According to reports, “the US life coaching market was worth $1.6 billion in 2024” (source). This shows that more people have started choosing life coaching as a career. Do you also wish to become a successful life coach but don’t know where to start? Then this guide is for you. To become a life coach, first remove all the negative thoughts from your mind. Yes, with a positive mindset and other important steps mentioned in this guide, it’s easy to build a successful career as a life coach.
What Does a Life Coach Actually Do?
As a life coach, your goal is to work with clients to help them create a life they want. The right guidance and support help them achieve work-life balance, manage stress, and build healthier relationships. The coaching also removes negative thoughts and help clients realise their real strengths and weaknesses. The right support makes them achieve great things even during challenging times.
Becoming a life coach is easy too, as this profession doesn’t come under any regulatory body. You just need to attend professional training programmes to acquire the right skills and qualities. After completing training, it becomes much easier to guide, motivate, and support people effectively.
Who Can Benefit From Working With a Life Coach?
People usually consult a life coach when they come across a major change in their lives. This can mean a career change, quitting jobs, or becoming happier and more satisfied in life. When you become one, clients might seek your help for the following reasons:
- Getting stressed and irritated very often
- Feeling anxious almost every time
- Can’t get rid of bad habits
- Not happy with job & social life
- Feeling bored while working
- Lack of creativity
Nowadays, most people, including entrepreneurs, managers, executives, and creative experts, also seek coaching to be successful both in their personal and professional lives.
Also Read – Can You Run a Profitable Coaching Business Without a Website?
How to Become a Certified Life Coach?
1. Choose a Coaching Certification program
To become a premium life coach, attend a training or certification programme that suits your needs. The coaching profession doesn’t follow any strict government rules.
Get certification from professional institutions like ICF or NBHWC to start your career as a certified coach. Also, choose the training institution based on factors like your goals, costs, time duration, and whether classes are online or offline etc.
Before taking a final decision, visit the institution’s official website to see all the trainings provided. It’s also advised to talk to the admission team or directors to know their training methods and teaching styles.
2. Identify Your Niche
Did you know that life coaching isn’t limited to a specific area? Since there are many areas to choose from, select a niche that you can be an expert at. Focusing only on a specific niche doesn’t mean getting fewer clients. The truth is that being an expert in your area attracts more people, builds greater connections, and delivers the best results.
What are the common life coaching niches?
- Mindset
- Confidence
- Manifestation & Abundance
- Spirituality
- Life purpose
- Health
- Relationships
- Parenting
Nowadays, life coaches prioritise specific categories of people too. For example, entrepreneurs, working professionals, and mothers. As a life coach, the goal is to guide these people based on their goals and needs.
For example, preparing a mother to return to work after having children or guiding and motivating an entrepreneur to grow their business. After understanding the niche, connect easily with your target audience with the right marketing strategies.
3. Create a Business Plan
Do you know how important a business plan is for a coaching business? A business plan helps understand what your goals are and how they can be achieved. Also, having a clear business plan allows you to make prompt decisions at the right time.
What Does a Good Decision Plan Contain?
- A short summary of your business
- Details about your company
- Market analysis
- Business management and structure
- Services description
- Promotion of services
- Funding sources
- Expected income and expenses
4. Handle Legal Issues
You need to follow all legal rules when starting your business as a life coach. The procedure for registering a business can vary based on your state and city. Also, the rules differ for each business, such as sole proprietorship, partnership, and company.
Check with your state department to know what documents are needed for registration. Planning to work from home? Check its applicability in your area and obtain a permit to operate the business legally.
After that, apply for general liability insurance to get protection from risks. You will also need an EIN number, which acts as your business’s ID number for tax purposes.
5. Set Up Your Services & Pricing
Keep in mind the services to be offered before starting the life coaching business. For example, create a set of coaching packages that include a specific number of sessions. Also, decide how the sessions will be conducted, that’s online or offline.
The following services and products can be offered to your audience:
- Online courses
- Small group sessions or workshops
- Membership programmes giving regular life coaching advice
- Workbooks or e-books
After deciding on the services offered to clients, set a clear price for each. This might feel like a hard task, as no material costs are involved. Don’t worry; prices can be fixed based on how much you need to earn per hour and expenses covered, such as software, marketing, and other tools.
Usually, life coaches charge about $120 per hour and can vary from $75 to $200, too. Set the best coaching price, based on your experience and expertise.
6. Develop a marketing plan
Even after starting life coaching business, it will be difficult to grow without a clear marketing plan. The first step to attracting clients is building your brand. Yes, you need to decide how people should view your business.
Brand is what makes a business unique, and it includes colour, style, tone of voice, and logo. Everything that’s done, from your website to communication with clients, has to resonate with your brand. Don’t worry; nowadays, many marketing options are available to promote coaching services. They are as follows:
- Newspaper or magazine ads
- Radio ads
- Social media networking
- Paid social media ads
- Referral programmes
- Local networking
- Writing blogs and articles
- Public speaking or webinars
- Partnering with other businesses
To get more clients, follow a mix of these strategies. Start with a few methods and track the results and then focus on the ones that work best for your business.
7. Separate Your Business From Your Personal Life
It’s not mandatory to separate business from personal life and some businesses don’t demand it either.
For example, in the case of a sole proprietorship, your bank account and the business’s account can be the same.
Once you start your life coaching business, open a separate bank account to track your business income and expenses clearly. This leads to better organisation and makes the tax filing process simple too.
Not only that, having a separate phone number and email address will make the business look professional and trustworthy too. Setup a separate voicemail to easily identify calls and messages from the clients to feel less stressed at work.
8. Grow Your Audience
According to a survey on social media use among professionals, “about 30% of coaches have used LinkedIn in recent years.” (source) This shows how important LinkedIn is for coaches to grow their coaching buisness.
Through LinkedIn, it’s easy to reach many people and inform them about your services for free. Regular content posting helps more people know about your work, making it one of the best ways to achieve business growth. It’s also required to expand your audience every month for continuous business growth.
Also Read – How to get more followers on a LinkedIn Company Page
Conclusion
To be successful in your coaching business, follow the steps mentioned in this guide. Keep in mind that nobody is born perfect. With the right training and guidance, becoming a successful life coach is entirely possible. Start by getting a certification from a reputable institution like ICF or NBHWC, and then everything else becomes much simpler.
The next steps are easy to achieve. From finding your niche to developing a business plan to setting your services to marketing, you can grow your clients in a short time. Yes, by following the steps shared here, you can easily become a certified and expert life coach.
Dreaming of becoming a successful life coach? Read the blog and follow the steps mentioned to grow your coaching career with a strong client base.
