Can You Have a Long Career as a Life Coach?
In the United States, life coaching has brought in a revenue of $1 billion dollars.
If helping people is what you’re really passionate about, then becoming a coach may be the right job for you to pursue.
The BLS doesn’t collect data on becoming a life coach, so how do you know what to expect? Let’s talk about what it’s like to create a career from life coaching.
What is a Life Coach?
To break it down, they are a person who understands how to reach success and achieve goals, and they also know how to help people reach these goals.
They have to be someone who can apply these processes in their own life and also help others do the same.
People hire life coaches for all kinds of different things. They may be trying to start a new career, lose weight, or try and better a certain aspect of themselves.
To sum it up, a life coach is someone who is interested in helping their client become the best version of themselves.
If you want to become a coach, you should have some of these traits:
- Empathy
- Patience
- Leadership
- Organization
- Communication
- Want to help
- Creativity
- Ability to make decisions
- Problem-solving skills
If you have these, then you’re one step ahead of everyone else.
Decided Which Area You Want to Specialize In
There are all kinds of different life coaches out there. Even though you may feel like you can do it all and can handle it, it would be beneficial for you and your client to focus in one area.
You have a wide range to choose from though.
Some of the examples include:
- Career
- Relationship
- Self Improvement
- Retirement
- Religious
- Business management
- Work/life balance
- Managing time
- Weight loss
Once you decide which area you want to focus on, you can start figuring out how to become a coach.
How to Become One
To become a coach, you will need to take a few courses or get a certification. The nice thing about being a coach is that you are similar to a therapist but don’t have to spend so many years on all of the education to become one.
There is no formal training or set of criteria to become a life mentor. However, having certifications and having taken classes will make you more appealing to potential clients.
Because there are no federal regulations in regards to the training, you can find courses and training all over the place.
Having a few psychology courses under your belt will also make you a better coach. When you understand why people work the way they do and how they work, you are able to help them quickly and more efficiently.
If you are going to be self-employed and start your own business in life coaching, you may also want to take some entrepreneurship classes. Taking marketing and business management will also be beneficial for you in this career.
What You Should Expect
Now that you’ve taken a few course and certifications, you may be wondering what it will be like in your new job.
Life mentors can work anywhere, like in retirement centers, businesses, and sometimes even gyms. But if you’re self-employed, you can really work anywhere.
While the job can be fulfilling and rewarding for you, if you are working on your own, sometimes it can get lonely and be isolating. That’s why you need to make sure that you take care of yourself when you’re not working.
What Sessions Are Like
When you start getting clients, then you will be able to start having sessions with them.
Some coaches like to have their sessions online to allow their clients to make time for it. However, others still like to meet face-to-face.
The first session with a new client will be close to a consultation to see if you and your client are the right fit for each other. You can see if you will actually be able to help them achieve their goals or not.
The client can also decide if they want to work with you or not.
If you both decide to work together, then you will start creating a plan and setting up different milestones to achieve that goal. You will also provide them different tools and resources to help them reach their desired goals.
How Many Clients You Should Take On
This will depend on you and how much time you can dedicate to it.
If you are doing it all on your own, you will also need to schedule in time to manage your accounting and other paperwork. But if you have others to help you, then you will be able to see more clients.
It may take a little while to find the balance between the right amount of clients and enough time for your own personal life.
Market Yourself
Start marketing yourself by letting your friends and family know about your services and ask them to spread the word.
Social media is also a great, free place to start spreading the word as well.
There are all kinds of different content you can post, and that is where your marketing classes will come in handy. Whatever you post though, make sure it’s authentic.
Networking will also be able to help you find clients. You can attend seminars and conferences. Talk to other coaches. Talk to anyone and everyone about what you do, and someone may hire you.
Enjoy the Rewards
Being a life mentor can be extremely rewarding not only for your clients, but also for you.
While you are helping other people, you are going to discover a lot about yourself and be able to identify different problems in your own life.
So enjoy the journey and have fun growing and coaching yourself too.
Start the Journey to Becoming a Life Coach Today
If becoming a life coach is what you want to do, then you can look into different certifications and classes.
While they aren’t required, they will greatly help you in your job and also make you more marketable to future clients.
To get started on this certification, check out this course here.