Life coaches can go into several different careers, such as relationship coaching, career coaching, or spiritual coaching. Life coaches can help their clients deal with personal issues like divorce or professional issues like advancing a career. Each area has its specialty. While health and wellness coaches guide their clients on improving health and vitality, executive and leadership coaches help their coachees manage and develop their managerial skills. If you are unsure which specific niche you should pick for your career path, decide what interests you by looking at your hobbies and background. For example, if you’ve been a business leader and want to help your clients with stress management, consider becoming a career coach. At any point, you can also decide to change your niche if you discover your particular passions lie elsewhere.

Consulting firms and other organizations actively hire life coaches. These companies seek out career coaches to help their employees with mental and emotional management tools. Companies need to ensure their employees are healthy and productive, so professional and personal development coaches have never been more in demand. Professional development and executive coaching platforms seek coaches to provide global corporate training. Many corporate divisions have their own internal career coaches and other privately owned coaching companies that hire life coaches. Recruitment agencies look for career planners to help coach current executives and new graduates. Sports teams and legal firms hire coaches to facilitate team-building exercises. High-level executives (VPs, CEOs, etc.) privately hire coaches to assist with personal coaching for staff relationships and communication issues. Many life coaches also start their own businesses.

Therapy and life coaching share a common objective in creating positive changes in a person’s life, but significant differences exist between the two roles. Life coaches design actionable plans to help their clients clarify their priorities and achieve their goals. Therapists, on the other hand, work with clients to explore painful emotions and traumas. They tend to have an introspective focus on the past, with the intention of resolving those issues to prevent the repetition of destructive patterns. Life coaching differs, as it focuses on the future to construct a fulfilling and meaningful life. Another key difference is that life coaches don’t diagnose, offer clinical treatment, or otherwise address issues such as anxiety and depression from a healthcare perspective. The main focus of therapy is healing, while the main focus of life coaching is achieving defined goals.