How to Start a Profitable Home-Based Life Coaching Business

Do you want to be a life coach? If so, find here an exhaustive beginner’s guide on becoming a life coach and starting a life coaching business from home.

As our lives are becoming more and more complex and competitive, we need life coaches. They guide us and provide a positive vibe. A life coach can change somebody’s life. Becoming a life coach can be a satisfying as well as rewarding job.

At present, there are more than 55,000 certified life coaches working all across the globe. And the number is increasing every year. The total life coach industry revenue stands at $1.4 billion in the year 2022. Industry experts predict that the life coach industry will see further growth in the coming years

If you like to inspire and motivate others and people often come to you for advice, you can become a life coach and start working at home. So your decision to become a life coach from home is altogether a good decision, whereby you can help people and give them a good result.

10 Steps to Start a Life-Coaching Business

1. Get Properly Qualified

To become a life coach, having a certificate is not mandatory. There are many successful life coaches who have no official certifications. However, acquiring certified coaching credentials will be certainly an added advantage.

Furthermore, individuals having a Bachelor´s, Master´s, or Doctorate Degree in counseling will help. Sometimes people from other fields of study like psychologists also become successful life coaches.

For working as a Life Coach you must have a certification that is sometimes essential for certain states. For example, the International Coaching Federation offers a 125-hour ICF training program. The ICF offers three levels of certification, Associate, Professional, and Master.

There are also three types of life coach training available:

• In-Person Training with classroom lectures.
• Combined learning, which is a blend of the classroom as well as online training.
• Online Training, which is complete virtual training.

There are certain training tools available online. You can download these books and get trained for becoming a professional coach, get an ICF credential, and become a life coach at home. These kits offer free training by eminent coaches and invite free webinars.

Apart from the qualifications and certifications required to become a life coach, you need to develop certain skills for a successful career as a life coach. Some of them are:

• Good communication skills.
• Good Motivational Skills.
• A patient and a good listener
• The flexibility of working with people from various professions and social backgrounds.
• Critical thinking capacity.
• Sound IT skills

2. Select Your Niche

To become a life coach from home, you have to carefully examine your city, area, and neighborhood and find out the need for life coaching and the highest demand in which field. There are different fields like business, career, sports, health, relationships, etc. So, you may focus your specialization on any one of these.

Don’t worry, this is just the beginning. Once your client base increases and your advertisement and publicity pick up as a life coach from home, you will get clients from different areas.

3. Create a Business Plan

The first step after you finally decide on jumping into the life coach business is to draft a business plan document. It works as a roadmap for your present and future activities. Furthermore, if you are looking for funds, this plan document becomes mandatory.

Some of the topics your life coaching business plan must address are the following:

• Initial and recurring costs
• Your target customers
• Pricing plan
• How do you plan to get clients for your life coaching company?

4. Equip Your Office Space at Home

Becoming a life coach from home gives you many advantages like no hassle of commuting, working according to your convenience time and from the comfort of your home, working for long and odd hours, and need not be away from your family.

Your life coaching office at home should be well equipped to provide maximum benefit to your client along with becoming furnished with the tools required for life coaching.

For face-to-face life coaching, you need a well-illuminated room with comfortable sitting arrangements. Keep provisions for some hot or cold drinks to make your clients feel comfortable.

Apart from tables, chairs, etc, you need a good phone with a headset for coaching over the phone. You can go for a landline with a good cordless set. Or a mobile phone with a good headset and speaker.

For online life coaching, you need a good internet connection. You must have a good laptop and use platforms like Skype, Google Hangout, Google Duo, or Fuze for a small fee. For group coaching, you can go for WebEx or GoToMeeting.

Read: Best Free & Paid Web Conferencing Software

Remember, the equipment and platforms should be up to date and you should always be ready with a Plan B in case your plan fails. The quality of visuals along with audio should be very clear, otherwise, both you and your client may feel uncomfortable and your purpose will get disturbed.

5. Name your Life Coaching Business

Take good care in naming your life coaching center at home. This is required as the name will be remembered by your clients. Think very well, brainstorm ideas, take your close ones’ opinion and then finalize the name.

Read: How to Name Your Business? Step-By-Step Guidelines

Take the help of specialized software regarding the availability of the name chosen by you. Try to get the URL in the name you choose for your life coaching business.

6. Select a Business Structure

Before you start your business of life coaching at home, decide the format or structure of your business model. There are several types of business models Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Cooperative, Limited Liability Company (LLC), Corporation, etc.

Each type has its own tax structure and legal framework. You have to follow them accordingly. Each type has its pros and cons too. So, think carefully.

After registering your life coaching company, get your EIN( Employer’s identification number). You can get it from registered agents or by visiting the IRS website online.

7. Open a Business Bank Account

It is always advised to have a separate business account for your life coaching business. It will help you not only in filing annual taxes easier but also track the financial health of the business much better.

8. Buy Equipment

To become a successful life coach from home, you have to use certain technical facilities, which make your business easier. Enable your website with facilities so that clients can book appointments themselves. There should also be a reminder service for you.

Apart from that, keeping data and records of clients, billing and accounting should also be taken care of, so that the entire procedure becomes hassle-free. You can choose platforms like Life Coach Office, CoachLogix, etc for this purpose.

9. Liability Insurance

 As a certified Life Coach, you will need liability insurance depending on the type of your coaching plan and the level of risk you face. Check the premium amount carefully and go for a suitable plan.

10. Accounting & Taxes

 Be regular and lawful in paying the required taxes. Take the help of professionals in matters of tax and also accounting and maintaining the books of records. Also, you need to buy proper accounting software to handle daily financial transactions smoothly.

11. Have a Marketing Plan to Get Clients

Unless you have an effective marketing plan to get clients, all the effort to build your life coaching company will go in vain. The most powerful tool to get clients is your networking ability. Initially, reach out to your friends and relatives and tell them about your services.

You may also need marketing experts for successful campaigns and marketing strategies for your life coaching business from home. Use social media platforms and if needed take the help of social media marketing experts.

It is almost mandatory to have a web presence for life coaches. So, you must create a website for your life coaching business. For website designing, carefully choose the design and content of the website and highlight your qualifications, and training and give comments and interviews with your successful clients.

Also, do not forget to make an attractive logo for your business. This logo will be imprinted on your brochures, leaflets, website, and visiting cards.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much you can earn as a Life Coach?

According to different studies and surveys, the average annual income of a certified life coach is approximately $60,000+.  As a life coach from home, a new coach can charge between $100-200 per hour and an experienced coach can charge $250-500 per hour. So, the choice is yours.

What type of life coach is most in demand?

There are various types of life coaching opportunities that have good demand. Some of them are listed below:

• Executive Coaching
• Emotional Intelligence(E.I) Coaching.
• Spiritual Life Coaching.
• Stress Management Coaching
• Life Balance Coaching
• Health and Wellness Coaching.
• Relationship Coaching.

What is the difference between Life Coaches and Therapists?

Therapists deal with patients with specific psychological problems and they have special qualifications to do so. While a life coach helps in directing his client and helps him in properly achieving life goals.

A life coach has certain training to pursue his career and he directs his clients in getting more results. They cannot and don’t handle people with problems of depression, trauma, or other mental illness.

Also Read: How To Start Home-Based Online Coaching Business

Bottom Line:

Finally, there are certain things you should remember when you want to become a life coach from home. Of course, working from home makes you comfortable but you have to keep in mind certain things.

You’ll have to isolate your work from the household. Like children, pets, and regular domestic chores like laundry, cooking, or the sounds of a cooker or microwave.

In our office at home, try to find a separate and quiet place, where these distractions cannot be seen or heard. Also, the place has to be comfortable for both you and your clients.

Working from home will be your added points of benefit and comfort. So, becoming a life coach from home is an ideal business opportunity for you. It is beneficial for others and good and profitable for you.