What Does a Career as a Certified Life Coach Actually Look Like? By Nina Madden, 20 years in practice

How Can This Course Help Me Achieve what I want...? 

The ICF Accredited Professional Diploma in Coaching and NLP will qualify you as a Life Coach with Advanced NLP.

You can start working with paying clients, get insurance and register with the membership boards.

You're then fully qualified to build a business and practice as a Life Coach.  

As Life Coach with NLP you will design your best life...

All I wanted when I started, was to wake up in the morning, feel happy, and knowing I was looking forward to a day of clients with whom I would have deep and meaningful conversations about their lives, and that I would be able to help them make the changes they wanted to make.

For me, it was really as simple as that. No fancy goal or business plan.

I wanted a job where I had conversations with individuals, conversations that mattered, that impacted them and that helped. 

Since then I have twenty years in private practice and have never looked back. 

As a Life Coach you decide the vision for your life and how you want to live it... 

At that time I was temping to support a career in the arts and for me to transition was to go down to four days a week. That way I could still pay the bills and I didn’t have to panic.

But soon I started to make more, as starting rates (very low) in London were about £100 per hour back then (that was 2007).

When the financial crash hit the banks in 2008, I found my practice full of ex-bankers and financiers on gardening leave looking for something new to do.

I also worked with lots of women in their early 30s who were fed up with their career paths and wanted out from corporate.

I took a room in a physio clinic, on an ad hoc basis, and started life coaching on Fridays, during the evenings, and half day Saturdays.

I felt the happiness I was seeking; the joy of waking up, knowing that today I would have meaningful conversations about life with people, and that my input, with my tools I would really make a difference.

They became happier, and I became happier because they were happy.

There are many variations to a career as a Life Coach …

Work as an internal / external corporate or executive coach… 

Once qualified you can set up your own practice designed around your values.

You may choose to work as an external coach for companies.

Laura came from a background in Media and now works as an internal coach in the Media industry.

Sue came from a background of fashion, and Naomi was a chartered accountant who handed in her notice, but the company she worked for offered her a position as a coach – for more money! She now specialises in supporting women returning to the workplace.

Escape the rat race and become location independent… 

Maybe life as location independent attracts you? When Faith attended the programme, she was an executive in the city, but she craved freedom and independence. Once qualified she moved to Thailand, where she has been living for many years now. With her French boyfriend they built a beautiful house on a hill in the jungle with a huge deck and swimming pool overlooking the bay. She loves it there and life coaches people on how to escape the race and create their dream lives. 

Set up your home office in the country…

Caron, Emily and many others work from home in the country. Many others work in clinics. Some collaborate with other professionals. Some run groups, workshops, and online programmes.

This is it really; as a life coach you do what you want, you design your life, you walk your talk, and if you don’t like it you can change it and do something different!

Whatever you desire, being a coach can offer you the freedom you are seeking. 

The journey of becoming an independent leader of one’s own life is an exciting one, but also frightening.

It’s not like you take one step, do the course, and then everything is easy. 

It’s a journey. You have to learn so many things. Learn to run a business, to make decisions, to choose what is the right thing to do, to grow as a person, to be empowered.

But the point is, with each step, you become more and more empowered, more and more in charge of your own life, more and more SOUL-LED, Self-led. More and more living an INSPIRED life.

Life Coaching helps you become an independent leader of your own life

For me, I’d rather try and fail, than not be brave to try at all…

One of the key things for me when I decided to take a massive risk and put my training on a credit card back in 2007 despite having no clue as to how I would figure it out, was that I felt in my heart that I would rather try to do something and fail at it, than not try at all.

I wanted to bring whole-hearted-ness to my life. ❤️

Not just success. Not just safety.

I thought when I am an old lady looking back; I would be proud of myself if I had tried, even if I failed.

I would be proud of my courage, my conviction and my bravery.

But if I hadn’t tried... I would not be so proud at all.

When you consider making decisions you should only ask specific two people for advice;

The little girl you once were, and the old lady you are going to become.

I don’t know, maybe that gives you some food for thought when you are thinking about this?

What is the direction your life is on right now, and how would it be if you did nothing, and didn't change?

Registering for May 13th Now - secure your place with a deposit. 

Here is what they say, on some wins from 2025.  

Kellie 

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the transformations of people that were in difficult circumstances. Here are some of my favourite memories of 2025:

A woman in a difficult relationship leading to conflict with her adult children. She left relationship, sold her home and moved into a property she always wanted for herself. More courage, confidence and zest for life.

Late diagnosed ADHD woman juggling family and career.  

Worked on follow through and confidence to do an interview she desperately wanted. She got the job, confidence grew and she advocated for herself once she disclosed her diagnosis. All accommodations met, creating more money, family time and less stress.

Student returning to school after period of school refusal and reduced stress and conflict with family. She overcame her fear of ferry travel and family could enjoy a well-earned holiday.

The main thing has been clients building a healthier relationship with themselves, helping their confidence and willingness to go after what they want.

Alexandra
Have loved the client feedback - makes me feel the whole training was worthwhile. I feel proud to have kept the gentle momentum going to set myself up as a life coach. This is not normal for me, things tend to fizzle out.

Kathryn

I've had some really great sessions with one of my practice clients in particular. I've supported her to make some big shifts in her thinking and she's putting these insights into action and creating change in her life that makes her feel excited and happy.

Donna

I am most proud of using the NLP and coaching tools we learnt for myself to overcome my own life’s challenges. I’ve also used a lot of Nancy Klines’s Thinking Environment principles that we learnt in both my private and professional relationships. I am noticing a huge difference.

Ruth

I made a mistake, and after finishing our training, I did several extra courses, but I feel they were distracting and wish I had just gone with what we had learnt. So I am now back on the coaching and NLP you taught us. The thing I am most proud of since completing my training is that I have a string of really lovely testimonials, and I have coached some really great clients and learnt so much. These tools work!

Lucy

The training made me realise how much I still needed to learn about self-leadership. Since the training I have rebuilt my life with integrity and authenticity. I no longer permit myself to live a half-life in the discomfort of cognitive dissonance. Had I not done the training, I think it would have taken me a lot longer to find this place of peace.