The Increasing Demand for Life Coaches

If you’re considering a career in life coaching, then now may just be the perfect time to kick it off. Demand is growing rapidly in this previously little-known field and now might just be the best time to embark into it. There are plenty of great life coaching courses and resources available online that you can learn more about this career choice from.

So, why has visiting a life coach become increasingly common over the last few years?

Simply put, the hectic and busy lifestyles that many of us now live has lead to us seek out a life coach.

As our lives are becoming more and more hectic and complex, we may find ourselves needing that extra bit of advice or guidance to help us get by. It is difficult to decide what to prioritise when we find ourselves being pulled in so many different directions. Sometimes turning to a friend means that you don’t receive unbiased or objective advice. Visiting a life coach can help as they will ask you to define your goals and help you focus on creating a clear path to achieve them.  If you’d like to be the one helping people achieve their focus, there are plenty of life coaching courses that you can look into online.

How many life coaches are really out there?

According to the International Coach Federation (a professional organisation of personal and business life coaches), there were only around 1500 life coach members in 1999. By the year 2013, this had risen to well over 17000 coaches across a total of 34 countries.

Many of the life coaches are focussed on specific life areas, as that helps them find clients with specific needs. For instance, you can find a life coach that focuses solely on dating, or health, or business, among other niches.  If you are having trouble identifying a niche to focus on, explore the wide range of life coaching courses online to help narrow your focus.

What are the perks of being a life coach?

Being a life coach is probably one of the most rewarding jobs out there. What’s more, you can complete work on your own terms and essentially be your own boss. You will set your own fees and decide your own working hours. And best of all, you get to help people improve their lives!

How easy or difficult is it to become a life coach?

Becoming a life coach is not a particularly difficult task. There are no real barriers to entry or official qualifications/specific life coaching courses required. However, getting clients is not easy as you have to constantly be pitching and selling yourself. It can also be difficult to provide proof of your skills and evidence of success with past clients. How would a potential client really know whether you have successfully improved a past client’s life? It can be a difficult thing to measure.

The most important measure of success is how much you are helping people gain the strength to overcome their problems themselves. Even just getting them to identify their problems in the first place is an achievement. Gathering client testimonials is a great way of establishing credibility around your services.

Will official certification help?

 Even though no official qualifications are required to become a life coach, certification can certainly help you gain clients. It gives you an air of credibility and professionalism that can make your clients feel more comfortable. Also, the growing demand for life coaches means that the field will get more and more competitive, and getting certified will help you stand out.

Other than credibility, you will find that you can gain a lot of valuable insight from life coaching courses. Even though becoming a great life coach is dependent on possessing a core interpersonal skill set, studying anything in depth can only help you improve your skills.  Consider gaining that additional training even if you find that you have enough clients. You will only be able to use the knowledge to help serve them better, or using new methods that you hadn’t previously thought of.

Even if you have been in the profession for many years, additional training and development is always a useful thing to embark upon. Develop yourself with life coaching courses, so you can help your clients develop themselves better.