Life Coaching Becoming One Of The Fastest Growing Career Fields

Following the economic downturn in 2007, many people were faced with layoffs and unemployment, and the daunting task of finding a whole new career. This inspired some to venture into what is now becoming of one of the fastest growing industries over the last ten years.

The housing, manufacturing, and retail industries among others were hit especially hard following the economic crash. This lead thousands of newly-unemployed workers to seek work in new industries, as well as learn new skills which would allow them to work in those fields. In fact, two of the fastest growing industries are individual and family services and vocational rehabilitation services according to a recent Bureau of Labor Studies report.

A steadily growing industry which can fall into either of the those categories is life coaching. Based on a 2012 study, there are nearly 47,500 life coaches worldwide and 15,800 in North America alone. The industry generates a whopping $2 billion annually in revenue.

However, one does not simply wake up and become a life coach overnight. Similar to any career field, an individual must possess some form of natural ability and basic skill necessary in order to become an effective life coach. Additionally, specialized training is required. This training not only ensures the individual will be success in their new career as life coach, but also ensures new life coaches can assist others in becoming successful as well.

Life coaching has even become a quite popular career choice for retirees as well. Retirees have countless years of valuable life lessons and experience, and often enjoy sharing this knowledge with others. This enables them to not only serve others, but to also allow them to continue their own personal growth journey.

So what exactly is life coaching? Life coaching can be best defined as a process of training or development that assists an individual obtain the necessary skills and knowledge needed in order to achieve specific personal and/or professional goals. Though life coaching draws inspiration from the beliefs of pioneering psychotherapists, life coaching differs from traditional therapy in that it is more focused on moving the individual forward and developing new opportunities, as opposed to revisiting past issues that have caused problems.

Whichever stage an individual is in their life or career, a life coach or motivational coach can give them the tools they need in order to achieve their goals and live the life they’ve always dreamed of.