Life coaches help people to realise and achieve their goals, make informed life decisions, and improve their professional and personal lives. 

They support their clients in various ways by building supportive relationships, giving them the tools to achieve their goals independently, and helping them formulate a plan to feel more fulfilled in life. 

Life coaches are sometimes confused with counsellors or career advisors. However, life coaches offer a more general, goal-oriented approach. They help clients improve their personal and professional lives on their own using tools and motivation given to them by the life coach rather than offering targeted mental health support or career advice. 

The day-to-day life of a life coach, and the duties they will undertake, will entirely depend on the life coaching clients they take on and what these clients need from them.

Life coaches are usually self-employed and take on clients on an hourly basis; therefore, the earnings for a life coach vary widely. Typically, you can use your competitors’ prices as a base to decide whether to charge more or less than them. 

Some life coaches will focus on delivering more expensive, premium coaching that’s done in fewer sessions to a smaller number of clients, whereas others will have a wider network of clients that they will offer cheaper than average services too.

There are no formal requirements to become a life coach in the UK, however, having some qualifications under your belt is likely to secure you more clients, and increase your employability and potentially your pay rate. 

There are a variety of Life Coaching Courses you can undertake regardless of your current qualifications, including a life coaching certificate and life coaching diploma. These are virtual coaching programs and, therefore, can work flexibly around your current commitments. 

Although there are no degree courses to become a certified life coach, there are some undergraduate courses that can help you learn life coaching skills. For example, a degree in Business Studies, Communication, Management, or Psychology can help you develop excellent leadership skills, business knowledge, and communication skills. 

Following a degree, you can also enter into postgraduate study with a postgraduate professional coaching certificate or coaching psychology. Some organisations also offer life coach training apprenticeships which involve 14 months of work-based and theoretical training. 

Whether you have a degree or not, looking at life coaching courses is a great idea. The Life Coaching Diploma Level 3 is equivalent to an A Level and is ideal for anyone wanting to explore a career in life coaching. Following the completion of this life coach certification, you can become a self-employed life coach, and there is also a free business startup course worth £95 included so you can also start your own business. 

This training course is accredited by the coaching bodies ACCPH (Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists, and Hypnotherapists) and by Training Qualifications UK. This coach training program is delivered through online seminars and is 12 months long. However you can complete it at your own pace, in your own time, as it is done entirely online through distance learning.

As they work with a variety of clients and help people with important life decisions, successful life coaches have several professional and personal skills. Some of these skills include:

Although there are no formal work experience requirements when it comes to life coaching, having some experience working with people will put you at a great advantage. Customer service experience or working with people in an advisory role such as mentoring, will prepare you for many elements of a life coaching career. Experience in a business, management, supervisory, or leadership role can also be very useful as you will learn how to lead others towards an end goal. 

If you do not have any previous work experience, then getting voluntary work can also be very helpful. Charity work which involves supporting vulnerable people face-to-face, such as in care homes or customer-facing charity shop work, is a good way of building your people skills naturally.

Those in the life coaching industry often begin with working with all sorts of clients to help them in several ways, however, there is also the opportunity to specialise in one area. Spiritual life coaching, health coaching, and wellness coaching, as well as business executive coaching, are all areas of specialities you could explore. 

Life coaches are often self employed and work part-time alongside another job. However, there are also opportunities within businesses and life coaching practices to carry out life coaching sessions full-time. You can also progress into having your own life coaching business and managing other life coaches to build a broader client base.

Life coaching is a fantastic new career choice for people who love working with people. If you enjoy supporting others, then this rewarding career path can help give you the job satisfaction that you have been looking for. As well as plenty of room for career progression and specialisation, this career does not require years of study, and you can train to become a professional life coach through affordable and accredited distance learning courses.