I’m sure most of you are aware that without professional coaches, all our world-class athletes wouldn’t be where they are right now. Without business coaching, many CEOs, entrepreneurs, company leaders, executives, and business professionals would not be as successful. 

However, there is another sort of coaching that many people are unfamiliar with and that’s the life coaching business. 

If you have a strong desire to help others realize their full potential and want to establish your own business, you might want to explore being a life coach. The field is becoming increasingly mainstream.

You may have seen a life coach‘s Facebook page advertising their services in recent years, or that your yoga instructor has taken on the role of a personal, spiritual, or professional counselor to some of your classmates.

As per the International Coach Federation, there are more than 53,000 coach practitioners worldwide. 

Life coaching is clearly popular with clients, and there is a market for it. But what does it take to become a life coach, and how can you tell if you’re trained to assist people to alter their lives?

So, In this guide, we’ll walk you through the 7 major stages you’ll need to take or the 7 steps involved in starting a life coaching business online, as well as the costs that are potentially involved.

 

Select a niche for yourself 

Finding your specialization and building your reputation before becoming a life coach may be beneficial. The majority of life coaches concentrate on a person’s career, personal, or romantic life. Others go farther, helping patients in making health-related adjustments such as diet and exercise regimens, as well as discovering their spiritual side.

You’ll be in a better position to advertise yourself and your business once you’ve identified your specialty—which will most likely be clear to you based on your history and what you feel comfortable discussing with clients.

First and foremost, you must determine the type of life coaching business you wish to establish. 

Going forward, your niche will lead you. It influences who you work with, what coaching packages you offer, and how you promote your company. But don’t worry if you don’t get it quite right the first time; you can always make changes afterward. You’ll learn more about your unique coaching approach and the types of customers you prefer working with as you begin to assist clients.

 

Obtain certification for a life coaching business

Working as a life coach does not technically necessitate obtaining a life coach certification.  To become a life coach, there is no regulating body that needs you to pass an exam or receive a certain degree.

However, obtaining life coach certification from a reputable organization, such as the International Coaching Federation (ICF), improves your credibility, especially if you’re just getting started and don’t have a lot of client testimonials.

One of the most well-known professional coaching qualifications is offered by the ICF.  The ICF offers three levels of certification, ranging from the simplest to the most difficult in terms of time and money commitment:

• Coach with Associate Certification (ACC)
• Certified Professional Coach (PCC)
• Certified Master Coach (MCC)

Training, coaching experience, tests, and recommendations from certified coaches are all required for these certification programs. You must complete anywhere from 100 to 2,500 hours of (at least mostly paid) coaching, depending on the certification level.

Many successful life coaches opt out of ICF certification.  Although accreditation can be beneficial if you want to work as a corporate coach, it can be costly and time-consuming. You might be able to scale your business without certification if you can generate enough word-of-mouth and hands-on learning experience.

If you don’t want to become certified by a reputable coaching organization, make sure you have other ways to showcase your credibility to potential customers. This includes the following:

 

Start a life coaching business

You’re not only becoming a professional, personal, or spiritual counselor when you are starting a life coaching business; you’re also becoming a small company owner. As a result, you’ll need to undertake some of the due diligence that all small business owners must do to succeed, such as:

Create an account for your company

When starting a life coaching business, you’ll need to decide on your business entity type, which might be a sole proprietorship, an LLC, or a corporation. You must then register your business with your state unless you choose to operate as a single proprietorship (which does not require registration). 

Make a budget for your initial costs

Then, assuming you’ll meet people in person, put together a business plan that covers all of your initial costs, from the cost of your certification program to any overhead costs connected with renting and outfitting a place. 

Another cost to consider is business insurance, specifically liability insurance in the event you are sued for incorrect advice. Fortunately, becoming a life coach does not require a large initial investment. Quint runs an entirely digital company, and she attributes this decision to help her get her company off the ground: the upfront costs of not having a physical location are minimal.

“Many coaches want or end up having digital businesses,” Quint adds, “which means they don’t need business cards, a printer, paper, toner, folders, or handouts.”

Make a marketing strategy

Without any customers to coach, you can’t start a life coaching business.  That’s why having a complete marketing plan in place from the beginning of your attempts to become a life coach is critical—and if you’re uncomfortable with self-promotion, being a life coach might not be for you.

The best referrals come from word of mouth, as is common with service-based firms. Begin by offering free, small, or discounted sessions to people in your network, such as friends, family, and family friends. 

If they’re pleased with your services, ask them to tell their friends and family about them, and perhaps provide a client testimonial for your website. Other tactics for obtaining clients include networking with other local life coaches, increasing your profile by attending conferences and presenting free webinars, and using pay-per-click and other online advertising approaches.

To attract clients, you’ll also need a strong social media presence.  You should at the very least have an Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, blog, and business website, all of which you should maintain regularly.  Also, for your life-coaching communications, create a professional business-branded email account.

 

Create a digital presence to get started with the life coaching business

If you run an entirely digital company, having a strong online presence is essential.  To snap images of yourself, record films, and conduct sessions, you’ll need a powerful business domain name as well as a decent computer and camera.

Quint suggests that branding courses that include “a little bit of coaching around creating a brand, and how to infuse it in your website, how to use different colors and fonts, how to style things for social media, how to write copy… which is helpful when you have an online business” may be beneficial, though they are not required. 

There’s a lot of research out there about how someone needs to interact with you seven times before they start thinking about buying something.”

 

Make a plan as to how you want to work with clients

You’ll improve your approach to dealing with clients and decide exactly what types of services you’ll offer as you study how to become a life coach. Toterhi and Quint give their life-coaching clients a variety of packages, degrees of service, and areas of focus.

Being explicit and having a goal up front is a key for Toterhi, whether he’s working with a client on their story, career, or a specific project. “I like to work in three-month increments because it allows me to make a significant change—either an entire project or a habit if it’s a minor thing,” he adds.

Quint provides several packages, including the Breakthrough (one 30-minute session), the Makeover (six 50-minute sessions), and the Quickstart (two 30-minute sessions) (one 90-minute session). It’s entirely up to you how you break down and price your services.

When you first meet with your client, make sure you have a clear purpose in mind. You can establish a new objective once you’ve achieved your first. However, if the fit isn’t right, offer both parties an opportunity to move on.

 

Set a price for your services

It’s normal to question, “How much do life coaches make?” if you’re thinking about becoming one.

It’s tough to quantify the worth of assisting people in making positive changes in their life. However, this is a company, and you must determine the value of your time to charge people appropriately.

Toterhi argues that the amount you charge relies on how you approach dealing with them. Are you going to do it by a project? Is there any traveling involved? Do you prefer to bill on an hourly or daily basis, as a lawyer or psychologist might? Is this a one-time meeting or the start of a long-term relationship? Once you’ve figured it out, you can calculate how much an hour is worth and go from there.

If you need some advice, keep in mind that life coaches might charge anywhere from $75 to $1,000 per hour, depending on their services and qualifications.  However, whether you charge per session or by package will affect your pricing.

 

Invest in lifelong learning

Life coaches should seek out skill-building opportunities to guarantee they stay at the top of their game and provide the greatest service possible to their customers, much as doctors must continue their education to maintain competence and learn about new procedures.

The amount of continuing education will differ depending on your area of specialty, but all life coaches should stay up with their reading and attend seminars, workshops relevant to their field of competence.  Being involved in the life coach community is the greatest way to learn about continuing education options. 

Ask other coaches about how they learn new skills and strategies or look for groups on Facebook or LinkedIn. The more online tools you have in your coaching arsenal and the better you are at delivering your services, the more you can help your customers. 

As a result, consider continuing education as a business expenditure and a tool to grow your company.  If you have a life coaching business already set up, investing in personal development should be second nature to you.

 

Takeaway:

 

We have managed to cover all the important steps and the best ways to start a life coaching business online. Hopefully, this will help you to kick start your successful life coaching business.

Please drop your comments below in the comment section and let us know what you think about our ideas highlighted in the article and how helpful was this.

Meanwhile, you can also join our Internet Moguls Of The World School, where we help you to set yourself up for success, learn the key digital business concepts to thrive, and build an online business so that you can have more time for your family, more peace, and more financial freedom.

Or you can follow our Internet Moguls of the World Podcast to learn more about starting your own digital venture.