How To Become a Life Coach in 5 Easy Steps

How to Become a Life Coach

Last Updated on March 17, 2022 by Ray

If you enjoy helping others reach their full potential, you might be considering how to become a life coach. Over the past few years, many people have taken their mentoring skills and turned them into a business. According to the International Coach Federation, there are 17,000 life coaches in North America. There is a market for these services, and here are few ways to become a life coach in 5 easy steps.

Find Your Niche

You might think that life coaching is all the same. However, many successful life coaches focus on helping people with their personal, professional, or romantic lives. Some others focus on assisting those with nutrition and exercise plans. You will want to focus on one niche for your business. With that, you can better position yourself to market your services to those in the community.

Need help reaching that full potential in your life? Schedule a consultation with Ray of Solace.

Get Your Certification

Did you know that life coaches can be certified? While technically you don’t need a certification to help others with life coaching, you still might want to strive for it. According to the ICF, about 89% of life coach practitioners have accredited professional training. In some cases, your potential clients might feel more comfortable with someone who is certified by a professional coaching association. However, if you want to focus on diet and nutrition education, it might be wise to seek out some type of certification. With that, you will make sure you are providing the correct information to your clients.

If you are wondering about finding the proper certification for your business, you can always search Google or talk to other coaches. The most common accreditation comes from the International Coach Federation. This federation sets industry standards for ethical coaching. You might want to use their Training Program Search Service to help you find a legitimate course that will meet your goals.

During this training, you will create a trusting environment for your clients and learn to listen actively. You can also learn the ins and outs of the business. Becoming a life coach is not something that you can pick up over the weekend. It takes many hours of studying and hard work to make this dream become a reality.

With most of these life coach certification programs, you will earn a general credential. However, if you want to focus on career, wellness, spirituality, or relationship coaching, you should search for a specialty program.

Related: What Is a Life Coach?

Hand running through golden field

Set Up Your Business

When you become a life coach, you are a professional advisor and a small business owner. You will have to perform some duties to keep your business a success.

First, you want to register your business. In some cases, you can register as an LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation. You might have to register in your state professionally. A quick trip to your secretary of state office can help you answer some questions about the registration process.

Once you have finished that, you need to plan for those startup costs. You need to plan for everything – from certification program expenses to rent for a space. You might want to think about business insurance to protect your business from those who might take a claim to court.

Now you can create your marketing plan. Without any clients, you cannot become a life coach. You will want to have a comprehensive marketing plan in place to get those clients coming to your office. Many of the best referrals come from word of mouth. You might want to think about offering mini or discounted services to your friends and family. When people are happy with your service, they will happily spread the word to others in their network. Make sure to grab those testimonials for your website.

A solid social media presence can also help to attract clients. You must be on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Be sure to have your own website and blog to post regular updates. A professional business-branded email account can also help to communicate to clients.

Related: About Life Coach Ray

Package Your Services

As you get more comfortable in the life coaching field, you can decide what services you want to offer clients. You might want to provide different levels of service and packages. It is vital to make sure your clients are comfortable with your services. If they are returning customers, you can reward them with discounted rates. How you offer your service and price them is a matter that should be left up to you.

Holding Hands

Price Those Services

Finally, you need to set a price for your services. It can be challenging to figure out how to charge people for your help and time. You might want to charge by the hour or rate. Single sessions might have a different price level than those combined services. Some life coaches charge anywhere from $75 to $1,000 per session, depending on their qualifications and services offered. Once again, these service charges are a decision that you will have to make for your specific business.

Related: How To Start a Life Coaching Business

Begin Your Life Coach Career

When you become a life coach, it can be a rewarding but difficult path. You need the right personality to help others with their issues. It is important never to lose sight that this is business, and you are helping people as a way to earn income for your family.

If you are thinking about starting a life coaching business, make sure to follow these steps. With some sound advice, you can get your life coaching business off on the right foot and start on the road to success.

Who Can Become a Life Coach?

Anyone! Seriously—anyone who loves helping others can become a life coach. No authority or organization regulates the life coaching profession.

That means you can print out some business cards, give yourself the title of “life coach,” and start coaching—however, that’s probably not the best way to get started. And because there’s no authoritative regulation, the life coaching market is increasingly flooded with coaches.

What does that mean for someone who wants to start a career in life coaching?

Most prospective clients know the market is flooded with less-than-qualified individuals, so they frequently compare life coaches’ training, experience, and certifications to find the right fit. This demand is reflected further in their unwillingness to work with underqualified coaches.

Other than that, coaching sessions with someone who doesn’t have fundamental experience and training will likely be frustrating for both the coach and client. At worst, unqualified life coaches can do harm while practicing with clients.

Overall, becoming an exceptional life coach requires extensive training, experience, supervision, and certain personal qualities. Qualities that make a great life coach include empathy, curiosity, openness, and approachability. The price and quality of training programs differ as much as coaches do.

So, yes, anyone can be a life coach, but it’s something that you need to work towards consistently. By following our tips for finding your niche, getting trained and certified, and setting up your business, you’ll be on your way to becoming a qualified life coach and start helping others reach their potential.

Are you interested in seeking advice for your career or relationship? Make sure to reach out to Ray of Solace to set up a personal life coaching session.

1 thought on “How To Become a Life Coach in 5 Easy Steps”

  1. It was nice that you said that those who love to help others can become life coaches. This reminds me of my sister who is planning to become an online self-sabotage coach within the month. She wants to make sure that she will acquire the right skills to become a reliable coach, so I will ask her to consider your tips.

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