How Much Does a Life Coach Make? (With Steps to Become One)

Updated 7 May 2023

A life coach is a motivational individual who speaks to people on a one-on-one or group basis. They may provide their clients with motivational information, helping them to make big decisions in their lives. If you are interested in becoming a life coach, it's a good idea to research how much you can earn. In this article, we look at how much a life coach makes, how to earn money as a life coach, how to become a life coach and some of the skills needed to be a life coach.

How much does a life coach make?

Learning how much does a life coach make is important to help you decide if this is the right career for you. On average, a life coach earns $61.45 per hour. There are a few factors that may affect a life coach's earnings:

Self-employment: Most life coaches are self-employed, so they may not have enough clients to work the full 40 hours a week. They may spend some of their earnings on business expenses like website hosting, hiring staff members and work clothes.
Part-time employment: Some life coaches only work part time, so they can focus on other projects, such as public speaking or volunteering.

FAQs about life coach salaries

Below we answer some common questions about life coach salaries:

How does the life coach salary work?

Most life coaches work on a freelance basis, although some may hire others to operate under their name or business. Typically, life coaching is unregulated. This means that professionals can set their own rates for their services without the direction of an external body.

How are life coaches paid?

Life coaches charge clients for their services. Typically, clients pay for their services at the end of a session. If the life coach works online, clients may pay them via bank transfer. The life coach may then arrange to pay the necessary taxes and other business expenses.

Does the life coach salary vary?

Salary figures reflect data listed on Indeed Salaries at time of writing. Salaries may vary depending on the hiring organisation and a candidate's experience, academic background and location.

Yes, the life coach's salary can vary depending on their individual experience. Many life coaches begin charging around $30 per hour, whereas more experienced life coaches can charge up to $150 per hour. If you build a reputation, publicise your business and earn the trust of your clients, you may be able to increase your rates as you progress in your career.

What is a life coach?

A life coach is a motivational individual who works with others to offer wellness advice. This could include tips on improving mental and physical health, managing stress, eating well and exercising. Life coaches have some similarities to counsellors or therapists, although counsellors usually require more skilled credentials and work with people who have diagnosed mental health conditions.

Life coaches may have their own story about overcoming problems to lead a healthier life, or they may have studied wellness and gained the skills and knowledge to speak confidently to clients about it. They may work with individuals – either adults or children – on a one-on-one basis or speak to larger groups. They may work privately, at gyms or other fitness clubs or travel around, offering support to businesses and schools. They may also speak at events.

Ways to earn money as a life coach

Here are a few ways to earn money as a life coach:

coaching on a one-on-one basis with regular clients
group coaching
public speaking at events or conferences
creating and selling life coach programs to clients
monetising online content, such as a blog or social media channels
writing books
hiring other coaches and working as the head of an agency
training new coaches

How to become a life coach

Here are some steps to becoming a life coach:

1. Complete secondary school

Most life coaches complete secondary school with good grades in English and mathematics. They may also have IT qualifications, as life coaching often requires using computers to communicate with clients and other coaches. Other useful areas of study are psychology and sociology.

2. Consider a bachelor degree

A degree is not typically necessary for a life coach, but attending university and learning more could be useful, as many life coaches typically have life experience. Relevant degrees for life coaching are psychology or sociology. Any degree that involves communication, such as media, journalism or English, could be beneficial to prospective life coaches.

3. Complete a life coach qualification

Most clients favour coaches with some training in life coaching. Therefore, it is a good idea for any candidates to do a specific life coach qualification. TAFE and other institutes offer Certificate IV in Life Coaching and other relevant qualifications. You can choose to study full time or part time alongside other work. There are also usually both on-campus and online study options.

4. Choose your speciality

Most life coaches specialise in an area that interests them or that they have particular experience in. For example, you could specialise in business, relationships or personal growth coaching. After choosing your speciality, you may undertake more studies relevant to the particular speciality.

5. Create a brand

The next step is to create your brand and choose a business name to register your business. This could be your own name or you could create a business name. Using your own name makes it more personal, and if you have credibility, this could attract more customers. You could also set up your own agency under another name. You may also create a logo and branding. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can hire a graphic designer.

6. Build your website

Most life coaches have websites where their customers can find more information about them. You can build your own website or hire a professional to create one for you. Your website could have a few different pages, including a homepage, an about page, a blog, a services page and a contact page. Ensure that there is plenty of information on your website and aim to answer any possible questions that potential clients may have. Also add plenty of photos, including clear headshots.

7. Market yourself

Once you have a brand set up, you can start marketing yourself. Make sure that you register social media profiles and post on them regularly. You can ask friends and family to share your posts so new customers may see them. You can also pay for advertisements on social media to a specific demographic.

Another way to market is through your blog. You can create helpful articles about life coaching; for example, articles about how to develop a morning routine or creating a productive mindset. You can either learn about SEO yourself to optimise these articles so they show up in Google search results, or hire an SEO consultant who can help you. Remember to add a call-to-action inviting clients to book a session with you at the end of the posts.

8. Offer initial discounts or offers

While you are building your client base, you may wish to offer discounts or offers. For example, you could offer every client an initial session for free or offer a 'four for the price of three' package if they book a bundle of sessions. You could also provide extras like a planner or mood diary. You can be creative here and think of anything that could draw in customers.

9. Accept any promotional offers that come your way

As you develop as a coach, you may find that you get offers for interviews or speaking gigs. To grow your brand, it might be a good idea to accept as many of these offers as possible. The more renowned and established you become, the more you build your business and might charge for sessions.

10. Consider building an agency

Some life coaches work independently throughout their entire career, whereas others hire other life coaches and create an agency. You can train these life coaches, arrange their booking and take a commission from the amount they earn. This could be a way to maximise your income as a life coach.

How Much Does a Life Coach Make? (With Steps to Become One)