How to Become a Certified Life Coach – What You Need to Know

How to Become a Certified Life Coach – What You Need to Know

If you are passionate about helping people succeed in life, then becoming a life coach might be a good career choice.

This post provides a guide to becoming a life coach; the requirements and training involved, as well as how to obtain certification and advance your career.
Read on:

Who is a Life Coach?

A life coach is a professional who guides other people towards achieving success in set personal and professional goals.

The process involves using a number of self-assessment, problem solving, motivating, and goal setting technics to help others succeed.

The certifications to qualify as one require that the candidate undergoes a combination of formal and experience trainings.

Being a life coach is significantly different from mentorship, consultancy, giving advice or therapy.

The life coach addresses a particular project, conditions, business feat, or transitions in the life of his/her clients by employing expert knowledge to understand what is happening at the moment and proffer a solution that is likely to shape the outcome of events to the way he/she desires.

Educational Requirements and Training

To become a life coach, some proficiency is usually required from a life coach, and so it is generally advised that self-assessment be conducted to ascertain it is the area that fits effectively.

There are quite a number of courses and training which you can avail yourself of if you want to be a life coach.

Many centers offer a combination of online modules to in-person training, mentorships, workshops, and even teleconferencing methods of training to individuals.

Life Coach Certifications

When looking for certifications, it is important to look at schools and institutions with International Coach Federation (ICF) accreditations to make certain that best standards are being offered in the program.

Among the multitude of certifications that exists, the International Coach Federation ICF is highly recognized for certifications like the Associate Certified Coach (ACC), which may require a candidate to spend about 100 hours of client contact and 60 hours of course training.

Professional Certified Coach (PCC), requires about 130 hours of coaching and 750 hours of live experience; Master Certified Coach (MCC) levels offers 200 hours of coaching training, 10 hours with a qualified mentor and about 2500 of client contact hours.

These certifications are usually accompanied by a number of time spent learning and working on a live situation, taking tests, and obtaining reference letters from certified coaches.

Another best established provider of certification for life coaches is the International Association of Coaching (IAC).

Courses you may likely be exposed to at such training may be in areas like cooperative communication, coaching relationship, identification of limiting beliefs, decision making, organizational behaviors, and professional ethics.

Getting a coaching experience is really important here, therefore, participating in an internship in a live environment is key to developing a career and satisfying the certification requirements.

The ICF may require the candidate to acquire experiences and document between 100 to 2500 hours of live coaching experience, depending on the certification level, through individual coaching, group coaching, internal coaching, and even coaching through a third-party organization either in–person or through the telephone.

Schools for Life Coaching Training

Among the schools that offer training in becoming a life coach is the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which offers a Professional Life Coaching Certificate program through face to face interactions and teleconferences lasting upwards of 9 months.

Blackford Center for Life Coaching is a South African institution that offers a diploma in life coaching online by letting candidates register online and having assigned tutors guide them in areas concerning the people that require life coaches, where to source clients, pricing, and business promotion at a cost of R8,995.

Expertrating Certified Professionals also offer trainings in becoming a life coach. They offer online training for as low as $69.99 (special offer), that includes the courseware and exam fees, and an assurance to equip the candidate with all the skills to be needed in the life coach domain.

Erickson International is also a leader in life coach training offering Accredited Coach Training Programs (ACTP).

Roles, Duties, and Responsibilities of a Life Coach

Generally, life coaches work with clients to identify areas they can grow in; professionally and personally, and access the progress of their clients through regular meetings.

Life Coach Skills

A high level of proficiency is needed in areas like strong oral communication skills, since the life coach will be doing a lot of instructing and directing, as well as performing creativity boosting, problem solving, goal setting, and progress management for clients.

The skills will also be useful to the coach as he/she will be involved in listening to and showing of genuine concern to his/her clients.

Career Opportunities in Life Coaching

Though there is no official U.S. government statistics on the career growth for life coach, however, life coaching is one of the fastest growing industries globally, according to surveys.

Once certified, many life coaches may decide to pursue their own private practice; meeting and making direct contact with their personal clients.

Others may veer off to become motivational speakers, career coaches, time management experts, health and wellness coaches, or even academic coaches.

Salary Expectation for Life Coaches

The average salary of a certified life coach is at about $47,000, though he/she can earn between $27, 0000 and $274,000 annually.