Can You Really Make Money as a Life Coach?


This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my affiliate disclosure for more information.

Life coaching is a rewarding career and one in which your earning potential is unlimited if you understand how to monetize yourself.

Many life coaches work for themselves. However, with formal education such as a Bachelors or Masters degree, you can work for a company.

According to PayScale.com the average median self-employed life coach salary is $46,678. The lowest $27,019 and the highest $210,933.—Source: UnivesalCoachInstitute.com

The salary for a life coach varies greatly. If you can properly market yourself and more importantly, have a deep passion for helping others, your income has no limit.

Do You Need a Degree To Become a Life Coach?

You do not need a college degree to become a life coach. There are many colleges that do offer life coaching as well as health coaching degrees.

These degrees fall under behavioral sciences so you will study psychology as well as other general education and elective classes.

How Do You Become a Life Coach Without a Degree?

Many life coaches fall into this career based on their own life experience.

For example, some people have a difficult childhood, experience a difficult marriage, a difficult life in general, etc.

They were able to overcome these difficulties and achieve their life goals. They are then able to help others in similar situations and help them accomplish their goals as well.

Life Coaches Without Formal Degrees in Life Coaching

As far as my research goes, these two individuals do not have degrees in psychology or life coaching. They have ended up in a life coaching career based on their own life experience.

Trent Shelton

trent shelton home page

Trent Shelton is a motivational speaker as well as a life coach for millions of people.

He is a former NFL player. In 2002, he began creating short videos in which he discussed bettering himself.

Trent ended these videos with the phrase “rehab time” and eventually created his non-profit with the same name.

He has a huge social media following on Instagram and Facebook. He is also a published author with his first book titled The Greatest You: Face Reality, Release Negativity, and Live Your Purpose.

David Goggins

David Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, motivational speaker, and author.

David is not necessarily a life coach but many people that have read his book and follow him on social media may view him as one.

I’ve read David’s book, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds. In it, he talks about the difficulties and challenges he has faced in his life and how he was able to overcome them.

It is a great read and will definitely get you thinking in a different way about your own life’s challenges and how to overcome them.

Types of Coaching To Include Life Coaching

  • Life coaching
  • Relationship coaching
  • Transitional coaching
  • Group coaching
  • Couples coaching
  • Parents & teens coaching
  • Health & wellness coaching
  • Sports performance coaching
  • Business coaching
  • Leadership coaching

How You Can Really Make Money as a Life Coach

Chances are you will want to work for yourself. Many life coaches take this route. It isn’t an easy road but with hard work, you can earn a decent living and help a lot of people in the process.

Choosing a Niche

Some life coaches will specialize in certain aspects of life coaching. For example, Trent Shelton (mentioned above) focuses a lot on removing negativity from one’s life.

Whether it is negative people or negative habits, he helps people to eliminate negativity in order to better themselves.

Other life coaches may focus on improving people’s confidence, charisma, health, finances, and more.

The great thing about specializing is that it helps you to stand out from other life coaches.

Besides that, you will likely enjoy what you are doing even more as you get to help people with specific issues that you may have experienced yourself.

Charging By The Hour

You will likely charge your clients by the hour. You can charge whatever you want. However, new coaches may start off anywhere from $100 to $130 per hour.

As you gain experience as well as more testimonials, you can increase your hourly rate.

Public Speaking

Many life coaches earn a living simply from public speaking. They may charge a set fee for a motivational speech.

Corporations and small businesses often hire life coaches to speak to their employees. You can even create your own speaking events and charge an entrance fee.

Online Courses and Book Sales

Creating online courses and publishing books are passive income streams that can generate a consistent income.

Once you create an online course it can generate sales 24/7. It is simply a matter of promoting it to your audience via your website, paid ads, and social media.

You can publish your own books for sale on Amazon and other booksellers. Kindle Publishing makes it super easy to publish your own eBooks.

YouTube Channel

You can create content in the form of videos. Create a YouTube channel and with regular posting, you will gain new subscribers.

As your videos get views and your subscriber count grows, you can eventually earn income from the ads shown on your videos.

Not only that, you can promote your own products in your videos as well.

Create a Website

I always recommend creating a website regardless of the type of business you are in. Having a website is a great way to attract new clients.

It helps to have a blog and to write new articles for it on a consistent basis. These articles will eventually rank in the search engine results.

When people find your articles, some of them will reach out and hire you.

Coach Virtually

You can reach many more clients by expanding your reach using Skype or other video conferencing software.

There is one-on-one coaching via video or you can do live video streaming to coach groups of people.

Membership Website

As you grow in popularity, you could establish a membership website. Members would pay a monthly or yearly fee for personal access to you.

You could answer questions, and provide content that is only available within your membership area, as well as exclusive video content.

My Closing Thoughts On Making Money as a Life Coach

Life coaching is a fun and rewarding career but it also requires hard work and a solid business foundation.

Building your client base can take a lot of time. It probably isn’t the best idea to get into this career solely for the purpose of making money.

You have to genuinely care about people and want to help them.

No matter what career field you choose, it is always a good idea to create multiple streams of income.

Creating an affiliate marketing website is one of the best ways to earn a passive income online. It enables you to promote related affiliate products. For example, you could join the Tony Robbins affiliate program and recommend his products.

You can literally make money while you sleep. Creating and maintaining an affiliate website is hard work but it is definitely easier by following an affiliate training program.



Free Video Reveals How to Make $500 a Day the Simple Way Without Your Own Product or Tech Skills

When you sign up, you’ll receive regular updates related to online business strategies as well as gaining access to free affiliate marketing training. You can unsubscribe at any time.

We respect your privacy.