The Coaching Industry
It is indeed an exciting time to be a coach!
According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the area of consultancy and human development, of which coaching is a part, is expected to grow heavily through 2016.
At the same time, professional governing bodies, like the International Coach Federation (ICF) (www.coachfederation.org), are helping professionalize coaching by overseeing standards of practice, accreditation for coach training schools, and providing an industry-wide system for professional credentials.
According to the ICF
- Worldwide revenue produced by coaching is $1.5 billion (USD) per year.
- Full- and part-time coaches earn an average of $50,510 (USD) per year. Full-time coaches earn an average of $82,671 (USD) per year, and part-time coaches earn an average of $26,150 (USD) per year.
- 69 percent of coaches are female.
- The average coach is 46-55 years old, has coached for 5-10 years, and 53 percent have acquired an advanced level of education (i.e., Master’s Degree or PhD).
- The majority of coaches maintain 11 active clients at any given time.
- Coaching clients tend to be 56 percent female and 44 percent male, and between 38 and 45 years of age.
In 2009, the ICF also released its findings** on the ever-growing number of individuals throughout the world who have experienced professional coaching in their lives.
In this survey, an overwhelming majority of the 2,165 individuals from 64 countries reported being “very satisfied” with their coaching experience and would repeat it. The top areas where clients felt the “overall positive impacts of coaching” were self-esteem/self-confidence, relationships, communication skills, interpersonal skills, work performance, and work/life balance.
And to make things even more exciting, coaching is opening up as never before. In addition to the popular areas of Life Coaching, Career coaching, and Business/Executive coaching, the profession is branching into many new and exciting “niche” areas, such as Parenting and Youth coaching, Spiritual coaching, Grief coaching, Relationship coaching, Diversity coaching, and many more.
So there is plenty of room for expansion in a specialty niche that suits an individual’s background and training.
