How much does a life coach earn?

The questions most people initially ask us are “how much does a life coach earn? and how much does a life coach charge?".

The Coaching Academy has conducted a survey of coaches and can share that the ‘average’ fee for an individual life coaching session of between 45 minutes to one hour is currently £100. This average is supported by the life coaching directory and the Association for Coaching. However, it should be noted that many coaches charge significantly more than this as our information indicates that between £150 and £450. Is also common.

If you would like to forecast your earning potential as a professionally trained life coach, try out our return-on-investment calculator to estimate your future additional income. Simply enter the amount per session and the number of sessions per week – the calculator will do the rest.

Whilst we know that the average session fee for a coaching session is currently £100, why not start with just £80 in the calculator. You will discover that just one session a day would equate to £26,880 per year.

How can I ensure a sustainable income?

Many new coaches think they always need to charge per session, which is fine, but The Coaching Academy would advise the following where appropriate:

1. Offer a block of life coaching sessions

Most clients will need more than one session, especially clients that are new to the coaching process. 3 sessions initially are commonplace because you want the coach/client relationship to develop and give the client sufficient time to move forward.

You will find that the initial 3 sessions are often extended to 6, 9 or even more as you work through things with your client. With more block sessions comes an opportunity to offer a discount of some kind which acts as an incentive for the client.

2. Longer relationships

When you build a rapport with a client and help them move ahead, you often find that they like to maintain the relationship going forward. Our information supports the fact that some clients like to engage a coach over 6 or 12 month period for regular sessions – once again you can, if you wish offer a discount.

3. Additional life coaching income streams

There are several factors that can determine the life coaching fees you can attract.

Most successful coaches continue to add to their coaching toolbox after they have graduated. This means that you can offer additional benefits to your sessions.

DISC personality profiling – all Coaching Academy life coaching graduates are trained in DISC which has been proven to be a great door opener to the corporate world. DISC is a business within the coaching business for many of our coaches and bolsters the annual income greatly.

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) – NLP techniques help a coach understand their clients better and help their clients understand themselves which in turn can accelerate success.

CPD days (continuing professional development) for life coaching - offering qualified professional life coaches a portfolio of various accredited live training workshops, allowing you to pick and mix those workshops of most interest to you and of most use to your coaching clients/niche.

These can include coaching for sales & marketing, Coaching work life balance, positive psychology coaching, Mental Health and coaching, Mindfulness coaching to name but a few.

4. Maximising life coaching fees

It’s probably no surprise to learn that fees within the corporate will frequently be much more than personal coaching, with many organisations seeking coaching for their executives to retain their talent by investing in them, there has never been a better time to approach organisations, often through the contacts and/or clients you currently have. We have learned that many coaching clients often recommend their own coach to a company for coaching and DISC personality profiling which can command fees from £1,600 £6,000 depending on the package content.