Last updated on December 27, 2022
Allison is a life and career coach specializing in helping clients make big transitions in their lives. We hope you enjoy this interview!
Coaching Focus: Allison Task’s coaching practice centers around helping people make powerful transitions with humor and grace.
Location: Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Connect: You can find Allison online at her website as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Tell us about your journey as a coach.
I’ve been coaching for almost 20 years. At first, it was something I did on the side (with great passion) while hosting TV shows. Then, after I started my family, I decided this was a perfect full-time job for the mom I wanted to be.
I adore my work. My clients inspire me daily, multiple times a day. I am grateful for this career path and the ability to help people and continually learn (I’m pursuing an MCC now).
My clients inspire me daily, multiple times a day.
We want to destigmatize talking about money, including how much coaches make. Would you please share with our readers any relevant revenue figures from your business?
My first year I made $60K. I now regularly gross more than 250K per year.
What courses, programs, or certifications have you done? Would you recommend them, and for whom?
- NYU Coaching Certification (2005-6) (This program is no longer offered.)
- Viktor Frankl Institute Intro Certification
- MBSR Training
- Berkeley Happiness Course
- Coacharya MCC Course
What advice or perspective might you give to a new coach trying to get their first clients? Any advice they should ignore?
Reach out to the people you know and put out a request for proposal for folks who want a coaching program scholarship. Ask for submissions, but the only catch is that you can’t know the people you are coaching—it has to be a friend of a friend or beyond.
Write great questions, set a deadline, and watch as the applications roll in. Pick 4 or 8 or 12 clients to start with. Give the coaching scholarships to practice your craft, and hopefully these will become referrals or maybe future clients.
Whenever my program needed a lift, this is what I did. It’s like rocket boosters for takeoff!
What are your thoughts on “choosing a niche” as a coach?
I didn’t do it. I wanted to be a coach for new moms, and what I learned was more than a coach, a new mom needs a nap! They need laundry done, dishes cleaned, and babies sleeping through the night. They don’t need another person to tell them what they do.
Not everyone was wanting a life coach a decade ago, so I positioned myself as a career and life coach.
Now I consider myself a general transition coach. That’s quite a vague category, but I’ve built a reputation and have a strong base of referring clients, so I can be broad. I help people transition, whether they’re deciding whether or not to go to college or planning retirement.
I was true to myself and the clients I wanted to support: people who are working on a change that feels very big to them.
If you received an extra $10,000 to spend on your business, how would you spend it and why?
I’d invest it in a social media kickstart, probably Instagram or TikTok. I’ve never used social media, and I know it can be powerful, but you have to make the right investment to make it worth it. If I could work with someone to get it started right, I know I could maintain it. I just don’t have the juice to launch it because I’m too busy supporting clients!
I do wonder, though… I love my business how it is; I’m not looking to get bigger. So my marketing typically maintains what I have.
I was true to myself and the clients I wanted to support: people who are working on a change that feels very big to them.
Maybe I would use $10K to offer a retreat to my clients, with a nice space to do some group work, as a gift to thank them for trusting me to support them in major transitions.
Or maybe I could use it as a stipend for folks who want coaching but can’t afford my rates. I could use it as an opportunity to do non-profit work. It could pay for 50 hours of my time to volunteer.
When you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or have lost your focus or motivation, what do you do?
Breathe. Get more sleep. Run. Meditate.
Ensuring I get good sleep is the most powerful thing I do.
If you could put a message on a huge billboard—getting a message out to millions—what would it say and why?
“Growth comes from challenge. What’s your current challenge, and how might it help you grow?”
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