I have been coaching for a long time. Back in the day, becoming a coach was almost always a transitional process. When I started, the industry was not fully formed. Coaching was far less defined, and frankly, most people had no idea what being a life coach meant. No one just quit their day job to be a life coach.

Now, there is a lot of pressure to go big or go home in the coaching space. If you spend any time behind the scenes in coaching circles, you will pick up pretty quickly that you can't claim success unless you've dropped your previous career and are coaching "full-time." That "full-time" benchmark is a little fuzzy because no one can really agree on what "full-time" coaching actually means.

That drive to full-time or bust sinks the dreams of too many coaches, who would have been far happier and far more successful if they'd realized that part-time coaching could be the best choice for many of us, if not made to feel like lesser coaches for choosing it.

Part-time coaching might be the best choice for MOST coaches and here's why.

1. Transition with Less Tension: Ever felt like you're juggling too many balls, and one more will send them all crashing down? Part-time coaching lets you ease into the coaching world without ditching your day job. There is a lot of pressure to want an overnight success. There is even more pressure to try and create one. Slow and steady is a better goal. It might not be as sexy as overnight success sounds, but it is healthier because overnight success is almost always a myth wrapped in a smoke screen of marketing lies.

2.  Financial Security Meets Passion: Not everyone has a year's worth of bank income and can jump into a new career responsibly. You can keep that steady paycheck and that benefit package while exploring your passion for coaching on the side. It's like having the best of both worlds—financial stability and professional growth. It can be as little or as much as you want. You don't need to have twenty clients a week to be a success. You can be a highly successful coach with one or two clients if that works for you.

3. Test the Waters: Just because you love the idea of coaching doesn't mean you're cut out to be a coach. Many coaches fail because, to be frank, they aren't made of the stuff required to weather the risks involved with self-employment. It's not good or bad, it's just a reality. Part-time coaching allows you to test different coaching niches, techniques, and client demographics. You can refine your approach without the pressure of full-time commitments.

4. Flexibility for Life's Curveballs: Life doesn't pause for your career ambitions. Whether it's raising kids, caring for loved ones, or pursuing personal projects, part-time coaching gives you the flexibility to prioritize what matters most. I scaled back my working schedule to take care of my aging parents for four years. My coaching practice carried my family through those transitions. Coaching is perfectly suited to give you the kind of flexibility for life most careers do not.

5.  Gradual Transition, Lasting Impact: Slow and steady wins the race. Build your coaching practice organically, crafting your unique coaching style and attracting your ideal clients. It is not reasonable to think you can just jump into a new career and master a new set of skills overnight. Clients might not prefer to work with a coach who was an English teacher last week. No matter what anyone tells you, it will take time to find yourself in the coaching space. Coaching part-time allows you to do that without the pressure of trying to make it work full-time from scratch on an income-driven deadline.

6.  Diversify Your Income Streams: Why rely solely on one income source when you can diversify? Part-time coaching adds another revenue stream to your financial portfolio, reducing dependency on a single job. Putting all your energy into one income stream might be risky in this economy. A lot of people are looking to stay fluid with multiple income streams, and coaching is perfectly suited to be a side gig or, a half gig, or an occasional gig.

7.  Time for personal growth: As a part-time coach, you can invest time and resources in continuous learning. Attend workshops, enroll in courses, and network with industry experts to sharpen your coaching skills. Coaching also provides the kind of schedule flexibility for self-care most people can only imagine. By its very nature, coaching is a container that allows and encourages a coach to explore how to human more intentionally. Coaching part-time allows you to prioritize both your personal and professional work.

8.  Community and Collaboration: Joining the coaching world part-time doesn't mean isolation. Some of my closest friends are fellow coaches I would have never otherwise met. I have some of the best support in the world on speed dial, and I do not take that for granted. I get to work with some of the brightest minds in our industry. While coaching can often feel like a maze of cliques and cool girl cults, the alternate reality is our industry is full of some of the best humans on the planet, and you do not have to coach full-time to build those connections.

9.  Income on Your Terms: Who said you need to hustle 24/7 to make bank? With a part-time coaching gig, you can gradually ramp up your hours and rates as your demand grows. In a coaching practice built on a solid foundation, that side hustle could be your main squeeze, bringing in full-time income with part-time hours. This is not a get-rich-quick industry, but it is a place that can be very profitable if you don't have to rush the growth process to pay the electric bill.

If you are interested in building a coaching practice that works for you without the hype and pressure of what everyone else thinks it should be, check us out.

If you are interested in building a coaching practice that works for you without the hype and pressure of what everyone else thinks it should be, check us out.

The Coaching Guild is a coach training program specifically designed to nurture dreamers, artists, creatives, outsiders, rebels, and good troublemakers. It is a multi-instructor, multi-disciplinary approach to training that prioritizes learning innovative foundational coaching skills and marketing training.