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3 Reasons to Become a Life Coach in 2023

  • POSTED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2023
two women looking at a computer researching about becoming a life coach

I have been a professional life coach for over 20 years. It has been my career, my calling, my passion, and my main income source as well. I LOVE being a coach and being in business for myself. I find these two things go together very well.

So, when I look at the reasons to become a coach now, I bring my history and experience in the “trenches” of the coaching business marketplace. I see the long game of the profession, which — like any professional marketplace — has its seasons of ups and downs.

Right now, though, I see some very positive and compelling reasons to make it your profession, to begin a career as a life coach.

1.    Coaching is an effective methodology for change

Coaching is a known, established, and effective methodology for change. The pandemic has triggered in many people a hunger to live a more meaningful life.

Coaching has been around for over 30 years. It has taken this time to develop and become a respected modality for change and growth in many sectors.

The business sector was an early adopter, as it saw the success coaching brings. I was personally introduced to coaching while on an executive team working for the United States Postal Service back in 1999!

I was so impressed by the success of coaching with my team that I signed up for Co-Active coach training and never looked back.

Personal growth life coaching has been slower to established itself in our cultural psyches. Oprah helped put coaching on the map when she featured Martha Beck as her life coach. Tony Robbins and others like him brought coaching to the attention of personal growth seekers. Many more have followed.

Popularity in coaching grew worldwide, and it became easier to attract clients and build a life coaching business.

Then the pandemic hit and woke people up to what was not working in their lives in a major way. People questioned their work, their relationships, and their faith. Along with that came a familiarity with working virtually. This combination brought coaching into the forefront in a new and wonderful way.

In the past three years, the success of the coaching industry has grown. Now is the best time I have ever seen to choose a coaching career — if you have a passion for helping people, organizations, and teams to transform, grow, and enjoy a new kind of success.

I have seen huge growth in the requests to hire coaches on LinkedIn, and I personally receive requests from a variety of organizations every week.

I have relatives who had no clue what my profession was for years now asking me for referrals for coaching to help them and their friends. They are asking about specific types of help and whether I know a coach who specializes in that area, which leads me to reason number 2.

2.    A growing demand for life coaches with a specific niche

Coaches who occupy a specific niche in the marketplace are in demand. When coaches offer a specific solution to a clear-cut problem identified by a group of people, it is much easier to refer people to them and easier for them to reach new people through marketing channels.

People are looking for help to address very specific issues, challenges, and problems and to achieve goals in their life. They now know that coaching is an effective way to get that help. The opportunity for coaches is to position themselves in a way that speaks to people of what’s possible.

I have always been a fan of having a very specific niche. It helped me when I was starting out to actually build a business rather than just “get clients.” Now this is truer than ever. People are seeking help to address specific situations, and they are including coaches in their search.

It’s a great time to become a coach who helps people with the issues they have been seeking help for — like career, relationships, business, executive, and financial issues, just to name a few.

I am reminded of a time when it seemed like it would not be a good year to be a life coach.

It was back in 2008–09, during the housing crash and economic downturn. All the news channels were reporting how people were cutting back on spending for anything other than necessities. I was one of the people who faced financial ruin during this time. My house was underwater, and I needed my coaching business not only to survive but to rebuild my financial stability.

What I discovered was any time can be a good time for life coaching if you foster the perspective that there will always be people who need help. If you put effort into finding out what type of help is needed and who needs it, you can bring your coaching services to a niche that needs you.

For me, during this time, I worked with successful women entrepreneurs on their business and with their relationships. As the economy was going south, many of the women I worked with were telling me how important their personal relationships were.

I decided to put my focus on helping these women by starting a coaching group focused on relationships, which led to launching a relationship coaching program. My coaching business grew in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

I eventually shifted my niche to bring all I had learned during this experience to other coaches. Which is why I am writing this now.

 If you are passionate about helping people in your work as a coach, and you devote yourself to making it your career, you can do it!

3.    Fostering your own personal growth

When you make coaching your career, it’s about personal transformation.

In my own experience and as a leader for the Co-Active Training Institute of the core curriculum and certification programs, I have witnessed thousands of students experience personal transformation as they take this modality on as a life path as well as a profession.

Their professional growth enhances all aspects of their lives, especially their work experience.

A commitment to coaching as a profession is a commitment to living a life in integrity with continually learning and growing as a human being. As I heard Martha Beck say a long time ago about us coaches, “We have to live it to give it” — and I know this to be true.

I will also say, from personal experience, that establishing and growing a successful coaching business requires the most disciplined and fulfilling personal growth I can imagine.

I know of no better modality to foster personal and professional growth than Co-Active training. Being Co-Active is both a way to coach and to live your best life.

When you can integrate professional success with personal joy in a way that provides a much-needed transformational experience for your clients, you will grow yourself as you grow your coaching career.

I will end where I began. Yes, 2023 is a great time to become a life coach. Especially when you take on the perspective of playing a long game. I have no doubt about it. When I look at the past and the present, I have experienced and seen the amazing growth and value of this profession.

When I look to the future, I see the longevity of life coaching as a respected and sought-after service for many decades to come. There is no going back. Life coaching has found solid ground and is here to stay and grow.

Abigail Prout Profile Photo
Written By

Kat Knecht

Kat Knecht is an internationally known business coach who has helped thousands of coaches achieve their dream of professional success through her Business Academy and as a leader for the Co-Active Training Institute. Kat believes wholeheartedly in the human potential and has made her impact on others through her work as a coach, trainer, author, interfaith minister and inspiring speaker. She brings an expertise gained from 20 years of success as a professional coach, which she shares in her new book Evolve Your Coaching Business. Kat lives in Ojai, CA, with her husband Curtis and kitty Coconut.

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