Summarize this article:

Let's just get this out there right outta the gate: while there aren't a ton of fees associated with becoming a life coach (in comparison to paying for a decade of medical school, say), there's a definite delay in income. Not only do you need something to keep the lights on while you're getting trained, but you'll need that savings while you get started, too. After four months of classes, people won't exactly be knocking down your door to pay you for advice. These things take time. It could take years to build up a steady, sturdy clientele base. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. While some life coaches can charge exorbitant amounts of money for just a quick phone call, most aren't so lucky. With less experience, you'll have to charge less money (in addition to having fewer clients). And you'll probably have to start out doing work for free -- so don't go flipping your boss the bird yet. ..probably. While a few life coaches get hired by corporations and those businesses looking to improve their employee retention rates, most life coaches are self-employed. This means you'll handle your own paperwork and have to get bogged down by the business side of it all, but it also means you set your own schedule. You'll need to pay self-employment tax along with invoicing all your clients yourself and establishing methods and schedules of payment (just to name a few). If you're unsure of all the bases you need to cover, talk to someone else who is self-employed -- or other life coaches! What a nice set-up for the next step. Just as therapists receive hours of counseling during their training, new life coaches need to get mentored by experienced coaches to supplement their training. Mentoring may occur in group sessions or with individual coaches over the phone if your school provides one for you -- or you may have to seek one out yourself. You've been networking, right? The other side to this equation is that you need to see what a life coach actually does. You may think it's all, "You're ruining your life -- do this instead," when it's really anything but that (if you're a good life coach, at least!). To get a better grip on what you'll actually be doing, you should have a life coach yourself. If your school doesn't provide one for you (or at the very least give you a few names to hit up), find one either through your friends/school buddies/teachers or through a directory -- much like your future clients will find you. There are several online directories in which you can list yourself so that Internet wanderers may find you if they decide they'd like a little life assistance. There are tons of people out there you'll never reach by word of mouth -- putting yourself out there on the web is the only way to find them. Most websites will charge a fee to put your image and information up. Make sure it's not a complete hoax/waste of time before you hand anyone your credit card information or money. There are plenty of scams out there, so step lightly. Some life coaches specialize in coaching people on defining visions for their lives and seeking ways to improve overall. Some coaches focus on helping clients choose and train for careers, while others coach executives in how to run their businesses; and still others coach clients in managing their interpersonal relationships. Decide on what area of life coaching you wish to specialize in (hint: it should be something you know personally). Here's a list of possibilities to start you off: Business coaching Carbon coaching (helping others reduce their carbon footprint) Career coaching Corporate coaching Executive coaching Relationship coaching Retirement coaching Spiritual and Christian coaching Time management coaching Weight and body image coaching Work/life balance coaching Now that you have the title "Certified Life Coach" behind your name, it's time to start handing out business cards, getting ads online, in newspapers, in community pages and journals, setting up a Facebook page, tweeting, heck, even plastering your name on the side of your car. The more name recognition you have, the better. People can't come to you if they don't know you exist! Consider marketing yourself as a specialist. You've got your niche, right? What might your prospective clients be reading, viewing, or listening to? If you want to reach executives, you wouldn't post an ad at the local daycare -- but you might want to do that if you want to reach new moms or women balancing career and family life. Studies have shown that coaching is just as great for employees as it is for employers. Companies that spend $1 on their employees (be it through coaching, personal wellness, etc.) make $3 in savings for decreased turnover and the processes that go with it. If you're considering walking up to a business and suggesting they provide you as a coach (and if you weren't, you are now), arm yourself with these facts. After you're fresh off the certification boat, you'll need some clients. However, with zero experience under your belt, they're going to be pretty hard to come by. In an exchange to be able to say you have experience working with living, breathing people, ask your friends and family members if you can work with them for free. You'll get your hours in and they'll get some much needed me-time (and hopefully some great pointers and a dose of reality). How many and for how long you do this is up to you. The correct answer is "until you feel comfortable charging for your services and confident that you can truly help others enrich their lives." It could be weeks, it could be months. Luckily, there's no wrong way to go about it. However, waiting until you feel completely "ready" will delay the work of truly helping people, especially if you're a perfectionist. At some point, you're going to need to jump in and make the decision that you are running a real business. After a few months of working with your sister's coworker and your friend's friend's pizza delivery guy, eventually word of mouth will do its job. You'll get that first phone call that makes you jump through the roof. Congratulations! It's money making time.*Word of mouth is NOT something to depend on. You need to learn to market your business and set up a plan, not wait for others to talk about you. Get a business coach if you really want to run a business and not have a part-time hobby that barely brings in any money. ...But how much? Quite frankly, that's up to you. Do you want to charge a daily rate? A monthly rate? And what is that rate? Consider how steep the challenges are for this individual -- both for you and for them. What can they afford? What can you afford? What demographic do the majority of your potential clients fall into? When in doubt -- ask around about the competition! * You need to learn to charge for results, not by the hour or day. Worrying about what the competition charges and trying to undercut them is why very few coaches make money. You'll need to hire a business coach to learn the correct way to set up your services and price them so that you can make a good living and eventually quit your day job. It's also important to set up longer-term programs, and not just meet with a client one time or let them hire you monthly.
Keep your part-time job. Work for yourself. Be mentored by an established life coach. List yourself in various coaching directories. Find your niche. Market yourself. Get some guinea pig clients. Get some real clients.