I often get emails and phone calls from people who want to get the 411 on Life Coaching as a career. Some common questions are:

- what's it like?
- how does one become a life coach?
- can you do it full-time or do you have to get another job?
- what's good about it, what's bad about it?
- how much does it pay?
- what's the difference between life coaching and personal coaching?
- what's the difference between life coaching and therapy?

I’m going to do my best to answer all your questions and give you the real 411 (the good and the bad), so you can get a realistic idea of what life coaching is like.

In my opinion, life coaching is the best career there is, but just like everything else, it takes devotion and inspired effort. It takes time to become successful at it. Above else, it takes love.

First of all, life coaching is not licensed. This means that anyone can do it, and there’s no need for any degree or even certification. Now, there are many companies that offer certification (and even colleges are starting to have programs for it), but it isn’t necessary to get one.

Technically, you can become a life coach today. You can print up some business cards and call yourself a life coach. Many people do exactly that and are actually fantastic coaches. The skills you’ll be using depend on your own self-study of personal development, not something you’ll learn in traditional school. I think intuition plays a major role in helping people: you need to understand people and read between the lines. Most of all, you need to be convincing that you can help them with their problem and/or goals.

The positive aspects of this career: You work for yourself and you make your own schedule. You can work from home and usually do, as most sessions with clients happen over the phone. The money is great per hour (on average $100/hr),
which means you can work less hours. You also get to have your own business, which is fantastic. There is so much freedom in this career and it’s incredibly rewarding to help people. The sessions are usually fun and creative, and they often end up benefiting you as much as your clients.

If you care about self-improvement, you’ll learn a lot doing this. It’s also empowering to be building your own business. And how many people get to sleep ’til 2PM and do their work in their pyjamas? Well, life coaches can do this! (I do it all the time!)

The negative aspects of this career: You have to find your own clients, which isn’t easy, especially at the beginning. Just like any salesman (or woman), you have to sell yourself and your service (life coaching). So, how much you earn will depend on how many clients you can get. This can be difficult for many coaches as we are often sensitive souls who don’t want to be selling ourselves nor are good at it. However, we usually have to develop this skill or we’d have no clients. Another negative aspect is the cost of running your own business, which is very small in comparison to other types of businesses, but can take a toll when you’re first starting out. There is the cost of phone bills, having your own website, of marketing, of
business cards, of autoresponders and mailing lists, etc.

Another negative aspect of life coaching is that sessions can be draining. You won’t like all your clients equally (you’re human) and some sessions may totally depress you after talking about your client’s problems. However, if you
learn to select the right clients for you and lead the session in a positive direction, this shouldn’t be a frequent problem. As with everything, the anxiety and pressure to perform well will subside the longer you are doing this.

As you can see, most of these negatives are really just lessons to learn. Everything worth doing has challenges along the way, but that shouldn’t ever stop you from doing what you love.

Usually, life coaches start off with another job (any job) that supports them financially until their coaching starts to bring in enough money. It can be a slow process, but again, once you do have enough clients, you will work less and earn more. You’ll also start to get more referrals and you’ll be more marketing-savvy as more time passes.

All of this will depend on you.

Another common question is whether life coaching is the same thing as personal coaching. Ok, basically life coaching separates into two types: 1. Executive coaching, and 2. Personal coaching. Personal coaching is where you help individuals with their personal and professional lives. In executive coaching, you generally help business owners or executives
reach their business goals. Different people are attracted to different kinds of coaching, so choose what you would enjoy most. (I am a personal coach and I love it!)

Coaches often choose a niche. For example, you can be a relationship coach who helps single women find true love. Or you can be a coach for teens. Or you can be an executive coach for small clothing stores. The possibilities are endless.

A great way to learn about coaching is to get sessions yourself. As you work with a life coach (or perhaps more), you will begin to see how it works. Although coaches work differently, there is always the general idea of asking our clients, “where are you now and where do you want to go?” We help our clients reach their goals. Unlike therapists, we don’t talk about the past traumas much, although sometimes we do talk about the past if it will help us understand our client’s patterns. However, a good coach always keeps their client focused on the future (and not just any future, but their ideal future).

I can tell you that I would never leave life coaching as it is perfect for me! I hate working for others and I am a natural teacher of self-empowerment. This is definitely a career for those who are self-motivated and like freedom.

I hope this has answered your questions!

And I hope to have sessions with all of you and I know you’ll really enjoy them!

Kisses,
Len Sone
Self-Empowerment Expert and Life Coach
http://kissesandhearts.com
“Be Yourself. It’s the only thing you can be truly successful at.”