Life Coaching FAQ’s
- start coaching anyone who is willing to volunteer as a client
- read the best life coaching book
- find and complete a quality life coaching program
- Get certified from your coaching school, then complete the client coaching hours required to apply for ICF or BCC accreditation.
- Market your business
The ICF definition of coaching is “partnering with clients in a thought provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
Being a life coach means being in partnership. You are not the expert in the client’s life or career. You are an expert in helping them explore their thinking, identify their potential, invoke awareness of their reactions and unconscious thoughts, help them brainstorm options, create action plans and develop accountability methods.
You’re probably hoping I’ll say “YES!”
Can anyone call themselves a coach? Yes
Is there any law saying you have to have certain certifications, degrees or training? No
So in that sense, anyone can be a coach.
Can just anyone be a great coach with a profitable long term business? No.
To be a great coach with a reputation for excellence, empathy, and integrity you have to either have, or be willing to develop the character of a great coach
Can you be a life coach? Absolutely. I can say that for sure because anyone reading a website about how to become a life coach already has the number one quality on that list – the heart to make a difference in the lives of others.
That’s a huge question. There are at least 50 different life coaching niches I can think of off the top of my head.
Whatever your strengths, skills and experience, there is someone who needs what you have to offer. If you have the heart to truly make a difference in the lives of others, there is a market of people who need what you have.
Here is the ultimate list of life coaching niches.
Life coaching is a legal, legitimate business service. It is not regulated however. There is no federal oversight, no licensing agency that requires proof of competency.
For that reason, a lot of people get into coaching thinking it is a quick and easy way to make money doing little work. Those people give sub par service to their clients and give the whole industry a bad name. That tends to bring up question of whether or not it should be legal or not.
