Let’s look at examples of coaching websites that do this well, the strategies behind them, and how you can create your own without any tech headache.

Create Your Life Coaching Website Instantly With Paperbell

A strong coaching website is more than a digital business card; it’s how people find you, understand what you offer, and decide whether to work with you.

The challenge? Building one from scratch can be time-consuming, technical, and expensive.

Paperbell is the best coaching website platform because it creates a fully functional, client-ready site for you instantly. No themes, plug-ins, or web design skills required.

Beyond a store of your services, your website is a tool that handles the entire client journey, from first click to paid booking.

With Paperbell, you can:

• Launch a professional website instantly, with your branding and packages.
• Take payments online (one-off, subscriptions, or payment plans).
• Automated contract signing before work begins.
• Manage bookings with an integrated calendar.
• Keep all client information, communications, and appointments in one place.
• Update your services or pricing in a few clicks. No developer needed.

This means your site works 24/7 to attract, book, and onboard new clients, while you focus on coaching instead of tinkering with web builders.

How to Create a Paperbell Coaching Website

Setting up a coaching website with Paperbell is simple, fast, and requires no tech expertise—perfect for coaches who want a beautiful site without the hassle.

Unlike using templates or piecing together different tools, Paperbell gives you a ready-made website with everything built in, like scheduling, payments, client messaging, and more.

Plus, it’s designed to work with your social media, so you can convert followers into clients from Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook.

Here are some key sections of an easily customizable coaching website set up with Paperbell.

Your Hero Section

The hero section introduces you and your coaching services with a professional, modern design. This is where potential clients get a sense of who you are and what makes your coaching unique.

Packages

Below your introduction, you can display various coaching packages clients can choose from.

This section will lead them to individual subpages to learn more about what each entails.

Testimonials

Build credibility with testimonials from past clients. This section highlights your impact and success, helping potential clients feel confident about working with you.

Call to Action

Encourage visitors to take the next step with a clear call to action, guiding them to book a session and start their coaching journey with you.

FAQ

Address common questions upfront about your specialty, schedule, pricing, and how clients can get started with you. This helps them feel more informed and confident before reaching out.

Email Sign-Ups

Paperbell’s built-in email opt-in lets you collect addresses from potential clients right on your main page. Once visitors enter their information to join your mailing list, their addresses will be stored in your Paperbell account.

You can then download the list anytime and import it into your preferred email marketing platform to send newsletters, updates, or other communications.

Your Booking Page

Streamline your onboarding process with a fully integrated booking page where clients can schedule their first discovery session and share their details with you.

When they are ready to sign up for your paid offers, they can complete their payments and sign their contract the same way, without you having to lift a finger.

The Best Life Coaching Websites

If you’d rather build your own site from scratch, it’s worth studying what works. The best life coaching websites combine engaging visuals, clear branding, intuitive navigation, and compelling copy.

Here are some great examples to inspire your design and content choices.

1. Preston Smiles

Preston Smiles establishes a personal connection and credibility early on. He does this by using branded images of himself, an “as seen in” section, and a bio, all strategically placed upfront in the homepage design.

2. Cortney McDermott

Cortney McDermott has a beautiful, simple, and intuitive website. The first thing people see when they land on your page is key, and Cortney’s immediately draws you in to keep exploring.

The navigation and flow of the site feel effortless, her branding video quickly shows she is an engaging speaker, and the list of organizations below backs up her expertise.

Using video (such as an “about me” or explainer video) is great for increasing time spent on the page too. This helps you improve your ranking in search, as it signals to the likes of Google that people are more interested in your website than your competitors.

3. Stratejoy

With Stratejoy, Molly Mahar takes a clever approach to her business by building on community and togetherness. Reading her website makes you feel like you’re about to join an awesome group of women on their journey.

Her site, like the others, is very easy to navigate. Plus, it’s crystal clear right away what services she offers.

Great branding on a life coaching website ties everything together. On Stratejoy, you see an element of joy throughout Molly’s brand name, photography, and design. The more cohesive your brand elements are, the quicker your audience understands what you, as a coach, are all about.

4. Marie Forleo

Marie Forleo is a leader in the industry with a huge following on YouTube. As co-creators of her B-School, we (along with the likes of Oprah) have always been fans. She does an amazing job positioning herself as a life and business coach.

Marie is a master video creator. Her hero image is a clip of her beaming at you, and she also repurposes her video content on her blog, which can be powerful in boosting SEO.

5. Melissa Ambrosini

Your website can be a powerful gateway to establishing a deeper connection and educating your audience. You can do this by linking to your guides, podcasts, books, and social platforms.

One thing Melissa Ambrosini’s site does well is integrating Facebook Messenger. Since the app can be automated, you can use it to increase inquiries for your business without being available 24/7.

6. Craig White

Craig White’s homepage is highly relatable for his audience. It builds a connection while clearly laying out his services and upcoming events.

His website colors and copy create cohesion (“empowering you to reclaim your gold”) and come together in an aesthetic design tailored to his target clients.

Reading his introduction, you instantly get who Craig serves and what problems he solves for the people he’s working with. He even voices their frustrations with “I” statements, drawing them closer.

7. Denise Duffield

Denise Duffield-Thomas has a clear niche: She’s a money mindset coach for women entrepreneurs. If you have a specific niche, make sure it’s obvious from the second visitors land on your website.

Another strong aspect of her site is the easy navigation that works like a charm on mobile too. It guides the visitor from one section to another without overloading them with information.

8. Maggie Edwards

The hero section of Maggie Edwards’ website pulls you in immediately, but its standout feature is how Maggie presents her services. She created a secondary menu to hide information she wants readily available but isn’t crucial to the typical website visitor taking a desired action.

Ultimately, the key is to keep the information on your site easy to understand and concise while gradually conveying everything clients need to know to work with you.

9. Ajit Nawalkha

Ajit Nawalkha’s homepage opens with personality: “Yes, that Ajit. The one with the hat.” It’s instantly human and approachable, setting the stage for connection.

He then invites you into his world, focusing on mindset, wealth, business, and joy as the four core areas he transforms, and pushes the idea that coaching is the “secret sauce” to getting unstuck.

He supports that vision with credibility, mentioning working with over 3,000 clients, training 15,000+ other coaches, and collaborating with elite personalities. All while emphasizing his true passion: helping everyday people create meaningful change. It’s an effective blend of warmth and authority.

10. Stacey Boehman

Stacey Boehman’s branding is bold and unapologetic, reflecting her coaching style. Her site features a clean design that focuses on her niche, helping coaches build successful businesses.

Stacey uses strong, motivational language that speaks directly to her target audience, accompanied by professional images that convey confidence and authority.

She also incorporates a mix of blog posts, podcasts, and client success stories to offer value upfront, positioning her as a thought leader in her niche.

11. Natalie Bacon

Natalie Bacon’s website combines a modern, professional aesthetic with approachable, empowering messaging. The clean design makes it easy to navigate, with clear calls to action that guide visitors to her podcast, blog, and coaching programs.

Natalie excels in personal branding, showcasing her expertise in life and business coaching through a mix of valuable content and relatable storytelling. Her site also leverages lead magnets like free resources and webinars, effectively building her email list while delivering value to potential clients.

6 Tips to Create Your Life Coach Website

Here’s how to implement these ideas and create a website that you’re really proud of.

1. Get Some Engaging and Professional Images of Yourself

Think about it: The first thing you saw when exploring the websites above was professional and captivating photographs of coaches. Your website visitors need to put a face to who they will be working with. Professional photographs will give you credibility and make an impactful first impression.

This is not about your looks or how fancy your set design is. It’s about showing an image of yourself that conveys your core values as a coach.

For some, it might be joy, while other coaches might want to create a sense of warmth and compassion. Think about how you can visualize your brand identity in a picture, and hire a professional photographer who understands great lighting.

2. Create a Brand Statement or Tagline

Once your images are sorted, you need to think of a catchy tagline. This statement should clearly reveal your specialty and what results your clients will get if they work with you.

It’s the second thing visitors will notice within seconds of landing on your website, so it still counts as a first impression.

If it isn’t instantly clear what you do, your potential clients might bounce and close the page. To create a great tagline for your life coach business, follow this 5-step process.

3. Have a Call to Action

Your website needs to guide visitors to the actions you want them to take. Decide what that journey is and make it easy to follow.

It’s recommended to have a call to action right away in your hero section. This way, people ready to take action can contact you immediately without scrolling through everything.

The rest of your site can share more detailed information about your offers and repeat your call to action one or a few times.

4. Offer Free Resources

Free resources, be it a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or guides, are key to helping you forge relationships with your prospects.

Establishing trust before they reach out to you will make your marketing efforts easier because they already know, like, and trust you. This is also an opportunity to expand the possibilities of how potential clients can find you. 

If you need content ideas or inspiration, this roundup of the best life coach blogs is a great place to start.

5. Structure Your Website

Your website needs a great structure for visitors to take desired actions and build trust. Your aesthetics also matter because judgments on website credibility are 75% based on a website’s overall look.

As a broad overview, you will need the following pages on your site:

• Homepage
• About
• Services
• Resources or blog
• Contact page

Think about how you can get visitors to know, like, and trust you with each of these sections. Include testimonials, professional photographs, and credentials to create social proof and increase credibility.

6. Present Your Services Clearly

You need to be really clear on your services so people can identify the right fit for them.

Define what outcomes they will receive after working with you. Explain your process and what’s included in your packages besides sessions.

Some coaches prefer to share their prices or starting rates upfront, while others explain their pricing structure during discovery sessions. Both have their benefits, so it’s best to try out what works best for your audience.

The Best Life Coach Website Templates

There are several website builders out there. Three of the most popular platforms for life coaches are:

1. WordPress
2. Squarespace
3. Showit

Here are some of the best themes to build a life coaching website. Alternatively, you can download our template pack to make your job easier.

WordPress Themes for Life Coaches

Divi is a WordPress theme that rarely (if ever) requires you to touch code. With very affordable yearly and lifetime pricing, you get access to over 100 templates that are easy to customize or mix and match.

Explore Divi’s layout library for WordPress websites here.

Squarespace Templates for Life Coaches

GoLiveHQ is the place to go for Squarespace life coach templates with beautiful designs that easily adapt to your individual needs. Squarespace, as a website platform, is user-friendly and can be tweaked without any code, making its templates a sure win.

Have a look at their Squarespace template store here.

Note that some of these themes aren’t fully accessible, so people with certain disabilities won’t be able to access your site entirely. You’ll need to integrate with a third-party tool to ensure Squarespace accessibility.

Showit Templates for Life Coaches

Elizabeth McCravy has many great templates with every page you’d ever need for a fantastic personal website. She also includes free training when you purchase your Showit template.

Shop Elizabeth McCravy’s website templates for Showit here.

We’re also fans of LovelyImpact, which has a business coaching website template and an executive coaching website template.

Shop LovelyImpact’s coaching website templates here.

Create a Beautiful Coaching Website With Ease

Setting up an effective coaching website doesn’t have to be complicated. With Paperbell, you’ll have everything you need to showcase your services and start signing clients with ease.

Start your free Paperbell account today (no credit card required!) and launch your coaching website in minutes.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2023 and has since been updated for accuracy.

The word “niche” gets thrown around a lot in coaching circles, and for good reason. Finding your specialized focus isn’t just a marketing tactic—it’s about connecting with the right clients who truly need your unique expertise.

Think of finding your coaching niche as discovering where your skills, passion, and market demand perfectly intersect. When you nail this sweet spot, your coaching business becomes more fulfilling and profitable.

To help you navigate the possibilities, we’ve compiled 12 of the most in-demand coaching specialties today. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your focus, this guide will show you the diverse paths available in the coaching world.

Let’s explore these niches and find the one that makes you think, “Yes, this is exactly where I belong!”

12 Types of Life Coaches

1. Business Coaches

Business coaches are some of the most popular types of coaches around, making up the majority of life coach jobs.

They have a great reputation for helping both employees and businesses reach their full potential. For this reason, they tend to be constantly in demand. Business coaching focuses on bringing businesses and their workers to the next level by giving them insight into business management and development. Business coaches often help create star employees and executives, so it’s no surprise that this type of coaching is becoming hot, hot, hot!

If you’re looking for a profitable niche, then business coaching is a pretty solid bet, giving plenty of jobs for life coaches. You will need to have an entrepreneurial mindset, but you definitely won’t be struggling for clients as a business coach.

The most well-known business coach is Tony Robbins. He’s a renowned business and life coach, best-selling author, and motivational speaker known for his dynamic seminars and books on personal development.

Pro tip: If you want to create your own beautiful business coaching package designed to convert, try Paperbell for free.

2. Small Business Coaches

This niche is similar to business coaching, but as you might have guessed, it focuses on the unique challenges of small businesses. 

Starting a small business is always tricky, so having a life coach on your side to help build your confidence can be worth its weight in gold. Small business coaches aren’t just cheerleaders, though. They’re there to help clients make wise decisions that will not only grow their business but keep it running to a high standard. 

When it comes to small business coaches, Melinda Emerson is the first that comes to mind. Often called the “SmallBizLady,” she’s an influential small business coach, speaker, and author specializing in helping entrepreneurs and small business owners grow their ventures.

3. Executive Coaches

Another business-related coaching type is executive coaching. 

If you’ve ever walked down a place like Wall Street, then you’ve probably seen some pretty overworked executives. However, the best executives don’t just clock in the hours – they learn how to develop those great relationships that keep their company on top. 

But how do the best in the biz learn how to manage teams, build trust, and keep things moving? 

Well, many executives turn to life coaches to help them make the most of their team dynamic. Executive coaches can help fix broken teams by eliminating pesky productivity problems and offering tools to keep a team’s morale high.

But executive coaching isn’t all about business. A major focus of this coaching type is helping clients create a better work-life balance.

Cool, huh?

The best example of a famous executive coach is Marshall Goldsmith. He’s a top executive coach and author of several leadership books, recognized for his expertise in helping corporate leaders and CEOs achieve their professional goals.

[ Read: What You Need to Know About Executive Coaching Sessions ]

4. Career Coaches

Career coaching actually focuses on those who are looking for a career overhaul. Whether that’s changing careers or advancing a current one, career coaches help clients organize resumes, nail important interviews, and better understand the job market. 

Career coaches tend to be passionate about productivity and progression, so look out for some great overlapping tools that may be useful for both business and career coaches!

A famous career coach you may know is Richard N. Bolles. He was a renowned career coach and author of “What Color Is Your Parachute?” — a seminal work in the career development field.

5. Christian Life Coaches

Christian coaching is one of the most specific types of life coaching out there. 

As you might expect, Christian life coaches focus on helping clients align their lives with Christian expectations and values. This type of coaching won’t be for everyone, as clients understandably want someone of faith as their Christian life coach. 

If you aspire to be a Christian life coach, then Joel Osteen might be a great inspiration for you. He’s a Christian life coach, pastor, and best-selling author, recognized for his inspirational sermons and positive teachings.

6. Relationship Coaches

Relationship coaches have always been one of the most popular types of life coaches. 

Though you might think that this niche is all about fixing broken relationships or helping clients find their perfect partner, it’s actually more versatile than that. Often, relationship coaching focuses on friendships, people skills, and family relationships. If you’re empathetic and have a knack for problem-solving, then relationship coaching could be an excellent type of life coaching for you to hone in on. 

Hey, it’s certainly rewarding to watch relationships mend, and if you’re lucky, you might even be responsible for the match of the century!

If you’re in the relationship coaching space, you’ve probably heard about John Gottman. He’s a world-renowned relationship coach, therapist, and researcher, widely respected for his work on marital stability and couples’ communication.

[ Read: How to Become a Relationship Coach: A 6-Step Guide ]

7. Divorce Coaches

We all hope we’ll never need a divorce coach, but they’re necessary for many people. If you already have the right lawyer for your divorce who takes care of all the legal stuff, a divorce coach is another resource that can help you during this difficult time.

Divorce is tough, and though a life coach can’t give legal advice, they’re excellent for helping clients move through a divorce as painlessly as possible. 

The best coaches can completely change someone’s view on the fallout that comes with divorce, making their future prospects much more promising than the life they left behind. 

Talk about skill…

A divorce coach who comes to mind is Christina McGhee. She specializes in helping individuals and families navigate the emotional and practical challenges of divorce. Clients appreciate her compassionate and effective approach to divorce coaching and parenting guidance

8. Financial Coaches

Money struggles are always concerning. 

Whether you’re struggling to pay the bills or want to save for a hefty down payment, it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to finances.

Enter: financial life coaches. 

People often struggle to reach financial freedom, as they don’t know how to manage money long-term. Instead of telling clients how to spend or invest, financial life coaches help clients understand their finances by creating budgets and guiding them to make better choices. 

Financial life coaches help clients understand their finances by creating budgets and guiding them to make better choices. For instance, if you’re in the market to buy a home, a financial coach can guide you into working with a mortgage lender that fits your needs. It’s also beneficial to learn more about mortgage rate comparisons so you can secure the best rate possible.

Debt-free and saving successfully? Check.

Looking for an example of a financial coach? Consider Dave Ramsey. He’s not just big on financial coaching, but he’s also a radio host and author, offering practical advice on personal finance and debt management.

Read about another famous financial coach: Amanda Frances.

9. Personal Development Coaches

Some of our favorite life coaching books are all about personal development. In fact, many clients have been inspired by bestsellers to ‘hustle’ and get their lives back on track. 

As books and podcasts can only get someone so far, personal development coaches are quickly becoming some of the most popular coaches in the world!

The hustle mentality isn’t new, but clients often cannot move forward with their personal development goals. Most life coaches will have felt ‘stuck’ at one point or another, which is why personal development coaching is such a popular type of life coaching. 

We’ve all been in a rut, but you’ll be pleased to know that your own experience will actually give you great credibility as a personal development coach. If you want to help your clients make those lemons into lemonade, then this is a great niche to focus on!

When it comes to personal development coaches, the list is long, but Brendon Burchard might be a great name to look up for your research. Besides personal development coaching, he’s also known as a high-performance trainer, a best-selling author, and for his motivational content and online courses.

10. Health Coaches and Wellness Coaches

Health and wellness coaching is another extremely popular type of life coaching.

While scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you’ve probably faced ridiculously sculpted abs or perfect glutes. As health coaches often focus on weight management, muscle building, and aesthetics, it’s easy to see why they’ve become so popular recently!

Even if a client isn’t interested in becoming an Adonis, health and wellness coaching is still really useful. Are your clients looking to balance their energy, sleep well, and feel physically healthier? Well, then health and wellness coaching is bound to be a home run!

If you’re into health coaching, you might have heard of Dr. Mark Hyman. He’s a functional medicine physician, best-selling author, and health educator promoting a holistic health and wellness approach.

[ Read: How to Become a Wellness Coach and Transform Lives]

11. Recovery Coaches

A recovery coach is a very important type of life coach. 

As recovery coaches handle people dealing with addiction, it can be a pretty heavy niche to get into. However, it’s definitely one of the most rewarding types of life coaching out there. 

As recovery coaches help clients live free from substances by finding healthy coping mechanisms, a key branch of coaching is perfect for tough cookies.

Not sure what recovery coaching looks like in practice? Check out what Tommy Rosen is doing. He’s a respected recovery coach and yoga instructor, specializing in addiction recovery and holistic wellness.

12. Transitional Coaches

Life is about those big moments. 

Having kids, graduating from college, moving to a new city—you name it—a transitional coach has probably dealt with it. 

Though these big moments are exciting, they can be scary and uprooting, too! People often struggle to cope with big life changes, so transitional coaches are the perfect go-to for putting things in perspective and helping clients make those big life changes as enjoyable as possible.

If you want to see a transitional coach in action, check out Linda Roszak Burton. She helps people and organizations through various life and business transitions and guides them in cultivating a positive, psychologically safe, and inspiring culture.

What types of life coaches are the most popular?

The most sought-after life coach examples are career coaches, relationship coaches, health coaches, and business coaches. If you choose one of these niches, then you’ll probably have little trouble finding clients. There’s no golden rule in coaching when it comes to what the most popular type is. 

Everyone has different problems, and while one coach may be a great fit for one person’s problems, they could be totally wrong for another’s! 

What type of coach should you be?

When it comes to life coaching, you need to be passionate about your chosen niche. It really should be your ‘calling,’ as it were. When you’ve got a great vision for your coaching career, everything else really falls into place (with a fair amount of hard work and dedication, of course)!

You might be tempted to choose what type of coach you’ll be based on what will make you the most money. Don’t get us wrong, it’s great to make bank as a coach, but selling out to focus on a niche that doesn’t inspire you is a recipe for disaster! 

Working as a life coach shouldn’t be a slog, so don’t fall into that trap.

Trust us – passion and enthusiasm for your work are much more valuable than the type of coach you choose to be.

So keep learning, find a great coaching software to make your life easy, and you’ll make whatever coaching type you choose work for YOU.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2021 and has since been updated for accuracy.

• There are 4.7 million coaches on Linkedin.
• There are 109,200 certified life coaches in the world in 2024 and around 34,200 in the US.
• Life coaching is one of the fastest-growing industries in the US.
• There are 24,603 registered life coaching businesses in the US as of 2023. 
• The coaching market is projected to reach $ 7.4 billion USD by 2025.

Before you enter the scene as a life coach, you might want reassurance that there are enough opportunities. 

Here’s our complete guide to life coaching industry statistics as of 2024. Let’s explore why life coaching is a booming industry and the caveats to building a business in it.

How Big is the Global Life Coaching Industry? 

The Life Coaching Services Market was valued at USD 3.4 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 8.4 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5%. It’s a versatile field with new niches emerging and gaining momentum yearly.

That’s impressive considering that life coaching as a concept has only been around for around 40 years.

The industry is made up of 109,200 certified life coaches in the world as of 2024 and around 34,200 in the US. That’s more than double what the International Coaching Federation estimated just two years ago.

Pro Tip: If you’re into detailed market data about the life coaching industry, check out the annual report of IBISWorld. They predict that the coaching industry will greatly benefit from rising levels of disposable income in the coming years.

How Big is the Life Coaching Industry in the U.S.? 

There are 23,201 registered life coaching businesses in the US in 2023. That’s a 4.8% annualized growth increase since 2018. 

What’s fascinating is that life coaching is the second fastest-growing industry in the US, just behind IT. It’s seeing increased demand in all 50 states. 

The states that have the most registered life coach businesses are California, Florida, and Texas.

In terms of certified American coaches, ICF says they have 21,176 coaching practitioners as of October 2022.

How Many Life Coaches are There? 

CoachRanks predicts there will be around 145,500 active coaches worldwide in 2024. This would mean that the number of practicing coaches in the market would double from 2019 to 2024.

Of course, the exact numbers are hard to account for, as many practitioners fly under the radar. One thing’s for sure: You’ll have a lot of people to learn from in this field.

LinkedIn Statistics

Another really interesting set of life coaching industry statistics comes from the networking site LinkedIn:  

• If you search for ‘coach’ on LinkedIn as of September 2024, you’ll find 4.7 million profiles that feature this in their lower third. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the entire population of Los Angeles.
• A search for ‘life coach’ brings up almost 300,000 profiles. Close to half of them, around 140,000, live in the US. To put this in perspective, LinkedIn has more active life coaches than the total population of St. Louis. If you want to analyze this data or build targeted outreach lists, export LinkedIn data to get a deeper look at these profiles and refine your approach.
• A search for “business coach” brings up over 610,000 profiles on LinkedIn, out of which 275,000 live in the US.

Instagram Statistics 

On Instagram, popular life coaching hashtags generate millions of posts.

As of April 2025:

• #LifeCoach has 17 million posts
• #LifeCoaching has 7 million
• #LifeCoachForWomen has close to a million

How Much Money Do Life Coaches Make? 

According to GlassDoor, life coaches make between $51,000 and $92,000 a year on average. However, this spectrum is probably much wider since most coaches are self-employed and set their own rates.

How much they make depends on their location, years of experience, specialization, and whether they coach full-time.

Business coaches tend to make more on average, around $140,000 to $262,000 yearly according to GlassDoor.

Why is Life Coaching a Booming Business? 

Here are some of the reasons why life coaching is a growing industry, along with how you can use this information to grow your business.  

More People Want to Be Coached

More people are aware of coaching and want to be coached these days than ever before.

In fact, in the 2022 ICF Consumer Awareness Study, 73% of survey respondents were aware of coaching. 

People who were currently employed were more likely to know about or had participated in coaching before. 

Younger professionals were significantly more likely to have worked with a coach than their older counterparts. For instance, 47% of Millennials had worked with a coach compared to just 21% of Baby Boomers. 

This growing awareness is also translating to the corporate world.

In the last ten years, companies have seen how life coaches directly help to boost their bottom line. Career and executive coaches have always charged premium prices, as their work helps companies of all sizes to get great results. 

Generally, a productive team leads to higher profit margins, so more businesses hire coaches to invigorate their workforce.

However, it’s not just big companies that benefit from the existence of coaches. Because of all of the demands and stressors of modern life, more people are seeking out great life coaches that can help them handle it all.

Whether an overworked Fortune 500 CEO or a wide-eyed young professional who needs help, a life coach will always be on hand to assist as best they can. 

Life coaches are bonafide heroes to some people, and with so many different niches out there, you’re sure to find demand for your skillset in the business world.

The Future of the Coaching Industry

There has never been a better time to start a coaching career. If you distinguish yourself with great training and certifications, then you’ll be on the right path to building a profitable business as a coach. 

The positive effects of life coaching are now being felt globally, and organizations like the ICF are great at keeping professionals up to date with the best innovative tools.

The coaching industry is showing a steady trend of growth that’s unlikely to slow down anytime soon.

The Biggest Challenges of the Life Coaching Industry

While the future of the coaching industry looks promising, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any challenges. 

The Lack of Regulation

One of the biggest reasons behind the growth of this industry is also one of its biggest challenges: the lack of regulation.

The coaching industry is largely unregulated, meaning anyone can become a coach without formal certification or oversight. On the one hand, this allows for diverse approaches and innovation, making coaching accessible to more people.

On the other hand, the lack of standardized credentials can lead to inconsistency in quality, making it harder for clients to assess a coach’s qualifications or expertise. This raises concerns about professionalism and accountability within the industry.

In the 2022 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, most clients said it was important that their coach was certified. Additionally, 65% of respondents who have worked with a coach said their coach held a certification or credential.

At the same time, many coaches enter the field without formal education, gaining expertise through work experience, mentors, and self-study. Ultimately, it’s your responsibility as a coach to ensure you have the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively help your clients, regardless of how you acquire them.

Increased Competition 

Since the bar is low to start practicing, more and more people are joining the field every year. This creates increased competition.

Successful life coaches tend to master personal branding and marketing to stand out. A great first step to getting better at these is to niche down your coaching business. 

Just think about it: If you want to hire a career coach one-on-one to help you move past burnout, do you choose a general one or one that specializes in working with burnt-out executives?

If you specialize as a coach and master helping a certain niche, you can raise your rates, sell your life coaching packages faster, and introduce other services like group coaching to your clients more easily.

Recession Fears

According to ICF, 21% of coaches are worried about the risk of a global recession. While you can’t control the economy, there are a few things you can do to put yourself in a better position to weather an uncertain environment:

• Being consistent with your marketing efforts and bringing in new leads each month
• Having an emergency fund for your business and your life
• Using a solid cash flow management strategy like Profit First

The Bottom Line

These life coaching industry statistics and trends prove that this field still has huge potential.

As more and more coaches join the field, standing out is essential. Niching down allows you to create demand for your unique services, helping you attract the right clients while further diversifying the industry.

If you’re ready to build a standout coaching business, try Paperbell—the all-in-one client management tool that streamlines your bookings, contracts, payments, and more.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2023 and has since been updated for accuracy.

Today’s most influential coaches didn’t just write books or give speeches—they worked directly with clients, creating real change in people’s lives. Some built their reputation over decades, while others leveraged social media to make their mark in record time.

Ready for some serious inspiration? Let’s explore some of the world’s best life coaches who are making waves globally. These standouts don’t just talk the talk—they walk alongside their clients every step of the way, helping them turn dreams into reality.

The Best Life Coaches Who Are Also Bestselling Authors

Image source: estherperel.com

These coaches work in various fields, from relationships to wealth creation. They’ve gained international fame through their revolutionary views in their area of expertise, which they published in a bestselling book.

Esther Perel

Esther Perel is a Belgian psychotherapist and the bestselling author of Mating With Captivity and The State of Affairs. Her provocative views on sex and relationships have inspired new perspectives on marriage and infidelity, and her viral TED talk received more than 10 million views online. She’s one of the most well-known couples therapists in the world.

Rich Litvin

Rich Litvin is the co-author of the iconic life coaching book Prosperous Coach, who runs a leadership consultancy for world leaders, based in Los Angeles and London. His clients include Olympic athletes, Presidential candidates, Hollywood film directors, Special Forces operatives, and serial entrepreneurs. Rich is also the founder of The Four Percent Club, a private club for the top 4% of the world’s most extraordinary consultants and coaches.

Steve Chandler

Steve Chandler is the author of 30 books that have been translated into over 25 languages. He’s been coaching for more than 20 years and has been named “the most powerful public speaker in America today” by the media. He’s also the creator of the Coaching Prosperity School, a life coaching program that helps other coaches build a strong coaching practice and create their dream clientele.

Bob Proctor

Bob Proctor is a Canadian self-help author who identifies himself as a philosopher. He’s best known for his New York Times best-selling book You Were Born Rich and as one of the speakers on the internationally acclaimed film The Secret.

Michael Neill

Michael Neill is an internationally renowned transformative coach and the best-selling author of five books, including The Inside-Out Revolution and The Space Within. His books have been translated into 17 languages. He’s been a coach for over 25 years, and he also works as an adviser to celebrities, CEOs, and royalty.

Tony Robbins

Anthony Robbins is perhaps the most famous American author, coach, and speaker in the world today. His seminars have impacted over 50 million people from 80 countries and have been turned into a Netflix documentary film called I Am Not Your Guru. His most well-known books are Unleash The Giant Within and Money Master The Game. He also has a popular certification with Cloe Madanes called the Robbins-Madanes Life Coach Certification.

Robin Sharma

Robin Sharma is the author of the #1 International Bestseller: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. He’s a consultant amongst rockstars, royalty, billionaires, and celebrity CEOs, who was named one of the world’s top five authorities in his field. He has had clients from NASA, Microsoft, Nike, and Yale University.

The Best Life Coaches Who Are Also Top Educators

Image source: lovinlife.com

Besides their coaching practice, these professionals are the instructors of major educational programs in the space of personal development and coaching businesses.

Ajit Nawalkha

Ajit Nawalkha is the former Co-Founder of the #1 Transformational Platform, Mindvalley, and the Founder of Evercoach, the world’s largest educational platform for coaches. He’s an instructor on Evercoach himself, helping coaches start and grow their coaching businesses. He’s also the author of the books Live Big and The Book of Coaching.

Marisa Peer

Marisa Peer was named the #1 British Therapist by Tatler and Men’s Health magazines. She’s spent over 30 years working with clients, including royalty, Hollywood actors, Olympic athletes, CEOs, and political leaders. She’s a hypnotherapist and the creator of the technique called Rapid Transformational Therapy. She teaches her signature methodology to coaches around the world, and she has two programs on Mindvalley: Uncompromised Life and Rapid Transformational Hypnotherapy for Abundance.

Christine Hassler

Christine Hassler is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, master coach, podcast host, and TV host. She has appeared as an expert on the Today Show, CNN, ABC, CBS, and FOX. She’s a member of Northwestern University’s Council of 100 and the Young Entrepreneur Council. Her course Unleashed on Evercoach is one of the most searched-for programs for coaches online.

[ Read: Real Coach Reviews: Christine Hassler’s Unleashed by Evercoach]

Jason Goldberg

Jason Goldberg is an award-winning entrepreneur, TEDx Speaker, international bestselling author, former rapper, and transformational coach. He has coached hundreds of individuals, groups, and businesses in the areas of mindset, impact, and abundance. His popular course, Creating Transformations, teaches coaching professionals how they can launch their first online course.

Marie Forleo

Marie Forleo is a Business Coach, online entrepreneur, and motivational speaker. She’s the founder of B-School, a sought-after online business training program that has helped thousands of people launch and grow their businesses. She was featured in some of the top publications in the world including Oprah Magazine, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine. Besides her unique education program, she’s also known as the bestselling author of the book “Everything is Figureoutable.”

Dr. Shefali Tsabary

Dr. Shefali Tsabary is a renowned clinical psychologist, international speaker, and bestselling author. With her profound insights and compassionate approach, Dr. Shefali has touched the lives of many, inspiring personal transformation and healing. Her expertise in conscious parenting and mindfulness has earned her global recognition and a loyal following.

Dr. Shefali’s work has resonated with countless parents, empowering them to raise emotionally intelligent and authentic children. She was featured in Oprah’s SuperSoul Sessions and spoke on the stage of TEDx. Through her engaging talks and workshops, she continues to impact diverse audiences worldwide, guiding them on a journey of self-awareness and growth.

Gabrielle Bernstein

Gabrielle Bernstein is a renowned life coach, motivational speaker, and #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her empowering teachings on personal growth, spirituality, and self-awareness. As an educator, she goes beyond life coaching to provide valuable insights and practical tools for transformation through her books, online courses, workshops, and public speaking engagements.

Gabrielle’s educational approach blends spirituality with modern psychology, making her teachings accessible to a wide audience seeking inner healing and personal development. In her popular podcast “Dear Gabby” she shares wisdom and inspiration to uplift and empower listeners on their journey towards self-discovery and meaningful living.

The Best Life Coaches Who Are Also Influencers

Image source: buzzfeednews.com

Influencers and life coaches often have something in common: they have a lifestyle and philosophy that they’re not just preaching, but living. This is how they inspire us. Here are some of the biggest influencers today who are also coaching professionals.

Nora Dekeyser (@noradekeyser)

Nora Dekeyser is a former matchmaker, turned relationships and dating coach, mentor, speaker, and author. She was rated as a top Female Life Coach in 2020 and was featured in Business Insider, Forbes, and ABS News. She promotes self-love to her 18,000 followers on Instagram and helps singles create healthy and fulfilling relationships.

Alyssa Nobriga (@alyssanobriga)

Alyssa is a licensed Clinical Somatic Psychotherapist, coach, speaker, entrepreneur, and an Instagram influencer with over 150,000 followers. She’s the Founder and CEO of The Institute of Coaching Mastery, a life coaching certification program that helps leaders become masterful facilitators and run successful businesses.

Alyse Parker (@alyse)

Alyse Parker is a Certified Health Coach and a YouTuber with over 600,000. She’s worked with hundreds of women through her retreats and coaching programs, to help them build confidence in themselves. Her vision is to help create a world where we all have the courage to pursue what elevates our souls.

Eva Redpath (@evaredpath)

Eva Redpath is a Co-Active® Life Coach, Award-Winning Wellness Leader, Host, and Keynote Speaker. She’s recognized as Canada’s first Nike Master Trainer and an Equinox Signature Program Presenter. She’s also an influencer with an almost 24,000-strong follower base on Instagram.

Rebecca Lynn Pope (@rebeccalynnpope)

Rebecca Lynn Pope is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of multiple global six and seven-figure businesses and brands. She is also an author, motivational speaker, the Founder of the Abundant Life Path Coaching Certification, and an Instagram influencer with over 60,000 followers.

Brooke Castillo

Brooke Castillo transformed her Life Coach School into a coaching industry powerhouse, creating a multimillion-dollar business that’s caught attention far beyond coaching circles.

Her certification program, though coming with a $18,000+ investment, continues to attract both coaching newbies and veterans alike. Why? Because coaches aren’t just buying education; they’re investing in a proven model that’s helped countless practitioners build thriving businesses.

What sets Brooke apart isn’t just what she teaches, but how effectively she’s packaged her own methodology into something coaches can implement with their own unique spin.

Amanda Frances

Amanda Frances has transformed herself from coach to empire builder, creating an eight-figure brand that serves clients worldwide. Her specialty? Helping women break through money blocks and create genuine financial abundance.

With a powerful mix of mindset work, digital courses, and business coaching, Amanda has connected with hundreds of thousands of followers—over 536,000 on Instagram and 35,000 YouTube subscribers tune in regularly for her straight-talking money wisdom.

[ Read: How Much do Life Coaches Actually Make? (And Are You Undercharging?) ]

How To Choose The Best Life Coach For You

Although these coaches (and many more) have achieved extraordinary success in their careers, choosing a life coach is deeply personal and it’s not just dependent on publicity and fame. At the end of the day, you have to work with someone whose story you resonate with, someone who shares your values, and of course, someone you have the budget for. It’s not about finding the most well-known author or the coach with the most certifications (though these achievements are great proof of their expertise), it’s about opting for someone you feel is right for your needs.

There are coaching training centers like Evercoach or the ICF (International Coaching Federation) where you can find a database of coaches with their professional details in order to pick the one that suits you. We also recommend CoachCompare, a free coaching directory where you can find vetted coaching profiles in all specializations — or get listed yourself if you’re a coach.

You can also ask around among your friends, to see if they had any positive experiences with a coach and ask them to refer them to you. Think through your pros and cons, but don’t overthink it: if you have a hunch someone’s right for you, they probably are.

How To Become The Best Life Coach In Your Niche

One of the attributes of successful coaches, like the ones we listed above, is that they never stop learning. Throughout their career, they continue to seek out new educational programs, certifications, and mentors who are a few steps ahead of them. They do anything to create a massive impact in the lives of their clients, and they’re ready to become a student over and over again, in order to continue growing.

You don’t necessarily have to be a part of the best life coaching programs to be successful in this field but advancing your skills can never hurt. If you feel inspired to continue your education, here’s some further reading on…

• The best life coach certifications
• The best life coaching books
• The life coaching resources

The other thing that makes these coaches the best is that they don’t settle. They always work on growing their coaching business and challenging themselves with bigger clients in their niche. Some of the names we listed in this article have worked with athletes, celebrities, and even royalty. In other words, with people who probably carry the biggest aspirations and struggles in the world on their shoulders. It’s being ready to challenge themselves and having the humility to work with such powerhouses that made them the brilliant coaches that they are.

If you’re a coach yourself, apply your own methodology and set bold goals for yourself in your field. Instead of chasing publicity, be determined to solve bigger challenges with every client you meet, and commit to always learning. If you do that, success is guaranteed to follow in your pursuit of being the best life coach you can ever be.

Best Life Coaches FAQ

Who is the most successful life coach?

Tony Robbins stands out with 30+ years of coaching, 40+ million books sold, and an estimated net worth of over $600 million. However, “success” can be measured differently—some coaches have a profound impact with smaller audiences.

How do I choose the right life coach for me?

Look for coaches who specialize in your specific challenge, offer a connection call, show clear evidence of results, and whose communication style resonates with you. The right coach should make you feel both supported and challenged.

What qualifications should I look for in a life coach?

While certification isn’t mandatory, look for coaches with ICF credentials, relevant experience, testimonials from real clients, and ongoing education. Most importantly, they should practice what they preach in their own lives.

How can I grow my coaching business like these top coaches?

Start by developing a signature methodology, create content that showcases your unique perspective, invest in your own visibility, and focus on generating remarkable results for clients who will become your best marketing asset.

What marketing strategies do successful coaches use?

Top coaches typically use a mix of content marketing (podcasts, blogs, social media), public speaking, strategic partnerships, and leveraging client success stories. Most importantly, they’re consistent with their chosen channels.

How can I differentiate myself in a crowded coaching market?

Focus on solving a specific problem for a specific audience, develop your unique coaching methodology, share your personal journey authentically, and create a client experience beyond just your coaching sessions.

Your Path to Coaching Excellence

The world’s best coaches didn’t build their empires overnight. Each started with a passion, developed a unique approach, and consistently showed up for their clients while growing their visibility one step at a time. What’s most inspiring about these coaching powerhouses isn’t just their impressive follower counts or income—it’s how they’ve created transformational methodologies that genuinely change lives.

If you’re building your own coaching practice, remember that every coach on this list started somewhere. Focus first on delivering exceptional client results, refining your unique approach, and making your business processes as smooth as possible. With the right systems in place to handle the admin side, you’ll have more energy and time to focus on what you do best: creating transformations that make clients eager to share their success stories with others.

Ready to streamline your coaching business like the pros? Try Paperbell free with your first client and experience how the right tools can help you build a coaching business you love.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2021 and has since been updated with new information in March 2025.

Coaching forms are essential to organize your business and collect key information about your clients. They also make your onboarding and coaching process more effortless.

Paperbell is all about making running your coaching business easy, so it’s no secret we love forms. No matter your niche, the right questionnaires will make the admin side of your business a breeze—here’s how.

How Coaching Forms Can Grow Your Business

From impressing your clients to making you a better coach, here are three ways the right forms can grow your coaching business.

1. They Create a Positive Client Experience

Have you ever encountered an issue with miscommunication between you and a client? Maybe you didn’t understand their goals and motivations, made assumptions based on incomplete information, or took an approach to coaching that your client wasn’t a fan of.

All of these issues can be easily avoided in your coaching program by using the right forms. From onboarding questionnaires to feedback forms, you’ll never have to second-guess your approach again.

Coaching forms are also an excellent way for you to learn and grow as a professional. Many clients are more comfortable answering personal questions or giving feedback in written form. That means you’ll gain a new perspective on things they weren’t necessarily comfortable sharing with you in your coaching sessions.

2. They Free up Time

Think about how much time you spend on important but time-consuming aspects of your business. Onboarding, client check-ins, writing emails, creating plans… These can all be improved with coaching forms.

With that extra capacity, you could be acquiring new clients, creating new services, or taking more time off to recharge.

3. They Provide Better Insights

Crucial stages in your coaching journey, like onboarding or feedback, provide essential insights into your client’s needs, feelings, and barriers.

But do you ever feel like you’re struggling to get the full picture?

Unlike a coaching session or email exchange, forms can provide a less intimidating and, sometimes, more accurate snapshot of where your client is at and where they want to be.

Plus, you’ll have a record of their responses that you can pull up any time you need to revisit certain issues in their lives or businesses.

19 Coaching Forms You Need to Run Your Business

Check out these downloadable forms to expand your coaching toolkit.

Client Intake Forms

Want to start a client relationship on the right foot? A great onboarding form is key. 

Check out these coaching forms to make your first session flow better.

1. The Coaching Tools Company Intake Session Template Checklist

Keep things ticking along by following this easy guide to your client’s onboarding session.

2. Happy Rubin’s Template: Coaching Form For Client Intake & Follow-up

More of a DIY coach? Create your own intake form with confidence using this templated guide. 

3. Personal Coaching Information: Sample Pre-Coaching Questionnaire

This example questionnaire provides ideas for creating your intake form and shows how to get the most out of your onboarding process.

Coaching Assessment and Evaluation Forms

How do you know if what you’re doing is effective unless you’re measuring it? That’s where coaching assessment forms come in. 

They’re essential tools to make sure you and your client are on the same page every step of the way.

4. Life Coaching Evaluation Form From Grow The Coach

A great reference for feedback and session evaluation forms for clients to fill out following their sessions.

5. Life Coaching Professionally: Eight Life Coaching Evaluation Questions to Ask 

There’s no need to fear feedback when you’re asking the right questions. Not to mention, this template may just help you get the positive testimonials you’ve been looking for.

6. The Coaching Tools Company Wrap-Up Session Questions

End each session on a good note with this follow-up form for clients—the perfect accompaniment to the post-session email!

Coaching Business Admin Forms

It may not be as thrilling, but admin is an inevitable part of being a kick-butt coach. From legal forms to business trackers, these are a must-have.

7. Wonder Legal’s Coaching Client Agreement

When it comes to a client agreement that clearly defines your legal obligations, who better to trust than an actual law firm? 

If you need a more detailed guide, you can also read our article on coaching contracts.

8. Active Campaign Freelance Business Resources

If you’re a freelancer, odds are you’re running your coaching business alone. This free template pack includes checklists and templates for invoicing, meetings, client follow-ups, and more.

9. Coaches’ Coach Business Forms and Templates

Profit Equation worksheets, due diligence checklists, marketing budget calculator— whether you’re a business coach or not, this bundle has everything you need.

Life Coaching Forms

Stand out from the crowd with some easy-to-use and effective forms and templates. 

From free life coaching intake forms to session checklists, these questionnaires will help keep your business ticking like no other.

10. The Counselor’s Coach Life Coaching Consent Forms Packet 

Client consent can be tricky to navigate. These forms can be modified to your branding and to include a liability client agreement statement.

11.  Growth Lab: How to Structure a Coaching Contract Clients Can’t Wait to Sign 

We’ve said this before, but contracts are important. Make sure yours hits the mark with this super handy template from Growth Lab. The practical examples are the cherry on top.

12. Life Coaching Session Forms Bundle

If you haven’t dipped your toes into the pool of Etsy bundles yet, this one might be a game-changer for you. This bundle has everything you need for your practice and you can easily edit the worksheets and forms on Canva.

Health, Nutrition, and Wellness Coaching Forms

Food diaries, macro calculators, mindset techniques, there are a ton of different forms that health coaches need to deliver an epic service for their clients. 

Here are just a few to get you started.

13. Precision Nutrition Client Assessment Forms

A super detailed template to learn everything you need to know about your client’s health, history, and goals.

14. BlockSurvey Nutrition Consent Form

Use this questionnaire template to create your nutrition consent form or survey.

15. National Wellness Institute Wellness Tools

These forms will surely address any wellness goal your clients may have in the most fun and creative way possible.

Business Coaching Forms

It’s business time, and that means paperwork. Don’t worry—this is the fun kind.

Ditch the outdated spreadsheets for these sleek tools designed to help both you and your clients level up your businesses.

16. Better Proposals Free Business Coaching Proposal Template

Digital, interactive, free—what’s not to love? Start writing better proposals today, or teach your clients how to.

17. Paramount Business Coach Templates

Want to equip your clients with some epic tools? This extensive assortment especially made for small businesses should have you covered.

Relationship Coaching Forms

Love is in the air, and not just for your clients! You’ll fall head over heels for these forms—so much so that you may just wonder how you ever lived without them. If that isn’t a love story for the ages, then what is?

18. A Better Love: Marriage, Couples, and Relationship Forms

Interested in implementing a relationship vision questionnaire into your coaching practice? This is the right place to start. 

19. The Balanced Life Couples Counseling Intake Form

Not sure where to start? Start right here with this example intake form for couples.

5 Tips to Effectively Help Your Clients With Coaching Forms

Here’s how to use coaching forms to get the best outcome for your clients.

1. Use Forms to Eliminate Common Issues

It’s easy to get caught up in shiny new things, especially when it comes to beautifully formatted coaching templates (don’t they just trigger your inner stationery addict?) But you need to make sure that the forms you’re using are the right ones for you.

In other words, make sure the ones you’re implementing address a specific need in your coaching practice. Their job isn’t to create unnecessary extra work for you and your clients but to amplify the results of your coaching program.

2. Give Your Client a Heads up

The golden rule of forms is to always give your client an idea of how much time they should set aside to fill them out. That way, they can plan for doing so rather than feeling bogged down.

Setting clear expectations is the fastest way to improve your client experience and make it easy to work with you.

3. More Isn’t Always Better

Make sure each form has a separate, well-defined purpose. Avoid combining everything you need to know into one long form that takes hours to fill.

For instance, don’t combine payment records with onboarding questionnaires.

The point isn’t to bury them (or you) in paperwork. Rather, to automate some of your business processes, or to give your clients a chance to complement their work with you with some additional contemplation.

Think critically about what belongs in your sessions versus your forms, and take into account the personal preferences of your clients.

4. Don’t Forget the Branding

Now for the fun part: design! Even if you’re using a template, make sure to put your personal touch on it.

Branding elements on materials you’ve developed are also important in case they are shared with a third party. This way, the word spreads about you without you doing anything. Win-win!

5. Ditch the Paper and Go Digital 

Printing stuff out is so last year. Make things easier for yourself and the planet by opting for digital forms.

Paperbell includes digital intake forms and questionnaires that seamlessly integrate into your onboarding process. All you need to do is send your form link to your client, and all their data will be safely stored in your all-in-one client management system.

Build a Thriving Coaching Practice

With the right coaching tools at hand, you have a lot more time to dedicate to transforming lives. And there’s nothing that saves you more time than an all-in-one client management and website tool like Paperbell.

With built-in forms, packages, scheduling, payments, and contracts, Paperbell brings together everything you need without the hassle of multiple platforms.

It creates a fully functioning, personalized coaching website for you with all these features plugged into it so you’re ready to hit the ground running.

Try Paperbell now for free with your first client.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2021 and has since been updated for accuracy.

To run your first life coaching session successfully, you need a great structure and some preparation.

Here’s everything you need to know about planning, structuring, and running your sessions to leave a positive impact on your clients.

Define the Objective for the Session

The first step is to figure out the purpose of your session. Is it a standalone call or part of a larger coaching package designed to work toward a specific goal?

A standalone life coaching session will need to achieve a smaller outcome in less time. However, a call part of a signature program needs to take the client one step closer to a bigger outcome.

In both cases, you need to establish the objective of this individual session first before you can break it down.

💡 Pro tip: Use Paperbell to create clear coaching packages easily.

How to Structure Your Life Coaching Sessions

Use this flow as your first coaching session template to facilitate your client’s progress and personal growth.

1. Establish Rapport

The first step of any call should be to establish rapport. How you’ll do this depends on how well you know the client.

For instance, is this your first time coaching them? Or is this one of several sessions you’ve already had with them?

If this is an existing coaching relationship, you can establish rapport by referencing past sessions with the client and asking them how they felt after the previous session. However, if this is your first session with them (other than the discovery session), you’ll have to find something else.

You can start by thanking them for trusting you and reassuring them that both of you will work together to get where they want to go.

2. Spend the First 5 to 10 Minutes on Accountability

If you’ve defined action steps in your previous meeting, you must hold your client accountable.

Did they follow through? If not, what held them back? Why did they feel stuck?

You can ask the following questions to help them take accountability:

• How did [action step] go since the last time we spoke?
• Did you run into any obstacles?
• What worked for you and what didn’t?
• Are you currently facing any roadblocks?
• What have you learned from these action steps?

About 5-10 minutes should be enough to cover this in a one-hour session.

3. Identify Today’s Focus

Next, you and your client need to figure out what they want to be coached on that day. If you’re in a coaching program with a predefined structure, you may already have a clear idea about this.

If not, ask your coachee a question like:

• What would make this a powerful conversation for you today?
• What would you like to focus on in today’s session?
• How do you feel about [previously defined goal] right now?

Agree on the focus of the call with your client to make sure you’re on the same page. You can’t solve every challenge for your client in a single session, so make sure to set reasonable expectations for the coaching journey within the time frame you have.

This will also inform what coaching tools you’ll need to focus on to make progress.

4. Reframe Your Client’s Challenges

Once you know what challenges you’re dealing with and what your goals are for this coaching session, take some time to dissect the issue and find ways to reframe it. 

Help your client understand their situation and see their challenges from a different perspective. Separate what the objective events are from the meanings they might attach to them.

If this brings up some heavy feelings in them, acknowledge them and help them accept their emotions. Taking a moment to do this can help your coachee approach their issues with a clearer head to find solutions.

5. Walk Your Client Through Relevant Strategies

Identify possible solutions and strategies together to tackle the issues your client is facing. You can throw in suggestions of your own, but remember, you’re not there to save them; you’re there to guide and empower them.

Ask guiding questions to help your client come up with new ways to approach a problem, such as:

• How have you dealt with similar challenges in the past? What worked then?
• What else could you try?
• Is there a person who can help you with this issue?
• What resources or strengths could you leverage in this situation?
• How can you reframe this challenge into an opportunity?

This will not only help them progress with their objective but also develop self-reliance in the future.

6. Come up With an Action Plan

Build an action plan with your client that they can follow to make strides forward.

Define a specific time frame for the steps they commit to. This could be until the next section or, for example, within the next month.

Here are some guiding questions that will help you do that:

• What’s the smallest step you can take right now to move forward?
• What specific action can you commit to taking in relation to [goal]?
• By when are you going to complete this step?
• How will you know when you’ve made progress or achieved your goal?

Your client will need to be on board with the plan to act on it. Watch out for any hesitation on their end and address any resistance to moving forward. Adjust the size of their goals and the time frame to something they can say yes to.

Should You Always Follow a Coaching Call Structure?

You don’t have to structure your life coaching sessions to the minute. Leaving some wiggle room will help you stay flexible to address unforeseen issues and shift course to focus on what your client needs at that moment.

However, a clear coaching process will help you stay on track to make sure they walk away with tangible results. You can keep your session flow in front of you throughout the session to make sure you make the most of your time with your client.

If you want to dive deeper into coaching questions and processes, Coaching Questions: A Coach’s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills is a classic guide worth keeping at hand.

How to Prepare for Your Life Coaching Session

Like with everything in a coaching business, preparation is key. Take some time before your session to plan ahead so you can make it as efficient as possible. 

If this is your first one with a coachee, send an intake form to them beforehand and ask them to fill it out by a specific time. This way, you’ll have a chance to learn more about them before you get on the call.

For regulars, review your session notes from previous calls to get a refresher on their progress. If the call is part of a package, look at the program outline to check the purpose of the upcoming session.

This will help you think through what coaching templates and tools may be helpful to bring to your next call.

What to Do Right After Your Life Coaching Sessions

You can reflect on how your session went by asking yourself:

• What did I learn from this call that I didn’t know beforehand?
• How can I better prepare next time and support my client?
• What coaching skills do I need to improve to serve them better?

Depending on your coaching agreement, you can also check in with your client before the next session about the actions they’ve committed to. If you have any resources that may help them with their specific issue, you can email some to them.

FAQs about Life Coaching Session

What is a life coaching session?

A structured conversation between coach and client focused on achieving personal growth through goal-setting and action planning. Unlike therapy, coaching is future-oriented and solution-focused.

What are some common life coaching session topics?

Life coaches typically address areas like career transitions, improving work-life balance, and enhancing relationships. Many clients seek help with goal setting and achievement, personal growth, and developing healthier habits. Coaches also guide clients through financial mindset shifts and the journey to discover their deeper purpose or calling.

How long should a life coaching session be?

Most sessions run 45-60 minutes, providing enough time for meaningful conversation while maintaining focus. Some coaches offer extended sessions for deeper work.

What tools can I use to make my coaching sessions more effective?

Effective coaches enhance their sessions with visualization exercises to help clients imagine future success and values assessments to clarify priorities. Goal-setting frameworks like SMART goals create structure, while personality assessments provide deeper self-awareness. Many coaches also use reflective journaling prompts between sessions and accountability trackers to measure progress and maintain momentum.

Manage Your Coaching Practice With Ease

Having a structured approach to your life coaching sessions helps you deliver consistent value to your clients while giving you the flexibility to address what emerges in the moment. The six-step template outlined here provides a solid foundation that you can adapt and refine as you develop your unique coaching style.

Remember that the admin side of coaching shouldn’t distract from your important client work. With Paperbell, you can streamline your payments, contracts, scheduling, and client materials in one central hub. This means less time wrestling with tech and more time focusing on what you do best—transforming lives through powerful coaching conversations.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in May 2021 and has since been updated for accuracy.