There’s never been a better time to become a life coach.
We all know the life coaching industry has been growing, but it’s reaching heights only dreamed of when it was an obscure movement in the 1980’s. Life coaching is officially mainstream, heading for superstardom.
MarketResearch.com recently published the trends.
The Startling Facts and Numbers Behind Life Coaching
The International Coach Federation boasts a whopping 53,300 members and is on a steady growth trend. Average income for life coaches ranges from $27,100 to $73,100, with specialty coaches commanding greater than $100,000 annually. Growth projections for the life coaching industry are an estimated 6.7%, taking revenue to $1.34 billion by 2022. 92% of life coaches remain active in the field, suggesting solid opportunities. More and more corporations are hiring life coaches instead of mental health counselors to work in-house with employees (no stigma). In the midst of all the growth, life coaches remain unregulated. There are no state licensing requirements. This suggests freedom of practice, but also raises concerns about quality. Buyer beware.Lack of Regulation in Life Coaching: Good or Bad?
That depends on who you’re talking to these days. Mental health counselors tend to scoff. They spent years of their life in school, internships, and prepping for state exams. Now they’re watching life coaches swoop in and steal their clients (or so the story goes).
Bureaucrats are licking their chops. They’d love to sink their teeth into the life coaching industry and establish laws and standards.
The average coach would rather see the industry remain untouched by regulators. There’s a reason so many of us entered the field, which often involves working on our own, as we see fit.
Regulation would tie our hands. Moreover, regulation tends to produce mediocrity. Have you searched for a competent mental health counselor lately? It’s a tough gig to find a creative and gifted person to work with; one who sees you as a person, not a diagnosis.
Get on the Life Coaching Train
If you’re considering becoming a life coach, there can be little doubt as to the viability of the opportunity. As you proceed, consider:
Get accredited training. Even though no one is officially in charge of life coaching industry at this point, it doesn’t mean it won’t be regulated at some point. You should choose an accredited training program.
Offer coaching packages or programs. Life coaching is here to stay, but it has not been branded over generations. In other words, we didn’t grow up watching our parents go to coaches.
This means that, while we learned when to go to the doctor or call a plumber, most people have little idea when they should call a coach.
This fact is NOT a problem.
It just means that you need to educate people.
Putting together coaching programs that solve specific problems is the key to letting people know when to inquire. Merely announcing that you’re a life coach isn’t enough.
But if you create coaching programs that solve problems people know they have, you’re messaging will connect. At the iNLP Center life coach training, this approach is part of the life coach training curriculum from enrollment onward.
If you have any interest in life coaching, breath easy. The future is bright.
