If you’re the type of person who knows how to listen and give credible advice, then becoming a certified life coach can be a great way to make easy money from home. The work is extremely interesting, particularly if you enjoy working for yourself from home but miss having daily contact with other successful people. A benefit of being a coach is that you are always pumping people up, elevating their expectations and helping them see what is right with their world. This type of enthusiasm is infectious, and everyone I know who has become a life coach reports that they are happier and more productive than ever before, on account of being so intensely focused on motivation and performance.
There are a few different accrediting bodies that offer life coaching certification, but the most widely recognized is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). The ICF does not, however, provide any kind of life coach training program. You will have to take an independent training program that prepares you for the ICF certification exam. Keep in mind, certification is not necessary in order to practice in the United States, since life coaching is not yet regulated by any state or federal licensing body. However, this may change, and even if it does not you will find that consumers and professionals alike have greater trust and respect in individuals who have gone through the certification process for this career path.
Many people begin by enrolling in a university psychology program, but this may be a mistake. Those programs tend not to be very relevant to the specific business goals of your coaching practice, although they can provide some good background information on human behavior and motivation. However, a more cost effective method will be to enroll in a specialized life coaching certification program.
Secondly, you’ll want to focus intensely on establishing your own support network. It would be much easier for you to pursue your career if you get full support from your family and loved ones, particularly if they are able to offer a financial buffer while you get your practice off the ground. More importantly, you need to make professional contacts who can provide you with some early professional experiences in providing life coaching services and send you referrals when their own practices are full. Training programs are probably the best place to make this kind of connection, as you can work hard to impress your instructors, who will tend to be practicing life coaches.
You will not be able to apply for ICF certification until you have completed your training program an logged 75 hours of practical experience. Fortunately, there are some techniques you can use to market your practice that will actually yield revenue in and of themselves. There are complete tutorials that can be found by doing a simple search online what will help you with completing your life coaching certification and launching a lucrative coaching practice out of your own home.