October 14, 2026
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If you're getting close to signing up for a coach training program, there's a good chance one question keeps coming up for you. It sounds something like this: what percentage of your graduates go on to build successful coaching businesses?
It's a reasonable thing to want to know. Our own certification takes about 12 to 14 months, with about 5 to 8 hours a week of work outside of class. And it's also a significant financial investment.
You want to know it will pay off, and that it won't be one more training that doesn't really lead anywhere.
I get some version of this question on nearly every admissions call at Earth-Based Institute. I've trained coaches there since 2008, and I run our ICF Level 2 accredited Nature-Connected Coach Certification.
Key takeaways:
I think it's a great question, and a layered one.
The first layer is about the program. You want to know it's legitimate and that the support you'll get is effective, and that's the right thing to check.
Anyone can call themselves a coach, and the field is growing. The 2025 ICF Global Coaching Study counted a record 122,974 coaches worldwide, up 15% from 2023. In the same study, nearly three-quarters of coaches said clients and organizations expect them to hold a certification or credential.
So ask about accreditation, mentoring, and how a school helps its graduates find clients. I put together 10 questions to ask a coach training program to help with that part.
The second layer is about you. Underneath the question there's often a lack of confidence in your own ability to be successful, and that makes a lot of sense too.
If you're changing careers, you may be weighing a steady paycheck against something new, and you want some sign that people like you have made it work.
When someone asks me for a success rate, I tell them the in-depth business mentoring in our program is fairly new. We're working on it, but the data that I have isn't robust enough to provide a percentage that is worth jumping blindly into.
I tell them that I'm working closely with students to develop those business skills and how they position their coaching. The students who follow through with the coaching and put in the effort are seeing results.
I also tell them I can't promise success. Everybody's situation is different.
Promising that I can create success in someone's life is not a promise I ever want to make. What I can promise is that I'll work closely with you, as long as you're willing to do what it takes to be successful.
As an ICF-credentialed coach, I've agreed to the ICF Code of Ethics. Under Standard 5.2, I agree to make statements that are "true and accurate" about what I offer.
Not every program holds to that. In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission took a business coaching company to court over what it called misleading earnings claims.
According to the FTC, one of the company's sales reps told buyers there was "literally no way to fail." The FTC said most buyers earned next to nothing, and many ended up deep in debt.
If a program gives you a success rate or an income number, ask how they got it. Ask who they counted and who they left out.
What I wish people would ask me instead is this: "What will it take for me to be successful?"
That's the better question, because your success in a coaching practice isn't up to me. It depends a lot on what you bring and what you're willing to do.
A few of my students have shown me the answer.
One student agreed to the process we developed and followed the steps for building a network around her. Over time the referrals started to come in, and she began to see results.
Her words to me were, "Michael, it happened just like you said. I just needed to stick with it."
Another student got his first referral for a long-term coaching package. Over about a week, we went back and forth several times as he worked through the sales conversation and the close.
He signed the client without hesitation, for 6 months at $800 a month. Now he has the tools to do it again, and he knows he has support behind him. And as his confidence builds he'll raise his rates.
Another student panicked when her first efforts didn't work as planned. She began to spread herself thin, lost her focus on the strategy, and stopped reaching out for help.
She started underselling herself, and she's struggling to close even one client. What I've learned from watching this happen is that asking for help is a skill, just like coaching or selling, and it's often the hardest one to use when things aren't going well. The door is still open, and when she reaches out, we'll look at what happened and adjust the strategy together.
From what I've seen over the years, here's what it takes:
I stay in close communication with my students, so I can help them through it moment by moment as they take those new and bold steps.
We call that last one closing the back door.
Closing the back door means success is the only option. The only way to that success is forward, and you adjust along the way instead of retreating.
There's one more piece I talk about with students. The gift you bring to the world is not the part of you that needs to go out and find the clients.
Finding clients takes the skills of an entrepreneur, and you have to be willing to learn and develop yourself as one. You don't have to be born with an entrepreneurial mind to be successful. It's something you can learn.
I wrote more about this in Your next most important decision. It's about why deciding to be a coach and deciding to run a successful coaching business are two separate choices.
A few questions to sit with before you choose a program:
If some of your answers are "not yet," that's useful to know. Then you know what to work on, and what kind of support to look for in a program.
There isn't one shared number for the coaching field, and schools that share a rate each measure it in their own way. At Earth-Based Institute, I don't have a clear, honest percentage yet, because this level of business mentoring in our program is fairly new. What I can say is that students who follow through and do the work are seeing results.
I'd be careful. I never promise success, because so much depends on what you bring and what you do. If a program promises results or income, ask how it measured them and who it counted.
From what I've seen, it takes a success and growth mindset, a willingness to try things that may not work, and the ability to work with your fears and ask for help. Most of all, it takes not giving up.
It means success is the only option. The only way to that success is forward, and you adjust along the way instead of retreating.
No. You don't have to be born with an entrepreneurial mind to be successful. Finding clients is a set of skills you can learn.
Ask about ICF accreditation, how much mentoring you'll get, and how the school helps graduates find clients. Then ask, "What will it take for me to be successful in your program?"
If you're weighing a coach training program and want to look at what it would take for you, book a discovery call. We'll talk it through together.
Michael Jospe, PCC, is the founder and lead instructor of Earth-Based Institute, an ICF Level 2 accredited Nature-Connected Coaching certification based in Boulder, Colorado. He has trained nature-connected coaches since 2008 and serves as an ICF coach assessor and mentor.
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Earth-Based Institute is an ICF Level 2-accredited training organization. We've certified Nature-Connected Coaches since 2008, alongside offering programs for personal growth, leadership, and 1:1 coaching.
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