9 Key Things Your Life Coaching Business Plan Must Include (To Actually Get Started)
Ready to start a life coaching business, but don’t know where to begin with your life coaching business plan?
As a lawyer for coaches, I’ve seen a few decent business plans, but most are completely useless, with generic SWOT analyses, pointless SMART goals, and a bunch of fluff.
A real life coaching business plan should actually be a no-fluff guide that helps you take action.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the 9 key essentials your life coaching business plan must include in this life coaching business plan template, including your client avatar, offers, pricing, startup costs, and timeline.
So, you can actually start your coaching business with structure without wasting another minute.
By the end, you’ll know exactly how to start a life coaching business from home.
This post is all about the 9 key things your life coaching business plan must include to actually get started.
👉 Make sure you download my free Coaching Business Checklist and use it alongside this guide to work through each decision properly.
Best Life Coaching Business Plan
The Ultimate Life Coaching Business Plan Template
1. Define Your Ideal Client & Result
The first thing you need to make crystal clear in your life coaching business plan is who you help and what you help them achieve.
You need to answer the following questions:
Who exactly is your ideal client?
What specific problem are they struggling with?
What concrete result are you helping them achieve?
Why you — and not the next coach on Instagram?
For example, there’s a big difference between:
“I help people improve their lives.”
And:
“I help women in their 30s rebuild their confidence after divorce and create a clear next chapter within 6 months.”
“I help high-achieving professionals reset their work-life balance and build a sustainable lifestyle within 90 days.”
“I help overwhelmed solo entrepreneurs build daily structure and habits that support their long-term goals.”
See the difference? The second one is specific. It gives you an identity and direction you can actually build a life coaching business around.
When you define your client avatar and their core issue clearly, everything becomes easier. If you don’t, you’ll end up trying to help everyone — and appealing to no one.
Your client avatar and focus issue influence your entire life coaching business model, including:
The way you position yourself on your website and social media
The type of offers you create
How you structure those offers
The expectations your clients bring into the relationship
The legal protections and disclaimers you’ll need later
This is the foundation. Everything else in your life coaching business plan builds on this.
2. Decide Your Core Offers
Once you know who you help and what result you’re guiding them toward, the next step in your life coaching business plan is deciding what you are actually selling.
Are you offering:
One-off 1-on-1 coaching sessions that can be booked through your scheduler?
A fixed 12-week transformation program, including 1-2 sessions a week and a workbook?
Ongoing monthly coaching with a weekly session and check-ins?
A group coaching program?
A self-paced online course with or without live Q&A sessions?
Individual digital products that people can purchase on your site, like eBooks and templates?
If you’re just starting out and no one knows who you are yet, focus on keeping it simple in your life coaching business plan.
Start with:
One-off coaching calls, and
A well-structured 1-on-1 coaching program.
You can always add group coaching, online courses, and digital products later once you’ve built traction and refined your process.
If you want to learn how to start a life coaching business from home as a beginner, read this blog post on How to Start an Online Coaching Business the Right Way: 10 Crucial Steps.
3. Define the Rules for Each Offer
Once you’ve decided what your offers will be, you need to determine the structure and core rules for each offer in your life coaching business plan.
This is where the average life coaching business plan template really falls short. I haven’t seen anyone else really go into the practical details of coaching offers — but this part is extremely important.
Each offer is different, and each requires specific decisions.
For your 1-on-1 coaching program, for example, you’ll need to decide:
Is it a fixed-length program (e.g., 6 or 12 weeks) or ongoing monthly coaching with no fixed end date?
How many sessions are included?
How long is each session? (30 minutes? 45 minutes? 60 minutes?)
Where are sessions held? (Zoom or another platform?)
How do clients book sessions? (Calendly, Acuity, another system?)
On which days and during which hours do you coach?
Are check-ins included between sessions? If so, how often and through which platform?
Are materials included (workbooks, templates, audits)?
What is not included?
Can sessions be rescheduled? If so, until when? 24, 48, or 72 hours before the session? And how often?
How late may a client be to each session before it is cancelled? (5 minutes? 10 minutes? 15 minutes?)
Do you charge a fixed program fee or a monthly fee? Is it paid in full upfront or monthly in advance?
Are refunds offered? If so, under what conditions?
This is just for a 1-on-1 offer.
If you’re offering one-off calls, group coaching, online courses, or digital products, each requires its own set of decisions.
If this feels like a lot, that’s exactly the point. A real life coaching business plan forces you to think through these details before clients start making assumptions.
Don’t worry, I’ve created a free Coaching Business Checklist with checklists for each coaching offer — including the options you can choose from — so you can define your offer’s structure and set rules for each!
Subscribe to my newsletter and get instant access to your copy!
4. Set Your Life Coach Pricing & Revenue Targets
Your life coaching business plan must include realistic pricing and realistic revenue targets.
I emphasize “realistic” because too many coaches on TikTok claim you can earn $40,000 per month and charge $5,000 for your life coaching program.
But you’re not Tony Robbins. You’re just getting started. And we need to be honest here: would you pay yourself $5,000 at this stage?
So be clear about what makes sense right now and decide on the following:
If you offer one-off calls, what will you charge for each booking?
If you offer a fixed-term coaching program, what will you charge for the full program?
If you offer an ongoing coaching program, what’s the life coach pricing per month?
How many clients can you realistically support at one time?
How much do you actually need to earn per month (to replace your current income)?
Let’s make this concrete.
If you’re currently earning $3,600 per month at your job, your short-term goal is to generate at least $3,600 per month from coaching.
Let’s say you start with an ongoing accountability program that includes one weekly call and check-ins between sessions. If you charge $300 per month, you’ll need 12 paying clients consistently.
Now ask yourself:
Can you handle 12 clients at the depth you’re promising?
How many calls per week does that mean?
How many hours of prep, follow-up, and admin work does that create?
This is where your life coaching business plan becomes practical instead of aspirational.
And remember: you don’t have to charge this price forever. As your demand, reputation, and results grow, you can increase your pricing. But your starting point needs to make sense for where you are now.
5. Outline Your Life Coaching Business Startup Costs
Your life coaching business plan should include a clear overview of your startup costs.
At a minimum, think about:
Forming your business entity (forming an LLC through ZenBusiness only costs $0 + state fees (yes, I receive an affiliate commission from ZenBusiness, but it really doesn’t get cheaper than this))
A simple website (I recommend Squarespace (yes, I receive an affiliate commission from them, too, but they’re the Apple of website builders — and way more affordable than a Stan Store that you won’t even own)
A scheduling tool (like Calendly or similar)
A meeting tool (Zoom or similar (does anyone use anything else?))
A proper 1-on-1 Coaching Agreement for your 1-on-1 coaching program
A solid Virtual Meeting Policy for one-off coaching calls
And the essential Website Legal Pages (privacy policy, terms, disclaimer)
That’s it.
You definitely don’t need to spend over $5,000 on an expensive lawyer, a brand designer, a fancy photoshoot, or certification before you sign your first client (which we’ll get to next).
If you truly don’t have a few hundred dollars to invest in your life coaching business yet, read this blog post on starting a life coaching business.
6. Do You Actually Need Certification to Be a Life Coach?
A common question that comes up when writing a life coaching business plan is:
Do you need a life coach certification to be a life coach?
In most cases, no, not to get started.
Certain life coach certification programs can absolutely be valuable for your own development, but I wouldn’t recommend investing in them if you haven’t made any money from coaching yet.
A life coaching certification is not what makes someone book you.
Clients usually don’t ask which certification program you completed. They want to know:
Can you help me?
Do you understand my situation?
Do you have a clear method?
What have you achieved with your method?
Have you helped others get results?
If you already know who you want to help and how you want to help them, don’t let the lack of a certificate hold you back from taking action.
Build experience first. Maybe read some life coaching books in the meantime. Generate income. Then, if you want to deepen your skills, reinvest in certification later.
7. Decide When (or If) You’ll Quit Your Job
You likely already have a job right now.
So, your life coaching business plan should include a clear timeline for when you plan to reduce your hours, go part-time, or quit your job entirely.
It will take time for your life coaching business to generate stable revenue, so this decision needs to be strategic.
Before leaving your job, ask yourself:
How much do I need to earn per month to cover my basic living expenses?
For how many consecutive months have I consistently earned that amount from coaching?
Do I have savings to cover slow months?
Is my client acquisition predictable — or random?
For example:
If you need $3,600 per month to cover your expenses and you’ve only had one strong $4,000 month so far, that one good month isn't enough to say you have stability yet. The next month could easily drop to $1,200.
I’ve been through those growing pains myself.
Your life coaching business plan should include a realistic transition plan, such as:
Stay full-time while building your coaching income.
Reduce to part-time once you consistently earn 50–70% of your salary.
Build a 3–6 month savings buffer before quitting.
Take on flexible work (such as part-time barista shifts) while you build your client base.
A gradual transition may not feel glamorous, but it is often the most sustainable path.
8. Plan How Clients Will Find You
Your life coaching business plan should clearly outline how clients will actually find you.
You need to decide:
Where will you show up consistently? Will you use an SEO strategy and start blogging, so you’ll show up on Google and Pinterest? Or will you post on a social media platform, like Instagram or TikTok?
How often will you create content? Will you post 2 or 3 times a day on TikTok? Or publish blog posts twice a week? What do you realistically have time for?
How will people move from “follower” to “client”? What is the process from discovery to booking?
Will you offer discovery calls?
How will someone book or apply to work with you? Create a straightforward booking or application process with the least friction. If your process for becoming a client is confusing, people will hesitate.
Your life coaching business plan should document this clearly so you’re not aimlessly throwing different strategies at the wall every week, hoping something will stick.
I’ve shared my own approach in this blog post on how to start a life coaching business from home.
9. Put the Legal Structure in Place
The final part of your life coaching business plan is making sure your business structure is legally sound.
At a minimum, your coaching business plan should include:
Forming your business entity (if applicable, where you live)
Opening a separate business bank account
Using proper coaching contracts for each of your coaching offers
Adding website legal pages (privacy policy, terms, and disclaimer) to your site
If you want to learn exactly how to set up your business properly, read my step-by-step guide in this blog post on how to legally start a life coaching business.
Your coaching contracts should reflect the rules and boundaries you defined earlier, including:
Scope of services
Session structure
Payment terms
Cancellation and rescheduling rules
Refund policy
Clear disclaimers about what your coaching is — and is not
You need a proper contract for each offer to make those rules legally binding.
You cannot simply state on your sales page that you don’t offer refunds. If clients have not legally agreed to your refund policy and other terms, they are not bound by them — even if they have paid you.
Your contracts formalize the rules and boundaries you created in your business plan.
Here’s exactly which contracts you need (depending on your offer):
Use a proper 1-on-1 Coaching Agreement Template for your 1-on-1 coaching program.
Use a solid Virtual Meeting Policy for one-off coaching calls.
Use a Group Coaching Agreement for your group coaching program.
Use Terms & Conditions for Online Courses for your online course.
Use ironclad Terms & Conditions for Digital Products for individual templates, workbooks, or eBooks you sell on your site.
And add the essential Website Legal Pages to your site.
👉 Get all the contract templates you need for your coaching business and save with my Coach Contracts Bundle!
That’s How to Start a Life Coaching Business from Home
If you’ve worked through all nine sections, you now have a practical and actionable life coaching business plan you can actually use to get started.
You’ve defined your niche, structured your offers, set realistic pricing, outlined your costs, created a transition plan, mapped out client acquisition, and put the right legal protections in place.
That’s what you need to actually start a life coach business.
👉 Make sure you download my free Coaching Business Checklist and use it to finalize each decision properly.
And once your structure is clear, protect it with the right contracts so your boundaries are legally enforceable from day one.
This post was all about the 9 key things your life coaching business plan must include to actually get started.
Other posts you may like:
