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Legal Requirements for Life Coaching

You have always had a passion for helping others–it’s something that comes naturally to you. Growing up, you might have been the friend that everyone went to for advice—and you may still be—because you enjoy guiding others through their life journey, being part of their support system, and helping people find the right path. 

Maybe you woke up one day and realized that you wanted to explore a new career path. A domino effect unfolded and you were led to the realization that you’d love any opportunity to help others navigate their lives, and that this might be a perfect career. 

After doing some research and discovering the International Coaching Federation (ICF), you’re excited about finding an ICF-accredited life coaching program online. Whatever brought you to this realization, one thing is true—you want to become a life coach, but there may also be some legal requirements associated with this profession that you’re unaware of.

Starting Your Own Life Coaching Business

For starters, you will have to register your business either as a sole proprietorship or as a limited liability company (LLC). Keep in mind that while registering as an LLC may be a bit more costly, it will, ultimately, allow you to hire other life coaches if you want to build a team to help even more people. 

After you register your business, you need to protect yourself from any future lawsuits or legal problems. This means that you should put legal disclaimers in place in any of your agreements with clients; these disclaimers will inevitably protect you if a client decides to take legal action against you. 

It’s also a good idea to add a privacy policy that informs your clients of how their data is collected, used, and shared. Remember, the more effort you put in to protect yourself and your business from the get-go, the better your chances are of being spared from any potential legal wrongdoings. 

Accredited Training Programs

While there is no law that requires a life coach to have a degree or accredited training related to the field, it is often recommended that an individual aspiring to become a life coach get certified. Just because someone calls themself a life coach does not mean they have the skills necessary to carry out the role successfully and in the best interests of their clients. If you need some help finding the best life coaching certification programs, we’re ready to help you get the best training possible at Symbiosis Coaching so you can be ahead of the competition when it comes to certification success. 

Because certification shows clients a coach is highly trained, qualified, and reputable, many life coaches decide to become certified. The process itself is fairly straightforward. ICF is the only organization authorized to grant certification. Candidates enroll in an accredited program, complete the requirements, meet a set minimum number of training hours, and take an exam. 

Becoming certified confirms to clients that you are skilled, trustworthy, and acting in their best interests at all times. Because the ICF has a comprehensive list of ethical guidelines certified life coaches need to follow, it also reassures your clients that you are professional, ethical, and always abiding by professional standards. 

Keep Yourself Safe

As your business starts to boom, you want to keep yourself as safe as possible from any unforeseen troubles. 

In addition to creating a privacy policy and legal disclaimers, it is recommended that you purchase insurance for your business. A simple search on the internet might highlight several coach-friendly insurance packages. The most important type of insurance is professional liability insurance–this insurance protects you as a sole proprietor—or as part of an LLC—from losing everything if accused of any wrongdoings or for being accused of any kind of negligence. 

While this all might seem like a lot of work, it’s important to know that it is not. These steps are simply the legal foundation you need to set in place so that your business can thrive— and so that you can stay protected, no matter what. ICF-accredited life coach training through Symbiosis Coaching can help you you to do just that–with the accredited online courses and follow-up mentorship to keep you on track!

Certified NLP Coach

Program Description: The Certified NLP Coach program allows you to incorporate very powerful NLP techniques you’re your day-to-day coaching practice.

ICF Training Hours: 65

Duration: 25-weeks

Schedule: One 2-hour class per week

Includes certificate: Yes

Certified Organizational Development Coach

Program Description:

The Certified Organizational Development Coach program is an exclusive and very unique program, designed for coaches who wish to coach entire organizations with their Organizational Development and Change Management goals. This program provides you with 65 ICF training hours - more than enough for the ACC credential. Over a series of 25 weekly lectures, it prepares you to deal with volatile group dynamics across entire organizations. Topics including OD interventions, Team Engagement, Buyer Behavior of internal customers, The Tripod of Success, Ensuring Sustainability, Performance-Retention correlation, Strategies to influence behavior - and many more - are covered in detail.

Coaches are introduced to the ARCS Model, as well as to the Organizational Culture Audit Toolkit. Employee motivation, satisfaction, and productivity are discussed, as well as their impact on the performance of the organization as a whole. Students are introduced to various Change Management models including Lewin's Planned Change model, the ADKAR Change Management model, and Kotter's 8 steps of Change Management. Resistance to change and its manifestation are discussed, as is Behavior Modification.

Upon completing this program, Certified Organizational Development Coaches will have all the tools they need to affect positive transformation within organizations, and will be able to coach teams and personnel at all levels - including initiators, decision makers, influencers, and intervention implementers.

In addition to coaches who are launching their own Corporate Coaching practices, this is an essential program for HR professionals, Training and Development Professionals, Managers, and Corporate Leaders who wish to implement internal policies and OD processes to guide their companies and people through ongoing change.

ICF Training Hours: 65

Duration: 25-weeks

Schedule: One 2-hour class per week

Includes certificate: Yes

Certified Executive Coach

Program Description

The Certified Executive Coach program has been designed for coaches who wish to coach managers, executives, and corporate leaders. The goal of this program is to cultivate a deep understanding of how the executive coaching process works as well as some of the challenges that come up in executive coaching conversations.

This program has been approved by the International Coaching Federation for 32 hours, and it comprises of 12 live, instructor-led, fully interactive virtual classes offered over zoom. These classes cover various aspects of executive coaching including, but not limited to Effective Collaboration, Performance Management, Upskilling, Conflict Management, Effective Collaboration, Developing Team Members, and many more.

This program has a very unique, hands-on, experiential structure. Classes are focused on active participation by students through real life Coaching Challenges and discussions of real life executive coaching situations.

ICF Training Hours: 32

Duration: 12-weeks

Schedule: One 2-hour class per week

Includes certificate: Yes

Certified Life Coach

Program Description:

The Certified life Coach program is an essential program for anyone considering coaching as a profession. The goal of this program is to create a deep understanding of the coaching process, along with how and why it is effective in catalyzing shifts in the mindset to create positive, sustainable transformation.

The training is based on the ICF’s core coaching competencies. It focuses on skills that lead to effective coaching conversations and that are required to build a successful coaching business. It evokes awareness about how identity, thoughts, and feelings determine mindset; and why a change in Think Feel Do impacts the achievement of goals though a change in this mindset.

This program is approved by the International Coaching Federation for 95 hours and comprises 24 live, instructor led, fully interactive virtual sessions offered over Zoom. These lectures cover all aspects of coaching – topics such as Human Emotions and the Brain, Coaching through Emotional Intelligence, The Belief System, Coaching Process and Structure, Deep Listening, Setting Worthy Goals, Asking Insightful Questions, Addressing Client Resistance, Coaching Groups, The Business of Coaching, and many more. These are complemented with a library of reading and reference material, coaching challenges based on various real-life coaching situations, extensive hands-on coaching practice, and assignments designed to trigger reflection on and mastery of coaching skills.

ICF Training Hours: 95

Duration: 24-weeks

Schedule: One 2-hour class per week

Includes certificate: Yes

Class Schedule
ProgramStart DateClass TimesClass Schedule
Certified Life CoachMonday, Dec 11th9:30am ET
2:00pm ET
8:00pm ET
Once a week, 2-hours, for 24-weeks
Certified Organizational Development CoachTuesday, Dec 12th9:30am ET
2:00pm ET
8:00pm ET
Once a week, 2-hours, for 25-weeks
Certified Executive CoachWednesday, Dec 13th9:30am ET
2:00pm ET
8:00pm ET
Once a week, 2-hours, for 12-weeks
Certified NLP CoachThursday, Dec 14th9:30am ET
2:00pm ET
8:00pm ET
Once a week, 2-hours, for 25-weeks
Level 1/2 - ACC/PCC
Mentoring
Friday, March 22nd10:30am ET
2:00pm ET
8:00pm ET
Once a week, 1-hour
for 6-sessions PLUS 4 one-on-
one sessions with mentor