Life coaches spend most of their time helping people transform their lives, but in doing so, may often neglect to get their just rewards. Life coaching can be a very lucrative career for the established, but the hard truth is, beginners may find themselves encountering financial roadblocks. Don’t fret. It’s easy to make passive income for life coaches, all that’s needed is a bit of creativity and resourcefulness.
Those starting as a life coach may find clients hard to come by while overhead costs start piling in. Long-time coaches, on the other hand, may find themselves with significant income but still unable to reach their revenue goals.
Hustling for weeks and months to keep things afloat can be disheartening, but as a life coach, you know better than to give up!
Passive income for life coaches is easy to generate, and you can make money without burning out or reinventing the wheel.
Today, I’ll discuss some of the most creative ways you can expand your business and create passive income as a life coach.
Table of Contents
What is a life coach?
Life coaching is considered a relatively new profession that involves a wide skill set. In a nutshell, life coaches are wellness professionals who aid their clients in improving their careers, relationships, and overall quality of life.
As a mentor, life coaches help their clients clarify their goals while identifying obstacles that hold them back. As problems are identified, solutions and strategies for overcoming these obstacles are also discussed using your innate skills and gifts.
By utilizing their clients’ strengths, life coaches can help them achieve long-lasting change.
How much do life coaches make?
The life coach salary varies depending on several factors, but they work similarly to independent consultants. Most life coaches work on an hourly rate or under an organization while offering a variety of services.
Their salary depends on the frequency of sessions, fees generated, the number of clients, experience, expertise, and if they have other sources of revenue streams.
Entry-level salaries are generally low for most life-coaches. It’s not rare to find a life coach who earns just $25,000 to $40,000 a year. After a few years, this number may increase to $50,000 or $60,000. Their peak earning potential may come after eight to ten years, of which they can make around $80,000.
A small percentage of established life coaches have earned around $200,000 a year through great reputation, supplementary income, and taking an entrepreneurial approach.
Ways to make passive income for life coaches
Before we discuss the best passive income for life coaches, it’s best to define how to become a life coach and if it can actually generate passive income. Some people seem to think that passive income is a set-it-and-forget-it setup that requires zero investment.
This is a massive misconception. Passive income streams will require either a time investment or a monetary investment.
Now here’s the hard truth: you won’t be able to earn residual income without investing in one of the two. If you think you have enough resources to provide either time or money, then these strategies to generate passive income for life coaches will benefit you.
1. Write personal development books
MarketResearch.com says that personal development books are a massive market: around $800 million to be exact – and it’s growing 6% every year. If you’re looking for passive income for life coaches, writing a self-help book using your own expertise is one of your best options.
As a life coach, you’ll find a plethora of topics to write about, but it’s best to choose your topic wisely. Remember, there are thousands of self-help books in the market and without a unique selling point, your book will get lost in all the noise.
So what exactly should you write about? Here are some tips:
Be specific. If you’re looking to make money off personal development books, it’s best to choose a specific topic. Why? Because going broad will prevent you from going deep – and people are looking for specific solutions to specific problems. Instead of writing about how to better one’s relationship with their partners, how about drilling down further and discussing the benefits and drawbacks of resorting to an open relationship?
Understand your audience. Life coaches need to know who’s reading their self-help book to solve their problem. Determine who will read your book, determine your reader’s demographics and motivations.
Size up your competition. Read self-help books similar to what you plan to make and ask yourself, “What could the author do to improve on this book?” and “How will my book be different?”.
Market your book. Consider promoting your book across your social media accounts, spread the news on relevant forums, or sell it to the public through websites like blurb.com, Amazon, or udemy.com.
2. Create a digital course
The global e-learning market is expected to reach $374.3 billion by 2026 with a compound annual growth rate of 14.6% since 2019. That’s a lot of money, so it only makes sense for life coaches to capitalize on online courses as a way to generate money.
With that said, online courses can be one of the best sources of passive income for life coaches. Here’s how you can start earning regularly from your e-courses.
Create a course outline. Plan out the course you want to create and break it down into separate lectures or videos. While text courses will sell, videos are more attractive. Most courses are around an hour-long, with each step lasting 5 minutes each. Once you’re done, assemble the pieces.
Upload the course on your website and charge a subscription. Charging on a subscription basis is great for life coaches who are dedicated to generating regular content. Create an on-going learning program that will keep your students coming back for more. You can also use a tiered payment system and offer some ‘steps’ in your course for free, but then charge for advanced material.
Let platforms do the selling for you. If you’re looking to put your work in front of more people, avenues like Udemy or Skillshare are great choices. Here, you can easily plan your course with helpful tools, and a community of instructions that can help you all throughout your course creation process.
Most courses in Udemy and Skillshare are video-based, so you’ll need a smartphone or DSLR to record your course. If you’re camera-shy, you can use screencasting software like Camtasia to screencast your demos.
Once you’re done uploading your course, the platform offers all the tools you need to create quizzes, assignments, and exercises to enhance interactivity. You then earn money every time a student purchases your course with easy payments through Paypal or Payoneer.
See Related: 7 Ways for Teachers to Make Extra Money
3. Create a website
Generating regular income from your very own blog is a dream, and it’s one of the best options for life coaches who have plenty of knowledge to share. With time and hard work, you can create a blog that generates income 24/7 while you focus on the more important aspects of your life coaching career.
Select a good host. A good host spells the difference between a successful income-generating website and one that’s poised to fail. For beginners, I highly recommend using Bluehost, as it integrates easily with WordPress, has fantastic customer support, security features, and robust SEO tools.
Generate regular content. To keep visitors coming back to your website, you need to offer fresh content consistently. Update your blog page whenever you get the chance and try making regular offers. You don’t need to be a great graphic artist to boost your website’s aesthetic, as platforms like Canva allow you to create your own images and designs with zero experience.
Try affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to generate passive income for life coaches. Affiliate marketing requires promoting a product or service on your website or blog and referring your visitors with a special link.
If any of your viewers clicks the link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. You can also try joining an affiliate network life FlexOffers to get connected to reputable brand name companies you can become an affiliate for.
Sell knowledge. While your affiliate links are making money for you, you can focus your efforts on generating quality content that’s worth selling. Consider selling online-courses, subscriptions, videos, audiobooks, and podcasts – the sky is the limit. You can also create a membership program that your visitors can renew every month for access to your tools and materials.
Collect leads. One of the biggest mistakes of putting up a website is forgetting to generate leads. Each person that visits your website is an opportunity to make more money through upselling. If you’re a newbie blogger, it’s best to let platforms like Constant Contact automate your email marketing.
Email Marketing Automation helps enhance your sales by building relationships and keeping your audience engaged. Constant Contact automatically sends welcome emails to new subscribers and resends emails to non-openers with a triggered email series that automatically sends emails to your leads based on several conditions.
Sell ads. Ads are one of the best sources of passive income for life coaches who love to blog. To begin, you may want to consider pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or selling direct ads on your website.
PPC is one of the most common types of internet advertising. Through this method, advertisers pay you whenever someone clicks on your ad. You can do this through GoogleAds, or other AdSense alternatives like Media.net or Infolinks.
Once you develop good traffic, you can start considering selling blog space for direct ads. Consider having an “advertise with us” page on your blog while listing out the different types of ads available and their monthly costs.
If you want to skip the hassle of selling, you can try third-party alternatives like BuySellAds. Check out these top advertising networks to see if it's a fit for you.
4. Make money from daily activities
If you’re looking for set-it-and-forget-it methods for earning income, the opportunities are endless. You can earn money without exerting much effort with cashback apps that pay you back a portion of what you spent for groceries, or with market research platforms that pay you for giving them access to your Internet usage.
Earn through cashback. Cashback apps like Ibotta, Fetch Rewards, and MyPoints give you back a percentage cashback on purchases from groceries, stores, or retailers. Shop through Wikibuy’s browser extension to save a portion of what you pay, or dine at local restaurants and check in on hotels with Dosh to get a percentage of your money back.
Share your internet bandwidth. If you’re looking for a truly passive way to earn money, you can consider signing up for market research platforms like the Nielsen Mobile App, which collects your internet usage for market study. Platforms like HoneyGain, on the other hand, will pay you for letting them use your extra internet bandwidth.
Lower your bills. Saving isn’t exactly ‘making money’, but having a few more bucks in your pocket that you would have spent somewhere else comes pretty close. Life coaches can lessen their operating costs and increase their income with platforms like Trim and Arcadia Power.
Trim helps you save on your bills by negotiating with your telecommunications provider, while Arcadia Power lowers your monthly payments by offering access to renewable energy.
If you’re looking to manage your subscriptions, turn to platforms like Truebill which automatically reviews your transaction information and removes unwanted fees.
This is particularly effective if you’re subscribed to multiple services at once. Keeping track of all your subscriptions can be difficult, and those who neglect them often pay for services they hardly use.
5. Make your vehicle work for you
Life coaches who have their own cars can take advantage of several strategies to earn passive income. You can turn your vehicle into a money-making machine with platforms like GetAround or Carvertise.
Advertise on your vehicle. If your car is a newer model and you drive a lot, it may be a great candidate to wrap in advertising decals. Companies like Wrapify or Carvertise will pay you for driving around with their ads plastered all over your car.
Do note, however, that this method of generating passive income is only advised for life coaches who drive a lot. Since per-mile pay is relatively low, it won’t be worth your time to deliberately inflate your mileage just to earn.
Carvertise is a platform that matches brands with drivers who frequent areas they’re looking to advertise to. To qualify for Carvertise, your vehicle should be in a factory-finish paint job and must not be older than 10 years. You must have a spotless driving record and be able to drive 30 miles per day.
Drivers in Carvertise generally earn around $100 a month, but if you get selected for high-paying campaigns, you can earn as much as $200 per month. You also get occasional opportunities to park in specific locations and earn as much as $30 per hour.
Wrapify works with big brand names like Zillow, Microsoft, and Alaska Airlines. If you fully wrap your car, you can earn as much as $200 to $300 a month.
Rent out your car. Got a car that you don’t use every day? Renting it out to locals via platforms like you Turo or Getaround can be one of the best sources of passive income for life coaches. These car-sharing marketplaces connect vehicle owners with drivers looking to rent a car for a few hours or days.
Do note, however, that these platforms take a cut out of the total price and you’ll be dealing with vehicle wear and tear.
See Related: Turo vs Getaround: What is Better for Owners?
7. Make the most out of your space
Life coaches looking for more ways to earn passive income can capitalize on their home’s extra space. Get connected with travelers looking for a quick room or families exploring your city with platforms like Airbnb or VRBO.
Rent out your room. Becoming an Airbnb host is one of the quickest ways to make passive income, provided that you have a spare room in your house or apartment. Airbnb hosts can set their room’s availability based on their own schedule while having complete control over who will rent it.
Rent out your entire place. If you’re going on an extended vacation, you may want to consider renting out your entire home through platforms like VRBO. Just like Airbnb, VRBO allows you to select an availability schedule while offering you the capability to screen your guests. You also get to make your own house rules as well!
See Related: Airbnb vs VRBO – What is Better for Owners?
8. Invest in real estate crowdfunding
Also known as real estate crowdsourcing, real estate crowdfunding is an easier way to invest in real estate without having to get your hands dirty. Here, you don’t have to be filthy rich to participate. Since you’re pooling your money with other investors, you can invest as little as $500 or $1,000.
Life coaches looking for the best ways to make their money work for them may consider dabbling in this relatively new investment type to generate passive income.
Join a real estate crowdfunding platform. Depending on the platform you select, your investment may be used in several ways. While some investments target real estate purchases, others may focus on real estate debt financing.
Sometimes, you’ll invest in a mix of both if you decide to go with a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). Some of the best platforms to try out are Fundrise, CrowdStreet, and Diversyfund.
When you purchase shares in the REIT, you’ll earn dividends and see capital appreciation through time. As REIT assets increase in value so do the share prices. Since you won’t be able to buy much real estate for just $500 or $1,000, your money is pooled with other investors.
The good news? You get the benefits of owning real estate without having to deal with finding deals, tenants, and fixing leaky faucets.
See Related: Real Estate Crowdfunding Guide: What is it & How to Invest
9. Buy income-generating websites and apps
If investing in real estate is too bold a venture for you, then you may want to consider investing in websites instead. Platforms like Flippa allow you to purchase ready-made websites and online businesses that generate regular income.
If you’re looking to make a monetary investment with little need for hand-holding will find this strategy to be one of the best sources of passive income for life coaches.
When you buy a website for passive income, you let it run its own without the need for much work. Depending on the website you purchase, your earning potential is limitless.
With that said, the best website for you depends on several factors. It’s best to focus on websites in your field, so if you’re a life coach you may want to consider targeting life coach websites.
You’ll also have to select a website with good profit margins while focusing on online businesses that are fully automated so you can minimize work and maximize profit.
Be sure to conduct a comprehensive audit of the website to make sure that it’s free of bans, errors, and spammy links!
See Related: Flippa Review: Buy and Sell Digital Assets
10. Try peer-to-peer lending
If you’re willing to take a few risks, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending can be one of the best sources of passive income for life coaches. P2P is a type of personal loan between a borrower and a lender, which is done through a third-party intermediary like LendingClub or Prosper.
Other players in the field include Payoff, which targets better credit risks, and Funding Circle, which focuses on businesses and has higher borrowing limits.
If you choose to be a lender, you’ll earn passive income via the interest accrued on the loans. Do note, however, that since these loans are unsecured, you may run the risk of default.
To minimize this risk, you need to diversify your portfolio by investing smaller amounts across multiple loans. Platforms like LendingClub and Prosper only require a minimum investment per loan of $25.
It’s also highly advised that you analyze historical data on your prospective borrowers.