Work from Home as a Life Coach

What is Life Coaching?

Life Coaching helps people identify and attain their goals and create the life they want. A Life Coach works with an individual to provide support and assistance. Life Coaching is all about looking forward, setting positive goals and working towards achieving them. It requires individuals to be committed to future action, rather than analysis of the past, although an element of analysis may be needed to understand which aspects of an individual's life require change.

A Life Coach becomes an objective advisor, a sounding board, and a motivator.

Is Life Coaching right for me?

Do you enjoy working with people?
Are you curious about what makes them tick?
Can you communicate well?
Are you a good listener?
Would you enjoy helping people succeed?
Are you interested in personal growth and development for yourself and others?

Then maybe it's worth checking out...

How to become a Life Coach

In order to become a Life Coach, you can do Life Coaching qualification, either a Certificate IV in Life Coaching or a Diploma in Life Coaching. However, technically until the industry is fully regulated, anyone can set themselves up as a coach, with or without qualifications.

Once qualified, you can set up your own business, or join an existing life coaching organisation. Work can be from your own home, in an office, or over the phone and the internet. You can work flexible hours to fit in with your family commitments.

Life Coaching Qualifications

At the time of writing, Life Coaching courses are not regulated or accredited in the same way as a lot of other courses. This means you need to be careful which course you choose to take, as content and quality can vary significantly.

As you can't look for a recognised course as such, you need to look for a Registered Training Organisation (RTO).

RTOs are providers and assessors of nationally recognised training. Only RTOs can issue nationally recognised qualifications.

In order to become registered, training providers must meet the Australian Quality Training Framework 2007 (AQTF 2007) standards. This ensures the quality of Vocational Education and Training (VET) services throughout Australia.

So you've got the Life Coaching qualification. What's next?

The courses that I have investigated, include information on how to set up a coaching business. They look at how to market yourself, how to gain and retain clients, how to set your fees, setting up your work environment and the paperwork involved.

Some also include skills like website design and accounting.

However, you do not necessarily have to go it alone. You can join an existing Coaching practice and work for someone else.

What can you earn as a Life Coach?

Earnings reflect your level of experience and qualifications, but are also at your discretion. I have been to two different life coaches, and paid between $100 and $200for an hour to an hour and a half. The coach has to cover overheads, marketing, preparation time and follow up time within this fee. They might spend two to three hours on my one hour session. Coaches are often also available for follow up phone calls and emails. I have also found life coaches often offer a half hour preliminary session for free, or an extended phone call. This is important, as you and your client need to ensure you can work together.