With a myriad of coaching niches available to choose from, becoming a life coach is resonating with the Millenials. The social media platforms are flooded with life coach providing services and untrained individuals are playing the role of personal, spiritual and professional advisors.
You would be surprised to know that there are over 53,000 coach practitioners globally according to a study by the International Coach Federation. It is becoming an ideal career choice for many. But wait… how are you going to become a life coach? What are the criteria that facilitate you to become one? Any skill requirement or is it just by choice?
Since you would be participating and contributing to changing people’s lives, you should read the below-mentioned steps.
A better understanding of the Life coach role:
Apart from a stellar listening skill, there is much more, that a life coach participates in. A life coach helps their client in focusing on different aspects of life that needs some nurturing. They impart positivity and help them to move forward with their goals.
A life coach is strong enough to support the client in their thick and thin. Becoming a certified life coach is not that easy, you need to invest hours in grooming yourself and getting trained.
Understand the difference between mentorship, consulting versus coaching. You need to have a neutral opinion throughout the process.
Selecting your life-coaching niche:
Coaching is a vast field. As mentioned above, there are a plethora of niches available for becoming a life coach. Some specialization areas are as mentioned below:
Career transition;
Relationships;
Spirituality;
Aging;
Work-life balance;
General wellness and more.
Of course, you can choose more than one area but you should put a central focus on at least one. You would be drilling down your client’s personal life, and hence, it is necessary to hold the expertise in at least one. This will help you to help people facing unique challenges. You should be making your client feel comfortable first and then start with your life coaching.
Get the life coach certification:
Since you are getting yourself involved in a big responsibility, it would be best if you get yourself a training program. According to the ICF study, 89% of coach practitioners undergo accredited or approved professional coaching. The advantage, once you are certified, you are bound to follow the ethical guidelines. Along with the life coach certification, you can expect more discipline from the people.
How to become a certified life coach?
International coach federation sets the standards of ethical coaching. So wherever you enroll, make sure the center has the credentials that abide by such standards. You can use the platform itself, to find the best suitable one that you are looking for.
During the course duration, you will go through various skill development like active listening, creating, and building trust and also learning some ethical values. You need to invest your hours for getting through this certification.
You will be done with some basic learning and earn general credentials. According to the niche you have identified before, select the specialty program. With time, you have to invest some money but in the range of $1000-$3000.
Setting up the life coaching business:
Once you become a life coach, you need to work with due diligence. Remember, you invested your time and money and now it is the time to extract out the best from it. Being a small business owner(to start with), you ought to be professional yet polite.
The first and the foremost step in doing this is, register your business. Be particular in defining the business type, is it a sole proprietorship, LLC, or corporation. Register your business with the state accordingly.
When you think of starting your business, you would have picked up a budget and the strategy. Stick to it. Calculate the head cost and go ahead with it. An advantage of being a certified life coach is, you do not have to invest any high cost and also, you do not need to have a large physical space to start it up. A small area or room will do.
Strategize your Marketing:
Even if you become a certified life coach, who are you going to coach unless a person knows about you and approaches the center? Plan a marketing strategy to connect with a maximum number of people to acknowledge your presence in the market. Do effective marketing and promoting your business.
All the aspects of being a life coach should be considered while you start this new journey. The social media platforms are highly influencing people. Make your presence there. Investing in social media is highly cost-effective and has the highest potential for gathering clients. Remember, once you are on social media, you need to update regularly. An out-dated post or slow marketing wouldn’t work there.
Go Digital:
As known to all, digitalization has brought a revolution in the way we do business. So… start making your digital presence. With lights... Camera and Action… start shooting some videos or sessions of yourself and promote them online.
Remember, people still follow “the rule of 7” before commencing any relation with your business.
Decide your packages and services:
It is difficult to list out here, regarding the amount that you should be charging for the service because it is totally dependent on your skills. But since you have started it as a profession and also being a startup, start with the minimum.
As you know it takes time for people to start trusting you and come to you. So keep that patience, you are not going to see the golden egg as soon as you start.
What you can do here is, start with the package price. For example, set an X amount for the makeover, y amount for the Quickstart and so on. Have a clear vision of how you want to deal and what are your goals towards earning money.
The final words:
This profession is incredibly rewarding but tough to achieve the desired goal. You need to have out-of-the-box thinking in order to reach some valuable customers with life coach certification. A positive attitude is what your client should feel when S/He approaches you.