Dear CareerBabe:

I am thinking of doing personal development coaching and consulting, perhaps running groups around the topics: effective presentation/marketing yourself, building confidence, positive thinking/motivational success. I have 18 years office mgmnt./computer background (always worked directly under the owner) in automotive, construction, and medical. The last two years, I worked as an employment specialist in mental health and achieved incredible results. I am now completing my BA in Psychology and have strong ethical values. Many people have told me that I am an excellent role model and have the talent to help people achieve their goals; they tell me not to be intimidated by those with masters degrees and to get out there and start doing! I'm new on MSN and the NET, so any assistance and support would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time,

Dear Coach:

While your career goals are admirable, unfortunately there are two major hindrances:

1. Getting started will take time.
2. Earning money in this field is totally unpredictable.

For starters, I will suggest four places to begin your investigation:

1. The National Speakers Association, http://www.nsaspeaker.org (602-968-2552)
2. The IACMP, which is the outplacement professionals' society, with a newsletter available from Avery Blackwell Stone, 1-770-760-0751
3. The "Expertise Center" web site: http://www.expertcenter.com
4. Reading Susan RoAne's "The Secrets of Savvy Networking"

The success of your search will depend on how much time you spend researching thee opportunities and how much time you can spend focusing on ways in which your efforts will generate money. Generally, building a practice to counsel individuals takes time and you must support yourself financially in other ways, like teaching or even in some unrelated way (programming, selling, etc.)

You might be far better off to market yourself to corporations.

Good Luck, Coach!