How Do You Become a Certified Professional Life Coach? Life coaching as a career has become a popular choice in the past decade. It started in America as fueled by the discipline's major contributor, Thomas J. Leonard, who is also renowned for his founding of Coach University and International Coach Federation (ICF) in 1992 and 1994 respectively. As more people sees the viability of coaching as a profession, competition also grew stiffer hence more challenges for those aspiring to become one. The best way to prove your credibility as a reliable and trusted life coach is to acquire certification as dictated by the standards of the aforementioned International Coach Federation. To become a certified life coach, here's what you need to do: 1. Determine Your Agenda Before going into the profession full time, you need to determine why you are doing it in the first place. Is it for the money? Is it because you want to make a difference? Is it because you want to help while also making a living? Either way, you need to know the why in order to be as effective a life coach as possible. While life coaching can be a lucrative, you have to remember that it's also more than just a job. When done passionately and driven by purpose, becoming a certified professional coach will not only change other people's lives but also your life. 2. Find Life Coaching Courses Once the motivation is clear and set, the next step to becoming a certified life coach is to find appropriate training and courses. You can compare a number of training centers to check which program suits you best. But in general, the most common methods offered nowadays include online training modules, workshops and one-on-one mentoring. With online programs, you can take the course in the comforts of your home through live online sessions and web conferences. This is an ideal option if training centers are out of the way.While not as common, joining workshops is another way to earn life coaching credentials. Then there’s one-on-one mentoring which is done either through phone or in person where you work with a qualified coach to earn credited hours. 3. Choose Your Certification Level If you are aiming for a certification that is recognized by ICF, there are options to look into which include Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Master Certified Coach (MCC) Of the three choices, ACC certification is the most basic and is ideal for those who have basic coaching experience. To earn the certification, you'll need 60 hours of coach training and 100 hours of client contact hours plus two letters of recommendations from qualified coaches.
After ACC, the next level is the PCC where you'll need to complete 130 hours of coach training and 750 hours of client contact hours plus two references from qualified coaches. Finally, the MCC level will require the applicant at least 200 hours of coach training, 2,500 or more hours of client coaching experience and 10 hours of work with a qualified Mentor coach as well as three references from qualified coaches.