How to Become A Life Coach

While it might seem like the coaching industry is oversaturated and like everywhere you turn another coach is promoting their new offering, the truth is, the industry as a whole, is only continuing to grow. Research is showing that coaching is currently a $3 billion industry! That's actually up 21% from 2015 and again, showing no signs of slowing down. 

There are a lot of factors that are going into this. 

First, it's incredibly convenient. Most coaches are working from their laptops and sessions are done primarily virtually and even through texting and voice notes. There's also options of online programs and group coaching that allow for so many more options and ways for people to get help and support.

Additionally, coaching supports a paradigm shift that is happening with our global consciousness. Coaches are part of a movement that is focused on inspiring and creating change, stepping up and leading from personal experiences and inspirations. This is quite different from the old paradigms where we didn't talk about our experiences, we would hide our struggles and we definitely didn't talk about seeking help and support.

The bottom line is, coaching has the potential to be a beautiful and empowering industry, and it's not going anywhere.

Which means, if you're thinking about becoming a coach, now is most definitely the time to do it and in this post we're going to talk about how exactly you go about that.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Before we dive in to the details, I want to take a moment and share a bit about why I'm writing this post. If you don't know my story, I have a doctorate in clinical psychology and spent more than a decade practicing as a licensed clinical psychologist, however, I never fully aligned with the profession and early on realized that my true passion was actually supporting and mentoring other helping professionals to market and share their practices.

This led me towards the field of coaching and I fell in love with all that was possible here.

I also saw a lot of concerning practices and that led down my current path, which is training coaches so that they are fully embodied in the skills and the craft of coaching.

Because the coaching industry is completely unregulated, anybody can simply decide today that they want to be a coach, and they can go out and start coaching tomorrow. This brings with it both a blessing and a curse. 

I saw that many coaches out there lacked basic skills and understanding about the coaching relationship, human psychology, and how real transformation happens. And so I created the Embodied Life Coaching Certification to support coaches in practicing with integrity, ensuring they had foundational tools and skills as well as guidance, support and mentorship along the way.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY WHY YOU WANT TO BE A LIFE COACH

We all know the importance of having a clear why, regardless of what the goal is. Having a clear WHY is important for a few reasons:

First, coaching isn't always the easiest path. There is no ceiling to what is possible when you become a coach, but it does require discipline and commitment to the path. If you're not clear about why this matters to you, it might be harder to keep going when that temptation to give up comes in.

Second, your WHY will also impact what type of training you seek out. It's important that you find a training program, coach, or mentor that aligns with your values so that you are learning and leading with integrity.

Some common reasons why we want to be coaches:

• You desire the freedom and abundance that you've seen others experiencing
• You want to do something that feels like you're actually making a difference in the world
• You've experienced a personal transformation in your own life and you want to support and inspire others to experience the same thing
• You want to be a better leader, whether it's in your corporate career or as the CEO of your home. You know that coaching can create powerful experiences for yourself and others

I invite you to spend some time reflecting on why you want to be a coach. What does it mean to you? What excites you about it? What hopes and dreams does it inspire in you. Grab your journal and write as much as you can about WHY you are feeling called to coaching.

STEP 2: PREPARE YOURSELF WITH PROPER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

As I mentioned previously, there is no regulating boards for the coaching industry.

None. 

As in ZERO.

It is a completely unregulated industry which means, technically, you don't need any training or education to call yourself a coach and work with clients.

I have very strong personal beliefs about this and it is again, why I do what I do.

I spent 8 years in higher education earning degrees that qualified me to do this work. I received 3000 supervised hours of training before I was eligible to see clients on my own. I then took two licensing exams before ever stepping out on my own.

Now, I don't believe this is necessary. I don't actually think you need any particular degree or a certain number of hours in order to be a good coach.

I do, however, believe that you need training and you need mentorship.

There are basic skills and tools that need to be acquired and we need to have our work witnessed by someone more experienced and skilled than we are so that we can receive constructive feedback.

I believe that receiving proper training, whether through a certification program, hiring your own coach or mentorship, is required to be in integrity as a coach yourself.

There are many different programs, coaches and trainings out there to choose from and this is where your WHY comes in because not all coaching programs are created equally.

Each coaching training program works a little differently:

• Some teach entirely in person
• Some teach entirely online
• Some are a blend of both
• Some are weekend courses
• Some are over a year long

And programs don’t vary just in length of time. The coaching process also varies from school to school

• Some are focused on mindset
• Some are more mind-body
• Some more spiritually based
• Some have a more structured model
• Some are more free flowing

With so many different options, how do you choose the right one for you? You find the one that aligns most with your core values and your WHY.

My biggest recommendation is to research the different programs and more specifically, research and get to know the founders. Does the founder align with your WHY and your values. Are they living the life you desire, are they embodied in what they teach, would you want to hire them as your personal coach?

A great way to do this research is to simply go to their website, sign up for their free offerings, read their emails and blogs, listen to their podcast and genuinely get to know them and their style. Are they leading, speaking and teaching in a way that resonates for you as a way you would want to learn?

If listening to and reading their stuff resonates with you and helps you with your own life, then you will probably like learning from them and the training will be a good fit for you.

WHAT IS REQUIRED TO BECOME A COACH?

There are some foundational skills that are required if you are going to be an effective coach, let's look at what some of those are:

• A genuine desire to help people
• A sense of caring and authentic curiosity about others. Being a good coach isn't about having all of the answers, its about being curious enough to help your client find the answers for themselves.
• A high level of self-awareness. As a coach, you don't need to be perfect, but you need to go first. You cannot ask someone to do something you haven't already done, or aren't at least willing to do.
• Strong personal standards, a sense of trustworthiness and integrity
• Strong emotional intelligence. You need to be able to understand and work with emotions both in yourself and others.
• An interest in ongoing personal development. Leaders go first.
• Good written and verbal skills
• Active listening skills
• Entrepreneurial and organizational skills

Being a life coach involves far more than listening to people’s problems and giving advice. A coach is not a therapist or consultant. A coach is more of a partner and facilitator.

Proper training and mentorship will support you in cultivating and strengthening these foundational skills.

STEP 3: IDENTIFY YOUR NICHE AND CREATE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

Once you've committed to becoming a coach and you've sought out the training program or coach that will help you strengthen your skills and competency, the next step is to choose your coaching niche.

Who do you help and how do you help them?

Rather than simply calling yourself a personal life coach or business coach, consider refining your area of coaching to attract a specific group of clients.

Every single field has competition, and that includes life coaching. One of the best ways to distinguish yourself as a life coach and demonstrate your value is to specialize in a focused niche.

Working within a niche lets you provide more value to your coaching clients because you’ve honed your expertise in an area especially relevant to them. Also, you limit the competition you face when you are a specialist rather than a generalist.

DO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I FINISH MY TRAINING PROGRAM TO START SEEING CLIENT OR BUILDING MY BUSINESS?

Absolutely not! In fact, the sooner you start bringing in clients, logging real world hours, and making money, the better!

If the training program you are looking at doesn't encourage you to go out and get clients from the beginning, I would invite you to look elsewhere.

There is a business to coaching as well and it is important that this is talked about, especially if you are investing your time and money into your development. Most good training programs will support your business development as well.

CREATE YOUR COACHING BUSINESS

Once you are properly supported and receiving the training and mentorship needed, there are many steps to take to get your coaching business up and running:

• Define your ideal client within your niche.
• Create a business plan with your mission statement, vision, goals, and revenue streams.
• Determine a name for your business (I personally always recommend just using your name!) and buy a related URL domain.
• Become active on social media (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and create a Facebook business page (so you can run FB ads).
• Create your coaching packages and coaching agreement.
• Open a business bank account and an online merchant account.
• Determine your coaching schedule and hours.
• Set up your accounting system.
• Build your website and create regular content either in the form of blog posts, videos, podcasts. Create a system for repurposing one piece of content into many channels. For example, film your podcast episode so you can post it to YouTube and create a TikTok and/or IG real, and post this on your website's blog page.
• Create a freebie that people can opt-in to so you can start capturing email addresses and building your email list.

These are just a few of the activities you’ll focus on as you begin your new coaching business.

But don’t let this intimidate you. If you are right for coaching, you’ll find all of this exciting and fulfilling.

You’ll be in charge of your own hours, creating your own business that you can expand into other income streams.

Life coaching might not make you rich right away, but it is an extremely rewarding calling that has infinite potential to grow into a multi-faceted business.

I’ve loved every minute of my work as a life coach, and I’ve been able to expand my work into various other areas (like podcasting and creating courses) allowing me to build my income beyond just my client base.

If this excites you, then it’s time to get started!

I invite you to join my FREE Workshop, HOW TO CREATE A POWERFUL COACHING EXPERIENCE, and begin the journey of becoming the most impactful and empowered coach you can be.