What Do You Need to Become a Life Coach? The Checklist

To become a life coach, you need four things in practice: the core coaching skills, training that teaches a reliable method, a legal business setup, and a few basic tools to run sessions and take payment. You do not need a license, a degree or a government registration to call yourself a life coach in any US state.

That last point is where many people stop reading, and it is the wrong place to stop. The law asks very little of a new coach, but clients ask a great deal. This checklist covers what the law requires, what clients expect, and what keeps a new practice out of trouble.

The full checklist at a glance

It helps to see the whole list before going through it, because the items fall into two groups. A few are required by law for anyone running a business. The rest are not required at all, yet most clients will look for them before they pay.

The sections below take the items in that order. Local rules on business names and permits vary, so treat "required by law" as the general position and check your own state and city as well.

The skills a life coach needs

Skills come first because they are the product. A client cannot see your certificate during a session, but they notice at once whether you are listening, whether your questions move them forward, and whether the hour ends with something concrete.

These are the skills that matter most in a new coach:

• Active listening, which means hearing what the client says and what they avoid saying, and reflecting it back accurately.
• Open questioning, asking questions that cannot be answered with yes or no and that push the client's thinking further.
• Goal setting, turning a vague wish into a specific outcome with steps and dates.
• Holding accountability without nagging, so the client keeps commitments because they chose them.
• Knowing the limits, which means recognising when a client needs a therapist rather than a coach.

Plenty of people have some of these already. Friends ask them for advice, and colleagues bring them problems. The catch is that giving good advice and coaching well are different skills, and the habit of advising is usually the first one a new coach has to unlearn.

Training and a credential

Because coaching is unlicensed, training is how a coach shows a client they have learned the work properly. It also gives you a method you can repeat, which matters more than any single technique when a session goes sideways.

Client expectations have moved firmly in this direction. In its 2025 Global Coaching Study, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) reported that 73% of coaches agree clients and organisations expect them to hold a coaching certification or credential.

The people starting out see the same thing. Across the students we work with at the Life and Career Institute, about three in four tell us in their first month that their future clients will expect to see a credential, a share that has held steady over the past three years.

There are two broad routes. A certificate course teaches the method, ethics and business setup and ends with an assessment. An ICF credential adds logged coaching hours, mentor coaching and an exam, and suits coaches selling to employers. Our guide to how to become a certified life coach compares them in detail.

Why a license is not on the list

No state issues a license for life coaching, which is why the checklist has no license line. Counselling is different. Every state has a board that licenses counselors, and the American Counseling Association notes that licensure generally needs a master's degree, supervised experience and an exam.

So a coach must stay on the coaching side of that line. Diagnosing or treating a mental health condition without a license is practising counselling, whatever the coach calls it. Our guide to whether life coaches need a license covers where the line sits.

The business setup

Most life coaches are self-employed, so the next items on the list are the ones any small business needs. They are not complicated, but they need doing before the first client pays rather than at tax time.

Start with the structure. Many new coaches operate as a sole proprietor, which needs little paperwork, or form a single-member LLC to separate business and personal liability. The Small Business Administration sets out how each structure affects liability and tax.

Tax comes next. The IRS self-employed tax center explains that anyone with $400 or more in net self-employment earnings must file a return and pay self-employment tax, usually through quarterly estimated payments. Setting aside part of every payment from the start avoids a painful bill in April.

The agreement and the insurance

A written client agreement is not required by law, but it is the document that protects both sides. It should state the fee, the number and length of sessions, the cancellation policy, how confidentiality works, and that coaching is not therapy or medical advice. The free life coach contract template covers each of these.

Professional liability insurance, sometimes called errors and omissions cover, pays for your defence if a client claims your coaching harmed them. Few states require it of coaches, but some corporate clients ask for proof of it, and the cost is modest next to a single claim. Ask an independent broker for quotes.

The tools to run sessions

The last items are practical, and a new coach needs fewer of them than software companies suggest. A reliable video platform, an online calendar that lets clients book themselves, a way to take card payments, and a private place to keep session notes will carry a practice through its first year.

A simple website follows once you have a clear focus and a program to sell. It does not need to be elaborate. One page that says who you coach, what the program covers, what it costs and how to book is enough to start. For the rest of the route, from first interest to first client, see how to become a life coach.

What you do not need to start

The list of things a new coach can safely leave off is almost as useful as the checklist itself. Plenty of people delay for a year waiting for something that clients never ask about, while the things clients do ask about go undone.

None of these is needed to take your first paying client:

• A degree. A degree in psychology or a related field can help, but no state requires one. Our guide on whether you need a degree explains when it matters.
• An office. Most coaching now happens by video, and a quiet room with a good connection does the job.
• A permanent niche. A starting focus helps you describe your work, but it can change once you see which clients you coach best.
• Years of logged hours. Those matter for an ICF credential, not for coaching your first clients well.

What these have in common is that they feel like preparation while postponing the real test, which is coaching a person and seeing whether it helps. A new coach usually learns more from the first five clients than from another month of reading, so the aim is to reach those clients prepared rather than perfect.

What the Life Coach Certification covers from this list

The Life Coach Certification covers the skills and training items directly. Introduction to Life Coaching sets out the ethics and the coaching-versus-counselling line. Building Rapport and Effective Communication Skills and Coaching Methodologies and Techniques teach the listening, questioning, goal setting and accountability described above.

The Advanced Course adds the setup items. Starting a Life Coach Business covers legal structure and pricing, and Technology and Creating a Life Coach Website covers booking, payment and session tools. The course ends with an open-book exam and the Certified Life Coach Professional credential.