5 Essentials Every Life Coach Must Have in Their Life Coach Terms and Conditions
Are you a life coach? I’m telling you precisely what essentials to include in your life coach terms and conditions to set boundaries and expectations and avoid the most common issues life coaches face.
Helping others improve their lives as a life coach is so exciting, but if you’re anything like me, you want to ensure you have all the protection you need to protect your boundaries, energy and money. As a lawyer myself who drafts life coach terms and conditions for life coaches like you, I am giving you all the essentials you need to avoid the most common issues life coaches face in their careers.
You will learn about the must-haves every life coach needs in their life coach terms and conditions, which you should have in your life coaching terms and conditions template, including a life coach waiver and a coaching refund policy.
After learning all about the crucial elements you need in your life coach terms and conditions, you will know about all the protections you need and avoid wasting your energy on (costly) misunderstandings and claims!
This post is all about the must-haves for your life coach terms and conditions to protect yourself as a life coach.
Essential Life Coach Terms and Conditions
Online coaching terms and conditions
1. Scope
More than for other coaches, it’s important for a life coach to be very specific about the scope of the coaching services.
Details that all coaches must include are the frequency and duration of coaching sessions and any additional services or resources that they may provide.
But, for a life coach, it is crucial to specify the areas of focus and what areas of life are not included in your coaching services.
“Life” is a very broad term, and everyone has a different view of what is included in the area of “life”, so you need to be very precise about what areas of life you coach your client on in your life coach terms and conditions.
Maybe more importantly, specify which areas are NOT included, even the parts that seem obvious to you are not part of your coaching services. Whatever may be obvious to you may not be clear to others, especially those who have never worked with a coach before.
For example, you may believe that it’s obvious that personal finance has nothing to do with what you do, but your client may consider that a part of “life”, too.
An unclear scope causes your clients to have expectations that are different from yours, which turn into misunderstandings, which turn into full-on disputes. By having a clear scope, you can easily avoid all of that and ensure your clients know what to expect and are, thus, happy with exactly what they expect from you.
So, I can’t emphasize this enough; be as clear as possible. You can’t be too clear on your life coaching services. You can’t be too detailed on what your services include and what your services do not include.
2. No therapy or mental health services
Another crucial element a life coach must cover in their coach terms and conditions is disclaimers for therapy and (mental) health services.
As a life coach, you are dabbling in an area that touches that of a therapist, psychologist and other mental health services providers.
Therefore, you need to have disclaimers in your coach terms and conditions that clearly state that your life coaching services do not a substitute for therapy or medical treatment.
The disclaimers section should also outline that your coaching services do not guarantee any specific results or outcomes.
Coaching is a collaborative process, and it’s essential that your clients understand that they have a responsibility to participate in the coaching relationship actively. The client responsibilities section of your contract should outline what is expected from clients, including attending sessions, completing homework, and actively working towards their goals. And building upon that, the disclaimers section should clearly state that the client’s results and outcomes depend on the client’s own work and capabilities.
3. Medical treatment life coach waiver
Not only should your life coach terms and conditions have disclaimers regarding your qualifications, but you also want confirmation from your clients that they do not need to see a therapist, psychologist or other medical professional.
Even if you have made clear that you are not a therapist and your services are not a substitute for therapy or the like, your client may still need a therapist because of mental health issues. You don’t want to be responsible for, and you certainly don’t want to end up in a dispute with, a person who needs help from a medical professional.
So, to cover your you-know-what on all bases, you want to have a life coach waiver from your client stating that your client does not need professional help.
When you have your client agree to your online coaching terms and conditions, ensure to have your client also check a separate box repeating that life coach waiver.
That way, if it turns out in court that one of your clients does have mental health issues, you can show that you have done everything in your power to inform your client and to ensure as far as possible that the mental state of your client is compatible with your life coaching services.
4. Eliminate expectations of results
As a life coach, you are committed to helping your clients improve their lives, achieve their goals, and develop their potential.
However, several factors could cause the outcomes and results not to be aligned with what your clients expect:
Your clients may have (unrealistic) expectations of their own that do not even align with what you have envisioned, and they have never voiced their expectations in order for you to manage those expectations.
Your clients simply have not put in the work they needed to in order to achieve the results they envisioned, or they simply don’t have the (mental or physical) capabilities to achieve their desired results.
For your promotional and marketing purposes, you may have shared certain results and outcomes from your past clients on your website or social media, and your clients (who are unique individuals with completely different minds in their own unique circumstances) think that they can achieve those exact same results.
There may be circumstances, persons or events that are completely outside of your and your client’s control that affect the outcomes or results of your client.
You are not a puppeteer, and, as much as you may want to, you can’t control your clients. You are giving your clients the methods, strategies, and tools to reach their goals, but it’s ultimately up to them to implement them and achieve those life goals.
Therefore, you need to include specific disclaimers in your life coach terms and conditions relevant to clients coached on a personal level.
5. Coaching refund policy
One of the biggest mistakes I have seen life coaches make is having no refund policy for coaching services. Even if you have made it very clear to your clients that they are responsible for their outcomes and results, they may still not take full responsibility for their (lack of) progress and blame it on you. And such clients will ask for a refund if they think they can get one.
Regardless of whether you offer refunds or not, you need to have a clear coaching refund policy in your life coach terms and conditions.
Your coaching refund policy should clearly outline the circumstances in which you provide refunds to your clients (which may be under no circumstances), the amount of the refund, and the process for requesting a refund (if you provide refunds).
If you have online coaching terms and conditions, make sure to communicate your coaching refund policy to your clients before they sign up for your coaching services so they are aware of what to expect.
In conclusion, with the right life coach terms and conditions in place, you will have peace of mind, knowing that your boundaries, energy and money are protected.
Terms and conditions for coaching website
As a life coach, you may want to have life coaching terms and conditions template or terms and conditions for coaching website. You can find a life coaching contract template free of charge online.
However, when it comes to specifically life coach terms and conditions, there is no one-size-fits-all for every type of coach. You know that you, as a life coach, provide completely different coaching services than, say, a business coach. Just like you need a specific life coaching terms and conditions template for life coaching, a business coach needs a business coaching terms and conditions template. A proper life coaching terms and conditions template should have wording and protections specific to a life coach.
If you are a business coach, read this blog post on the 7 Essentials Every Business Coach Must Have in Their Business Coaching Terms and Conditions.
You may come across a life coaching terms and conditions template that contains some basic terms that can be used for your coaching business, but you definitely need to add some essential terms for your life coaching services.
Life coaching terms and conditions template
Do you take your coaching business seriously, and do you want to ensure your life coach terms and conditions contain all the essentials that specifically a life coach needs? And the proper wording to be fully protected?
Then you need my life coach terms and conditions, which are tailored to you as a life coach!
This post was all about the most important terms every life coach must have in their life coach terms and conditions.
Are you a business coach? Then you must read this blog post on the 7 Essentials Every Business Coach Must Have in Their Business Coaching Terms and Conditions.
Get your life coach terms and conditions that include all the protections you need (and more) on this page of my contract shop!
