Life coach business: The life coaching business is quite rewarding if you know what you are doing. According to a report, life coaching is the 2nd fastest-growing industry with total revenue of more than $2 billion.
Life coaching is an amazing field if you want to help other people and still make six figures. This field requires ambition, passion, and people skills. If you are wondering, “how to build a life coach business?” this guide will help you make your way toward a successful, satisfying career.
Life Coach Business
In a life coaching business, a professional and expert coach help individuals achieve some specific goals and overcome challenges in their personal and professional lives. These professionals target your unique gifts and skills and help you achieve your full potential.
Along with a solid life coach business plan and marketing skills, you can easily launch your life coaching business in a shoestring. On average, the salary of an experienced life coach can fall anywhere between $27,000 to $211,000.
How To Build A Life Coach Business?
Starting your own life coach business does not have any restrictions. You don’t have to enroll in a university program or need an advanced degree to build your coaching business. All you need is a guide, focus, and commitment.
To help you out in building and growing your life coach business, below, we have gathered a step-by-step guide for you to follow:
Create A Life Coach Business Plan
This step is quite crucial if you want to grow your life coach business. In this step, you create your whole business plan in advance. A life coach business plan works as a guide. Your journey to starting a successful life coach business depends upon your business plan.
If You Want To Create An Effective Life Coach Business Plan, You Plan Must Include The Following Things:
- Why do you want to become a life coach?
- Business type and description
- Your unique selling points
- Conversation stage
- Business ideas
Pick A Niche
The next step is to select a life coaching niche. Your niche will act as a guide; it will determine who your ideal client is? What are your coaching packages? And what marketing strategies do you need to adopt?
However, you can also select a more general approach and coach individuals with all aspects of life. We recommend selecting a single niche because this approach offers a clear and precise view.
Following Are Some Of The Popular And Profitable Coaching Niches Available Out There:
- Personal Coaching
- Business Coaching
- Health and Fitness Coaching
- Diet Coaching
- Spiritual Coaching
- Teen Coaching
- Career Coaching
Become A Certified Life Coach
Once you select a life coaching niche, it’s time to become a certified life coach. As the life coaching business is an unregulated one, this step is optional. You don’t need to enroll in a life coach certification program to start your coaching business. However, more than 90% of coaches out there recommend taking a certification program.
A life coach certification program has thousands of benefits. These programs can help you gain your client’s trust and set a coaching standard. Several institutes are available out there that offer accredited life coach certifications.
Out Of All These Options, The Following Are Our Best Picks:
- Coach Training Alliance
- The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching
- The Institute of Neuro-Linguistic Programming
- Georgetown University
- Coach Academy International
Remember that these certification programs are not that inexpensive. The cost of an ICF accredited life coach certification program can fall anywhere between $800 to $15,000. Due to these high price tags, we suggest doing your research and selecting a program that will suit you best. To become a certified life coach, it’s important you invest at least seven hours per week in your selected certification program.
Select Your Life Coach Business Name
Even before completing a life coach certification program, you have to decide on a name for your coaching business. As in a life coaching business, you connect with your ideal clients; you must select a personal business name. To build a better relationship with your clients, you can use a nickname or your personal name for your life coach business.
This approach provides a visual association and presents you as a brand. Another benefit of selecting your own name in a coaching business is that it creates top-of-mind awareness. This approach will provide you the freedom to add your products and programs.
Identify Your Business Structure
Selecting your business structure is one of the most important steps in building a life coaching business. in the United States of America, you have six business structures:
- S Corporation
- Partnership
- Corporation
- Cooperative Society
- LLC – Limited Liability Company
- Sole Proprietorship
Each business structure offers various tax obligations and comes with a variety of legal protections. Learning about all these entities is quite simple; you don’t even need a professional to start your own life coach business. However, remember that all these business structures have some pros and cons. So, it’s best for you if you invest your time and properly learn about them.
Select A Coaching Medium
The next step is to determine how you’ll offer your services. When it comes to location, there are two types of life coaches available out there: local life coaches and online life coaches.
Local Life Coach
If you start your coaching career as a local life coach, you’ll have to interact with your clients in an office. There are some pros and cons of this approach. For instance, building a physical office requires an additional budget. However, a physical office offers a professional appearance – particularly if you plan to provide workshops and group coaching.
Online Life Coach
There are several benefits of starting an online life coach business. For instance, this approach offers flexibility; you can spend more time with your loved ones or take breaks based on your needs. One of the most significant benefits of starting an online life coach business is that you can work with an unlimited number of people.
Market Your Business
You are not the only life coach available in the market. According to an estimate, there are 16,000 life coaches available only in North America. Due to this serious competition, it’s crucial you have some marketing strategies. To market your life coach business, you use host podcasts, offer online webinars, and increase your social media engagement.
In addition, you can also join a coach matching service or provide giveaways on the internet. To offer giveaways, you can select Instagram or Facebook campaigns that include 30-minutes free coaching sessions. In addition, you can also start your own life coach website to target more clients.
Expand Your Life Coach Business
If you are seeing a steady stream of clients and feeling confident, it’s time to expand your life coach business. The best way of expanding your life coach business is through mailing lists and newsletters.
You can use your life coach website to build mailing lists. Besides mailing lists, consider writing your coaching book, creating your coaching application, and offering life coach programs to earn more money.
Things To Avoid While Starting A Life Coach Business
Quitting your 9-5 job and starting a life coach business is quite intimidating. If you are taking that kind of risk, you must follow each step and do it right. Following are some of the biggest and most common mistakes new life coaches make while building a life coach business:
They Are Too Nice
Most people choose life coaching as a career because they feel empathy for other humans. As a life coach, this empathy is your biggest strength and weakness. If you want to thrive as a life coach, it’s important you stop being too nice. You should not judge your client, but you must provide an unbiased opinion and tell them what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear.
Wasting Too Much Time Planning, Not Doing
While creating a life coach business plan, most people spend too much time planning it rather than doing it. Remember that it is easy to “do” stuff without advancing your life coach business or being productive.
Stop making excuses and execute your ideas. Your business plan is effective if you execute it. You can start your life coach business even without certification, so what are you waiting for? Create your life coach business plan ASAP and start coaching your ideal clients!
Conclusion
A life coach business can be a high-reward, low-risk path to success and profitability. The start-up costs of this business are low, and you can even start your business from your home. However, if you want to become a certified life coach, you’ll need to take an expensive life coach certification program.
We don’t recommend an inexpensive life coach certification program because these programs are like assets. They will polish your coaching skills and allow you to compete in this fast-growing industry. Enroll in a coaching program that is easy on your mind as well as bank account.
