How to Start a Life Coaching Business Online Today

11 minute read

Do you enjoy helping others, and are you a "people person"? Then, life coaching might be for you!

Starting a life coaching business can be a profitable endeavor, and it can offer you the freedom to work on your own schedule and from anywhere in the world.

The coaching industry is worth $2.85 billion, and there are countless opportunities for individual creators to start their own businesses in this industry.

In today's article, we will cover everything you need to know about life coaching business, answer a few life coaching business faqs and explain how to start a life coaching business!

What is Life Coaching?

A life coach is someone who helps people become the best version of themselves. They work together with their clients to improve different parts of their lives, such as their jobs, self-care aspects, and relationships, which can make them happier every day.

Coaching involves teamwork between the life coach and the client. The life coach uses different tools to help the client set goals, overcome challenges, and use their motivation to achieve them.

One important aspect of life coaching is setting long-term goals and achieving short-term goals while helping clients learn how to make progress on their own in the long run, even without the coach's help.

Interested in other types of online coaching businesses? Check out this article from our blog: How to Start an Online Coaching Business [The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide]

Life coaches often use these methods in their sessions:

Asking Thoughtful Questions: They ask questions that make clients think deeply.
Active Listening: They listen carefully to what clients say and how they act to understand their needs better.
Motivational Interviewing: They find out what really matters to the client to motivate them.
Planning and Goal Setting: They help clients make a plan to reach their goals.
Ensuring Accountability: They check on how clients are doing with their goals.

Some life coaches might also use other techniques like meditation, breathing exercises, movement, or energy practices like reiki to help clients grow. However, these methods often need special training and aren't something every life coach does.

Learn about the pros and cons of building your own online coaching business: Is Online Coaching The Right Choice? Pros and Cons of Selling Coaching Programs

Is the Life Coaching Business Profitable?

Life coaching is a business, and there's no fixed rate you have to charge. This makes it a bit tricky to figure out how much money life coaches typically make.

However, here's some information and statistics about life coaching we have gathered to give you an idea:

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics groups coaches with educational, guidance, and career counselors, who earn an average of $60,140 or up to $98,530 per year. However, this category includes other professions like school teachers and counselors, so it's not a precise picture of life coach salaries.
According to the International Coaching Federation, in 2020, the average income for coaches in North America was around $62,500, with a global average of about $47,100.
A 2023 report from Payscale suggests that the average annual salary for life coaches is approximately $67,248, but it can go as high as $163,000 per year.
An independent survey found that executive coaches earn between $12,000 to $25,000 per client.

The thing to remember is that coaching is a business, so you have the freedom to set your rates. Your income can also be influenced by how well you promote your coaching services, find new clients, and specialize in your niche.

As a business owner, you might start with lower earnings as you build your client base and experience. On the other hand, highly successful life coaches can earn much more than the average.

Your level of expertise and the success stories of your past clients can also impact how much you can charge. The more experience you gain, and the more clients you help succeed, the higher your rates can be, and it becomes easier to attract new clients.

Learn more about how much money you can make as a life coach here: How Much Do Life Coaches Make in 2023?

Do I Need a Certification to Become a Life Coach?

Because the life coaching industry is evolving quickly, it's not heavily regulated. But do you need to be a certified life coach in order to be successful?

There are no rules that say that in order to start a life coaching business, you need to have special credentials or certifications.

However, this doesn't mean you should jump into a life coaching business without any preparation.

If you aim to excel as a coach, earn trust and credibility in the field, and draw in well-paying clients, obtaining a certain level of certification is advisable.

Certifications can add credibility to your life coaching business, especially in an unregulated market. However, many times, certifications themselves are also unregulated.

Aside from certifications, you can gain credibility by working with clients and collecting client testimonials as you grow.

So, in short, you don't necessarily need a certification to start your coaching journey. It's beneficial if you have one, but it's certainly not a strict requirement.

However, it's crucial to be aware that certain coaching niches, particularly in health and mental health, may require specific certifications.

Now, let's see how to start a life coaching business and come up with a life coaching business plan:

How to Start a Life Coaching Business (Step-By-Step)

Now that you know what life coaching is, let's see how to start a life coaching business today, with our step-by-step plan.

Step #1: Conduct Market Research and Pick Your Niche

Before you decide to start your life coaching business, take some time to conduct market research and understand who the people are who might become your clients.

This research will help you understand the coaching world better. Here's what you should find out:

Figure out the different areas where life coaching is needed.
Discover how much demand there is for coaching in these areas.
See how other coaches are running their life coaching businesses and what they offer.
Check out how they advertise their services.
Understand how much clients are willing to pay for coaching (and what prices your competitors charge).

The first step of your market research should be to decide the coaching niche in which your life coaching business will specialize.

Life coaches have different specializations, each tailored to specific personal growth and development areas.

For instance, health and wellness coaches concentrate on improving physical well-being through lifestyle adjustments, exercise, and nutrition.

Career coaches help individuals navigate their professional paths, manage career changes, and reach work-related objectives. Relationship coaches aid in improving social interactions and fostering healthier connections.

Financial coaches offer guidance on money management, budgeting, and achieving financial goals, while creativity coaches assist artists and creators in overcoming creative blocks and finding inspiration.

Leadership coaches work with individuals to enhance their leadership skills and excel in their roles.

These are just a few examples of life coaching niches, but you're not restricted to these niches alone.

Once you gather all this information, you can create a plan for your life coaching business and decide how to structure it. Then, you can move on to the next steps!

Step #2: Build an Audience Online

If you plan to work exclusively online, then it is critical that you build an online audience from the start.

Many creators and coaches start building their audience as a last step, only once they have already set up every other aspect of their business.

However, we believe that you should start the process of building an online audience as soon as you get the idea of starting a life coaching business.

Building an audience online takes a lot of time and constant effort, which is why you should start this as soon as you can.

This means getting the word out about yourself and collecting loyal followers, even if you do not offer any services yet.

So you can start by writing a blog, sharing valuable information on social media platforms, starting a podcast about life coaching, sharing YouTube videos, or showing up at online events, conferences, and workshops as a guest.

Even if you do not have anything concrete to sell yet, you can focus on providing value and sharing what you know, or what you are working on.

If you do this well enough, you will build a loyal audience - and by the time you are ready to promote your offer, you'll already have a handful or people interested in your services who trust you and want to learn from you.

Learn more about promoting your successful life coaching business: How to Build A Personal Brand to Promote Your Online Course Business

Step #3: Come Up With Your Life Coaching Offer

Now it is time to come up with your flagship offer: what you are selling.

To do this, you should be able to identify your ideal client based on your specialization, understand what challenges they are facing, determine where they aspire to be and what's preventing them from reaching their goals and anticipate any objections they might raise that could deter them from investing in your service.

Here are a few key steps that can help you craft an offer:

Structure Your Coaching Package: Once you have gathered this information, consider shaping it into a coaching package or a unique offering.
Come Up with an Irresistible Offer: Unlike offering individual coaching sessions, a life coaching signature offer will lead your clients through a structured process designed to help them achieve a specific goal. It is important to highlight the transformation that potential clients will get after completing the coaching with you!
Choose How Much To Charge: Decide whether this offer will be a high-end coaching package or a more budget-friendly option, depending on the level of support you believe your ideal clients will require - and set a price for your coaching package.

In this article from our blog, we describe all the coaching pricing strategies and how to price a coaching business: How to Price Your Online Coaching Programs

Step #4: Build Your Coaching Website (+ Choose a Coaching Platform)

To start handling online transactions, you need a platform where to build your website, storefronts and handle clients' payments.

Your website is not the core element of your business, so do not invest too much time in building a perfect website if you are just starting out. A simple landing page that communicates well your services and value proposition and highlights your experiences and past testimonials (if you have them) is enough for the beginning.

What you do need is a platform that handles your clients transactions and where you can create coaching programs to sell.

On Heights Platform, you can create and sell digital products (such as coaching programs, coaching sessions or events) that you can send to your potential clients when you are ready to collect their payments. You can also build your entire coaching website with unlimited pages!

Everything you earn using Heights Platform is 100% yours to keep, and there are no transaction fees taken from your sales.

Step #5: Get Your First Coaching Clients

Starting your life coaching business can be tough, especially when you're new and don't have many people who know or trust you yet. But there are ways to make it easier:

One great idea (as mentioned earlier) is to create helpful content for your target audience. Write regular blog posts, make YouTube videos, or start a podcast to showcase your expertise. The more you share your knowledge, the more people will get to know and trust you.

Another strategy is to connect with communities in your niche. Join relevant Facebook groups and provide genuine advice without trying to sell. Look for online events where you can speak for free, or offer to be a guest on niche-related podcasts or write guest blog posts.

To build your initial client base, consider offering your coaching services for free to friends, family, past coworkers, or people you find online who need your help. Explain that you're building a portfolio and ask for their feedback, possibly in the form of a video review.

This way, you provide value, collect social proof, and pave the way for future potential clients. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

After you get your first coaching clients and collect your first reviews, gaining new clients will become easier and easier.

We wrote a whole article about gaining your first coaching clients: 6 Actionable Tips to Attract Your First Coaching Clients

Step #6: Promote Your Life Coaching Business

We already mentioned many marketing strategies you can use to promote your successful coaching business, grow an online audience and gain your first coaching clients.

It is important to keep implementing these strategies over and over and stay consistent in your marketing plan.

Marketing a life coaching business can be challenging because you're not selling something physical; you're offering a desired outcome.

To create a powerful marketing strategy, focus on the specific training programs you provide. Instead of promoting generic life coaching services, highlight clients' achievements and transformations, like advancing their careers, losing weight, or gaining financial freedom.

Leverage social media engagement, online webinars, and podcasts to promote your business and showcase the advantages of having you as their life coach.

Check out this blog post for more marketing ideas to promote your life coaching business: A Complete Guide on How to Promote Your Online Course and Boost Sales

Bonus Step #7: Diversify Your Product Offerings

To boost your income as a life coach, consider expanding your services beyond one-on-one sessions.

Diversifying your income streams, such as offering online courses, ebooks, and other digital products related to personal development, can create a source of passive income, or as we prefer to call it, leveraged income.

This approach enables you to reach a broader audience and leverage your expertise without being tied to time-bound coaching sessions.

Learn more about other products you can sell: 6 Coaching Products and Services You Can Offer With Your Online Coaching Business

Online courses are a prime example of a product that can diversify your income and build a recurring revenue stream with minimal ongoing effort.

Unlike coaching, where your time directly translates to income, online courses are self-paced, meaning that students learn on their own - requiring less (or zero) input from you.

This means that after the effort that you put in initially to build and create the materials for your online course, you can potentially gain unlimited scalable income and growth.

You'll need a reliable platform like Heights Platform to build and sell engaging online courses or digital products, which can also serve as the foundation for your entire coaching ecosystem.

Actionable Tips to Run a Profitable Life Coaching Business

Now you know all the steps you need to take to start a life coaching business. But here are a few extra tips to help you along the way:

Set Up a Life Coaching Agreement

A contract serves as a tool to define boundaries in the coach-client relationship, helping prevent misunderstandings and conflicts, although these issues are generally infrequent.

Consider investing in a pre-made, paid template rather than searching for free ones. Paid templates offer greater security and reliability.

Leverage Word of Mouth Marketing

In the beginning, you'll need to put in extra effort to attract your initial paying clients.

The good news is that as you work with more people and they begin to see positive results, you can request testimonials.

Testimonials are a potent tool for increasing your sales because 70% of people trust recommendations, even from individuals they don't personally know. These testimonials will enhance your credibility and make your coaching services more appealing, as there's evidence that your coaching leads to results.

As your coaching reputation grows, you'll naturally start receiving referrals. In other words, people will seek you out, eliminating the need for you to actively pursue them.

Set Clear Boundaries With Coaching Clients

Setting boundaries with clients is crucial for life coaches to maintain a professional and ethical relationship.

Boundaries help ensure that the coaching process remains focused on the client's goals and needs, preventing any potential conflicts or ethical dilemmas. It also helps both parties maintain a healthy balance between the coaching relationship and their personal lives.

So make sure that at the beginning of a session with a new client, you state your boundaries clearly and set the expectations of your work relationship.

Work on Your Coaching Skills

Key coaching skills include active listening to fully understand the client's perspective, asking powerful, open-ended questions to stimulate self-discovery, providing constructive feedback and guidance, and fostering a supportive and non-judgmental environment.

By mastering these skills, coaches can enhance their ability to assist clients in making meaningful changes in their lives.

Learn about all the coaching skills you need to master to grow a profitable life coaching business: 8 Skills You Need to Succeed as an Online Coach

Start a Life Coaching Business Today

Are you ready to start your own life coaching business?

With the ever-growing demand for personal growth and development, you have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on people's lives while pursuing a career you're passionate about.

Remember that the coaching industry is diverse, and there are various niches you can explore based on your expertise and interests. Whether you specialize in health and wellness, career development, relationships, finance, creativity, or leadership, there is room for you to thrive.

In today's article, you have learned the steps on how to start a successful life coaching business: conducting thorough market research, building an online presence, crafting an irresistible coaching offer, and setting up your coaching website are essential steps.

Consider platforms like Heights Platform, which offers robust solutions for selling digital products and creating coaching programs.

Heights Platform is the all-in-one, AI-powered online course creation platform designed specifically for coaches, educators, and content creators.

You'll get everything you need to help you easily create, market, and sell your coaching programs, courses, and digital products. Try it for yourself by creating your free account today!

Create Your Online Course Today

Post Topics: Build and Promote Your Course