Like to lend a helping hand? Life coaching may be the path for you

There are also more than 34,000 life coaches of varying types in North America. And that’s a part of what makes hiring a life coach attractive to many people: They can focus on a number of specialties and have broad appeal to many potential clients. “‘Life coach’ is a loose term,” says Bill Tierney, a self-described “results coach” in Spokane, Wash. “Life coach is a general category, and people identify in their own ways,” he adds.

There isn’t a single path to becoming a life coach, but there are some basic stepping stones that prospective life coaches can follow.

1. Consider why life coaching is attractive

A good first step to becoming a life coach is giving some serious thought as to why it’s an attractive path. This may require some introspection, thinking about what is making you feel unfulfilled in your current career track, and what elements of life coaching seem fun or exciting to you—or which of those elements you have a natural affinity for.

Some life coaches, for example, leaned into the fact that they enjoy working one-on-one with people who are struggling, and that’s what led them to become life coaches in the first place. Tierney says that he enjoyed working with people, something he found lacking in his previous career in the mortgage industry, which is what helped put him on track to become a life coach.  

Similarly, Kate Bathras, a Maine-based life coach, says that she worked in higher education as an advisor, and later, in non-profits, and that the skills she built in those industries helped her realize that coaching was her calling. “Every job I ever had involved some element of coaching,” she says. “There was a point where I decided that I wanted to do it officially,” she adds, so she looked into becoming a life coach. 

Here are some things to consider or keep in mind when deciding whether to become a life coach:

• Personal interests: Coaching requires patience, empathy, and the ability to motivate. Think about whether you have those traits, or how you might be able to develop them.
• Required investments: Becoming a coach will require time and money—think about whether you have the resources to devote to becoming a coach, and if you truly believe it’s worthwhile to you. The financial considerations are important especially if you plan on starting a private coaching practice after earning your certification.
• A business plan: Again, give some thought to your post-certification steps. Many coaches open their own practices, which requires a range of business skills (marketing, accounting, and more). If you plan on going into business as a coach, you’ll need to start thinking about how you want to put that plan into action, find clients, and generate revenue.

2. Find a training or certification program

To become a certified life coach, you’ll need to find and enroll in a training program. But you should be discerning, as there are a lot of lower-tier training programs out there; The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has resources about the various accreditation types, and can be an invaluable resource for finding more information. It can also help connect you with training programs.

Tierney suggests doing some preparation on your own before choosing a program: ”Buy some coaching books,” he recommends, and “ignore the ‘certified life coach courses for $47” that you might see on social media. Bathras enrolled in a coaching program through iPEC (the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching), and recommends looking for one that “resonates with you.”

You’ll also want to think about the costs, and what you can afford. That includes both dollars and cents, and the time you have available to devote to studying and practicing.

One thing to note is that there aren’t typically prerequisites for coaching programs, though that may vary from program to program. Further, it’s also important to know that you don’t necessarily need to earn a certification to become a life coach. But if you truly hope to make a go of it as a practicing coaching professional, it’ll give you more credibility in the eyes of potential clients. 

3. Train and work through the program

Given that each program is likely to be different, it’s difficult to say what, exactly, you should expect—both in terms of the curriculum, and the costs and time commitment involved.

With that in mind, generally, a coaching certification program will cover content related to fostering and building relationships with clients, any ethical guidelines or standards that you’ll need to know about, and strategies or techniques that coaches use.

Those techniques or strategies could be wide-ranging, but will likely include developing action plans with clients, and methods for asking helpful questions and creating actionable goals. Additionally, programs may also involve some element of business training—given that many coaches start practicing post-certification, the training can help them develop some foundational skills on which they can create their business.

As noted, costs and duration will vary as well. Bathras, for example, says her program took about a year to complete, and costs were into the five figures. For prospective coaches, those may serve as good ballpark figures as to what you should anticipate in terms of cost and time commitment.

Additionally, many programs also offer you the opportunity to work with a mentor coach to practice, which will help you get experience working with people as you prepare to eventually take on clients of your own. Tierney says that it can be helpful to start practicing with family members and friends to get the ball rolling. 

4. Pass the certification exam

Next is a big step: pass the test. 

The certification exam may have multiple elements or parts to it, and will probably incorporate both a written test and some in-person, real-time assessments. The ICF has details about what its specific exam entails, and the organization says that during 2023, 75% of the nearly 10,000 test-takers passed on their first attempt.

Exams will, most likely, make sure you know you’re competent as a coach, and test how you work with clients, whether you can create actionable plans and set goals with them, and listen to and respond to their needs. There will also probably be questions covering ethical guidelines, and portions that will test how well prospective coaches can manage their practices and client relationships. Again, the specifics may vary, but you should anticipate a written test and coaching assessment. 

To prepare, experts say it’s best to review your material carefully, and do as much practice coaching as you can—that can involve engaging in coaching sessions with friends or family members, and working on fine-tuning your questioning and listening skills. Ask for feedback, too, to try and get a sense of where you may want to spend some time sharpening those skills.

It’s important to consider what your specific program’s focus is (and the tools it might work with), too, given that each certification program is a bit different. But assuming you pass and earn your credential, you’re off to the races as a life coach.

5. Start your practice  

Once certified, you can start your life coaching practice. While some certified life coaches do work within organizations, many others start their own businesses, bringing on clients, and working with them directly.

This, naturally, is the most difficult thing to do, as life coaches are not only stepping into a new career and professional moniker, but also, in all likeilihood, starting a business from scratch. That’s not easy, especially for first-time entrepreneuers. As such, here is a rough outline of what that process may look like for a life coach:

• Start your business: File paperwork with your state and other pertinent organizations (like the IRS) to launch a business entity, such as an LLC. Also think about business names, and see if you can secure social media handles with those names. Don’t forget to set up bank accounts for your business, too. 

• Find a space: Given that you’ll be working with clients one-on-one (unless you opt for an all-remote or digital business), you may need to find suitable office space that you think will work for a coaching business. It may be in a commercial building, or it may be in your home—the point is, give it some thought.

• Put yourself out there: Launch a website outlining your services and prices, how clients can contact you, and with some information about who you are and why you’re doing what you do. This can also include launching social media pages, too.

• Market, market, market: Both Bathras and Tierney say that it’s important to use social media to meet other coaches and prospective clients. It may feel like a time sink, but it should pay off. “Get your name out there, network—it’s challenging and takes time,” says Bathras. “But you grow your own capacity” as a coach as you become more experienced.

The takeaway 

Life coaching is a versatile and broad category of coaching—life coaches work with people struggling with addiction, and even executives looking to take the next step in their career. As such, there are many ways and areas in which prospective life coaches can find a niche. But the first step is to consider whether it’s something you really want to pursue, and why. From there, it’s a matter of getting certified, and deciding whether you want to start your own practice.