Is Becoming A Life Coach A Good Career?

Recently I had a few friends tell me they went to get certified to become a life coach because they wanted to pursue that as a career. To be totally honest, I thought it was kind of nonsense and a cop out from doing real school like a therapist would. But after doing some research, I discovered that online coaching is a pretty legitimate career.

As I began doing some research I discovered what a coach does in this book Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training it states:

Becoming a Professional Life Coach takes readers step-by-step through the coaching process, covering all the crucial ideas and techniques for being a successful life coach, including:

• Listening to, versus listening for, versus listening with
• Establishing a client’s focus
• Giving honest feedback and observation
• Formulating first coaching conversations
• Asking powerful, eliciting questions
• Understanding human developmental issues
• Reframing a client’s perspective
• Enacting change with clients
• Helping clients to identify and fulfill core values, and much, much more.

All the major skillsets for empowering and “stretching” clients are covered. By filling the pages with client exercises, worksheets, sample dialogues, and self-assessments, Williams and Menendez give readers a hands-on coaching manual to expertly guide their clients to purposeful, transformative lives.

I can really see how something like this could be considered useful since many people tend to get stuck in their lives having no clear direction as to what they really want to do with themselves. I can especially see the benefit for college students who are wasting money on classes without even knowing what they want to do with their lives.

After doing some research I saw that the coaching industry is actually a billion dollar space and doing quite well. It seems as though many therapists are now turning to coaching because people are tired of just talking about their problems. They are seeking someone who can really help them move their lives forward.

My friend also said that some coaches can charge upwards of $300 per hour with the average coach charging $100 per hour. That's not bad.

Of course being a life coach is only viable if you understand marketing since it is completely on you to grow your clientele. Although some organizations are now even hiring coaches to become part of their staff which is an interesting move.