Coach, Mentor, Consultant, & Consulting: What’s the Difference?

The whirlwind that is these past few years has proven one thing: the only constant thing in the world is change. The future of work, it has been made clear, is a crisis-proof, hybridizable career.?

The greatest examples? Being a coach, mentor, consultant, and doing consulting. But how do we set these apart, and how do you know which is best for you?

Coach

A coach is a facilitator of learning. They’re not exactly teachers, but they still teach you how to process your own thoughts and decisions. They’re someone who supports another person by helping them unlock their potential.?

Coaching is, in fact, a core leadership skill; as a coach, you get to process and work through people’s challenges and issues, asking relevant, hard-hitting questions. You get to go deep on the how and why while keeping the present as your focal point.?

Coaching is also a vital life skill concentrated on unleashing the best version of yourself. It’s an empowering tool that helps you develop better conversations not just in terms of getting to know yourself, but also in your understanding of other people.

Mentor

A mentor is someone who guides you and helps you learn faster toward a certain goal. They usually have experiences in line with this goal, and they get to share their expertise, so their mentee gets to accelerate when it comes to achieving this futuristic goal. Mentors will broaden their mentees’ horizons and give them the support they need so they can make possibilities happen.?

This is jumpstarted by a strong relationship between a mentor and their mentee. They get to know each other more and tackle challenges where they both tap into their own experiences. As a mentor, you also check on the progress of your mentees’ businesses and give them the guidance and support they need.

You also become a role model who is capable of identifying helpful resources, as well as your mentees’ confidante.

If you’re a person who embraces lifelong learning and you have this integrity and rich perspective when it comes to supporting others from ideation to fruition; you’re someone who loves solving problems, developing and committing to learning goals, is devoted to spending time and energy to guide others towards massive action; you truly believe that greatness is innate and it just needs to be ignited and unleashed; or you’re someone who is seriously committed to achieving results and respects processes as much as creation—then you’d be a wonderful mentor.

Mentorship does have similarities with coaching. But while a coach focuses mostly on the present, the mentor focuses more on the future and on providing you with step-by-step guidance to having this future available to you now.?

You can, of course, combine mentorship and coaching. That’s what I do. A hybrid of the two best encapsulates the services I believe in—I believe that it is crucial we have not just belief but also massive action, which has direction and a personal connection.

Consultant

A consultant is engaged to provide expertise to a client who needs specific support. They have the experiences and the industry knowledge to fulfill what the client needs; they’re either tapped to put together a strategy into an action plan, or they’d be filling in the shows to make things happen.

As a consultant, you get to use your knowledge and skills; it’s not based on credentials alone but expertise toward the scope that your client specifically needs to achieve certain results.

Consulting

The best example of this is the agency owners, who are units providing services like branding and social media management. When you’re a consultant, in contrast, you’re like a doctor or lawyer who provides expert advice for a fee.?

Quick Look

Regardless of which is best for you, it’s best to take to heart that all these are centered towards services and helping clients towards a desired goal or destination.?

Here’s a quick summary.

If you are a Coach, your methodology is always processing the how, and your focus is the present with the aim to improve skills or raise their competence in assessing what their next step is.

If you are a Mentor, your methodology is the what, reverse-engineering the future to make the present create the future with the aim to develop and commit to learning goals, thus opening horizons and possibilities.

If you are a Consultant, your methodology is assessing, advising, and providing the next steps in order to dissect and provide probable answers or relief, like how a doctor or lawyer would.

If you are doing Consulting, your methodology is fulfilling a client’s needs, often as a unit, through rendering their required services empowered by your skills and expertise.

I hope you always get to serve with love all the time in whatever path you choose! Remember that it’s totally normal for these paths to overlap. What’s important is that you have a clear way forward. Be firm with your offer and methodology, and be coherent and comprehensive about the support you’ll be providing for your client.

To hear more about the difference between these crisis-proof career options, listen to our podcast episode here. For more inspiring stories about wealthy, driven, and ambitious humans and actionable steps you can take in order for you to move the needle and have a soulful coaching and consulting business, tune in to Ambitious Tribe with Kassy Pajarillo.?

If you want to build a high-ticket coaching and consulting business of your own, apply for my exclusive training here to learn how to craft your power profile and make your passion profitable. See you there!