Top 12 Profitable Coaching Niches in 2024 (Ultimate Guide)

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People are willing to pay for your expertise if you can help them accomplish meaningful goals like landing an important job or changing how others perceive them.

For this reason, the coaching market opens so many profitable coaching niches. 

However, while there’s a demand for nearly every kind of expertise, only some categories are profitable.

That’s why it’s important to connect what you’re good at and love doing with what people are willing to pay for. Finding that intersection will help you earn enough money to sustain your business.

In this article, we’ll discuss twelve coaching niches and the amount of compensation you might expect. We have also included a few tips for selecting the right one, so make sure to read until the end!

Let’s jump in.

1. Life Coaching

Life coaching is a fairly broad term for a niche, but it’s still a useful category because many coaches use this designation.

If you compare the coaching industry to the medical field, a life coach is like your family doctor. Then, life coaches are generalists who can help clients with things like improving happiness, mindset, image, or finding purpose.

Though life coaching is generic, it includes sub-niches that cross into many different areas of a client’s life, including:

  • Confidence Coaching
  • Happiness Coaching
  • Purpose Coaching
  • Self-Image Coaching

Many schools offer life coaching certifications. These programs teach life coaches to apply a system or framework to help clients successfully work through their thinking or behaviors, and programs range in price from as little as $150 to as much as $21,000.

While they aren’t required to be a life coach, certifications can help you build credibility and connect you to other successful life coaches and clients.

Though generalists, life coaches tend to focus on specific audiences and often target their most in-demand needs

For example, Paige Bliss demonstrates this with her Pivot to Purpose program. This coaching experience addresses the in-demand needs of her audience.

Paige Bliss has a one-on-one coaching program ideal for women of faith seeking their purpose.
Paige Bliss has a one-on-one coaching program ideal for women of faith seeking their purpose.

According to the latest study by the International Coaching Federation, life coaches earn an average of $47,100/year worldwide and $62,000/year in North America.

2. Health Coaching

Health coaching is among the highest-demand niches in coaching, as good health and quality of life are often valued more than money.

Depending on your expertise and your coaching business model, you might go into one of the following sub-categories.

  • Fitness: e.g., improving muscle, strength, agility, or endurance
  • Competition: e.g., preparing for a 5k run or a triathlon
  • Weight Loss: e.g., like losing weight or inches
  • Nutrition: e.g., plant-based, keto, or anti-inflammatory
  • Disease-Focused: e.g., coping with autoimmune or diabetes

Several companies offer health coaching certifications, and, depending on the specialty, they may require ongoing education. Health coaches will also want to seek out professional advice to ensure they have prudent legal protections.

Adam Walsh’s uses a Facebook group to connect wiht potential and established clients
Adam Walsh’s uses a Facebook group to connect wiht potential and established clients

For instance, health coach Adam Walsh connects with his potential clients on Facebook and focuses on lost inches and increased energy.

In 2021, Market Research analyzed 127,100 health coaches and educators and reported that they earn between $50,000 and $100,000 annually.

As with most coaching niches, the expected income will vary based on who your clients are and how significant the results they can achieve.

3. Relationship Coaching

There is a rising demand for relationship coaching, and people are willing to pay for it. That’s because the cost of broken relationships can be high, and navigating emotionally-charged conversations is challenging.

There are several sub-niches in this area, including:

  • Marriage Coaching
  • Dating Coaching
  • Family Coaching
  • Self Coaching
  • Intimacy Coaching

Who you work with can make a huge difference in earning potential. For example, a dating coach for successful entrepreneurs can charge more than someone helping college students.

So, this niche may be perfect for anyone who’s overcome significant relationship issues and passionately believes they’re worth saving.

Rachael uses a Facebook group to connect with her audience
Rachael uses a Facebook group to connect with her audience

A good example is relationship coach Rachel Jencks, who connects with busy working moms on Facebook and promotes her marriage coach services by sharing inspiration and her family life.

Zip Recruiter reports that annual salaries for a relationship coach in the United States can go as high as $109,000 and as low as $21,000. However, most fall between $37,000 and $72,000, and according to Glassdoor, the U.S. average sits at $81,561.

4. Mindset Coaching

You’ve probably heard of the importance of your “mindset.” In fact, today, there’s widespread agreement that our thoughts affect our emotions and actions.

Maybe you even heard of Carol Dweck’s 2006 book, Mindset, where she published the results of her decades-long research and coined the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset.” This triggered an avalanche of subsequent studies and publications in this area.

Mindset, then, is also a coaching nice that includes several sub-niches, such as:

  • Habit Coaching
  • Performance Coaching
  • Motivation Coaching
  • Story Coaching

Nearly every coach incorporates mindset into their program, whether they’re a time management coach addressing the beliefs about planning or a writing coach that helps build confidence for a pitch session with a writing agent.

However, clients seek out mindset coaches when they recognize that their limited beliefs interfere with multiple aspects of their lives.

These coaches are experts in fields like neuro-linguistic programming, mental processes, habit formation, and motivation.

Coach Steph Panther helps her clients with change.
Coach Steph Panther helps her clients with change.

For instance, mindset coach Steph Panther focuses her coaching on clients going through a change in their lives, helping them achieve a smooth transition. She has a well-designed coaching website with prominent CTAs and a clean look.

According to Zip Recruiter, in 2023, the average annual pay for a mindset coach in the United States is about $54,000. Of course, compensation also depends on whether or not you have your own signature method or are using someone else’s.

5. Career Coaching

Job searches can be challenging. The circumstances surrounding them—whether it’s due to a layoff or a career dead-end—can cause anxiety, and sending out hundreds of resumes results in a lot of rejection.

This makes a career coach a valued partner.

In particular, these sub-niche specialties are exceptionally sought out:  

  • Career Advancement Coaching
  • Transitioning Careers Coaching
  • Job Search Coaching
  • Job Interviews Coaching
  • Resume Coaching
  • Work/Life Balance Coaching

Career coaching can be an excellent niche for anyone with experience in human resources, thanks to their knowledge of corporate structures, systems, and trends.

Brianna Johnson is a great example. Her extensive experience in human resources allows her to help formerly employed stay-at-home moms restart their careers.

Brianna Johnson helps women find a job after taking a career break to have children.
Brianna Johnson helps women find a job after taking a career break to have children.

According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for a career coach in the United States is $61,251. Salary.com, instead, uses a median annual salary—which is the midpoint between the upper and lower numbers—rather than an average and lists it at $48,068.

6. Financial Coaching

Financial coaching might be your niche if you’re exceptional with budgeting, generating income, or retirement planning.

There are several sub-genres in financial coaching, including:

  • Budgeting Coaching
  • Investment Coaching
  • Retirement Coaching
  • Debt Recovery Coaching
  • Entrepreneurial Coaching
  • Affiliate Coaching
  • Intellectual Property Coaching
  • Profit Coaching
  • Tax Strategy Coaching

Programs like Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First demonstrate how a specific philosophy can be central to a financial coaching practice. Both of these programs offer training in their systems and personalized coaching.

Rachael Bronstein’s financial coaching, instead, is an excellent example of targeting a specific audience, as she coaches touring musicians, helping them organize their finances.

Life's Jam offers financial coaching for touring musicians.
Life’s Jam offers financial coaching for touring musicians.

Glassdoor lists the average financial coach salary in the United States at $79,529.

Again, as with the other niches, this will vary based on who you’re helping and the economic potential of your coaching. Assisting clients through debt recovery will likely result in lower earnings compared to optimizing profits for 8-figure entrepreneurs.

7. Business Coaching

The term “business” is broad enough for this coaching type to apply to entrepreneurs, small business owners, or corporate office managers. However, most business coaches will only work with one category of people.

Finding a profitable coaching niche in business coaching can mean specializing on an audience or sub-niche, including:

  • Leadership Development Coaching
  • Team Management Coaching
  • Team Building Coaching
  • Hiring Coaching
  • Legacy Creation Coaching
  • Project Planning Coaching
  • Goals and Accountability Coaching

Coaches in this category might get certified by some leadership programs like John Maxwell’s program or the Harvard Business School Online. While these aren’t required, globally-recognized certifications can help build credibility.

Judy Weber is an example of a business coach who went from a corporate life to an entrepreneurial one. She spent time as a lawyer, a C-level executive, and then as an entrepreneur – all experiences that are valuable as a business coach.

Judy Weber offers business coaching for new entrepreneurs and those ready to scale to seven figures.
Judy Weber offers business coaching for new entrepreneurs and those ready to scale to seven figures.

Salary.com lists the average annual income for a business coach at $87,281, with the typical range falling somewhere between $73,577 and $106,437.

8. Marketing Coaching

Marketing experts are in a great position to create a coaching program and easily find a profitable coaching niche. This includes sub-niches like these:

  • Copywriting Coaching
  • Visibility Coaching
  • Social Media Coaching
  • Content Creation Coaching
  • Lead Generation Coaching
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Coaching

Business clients value marketing coaches because their advice can pay off in leads and sales. Furthermore, marketing is always most effective when designed around an individual business’s unique needs.  

Kinsey Machos offers private coaching at the intersection of mindset and marketing.
Kinsey Machos offers private coaching at the intersection of mindset and marketing.

For instance, marketing coach Kinsey Machos targets her services to entrepreneurs who want to move from a 4-figure month income to a 5-figure month one.

Glassdoor estimates the total annual pay for marketing coaches to be $78,468 in the United States.

Sales coaches are similar to marketing coaches, and they help clients with prospecting and sales conversions. According to Salary.com, these coaches earn an average annual salary of $67,070.

9. Executive Coaching

When someone in the C-suite needs coaching, they generally search for an executive coach. Executive coaches are similar to business coaches, but they focus on the skills needed by corporate leaders

Executive coaching includes sub-niches like:

  • Influence Coaching
  • Motivation Coaching
  • Employee Engagement Coaching
  • Personal Development Coaching
  • Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Skills
  • Resilience Coaching
  • Strategic Coaching
  • Decision Coaching

Executives often turn to well-known leadership experts and their companies like Simon Sinek or John Maxwell.

Sometimes, if they connect with the content that experts publish, they may turn to them personally, such as the corporate coaching offered by Ken Blanchard, one of the authors of the bestselling book The One Minute Manager.

Ken Blanchard's corporate coaching services offer executive coaching.
Ken Blanchard’s corporate coaching services offer executive coaching.

Considering what’s at stake for an executive to perform well, these coaches have the highest compensation.

Salary.com places the average annual salary at $104,966. Interestingly, Glassdoor’s estimate doubles this initial estimate at a total of $285,827.  

10. Parenting Coaching

Raising children can feel like a high-stakes gamble, and while parents want their kids to do well, children don’t come with an instruction booklet. Parenting coaching can help.

There are a lot of sub-niches in this field, including:

  • Pregnancy Coaching
  • Birth Coaching
  • Infant Sleep Coaching
  • Behavioral Coaching
  • ADHD Coaching
  • Advocate Coaching
  • College Admissions Coaching

While it has one of the lower salary expectations, it is often a niche that coaches choose willingly. 

In fact, while all coaching areas can provide fulfillment as you witness your clients improving, there’s always something meaningful about seeing a family thrive.  

Parenting coach Maria Yakimchuk, for instance, is a certified transformation EFT Coach whose practice centers around moms who feel uncomfortable in their mother role. She helps them heal from the past so they can be exceptional moms.

Parent on Board is Maria Yakimchuk's coaching business that helps overwhelmed moms thrive.
Parent on Board is Maria Yakimchuk’s coaching business that helps overwhelmed moms thrive.

Glassdoor places salary expectations for a parenting coach in the United States at $58,777; however, Salary.com is more pessimistic, with an annual average salary of $44,611.

11. Spiritual Coaching

Most types of coaching can integrate spiritual elements. Coaches may pray, read holy books, or do energy work during coaching sessions. However, spiritual coaching is when the spiritual aspects take center stage. Often, the clients of this kind of coach suspect that a spiritual need may be at the root of hurt or damage.

Sub-niches in spiritual coaching include:

  • Wholeness or Healing Coaching
  • Faith Deconstruction Coaching
  • Faith Reconstruction Coaching
  • Discipleship Coaching

Spiritual practices are at the core of spiritual coaching. Certifications or valid confirmation of spiritual gifts can earn credibility in this niche—which may also be having studied under a spiritual leader or obtaining ordination.

Spiritual coaches can attract the right clients by identifying their audience and their spiritual beliefs.

Cortney Browning is an example of this. In her LinkedIn profile, she states, “I help high-performing Christian women fill the gaping hole in their lives by flipping the script on their relationship with God.”

Because there are a lot of opinions about what’s right or wrong in the spiritual world, clarity about whether you use the Bible, reiki, or the law of attraction can help you find the right clients.

Cortney's LinkedIn profile lists her as a certified spiritual alignment coach.
Cortney’s LinkedIn profile lists her as a certified spiritual alignment coach.

According to Zip Recruiter, spiritual coaches in the United States earn an average salary of $50,850, and top earners make about $90,000.

12. Public Speaking Coach

With rampant fears around public speaking, it’s unsurprising that there’s a dedicated niche.

Public speaking coaches can often feel like an emergency measure when a high-stakes speech is imminent, and an A+ performance is the only option.

There are a few sub-niches for public speaking coaches, including:

  • TED Talk Coaching
  • Video Coaching
  • Speech Coaching
  • Speechwriting Coaching

The skills taught by these experts include speech writing, speech delivery, and body language. Coaches specializing in TED talks, YouTube, or TikTok may also have expertise in format or tools and can give advice that helps with effectiveness, ratings, or visibility.

Jezra Kaye offers personalized one-on-one coaching for keynote speakers.
Jezra Kaye offers personalized one-on-one coaching for keynote speakers.

Glassdoor estimates that public speaking coaches can expect to earn an average of $68,948 annually.

Choosing the Right Coaching Niche

We covered the 12 most popular caching niches, but there are dozens more that we could’ve included. Coaches can be as varied and surprising as you can imagine, and here are just a few of the more niche possibilities:

  • Gaming Coaching
  • Book Writing Coaching
  • Assertiveness Coaching
  • Grief Coaching
  • Caregiving Coaching

If you have practical knowledge that can benefit others and you’re a good mentor, you can coach.

But with so many options, how do you decide? How do you know if it’ll work?

Let’s look at three practical tips for choosing the right, profitable niche.

Where Is Your Expertise?

Take a look at your email inbox and your text messages. What advice do people ask from you? Acknowledging the expertise others see in you is a great start if you’re thinking about coaching.

Consider taking note of the topics that grab your attention in conversations. Is it parenting, time management, or leadership? These clues lead to your passions.

Once you have a list of possible niches, look at your education, your experience, and your talents in these niches.

People want to work with an expert. When your friends and family know and trust your expertise in certain areas, you can feel confident that your future clients will trust you too.

Are People Willing to Pay?

Some types of expertise are more valued than others—either because the demand or the stakes are high. For example, people will likely pay less for a gaming coach than a marriage coach because the stakes are higher in a marriage.

If you have several possible niches, look at who your intended audience is and consider what they’re paying to solve this issue.

For example, if you have experience writing speeches for your CEO, search the internet to see what CEOs pay for speechwriters.

Ask yourself the following questions and do some research:

  • What is the demand for your expertise?
  • What are people willing to pay?
  • How many coaching clients would it take to sustain your business?
  • How much time would you need to dedicate to this?

What’s Your Focus?

Once you choose a profitable coaching niche, consider how to stand out to your audience by narrowing your focus to a smaller niche, which will make it easier to find an audience.

For example, if you’re a health coach, do you help clients get healthier with exercise, diet, or the gut microbiome? Do you expect your clients to spend 15 minutes daily or 15 hours weekly on your program? Are you helping older women or younger men?  

As you narrow your focus, you’ll want to clarify these three areas:

  • Be clear about who your serve. When you know your ideal client, it will show up in your word choice and visual elements.
  • Be clear about the problem you solve. This could be an issue your clients experience today or a desired outcome they’ll gain through coaching.
  • Be clear about your approach or method. Sharing your beliefs and what makes your system effective can help you stand out. 

Conclusion

The best outcome of choosing a profitable coaching niche is that it allows you to support yourself while participating in someone else’s success. It’s an effective way of sharing what makes you exceptional, whether it be your education, experience, or talents.

Since there are so many coaching niches, you can be exactly the coach you want to be. You can be an executive coach that integrates spiritual practices or a health and marriage coach that trains couples with troubled relationships to run a 5k together.

And if your first niche doesn’t work, view it as an early iteration! Most businesses—even large ones—have to re-invent themselves and re-brand their offerings.

It’s no different for the rest of us. Keep going and try again.

What coaching niches are most exciting to you? Are there any we missed? We’d love to hear your answers and comments below.

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