Best Coaching Programs & Certifications: Build Your Practice in 2025
I’ve been in the coaching world for over a decade now. I’ve watched thousands of people get certified, start practices, and… well, here’s where it gets interesting. Some coaches build thriving six and seven-figure businesses within their first year. Others struggle for years, constantly questioning if they’re good enough.
After working with hundreds of coaches and testing multiple programs myself, I’ve noticed something: the certification itself matters way less than finding the program that matches what you actually want to build.
Want to coach women specifically? There’s a program for that. Want to scale to multiple six figures? Different program. Want deep transformational work? Yet another approach entirely.
So let’s cut through the noise. Here are the coaching programs that actually deliver—matched to what you’re trying to create.
For Women Who Want to Coach Women
Woman-Centered Coaching Masterclass by Claire Zammit
What Makes This Different: Claire Zammit’s program specifically teaches you to coach women using women-centered methodologies. Not generic coaching with a pink ribbon—actual frameworks designed around how women grow, heal, and transform.
Claire’s been teaching feminine leadership and women’s empowerment for 20+ years. She’s trained over 10,000 coaches worldwide and her approach integrates feminine psychology, developmental theory, and spiritual growth.
What You Learn: ✅ Feminine Development Theory: How women actually grow and evolve (different from masculine models) ✅ Holding Space: The art of creating truly safe containers for women’s transformation ✅ Relational Coaching: Working with women’s relational nature instead of fighting it ✅ Cultural Sensitivity: Understanding the specific challenges women face in patriarchal systems ✅ Business Building: How to market and build a practice that serves women (women buy differently) ✅ Live Practice: Real coaching hours with feedback from master coaches
Why This Works: I’ve seen coaches come out of generic programs and struggle to connect with women clients—because they learned models designed by men, for men, tested on men. Claire’s frameworks actually fit how women process, heal, and grow.
Plus you’re not just learning theory. You get real practice hours, supervision, and a community of coaches who get what you’re doing.
Considerations: ❌ Women-Focused: If you want to coach primarily men or corporations, this won’t fit ❌ Investment Level: Premium pricing reflects the depth and duration
Perfect If: You’re passionate about women’s empowerment and want to build a practice specifically serving women. This is the gold standard for women-centered coaching.
View Woman-Centered Coaching Masterclass →
For Building a Scalable Practice
Scalable Coach Masterclass by Lucas Garvin & Jim Hohl
What This Solves: You love coaching, but trading time for money has you trapped. You’re maxed out on 1-on-1 clients but can’t grow income without burning out. Lucas and Jim teach you to build a coaching business that scales beyond 1-on-1 sessions.
Scaling Strategies: ✅ Group Program Design: Create high-value group programs that deliver results at scale ✅ Program Architecture: Build frameworks that work for many people, not just custom 1-on-1 ✅ Pricing Models: Charge appropriately for group and hybrid offerings ✅ Systems & Automation: Set up the tech and systems that let you serve more people ✅ Team Building: When and how to hire support so you’re not doing everything yourself ✅ Sales Systems: Fill programs consistently without constant launches
Why I Recommend This: I hit this wall myself around year three. I was booked solid with 1-on-1 clients, making decent money, but completely stuck. Couldn’t take on more clients. Couldn’t raise prices enough to work less. Lucas and Jim’s approach showed me how to serve 50 people in a group program with better results than I was getting 1-on-1 (because of the community effect).
If you’re hitting the time-for-money ceiling, this is your way out.
Real Talk: ❌ Not for Beginners: You need coaching skills and some clients first ❌ Implementation Required: They give you the blueprint, you have to build it
Best For: Established coaches ready to scale. If you’re booked out, burnt out, or stuck at an income ceiling, this teaches you to grow without more hours.
View Scalable Coach Masterclass →
For Complete Career Transition
Mindvalley Coaching Career Mastery
What You’re Getting: Mindvalley’s comprehensive program taking you from zero to certified coach with a launched practice. Covers coaching skills, certification, business building, and marketing—the complete package for someone starting from scratch.
Full Career Program: ✅ Coaching Fundamentals: Learn core coaching methodologies and frameworks ✅ Certification Included: Get officially certified as a coach ✅ Niche Discovery: Figure out who you want to serve and what transformation you offer ✅ Business Setup: Legal structure, pricing, packages, client agreements ✅ Marketing Training: How to attract clients without being salesy ✅ Mindvalley Community: Access to a massive network of coaches and potential clients
Why This Stands Out: Most coaching certifications teach you to coach but leave you clueless about building a business. You get certified, then realize you have no idea how to get clients. Mindvalley includes the business side—which is honestly more important than most of the coaching techniques.
Limitations: ❌ Broad Approach: Covers many types of coaching. Not specialized in one methodology ❌ Mindvalley Style: If you don’t vibe with Mindvalley’s spiritual/holistic approach, this might not fit
Ideal For: Career changers who want a complete system from certification through client acquisition. If you’re starting from zero and want everything in one place, this is your program.
View Mindvalley Coaching Career Mastery →
For Boutique, High-End Practices
The Boutique Coaching Business by Becky Keen
What Becky Teaches: How to build a small, high-end coaching practice with premium clients paying premium prices. Not about scale—about serving fewer people at higher levels and higher fees.
Boutique Model: ✅ Premium Positioning: Position yourself at the high end of the market ✅ Attraction Marketing: Draw the right clients instead of chasing everyone ✅ High-Ticket Sales: Enroll clients at $10K, $25K, $50K+ packages ✅ Exclusive Experience: Create white-glove client experiences that justify premium pricing ✅ Lifestyle Design: Build a practice that supports the life you want, not just revenue goals
From My Experience: I’ve built both scaled and boutique coaching practices. They’re completely different animals. Scale requires systems, team, and volume. Boutique requires positioning, selectivity, and deep expertise. Becky teaches the boutique path—and it’s perfect if you don’t want to manage a big operation.
You can make $500K with 10 premium clients. You don’t need 100 clients if each one pays $50K.
Considerations: ❌ Not About Volume: If you want to serve hundreds of people, this isn’t the model ❌ Requires Confidence: Charging premium prices requires owning your value (Becky teaches this, but it’s work)
Perfect For: Experienced coaches who want to go high-end. If you’re tired of the volume game and want to serve fewer people at a deeper level for higher fees, Becky shows you exactly how.
View The Boutique Coaching Business →
For Launching Your First Clients
The Coaches Incubator by Kelsey Murphy
What This Is: Kelsey Murphy’s 12-week incubator specifically designed to take newly certified coaches from “I’m certified, now what?” to landing your first paying clients. She fills the gap between certification and actually getting paid.
Launch Focus: ✅ Positioning Clarity: Define exactly what you offer and who you serve ✅ First Package Design: Create an offer people actually want to buy ✅ Market Testing: Test your ideas quickly instead of months of planning ✅ First Sales: Make your first sales with proven frameworks ✅ Community Support: Other new coaches going through the same journey ✅ Quick Timeline: 12 weeks from start to paying clients
Why This Matters: The hardest part of coaching isn’t learning to coach—it’s getting the first few clients. You’ve invested in certification, you know your stuff, but nobody knows you exist and you have no idea how to change that. Kelsey specializes in this exact transition point.
Real Talk: ❌ For New Coaches Only: If you’re already established with clients, this is too basic ❌ Fast-Paced: 12 weeks means you need to move quickly and implement weekly
Best For: Newly certified coaches who need help with that terrifying first step—actually getting paying clients. If your certification is gathering dust because you don’t know how to start, this is your bridge to a real practice.
For Business Coaching Mastery
Elite Business Coaching Program by Dan Martell
What Dan Delivers: Training specifically for coaches who want to work with entrepreneurs and business owners. Dan’s built and sold multiple SaaS companies and now coaches entrepreneurs—this program teaches you to do the same.
Business Coach Training: ✅ Business Expertise: Learn actual business strategy, not just life coaching applied to business ✅ Results-Driven Methods: Focus on measurable business outcomes ✅ High-Ticket Model: Business owners pay more than life coaching clients ✅ SaaS Background: Learn from someone who’s built real companies, not just coached people ✅ Scalable Framework: Dan’s frameworks work for businesses from $100K to $10M+
Why This Is Different: I’ve seen too many life coaches pivot to “business coaching” without understanding business. They help with mindset and clarity—which is valuable—but can’t help with actual strategy, systems, scaling, or operations. Dan teaches you real business coaching because he’s lived it.
Limitations: ❌ Business-Only: If you want to do life coaching, relationships, or wellness, this won’t help ❌ Requires Business Understanding: You need to actually understand business to coach it (Dan helps you learn, but you can’t fake it)
Ideal For: Coaches who want to specialize in business coaching and work with entrepreneurs. If you have business experience and want to coach in that arena, Dan’s the gold standard.
View Elite Business Coaching Program →
For Deep Transformational Work
Transformational Coaching Program (TCP) by Jim Fortin
What Jim Teaches: Subconscious transformation coaching using neuroscience, hypnosis, NLP, and identity work. This isn’t surface-level goal coaching—it’s deep change at the identity and subconscious level.
Transformation Focus: ✅ Subconscious Work: Learn to work with the 95% of behavior that’s unconscious ✅ Identity Shifting: Help clients become different people, not just do different things ✅ Multiple Modalities: Hypnosis, NLP, neuroscience, energy work—full toolkit ✅ Powerful Results: When done right, this creates change that lasts ✅ Jim’s Track Record: He’s transformed thousands of people and teaches exactly what he does
My Take: This is for coaches who want to facilitate real transformation, not just accountability and strategy. I spent years doing surface-level coaching before learning subconscious methods. The difference in results is night and day. You can help someone create change in 3 sessions that might take 3 years with traditional coaching.
But—it requires you to do your own deep work first. You can’t take people deeper than you’ve gone yourself.
Considerations: ❌ Requires Inner Work: You’ll have to face your own stuff—this isn’t just learning techniques ❌ Not Goal Coaching: If you want to do performance coaching or business strategy, this might be too deep
Perfect For: Coaches who want to do transformational work at the identity and subconscious level. If surface-level coaching feels shallow and you want to help people create lasting change, this is your training.
View Transformational Coaching Program →
Choosing Your Coaching Path
Here’s what I wish someone had told me before I got certified:
The coaching industry is huge. You can coach executives, coach teens, coach on relationships, business, health, spirituality, performance—literally anything. And you can build your practice a thousand different ways: 1-on-1, groups, corporate contracts, online programs, in-person retreats, hybrid models.
The mistake most new coaches make is thinking they need to learn “coaching” and then figure out the rest. That’s backward.
Start with vision:
- Who do you want to serve?
- What transformation do you want to facilitate?
- What kind of practice do you want to build?
- What lifestyle are you creating?
Then choose the program that teaches you to build that.
If you’re called to coach women: Claire Zammit’s program is unmatched.
If you want to scale: Lucas and Jim teach you to break the 1-on-1 ceiling.
If you’re starting from scratch: Mindvalley gives you everything you need in one place.
If you want boutique and high-end: Becky Keen’s your mentor.
If you’re newly certified and stuck: Kelsey’s incubator gets you your first clients fast.
If you want to coach business: Dan Martell teaches you to do it right.
If you want deep transformation: Jim Fortin’s program is the standard.
One Last Thing
The coaching industry doesn’t need more coaches. It needs more great coaches.
Getting certified is easy. Building a thriving practice that actually transforms people’s lives—that’s the real work. These programs help you do it right instead of spending years figuring it out the hard way.
Choose the one that fits your vision. Then commit completely. Your future clients are waiting for someone to help them—make sure you’re ready when they find you.