The Self-Help Industry is Struggling, and Here's Why?

Everyone is so quick to throw the label "coach" at someone nowadays. It no longer holds any value. It's the new buzzword for people who want to bypass schooling with an online course to get the label.

Experience is better than any schooling. I don't care what your Ph.D., MSW, or whatever label you have tied to your name. Other addicts are the best help for other addicts. Same with abuse survivors.

If you have a therapist who has first-hand experience with their services, it is far more beneficial than a degree. Book smarts can only get you so far.

A lot of the coaches out there have no business coaching anyone. Many are trying to cash in on others' misery. And what they need to do is address their issues first and quit trying to help others what they need to do for themselves.

I believe the Self-Help industry has "jumped the shark," so to speak. Look around at the profiles of Quora accounts. There's an endless supply of people calling themselves some form of a coach.

The world is in crisis right now, and it's no secret. There have never been more desperate times than what we are experiencing currently. The problem is, it has just started. It's going to get worse.

The whole industry lacks quality help.

I know. I have searched hell and high water for a therapist to help me unravel some of the personal shit I have going on. And what I find is the therapist that has more issues than I do try to help others with problems they haven't addressed in their personal life.

I'm not saying we aren't all a work in progress; we are. But I've seen many offering advice and charging for a service they aren't applying to their own lives.

If you don't practice and believe in what you are "selling," take it off the shelves and let others step in and do what your can't.

There are many vulnerable, unaware people out there looking for some form of relief from life. But more importantly, relief from themselves.

I know, I'm one of them.

There was a point I quit looking for a therapist. I gave up after my last one no-showed two appointments. If you are a licensed therapist, this doesn't look good. And I had another pull a no-show, turn gay, got addicted to crack, and lose his license and practice. I ran into him in a 12 step meeting one day. And he found it comical. Glad he could laugh about it.

At the time, I really needed those sessions. I've accepted it as it is now, but I'm in no hurry to begin the search again because it seems many don't mind wasting my time.

Then I think maybe I'm in denial. Perhaps I don't want help; maybe I don't look hard enough and use "the quality" of service is lacking, but is it? I don't know.

When I hear the word "life coach," I know it makes me cringe. What takes it to another level is when the form of coaching they are offering isn't being lived in their own life.

Stop going out and telling people how to get to B and C when you haven't started the alphabet yet.

I love to offer advice I don't take myself, but the difference between a coach and me is I don't charge for my life experiences. I have no shortage of opinions, and I am working on this character trait I dislike in myself. I love to offer advice because I don't use it.

I feel lost most of the time. I take 1 step forward, then five steps back. It leaves me in a cycle forever chasing that first step again as I keep running in the wrong direction.

And just like any business, there are pros, cons, good people, and bad. It's your job to do your research before jumping into therapy with someone you didn't research.

When you do that, it can do more damage and waste something many don't think of nearly enough, time.