot. People were stuckup with their weaknesses and finding no way to come out of it, having no person to share and seek guidance. My father being physiotherapist by profession and by passion rehabilitation counsellor for differently able people (persons with physical disabilities) , I always got an opportunity to understand people in a difficult situation, their struggle and challenges. So, I never missed any situation to help people in distress, by suggesting them ways to find solutions to their problems. This enabled me to develop a flair for life coaching and analyze life situations and finding the best suitable solutions allowing them to attain greater fulfilment.

This hidden passion leads me to take it more professionally. Thus, it became the reason for the inception of Blissful Life Coach, an online portal for life coaching on relationship, health & lifestyle and self-development. My entrepreneurial journey is based on four major principles:

• There is a solution to every problem; we need to focus on finding solutions rather than sticking to the problem.

• The only person-in-charge of your happiness is you, so don't give the remote of your joy in others hand.

• Human life is full of battles: never shirk in fear – fight to the last, stand your ground.

• Life is not a competition; each one is on their journey. Live according to your choices, capacity, values and principles.

Tell us about the various life coaching niches that you offer guidance in. Also, tell us, how do you uniquely run the functions of the establishment?

We are offering guidance on self-development, relationships, and health and lifestyle. Firstly, we provide life-changing tips on various aspects of self-development, relationship and health & lifestyle through our world-class articles at our portal. Secondly, we provide a platform to our clients to have life coaching sessions through personal meetings, Video and audio calls and, at times, even email. Before this, we do a complete analysis of a client's present situation and understand why he or she needs us, and then we come up with our prognosis. We suggest a module that helps them in achieving the desired result. We give them complete clarity on how each module will help them and what the outcome will be. The charges vary as per the duration of the session and services offered. Each of my sessions is one-hour-long, and usually, I work with anyone for a period of eight to 10 weeks (the sessions are weekly).

We also provide suggestive road map at the end of the session, mentioning ways and means to cope up with the prevailing challenge enabling our clients to refer and follow those for their betterment.

“Life coaching is not therapy, which pairs a mental health professional with a client seeking guidance around mental wellness. It’s not mentorship or training”

Throw some light on the coaching methodologies you deploy to gain best outcomes for the participants. And also tell us about the level and commitment required to see the results of the life coaching programmes?

Life coaching is not therapy, which pairs a mental health professional with a client seeking guidance around mental wellness. It’s not mentorship or training either, in which a professional is paired with a more experienced professional. Life coaching can help fill in the gaps in our master plans and clarify the path from where we are to where we want to be. It is a partnership between the life coach and the client designed to help the client explore their options, focus on their goals, and create a personalized action plan.

Our methodologies operate on a few assumptions that are necessary for a successful coaching endeavour:

• Clients are, in general, mentally healthy and as a whole do not suffer from mental health issues that obstruct their ability to achieve their goals.

• Clients are not empty receptacles for the coach’s knowledge and experience but are creative, resourceful, adaptive, and whole in and of themselves.

• Clients possess the ability to make changes to their thinking, belief systems, and behaviors, and are able to grow.

We follow the GROW coaching model which consists of four steps and prefer to work in democratic style. The word GROW is actually an acronym for Goal – Reality – Options – Will. To put it metaphorically, the GROW coaching model is what you need to plan a journey. You start with the map: where are you going (Goal) and where are you coming from (Reality). We also use positive psychology interventions such as imagery and visioning motivational techniques, mindfulness exercises, gratitude exercises and activities and motivational techniques such as - effective goal setting, feedback and support mechanism, encouraging positive growth mindset, and developing resilience.

These models and interventions are executed through various Coaching Tools like forms, worksheets or exercises given to the client to help them move forwards, learn something new or take action. Each coaching tool covers a specific topic. Whether it’s gathering information, delivering feedback, or building trust, coaching relies heavily on healthy two-way communication. As well as active listening which is always kept in mind while dealing with client.

What are the key challenges that your participants come up with, and how do you help them to overcome those challenges?

Most of the cases nowadays who are approaching us are coming up with relationship issues, self-improvement, work-life balance, fear of failure, lack of confidence, low work performance, low self-esteem, etc. We try to find out good in the client and empower them to reach their most tremendous potential through their greatest strengths. We try to explore their passion, desires and hopes and enable them to unlock answers within themselves. We partner with them to develop a step-by-step plan of action to achieve their goals. We help them discover themselves and reach the state of self-understanding.

How life coaching programme motivates and inspires a person to achieve his highest goals in life and what do you expect to transpire from each coaching session?

The basic objective of life coaching is to assist the client to move from stagnation to growth. The coach helps shine a light on strengths that can help the person achieve their self-identified goals. Life coaching programme enable their clients to analyse their problem areas and support them in developing their own strategy to address those through guided tools and techniques. As a result, client gains inner strength to take this journey from darkness towards light with the hand holding support of a coach leading to blissful life.

Do you want to mention any case studies to depict the expected transformation after participating in your life coaching programs?

Yes, I came across a client having an extramarital relationship who himself was aware of the challenge and wanted to be back with his family. He attended our life coaching sessions in which we could help him to understand his priorities, responsibilities and needs and accordingly make perfect choices for a fulfilled and happy life.

What are your upcoming plans? Which new specialities are you moving to in the coming days?

We are planning to extend our arena to Leadership and Executive coaching and initiate specialized courses on various subjects to widen our reach. The outlook is looking suitable for this growing field, and it seems that society is reaping the benefits.

Jyotsna Sarwaikar, Founder, Blissful Life Coach

Jyotsna Sarwaikar, the founder of The Blissful Life Coach, comes with an overall experience of counselling & life coaching for more than 28 years. With these vast years of experience, she has gained an in-depth understanding of various facets of self-development, relationships and physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health with all their challenges and opportunities.