How to Become a Relationship Coach

A relationship coach is a professional problem solver when it comes to relationships. While commonly associated with marriage troubles, relationship coaches can help people resolve conflict and mend relationships in all aspects of life—romantic, familial, professional, and so on.

Relationship coaches may work one-on-one with an individual who’s struggling with a relationship or offer group sessions working with couples, business partners, and families to identify the roadblocks to harmony and happiness. Some also specialize as dating coaches (or love coaches) to help people find companions and build new relationships from the ground up.

Many relationship coaches run their own businesses and find their own clients, but others operate through third-party coaching services or work for a specific company. In terms of where they work, relationship coaches can do in-person sessions or work remotely from home by offering online relationship coaching services.

Duties and responsibilities

A relationship coach can help clients with a variety of relationship-related goals. Here are a few examples:

• Improve communication
• Master conflict resolution
• Establish boundaries
• Gain confidence
• Build a stronger bond
• Enhance intimacy
• Repair a broken relationship

In the end, a relationship coach’s goal is to empower and support clients in their journey toward creating positive and lasting change—not just in the current active relationships but in all their interpersonal relationships throughout their lives.

The good news is that there are no hard and fast requirements to become a relationship coach. That said, if you want people to entrust their relationship to you, you’ll need experience and training.

In addition to setting you up for professional success, having the right qualifications before you start offering paid services is the only way to work ethically as a relationship coach. After all, people are paying you for your expertise.

Skills

In addition to having a good mastery of psychology, it would be valuable to have the following skills:

• Empathy
• Active listening
• Tact
• Maturity
• Trustworthiness
• Questioning
• Problem-solving
• Conflict resolution
• Goal setting

Most importantly, relationship coaches need to be able to help their clients develop and hone the skills necessary for achieving and maintaining a healthy relationship, including accountability and commitment.

Relationship coaches aren’t mind readers. In order to get clients to open up and trust your wisdom and guidance, you’ll need the right demeanor and approach. The skills above will help you make clients feel as though they’re in good hands.

Education

You don’t need a degree to be a relationship coach. In fact, there are no formal education requirements for relationship coaches, so you can pursue this career even if you never finished high school. Nevertheless, a college degree or academic background in a relevant discipline would certainly be a benefit.

Fields like psychology and social work will give you a good foundation to work with. They may also shorten the time it takes to complete your training and get certified.

Certifications

Technically, you don’t need to be certified to be a relationship coach. The same is true for all other types of coaching. But this doesn’t mean that you can start charging people for relationship coaching sessions tomorrow if you have no relevant knowledge, skills, or experience.

And don’t think that personal experience with relationships is enough. Being married for 20 years doesn’t necessarily make you a relationship expert—at least, not in the eyes of clients who are willing to pay $100+ per session.

Why you should get a relationship coaching certification

While you can enroll in online training programs and courses, pursuing a relationship coach certification is your best option. Specifically, a certification offers several advantages:

• Build your knowledge: Learn all about relationships, why conflicts arise, and how to empower and support your clients as they resolve their issues.
• Acquire the right skills: Gain the skills needed to not only coach but also run a successful business.
• Learn how to market yourself: Acquire strategies for finding new clients as a freelance relationship coach or make yourself a more attractive applicant to established coaching firms.
• Give your clients reassurance: Give your brand new business instant credibility.

You will need to invest a good bit of time (and money) into getting certified as a relationship coach, but you’ll be better off in the long run.

If you’re excited about the prospect of becoming a certified relationship coach, here are the steps to take.

1. Pick your niche

There are general skills and knowledge that every relationship coach needs. However, certain specialties require additional skills or training. Thinking about whether to niche down before you go any further will help you figure out your next steps.

Here are some specialties to consider:

• Marriage
• Unmarried couples
• Love
• Sex
• Dating
• Online dating
• Family
• Divorce/separation
• Adoption
• Professional relationships

Start by thinking about the different types of relationship coaches mentioned above. What kinds of relationships do you feel best suited to coaching? Your personality and background will likely influence your answer.

Another consideration is the type of client you’d feel most comfortable and confident coaching. For instance, you might prefer to work with couples rather than individuals.

You can also work as a generalist. However, it tends to be easier to find new business—and charge more—if you offer services to a specific type of client or to address a unique problem area.

2. Enroll in an accredited relationship coach training program

Even though you don’t need a degree or certification to become a relationship coach, credibility is a big deal in this field. If you want to have a long-term impact on the lives of your clients and make a name for yourself, then proper training is essential.

When researching relationship coach certifications, a good place to start is the International Coaching Federation (ICF) website. This organization is the authority on coaching credentials, and they offer valuable resources for finding accredited training programs and getting certified as a relationship coach.

Here, you’ll also find the ICF’s education search service (ESS) tool, which is a directory of ICF-approved courses and institutions. Use this tool to browse approved courses and training programs.

While you can enroll in a program that’s not listed on the ICF website, just bear in mind that you won’t be able to use that training to qualify for an ICF credential later down the line. You’ll also need to do your own due diligence to ensure you pick a legitimate training course.

3. Get relationship coaching experience

Most relationship coaching certifications require a certain number of hours of real-life experience providing coaching services. For example, the most basic ICF coaching certification requires at least 100 hours of real client coaching.

But this isn’t the only benefit of hands-on coaching experience. It’ll also help you put what you’ve learned into practice, give you a base level of experience to work with, and build up your confidence.

In terms of where you get this real-world practice, there are different routes to take:

• Volunteering
• Coaching people you know
• Applying to internships or coaching assistant jobs

You’ll be best off starting with low rates until you’ve built up some experience and you’re fully credentialed. Just note that for your experience to count toward an ICF credential, it’ll need to be with paying clients.

4. Get certified

Depending on the course you took, you may have already been awarded a relationship coaching certificate of certification. In other cases, however, you’ll need to apply for your credentials to become a certified relationship coach.

This may involve taking an exam, demonstrating your coaching skills, and/or paying an application fee. If you took an ICF-approved training course, you’ll be able to apply for an ICF certification. They offer three main credentials, as shown in the table below.

ICF Credentials

Source: ICF credentials and standards.

To get ICF certified, you have to submit a 20–60 minute recording of one of your coaching sessions with a client, pass a performance evaluation, and pass a written exam.

Continuing education

As a certified relationship coach, you’ll have to renew your coaching credentials every 3 years. Each renewal will cost you $175 (for ICF members), and it has to be done within 10 months of your renewal date, so plan accordingly.

Use the ICF’s training program database to find continuing coaching education (CCE) programs. These programs will help you maintain sharp coaching and business skills.

Many relationship coaches choose to start their own coaching business. This can be difficult, but the benefits of working for yourself and being your own boss are among the biggest appeals of a relationship coaching career.

Unfortunately, your business won’t build itself. You’ll need to put in a good bit of legwork at the start. Here’s what you’ll need to get it up and running.

Online presence

In today’s world, you won’t find many businesses that don’t have some sort of online presence. A digital footprint is especially important in the coaching industry. Even before you’ve gotten your first client, there are a few things you can do to put your name out there and lay a good foundation for your marketing efforts.

Website

Your first step should be to build a website for your business. Wix and WordPress are both good user-friendly options that come with loads of predesigned templates to help you build your relationship coaching business website.

Make sure you have a page dedicated to your rates. You can include different prices for:

• Introductory session
• Hourly rate
• Session bundle rate
• Couples rate
• Singles rate

You can also use your website to announce relationship webinars and other events or session types you might be offering.

Social media

You should create a LinkedIn profile for yourself that highlights all your credentials and specifies the type of relationship coaching you provide, Additionally, consider listing your business on other social media platforms.

If you’re offering in-person or local coaching sessions, then Facebook is a good place to start. If you’re planning to create content (like inspirational memes or short videos) or offer free advice, then using an app like Instagram would be a good idea.

Google Business

You should create a Google Business page for your relationship coaching company if you plan to do in-person sessions. This way, people will be able to find you by doing an online search for relationship coaches in their area.

Solid branding

Start by deciding whether you want to go by your name or if use a brand name for your business. After that, you can design a logo for your business using a free platform like Canva or Wix Logo Maker.

It’s also a good idea to create a PDF resume. Keep it up-to-date with your degrees, training programs, certifications, and skills.

Strategies for finding clients

As counterintuitive as it may seem, your business and marketing skills will likely have a greater impact on your earning potential as a relationship coach than your actual coaching skills.

When you’re ready to find new clients, start with the ICF (if you’re a member) or the organization you trained with. If you had to do mandatory client coaching hours, then you may already have a few clients to work with. These organizations might also have job boards you can use to advertise your services or find relationship coach jobs.

After that, tap into your personal and professional network. As an incentive, consider offering their referrals a “friends and family” rate.

If you love the idea of helping people resolve conflicts, remove barriers to communication, and create more meaningful and genuine connections, then relationship coaching is a great side hustle.

The only catch is that it’ll take a lot of time and money to get certified before you can become a bona fide relationship coach. This career choice is in investment. But if you have the time and money to put into this side hustle, it’s worth it in the long run.

Pros and cons of becoming a relationship coach

Every job has its upsides and downsides. The trick is to find something that you find so fulfilling that the drawbacks seem manageable. Here’s a snapshot of what you can expect with this job.

How much do relationship coaches make?

According to Glassdoor data from October 2023, relationship coaches in the US make an average of $89,895 per year. 1 Some even earn up to $119,000 annually. In terms of hourly rates, ZipRecruiter data for 2024 shows that relationship coaches earn anywhere in the range of $13.46 to $67.55 per hour.

That said, you can charge more as you gain more experience. Carving out a unique and in-demand specialty for yourself will also allow you to raise your rates.

Here are some other factors that may affect how much your relationship coach salary is:

• Employment vs. self-employment
• Flat session rate vs. per hour
• Location and client demographics

Once you establish yourself as a credible relationship coach, you can develop alternative and passive income streams, like books, webinars or seminars, or retreats.

Alternative side hustles

There are plenty of other types of coaching other than relationship coaching that you may want to consider instead. Additionally, you can find plenty of other ways to make money helping people or sharing your expertise.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Life coaching
• Career coaching
• Motivational speaking
• Wedding officiation

You can even try out multiple side hustles. Plenty of coaches start with one specialty and then branch out to get certified in other domains.