Article Summary
Find out how much life coaches really make, including average salaries, earning factors, career opportunities, and tips to increase your income potential.
Life coaching is a dream job for many. Who doesn’t want to be a good mentor and influence other people’s lives; and moreover, be his or her own boss?!
If you are aspiring to be a life coach yourself, you might also be wondering – how much could be a life coach salary? Do they really make a lot of bucks?
Well, the answer to that question can be several.
If you’re looking for a single figure, the average salary of a regular life coach in Western Europe is about £41,400 per year, according to a study made by the International Coach Federation.
But in practicality, there are many factors to consider before you estimate a life coach’s salary.
This article covers most of these factors to give you a crystal clear idea of how much a life coach makes. So, let’s read on!
Location
For any job out there, the location plays perhaps the most vital role in determining its salary. Life coaching is no different. The salary of a life coach heavily depends on where he works, and where his clients are from.
If you take two different life coaches with the same capabilities and experience and place one of them in London and another in Bristol, the salaries of them will be significantly different.
According to Indeed‘s search listing, the life coach in London can expect a salary of £56,700 whereas the one in Bristol is supposed to earn about £47,200 per year. That’s some vivid contrast between the two – nearly 20% cut just for a difference of city.
So, you can already guess how the disparity will be if you zoom out and compare among the rest of the world.
If you’re looking for a single figure, the nationwide average salary for a life coach is roughly £96,700 per year in the United Kingdom.
However, we are also giving you an estimate of salaries in different regions. According to a survey of the ICF study, a sharp disparity appears in the average incomes of life coaches in different parts of the world.
Here are the estimates we have found out in the survey:
- Oceania – £54,800
- North America – £46,400
- Western Europe – £41,400
- Asia – £29,000
- The Middle East and Africa – £26,900
- Latin America and the Caribbean – £20,300
- Eastern Europe – £13,700
- Global Average – £38,300
As you can see, although there are significant differences in the salaries based on regions, life coaching does pay a lot, no matter where it is! It’s a thriving profession, and you can only expect steady growth in this industry.
It is worth keeping in mind that salaries for this and other professions is based on a range of factors, and many businesses design compensation philosophies to determine salaries for positions. It is well worth reading up on some compensation philosophy examples online, including those from major organizations such as Amazon and Boeing.
Learn More: Life Coaching Online Accredited Course
Experience
Like every other job out there, life coaching also requires experience. The more experienced you are as a life coach, the better salary you can expect. In the aforementioned survey by ICF, we can see that coaches with –
- 0 – 1 year experience earn – £96/hour
- 1 – 2 years experience earn – £115/hour
- 3 – 4 years experience earn – £145/hour
- 5 – 10 years experience earn – £190/hour
- 10+ years experience earn – £240/hour
So, it’s visible that whatever job it is, seniority matters!
Here’s another finding regarding the experience. Not only will more experience add more value to your salary, but also it will boost your opportunities. It’s been speculated that coaches with more experience get better results at finding coaching opportunities, which adds more to the profit.
Specialization
Like almost every kind of job, life coaching has different specializations too. Although there are many coaches out there who offer their services to anyone who’s needing help with their professional hurdle or life transition, most coaches these days rather prefer to specialize in one of the many domains and offer their services on that.
Below are some popular specializations of the wide arena of life coaching –
Well, there’s no precise salary range for each of these specializations. But you can say that few specializations are supposed to earn you more bucks than others. For instance, a survey from 2018 by Sherpa Coaching concluded that an Executive Coach earns an average of £289 per hour, whereas a Life Coach earns about £142 per hour.
That’s almost twice the amount for someone who’s doing executive coaching compared to someone specializing in life coaching.
Another 2020 Executive Coaching Survey from Sherpa Coaching reveals that figures have risen since then. Nowadays, executive coaches can expect to make about £350 per hour! Now that’s some income!
The reason for executive coaches receiving higher salaries is quite realistic. An executive working at a million-dollar company is likely to spend more money on his career problems than someone going through a bad marriage or struggling with his or her teenage child. Moreover, most of the companies bear the expense for the coachings of their executives, which makes it easier for salaries of the executive coaches to be raised.
Additional Income
One of the best perks of being a self-employed life coach is that you can make your own decisions. That enables you to further your boundary of work from just the official service. Life coaches these days not only earn through direct coaching services but also from other sources of income. Let’s take a look at a few of these ways.
If any job is closely related to motivational speaking, that is most definitely life coaching. Motivational speaking is perhaps one of the best ways to source supplement income for a life coach. After all, life coaching is all about reframing the self-perspectives of the clients and unlocking their potentials by motivating them. A motivational speaking just the same, the only exception being that you have to do it for a bigger audience. Even if the ticket is low in price, you will still earn a lot of money because a lot of people will join to listen. Just five to ten speeches a year can hit a great amount of bucks for you.Motivational Speaking
As a life coach, you need to have a reputation. And what better way is there to build a solid reputation than becoming a published author. Exactly! Writing a book of your own will make a name for you, and make you a better candidate for coaching your clients than your competitors. Writing a book may sound frightening at first, but once you get the hold of it, it’s not that complex. Are you a divorce coach? Well, you can write about different ways people can deal with bad relationships and find a better solution out. Or, you are a wellness coach? Put down some best ways to maintain someone’s health and give recipe plans that might help anyone! You see, having a published book will not only build a reputation for you but also it will earn you more clients from the readers. People will definitely feel interested to take service from the author of the book they enjoyed reading.Writing Books
If you are running a decent coaching company and you have your own website, then you’ve already started a blog of your own. Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website and turn the readers into cash-paying clients! Not only that, but you can also earn through different channels just from blogging on your website. If your contents are good, there are several ways you can monetize them. Such as – … and many more!Blog Income
Starting a Podcast
A podcast is a humongous platform! Up until 2020, about 75% of British people are familiar with different podcast shows. The audience is growing every day!
Depending on your niche, you can start your own podcast show and serve quality contents to your target audience. Not only you will drive direct clients to your business, but also you will have other ways of monetization. A great number of audience will ensure that you’ll receive direct sponsorships from different other businesses.
You can also earn from referrals and courses through podcasts.
Life coaching is a dream job for many. Who doesn’t want to be a good mentor and influence other people’s lives; and moreover, be his or her own boss?!
If you are aspiring to be a life coach yourself, you might also be wondering – how much could be a life coach salary? Do they really make a lot of bucks?
Well, the answer to that question can be several.
If you’re looking for a single figure, the average salary of a regular life coach in Western Europe is about £41,400 per year, according to a study made by the International Coach Federation.
But in practicality, there are many factors to consider before you estimate a life coach’s salary.
This article covers most of these factors to give you a crystal clear idea of how much a life coach makes. So, let’s read on!
Can you be a life coach too?
The coaching industry is booming, with more and more people requiring solutions for their life problems and seeking out expert help every day. More than ever now is the time to become a life coach. But can you become one?
The answer is, definitely!
If you have the mindset to help others to become a better version of themselves, life coaching would be the best job for you. All you need to do is unlock the potentials you have within.
The best way would be to attend a life coaching training and prepare yourself with the right sets of skills and expertise. Undoubtedly it will take time, but the results will be worth striving for.
FAQs
A life coach helps individuals identify personal or professional goals, develop action plans, overcome obstacles, and stay motivated. They provide guidance, accountability, and support but do not diagnose or treat mental health conditions.
Life coach earnings vary depending on experience, qualifications, niche, location, pricing, and client base. Some work part-time for supplementary income, while experienced coaches with established businesses may earn significantly more.
Income is influenced by coaching experience, certifications, area of specialisation, marketing strategy, reputation, location, pricing structure, and whether the coach works independently or for an organisation.
Formal qualifications are not legally required in many countries, but completing recognised life coaching training and earning professional certifications can improve your credibility and attract more clients.
Yes. Many life coaches are self-employed and run their own coaching businesses, offering one-to-one sessions, group coaching, online programmes, workshops, or corporate coaching services.
You can grow your income by specialising in a niche, building a strong personal brand, expanding your client base, offering online courses or group programmes, increasing referrals, and continually improving your coaching skills.
For individuals who enjoy helping others achieve their goals, life coaching can be a rewarding career. Success often depends on your ability to build trust, deliver value, market your services, and maintain long-term client relationships.
Successful life coaches need excellent communication, active listening, empathy, goal-setting, problem-solving, motivational, and interpersonal skills. Business and marketing knowledge are also valuable for growing a coaching practice.
Begin by completing reputable coaching training, gaining practical experience, identifying your coaching niche, creating a business plan, building an online presence, networking with potential clients, and continuously developing your coaching expertise.