A life coach is someone who helps a person or a group of people with training and instructions to figure out their goals, develop skills to achieve those goals, and then the correct steps to take to use their new skills to obtain their goals. A life coach is a motivator, a supervisor, a friend, and mentor. A life coach is a person who, by asking the right questions, can help clear away the clutter in people’s lives that get in the way of them being their best and achieving greatness.

Some questions you may want to ask yourself if you are thinking about becoming a life coach are:

• Do you have strong communication skills?
• Are you a caring giving person who wants to see everyone succeed?
• Are you authentic? Do you ever compromise your values?
• Are you adapt at squeezing out potential from any situation?

At the current time there are no legal requirements to become a life coach. A person does not have to be certified or have specific schooling to call themselves a life coach. There are however many life coaching programs in place to help people become a life coach. A good way to get started with life coaching is to attend a seminar to learn all about the field of life coaching. From there you could decide on what kind of training, if any, you might want to take. There is also the International Coach Federation (IFC). The IFC a large supportive network of life coaches that offers credentialing. Again it is not necessary to get certified to become a life coach but it certainly helps when trying to recruit clients. Many life coaching institutions are pushing to have the coaching industry become a licensed field much like psychology is today.

Below are five quick steps to take when becoming a life coach:

1. The first and most important step is deciding what kind of life coach you would like to be. There are many different specialized areas of life coaching such as; Financial, romantic relationships or family relationships, leadership strengthening, career focus, time management, etc. It is best to ask yourself what are my strengths as a life coach and where can I offer the best service to my clients?
2. Go to a life coaching seminar or class. These kinds of events are the best way to see, in action, of life coaching looks. Not only will you be given the tools to decide what kind of life coach you want to be come and how to achieve that goal but you will see how an already practicing life coach interacts with people.
3. Ask other life coaches what they did to achieve success. Ask them what steps they took when first beginning in the life coach field. It’s also good to ask them why they decided to become a life coach and how they enjoy there new career helping others.
4. Find life coaching classes in your area or online. A life coaching class is the best way to get the tools you need to get started. Being amongst other people going into the life coaching field will be the perfect support system to have while working towards your goal.
5. Even though it is not required to become accredited as a life coach it is strongly recommended. Many clients will not hire a life coach that is not certified. Being certified will help you build a strong professional reputation.