There is no life coach you need but Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 27:17 – Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

If you enjoy helping people reach their full potential, and you would like to start a business, you may consider learning to be a life coach. While all it might take to be a life coach is great listening skills and lots of compassion, choosing to become one is really a business decision. For choosing to occur, you need to put in a devoted number of hours of training and learning more about the business of becoming a life coach, since becoming a life coach is itself a business.

To become a certified coach, you will have to select a life coaching or specialty area training program that fits the goals of your coaching. For traditional coaching preparation pathways to becoming a life coach, and due to the unregulated nature of the coaching profession, there are no training requirements for entering training programs or practicing. These certification programs do require education, experience as a coach, an exam, and references from certified coaches.

Psalms 145:4 – One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

Depending on the amount of training and hours of experience, coaches may receive varying levels of accreditation. That is, you do not need to be certified or accredited to be a coach. After all, new coaches often feel that they have to be certified in order to be a coach.

If you decide against getting certified from an established coach organization, be sure to have other ways of showing your credibility with prospective clients. If you are looking to be accredited in the life coach profession, you will want to ensure that your certification meets the requirements of an accrediting organization, such as ICF, that sets standards for ethical coaching. It is recommended to select a program accredited by the International Coaching Federation, so that you can be sure that the program is high-quality.

Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Although, this depends on the training facility, coaching accreditation, and what type of training you are doing. You will need a minimum of 60 hours of coaching experience with clients to get most certifications. The International Coaching Federation, for instance, offers the Certified Professional Coach Certification, which requires practitioners to have 500 hours of coaching experience–450 of which should be paid–and to work with at least 25 clients.
In other words, that provides only about half the hours of training required, and none of the experience, for earning ICFs certification as a Professional Associate Certified Coach. Getting your Life Coach credentials from an established organization – such as International Coaching Federation (ICF) – increases your credibility, particularly when you are starting out and you do not yet have many client references. A background in psychology, education, wellness, or even business — and/or certification as a coach from an accredited training program — can lend credibility and make you more marketable as a coach.

When you have a strong sense of your coaching niche, you will be more effective at researching training and certification programs for life coaches, along with other education opportunities. Creating a niche for your coaching practice allows you to be extremely specialized to helping the type of clients that you truly want to work with. Depending on your niche, degrees in psychology, organizational behavior, and even marketing or business may give credibility to your coaching practice.

2 Timothy 2:2 – And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

In this scenario, the coach helps you find an industry that will thrive for you, one that aligns with your lifes purpose. Once you and a coach find an industry that you would like to be a part of, they will help you select a career path that is right for you, and they help you create a plan of action for making that transition.

As the coach, you are going to be helping your clients come up with answers to their problems. As a coach, it is not your job to advise clients, but rather, it is to help clients discover solutions to barriers that prevent them from succeeding in their careers or in their personal lives.

Psalms 71:18 – Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

If you opt to become a life coach, you have an opportunity to empower clients to achieve personal growth, to navigate their way through lifes challenges, and to determine what they really want to pursue in life. In addition to developing essential life coaching skills, you also have to learn to help your clients get where they want to be. To succeed in a life coaching role, you first must learn the skills necessary to effectively work with clients, such as active listening, asking powerful questions, and being able to read nonverbal communications.

The most effective Life Coaches will have a natural optimistic, supportive personality, and conversational styles that put clients at ease. The most effective coaches share a few characteristics that contribute to their own professional and financial success, and to the dramatic transformations in their clients. The most excellent coaches challenge their clients to get a deeper understanding of their issues. During the training, aspiring coaches learn the psychological principles of coaching, how to do coach assessments to identify clients needs, ethics in coaching, and communications skills.

Proverbs 9:9 – Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

People seeking the help of a coach are either stuck in one or more areas in their lives, or they simply want to get better. Some qualities contribute to a persons success as a life coach more than others, since there is no requirement for certification in becoming a successful life coach.

The biggest thing that life coaches must realize is that coaching is not a business — it is a skill you will leverage, combined with other skills, to help you with a specific problem. Yes – you may stray away from what you learned at coaching school (most of the successful life coaches I know are not purely coaches), but you will also accelerate your success as a business player, playing to your strengths and personalities. If you are looking for a hugely intense life coaching program that sets you up for years of success and ongoing learning, look no further than The Professional Certificate Trainer Program at The Institute of Life Coach Training (ILCT). Whether the life coach is working on their own or under contract to another company, the typical day is spent holding a couple of client coaching sessions, as well as doing related administrative tasks.

Proverbs 13:20 – He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.