Can you earn a living as a life coach?

By Agbator Solomon

This question is often asked by many life coach especially those who are new in the business but rarely find an answer to the big question. Well the answer is YES!

There are 5 elements to being a professional coach.

1) Ability to help people 

Since you’re reading this, you most likely have done some training in mentorship, coaching or currently training or have the required skills but don’t know how to kick start. Congratulations on that. It’s a wonderful thing to meet people who have decided to help others and who back that up with action by growing their skills! 

Most people think they are coach when they get their qualification. I think we’re Coach when we’re helping people. Far too many people qualify and never start. If you have written a book but never published it, would you describe yourself as an author??

2. We have to put ourselves out there.

No one can ask for your help if they don’t know you exist or if they don’t understand what you can help with.

Yes, this can be tough especially for a starter. We must conquer fear and let people know what we do. To help others could be very challenging because many people don’t even believe they help. However our desire to help others has to be greater than your fear.

It has to mean more to us to help people change and grow, than to let our fear hold us back!

If we need to address, reduce, and resolve our own fears as part of our process of growth, then so be it.

3. we have to have a place to work from.

There are more options than we usually realise. I’ve seen people be successful working from:

• A room at home
• An office in the garden
• A hotel room
• Their own office
• Sharing an office with other coaches
• Visiting clients in their workplace
• Social media
• and more.

4. We need to see the client.

You would be amazed how many people are overwhelmed by fear at this stage.

 A lot of nervous, shy, anxious Coach are very worried when they are expecting a client to come in. The reality is that most of us in our first 100 hours of work or so feel this way, not just the anxious ones.

It’s OK to be excited/a bit nervous, it’s OK for this to be a growth for us as well as for our client. We have skills, we can help. The client is probably a lot more nervous.

There can be some fear from both sides. But we must conquer our fear, see the client, be there on time, and be with them through the session, not just in body, but giving them our attention, focus, and help.

Isn’t this what you spent all that time and money training for? Isn’t this the whole point of truly being ‘a therapist’?

5. We now need to charge a rate for our work.

Feeling uncomfortable? You would be stunned how many people feel this way at this point.

There are two basic points in my opinion:

A. What is the value of our work?

B. What is the alternative if we don’t let ourselves earn a living?

 If we work full time, we help more people every single week. If wepp0pppp get a job just for money to pay my mortgage/rent/etc. Then I’d only help a few people part time.

The result in that case is less people get help.

So, our price needs to allow us to be professional. When we’re earning a living we can always decide to take on a charity case at a lower price or for free, in a way we can’t when we’re struggling. It can be win/win/win for all involved.

So, let’s assume we’ve decided to build our practice into a full time income.

How many clients a week is sustainable for you?

This shouldn’t be in relation to money at this stage. Just how many people can you help a week without burning out, exhausting your energy, or feeling stressed or overwhelmed. This has to be sustainable.

Now multiply that number by how many weeks you want to work. I recommend 46 as a good number to allow for four weeks off a year plus two more that could cover any sick time, or unexpectedly days off (weddings, funerals for example) etc.

At this point you have a number of sessions a year that should be sustainable to do. Filling them is a different step. First we need to be clear on what is our sustainable goal.

But yes, it is possible to earn a living helping people and when you do, you get to have a better life, and you get to help more people too!

I hope your desire to help allows you to earn a living income, to overcome any fear that may be there, and to help a great many people improve their lives with your help.