Life Coach School Review (2023): Brooke Castillo Scam?

Life coaching is like the Wild West—it’s unregulated, and you don’t need special qualifications to start working with clients. So, why do people become life coaches? Well, many just want to help others reach their full potential. The catch? Figuring out where to start can be confusing for new coaches.

Now, let’s talk about the big question: Is the Life Coach School worth it? I’ve spent hours researching the program to help you make an informed decision.

As a disclaimer, I’m not affiliated with Life Coach School. It means I’m not paid to write this review. So you can be sure that my words are unbiased.

At the end of this review, I’ll also tell you a better alternative that has enabled me to make a full-time passive income online.

In this Life Coach School review, I’m going to cover the following.

What is Life Coach School?

At Life Coach School, there are two programs: one for self-help and another that teaches you to become a life coach in just three months.

But what’s a life coach? Think of them as your personal cheerleader and guide through challenges, helping you reach your big goals—whether they’re about your career, personal growth, relationships, nutrition, handling a tough time like a divorce or grief, or even sorting out your finances.

Life coaches are like your go-to support for whatever life throws at you!

The following is a brief introduction to the Life Coach Certification:

Who is Brooke Castillo?

Brooke Castillo is the Founder and CEO of The Life Coach School, establishing it in 2007.

With over 17 years of experience, she’s been a prominent figure in the life coaching and self-development realm. Serving as a Master Certified Life and Weight Coach, Brooke has personally coached thousands of clients, both individually and in groups, helping them enhance various aspects of their lives, from weight management to business and career improvement.

Brooke’s impact extends beyond individual coaching. She’s an innovator, creating programs like Self Coaching Scholars and the online Coach Certification Program through The Life Coach School.

In addition, she hosts a highly-rated podcast on iTunes called “The Life Coach School Podcast” and manages a YouTube channel with 57.6k subscribers, known as “The Life Coach School.”

Contrary to the skepticism often associated with internet personalities, Brooke Castillo has proven herself as a genuine and successful figure in the coaching industry.

If you’re curious about her teachings and insights, her podcast is a valuable resource to explore the topics she covers in-depth.

Here’s one of her episodes about how to become extraordinary life coach:

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Types of Life Coaches

Life coaches aren’t one-size-fits-all. They come in different flavors to help with specific stuff. Check these out:

• Career Coaches

• Addiction and Sobriety Coaches

• Financial Coaches

• Divorce Coaches

• Diet and Fitness Coaches

• Mental Health Coaches

• Spirituality Coaches

• Life Skills Coaches

What Does a Life Coach Do?

Life coaches, no matter the type, usually do these things:

• Meet and Greet: Chat up new clients, learn about their vibes, history, goals, and challenges.

• Team Up: Work together with clients on handling money, building skills, and fixing problems.

• Test Time: Use tests to show clients where they shine or need a boost.

• Goal Setting: Help clients set doable goals and lay out plans to hit those targets.

• Check-in Regularly: Keep the convo going, making sure clients are making progress.

• Teach Life Skills: Drop knowledge on emotions, communication, and all the other people and life skills.

Can Life Coach School Help You Make Money?

It’s entirely possible to make money as a life coach.

However, you don’t really need any certification from Life Coach School to get started. All you need is a good reputation and customer base. 

The national average salary for a life coach is $40,850 per year. Their salaries usually depend on their specialty, level of education, certification and geographical location.

For me, I can only imagine becoming a coach that taught something specific, such as fitness or finance.

If your only goal is to make money from home or online, there are better and less embarrassing ways.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

What’s Inside Life Coach School Certification Program?

The Life Coach School includes video lessons, workshops and coaching calls.

You have to complete all the designated tasks to get certified.

Here’s what you need to know:

Life Coach Curriculum

In the Life Coach Curriculum, there are a few different parts.

The breakdown is as follows:

#1.  Mastery Of The Model 

This model is called CTFAR (Circumstances, Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Results). As stated in the training, mastering this model will enable you to “literally solve any problem.” This is the model you will use to help your clients.

#2. Emotional Childhood/Adulthood

The purpose of this section is to help you control your emotions so that you can help your clients do the same.

#3 . The Manual 

In the Manual, you will learn how to develop new relationships. The Life Coach School shares how to identify and avoid unhealthy patterns in early relationships. 

#4. Outcome And Goal Cultivation

As you study this section, you will learn how to help your clients set goals and how to achieve them. 

#5. Belief System Navigation

With Belief System Navigation, you will help your clients develop new beliefs. Making sure their goals are reached along the way. 

#6. Past/Future Focus Techniques

This section will teach you how to help clients focus on the present instead of the past. So they can build a better future for themselves.

#7. Unconditional Love 

You will learn how to teach your clients to feel love on command in this section.

Overeating and Overdrinking Curriculum

Drinking and eating are common ways for people to cope with depression. You can probably expect your clients to struggle with this.

You will learn about the following topics during this training:

• Overdesire
• Overhunger
• The role of hormones
• The role of neurotransmitters
• Managing urges
• Feeling emotions
• Using the prefrontal cortex to plan for success
• Creating protocols and choosing fuel
• Intermittent fasting
• Managing setbacks
• Increasing commitments
• Gaining control and discipline
• Understanding the effects of substances on the body
• Issues associated with massive weight loss
• Issues associated with a reduction in social drinking

Monthly Calls

Each month, alumni of the Life Coach School certification program participate in a group call. 

Mastermind and Business Workshop

Live events are held throughout the year. During those events, you’ll be able to network and learn more about coaching. 

The Entrepreneur Training

You will also receive training that will help you build a profitable coaching business and create a marketing plan. 

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Guides and curriculums for entrepreneurship
• Videos on entrepreneurship and business
• A self-paced curriculum that leads you from your initial idea to deciding your niche, developing and testing a program, making offers, setting up a funnel, and serving clients
• Checklist and funnel training for success on Facebook
• Providing training on how to make offers to clients
• Tips for writing emails that convert

Certification

You must do live practice with your instructor in order to become certified.

Also, you will need to submit recordings of yourself coaching your clients. During the three-month training course, you will also take and pass an exam. 

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Life Coach School Pricing

Life Coach School offers two programs that seem way too expensive to me.

The first program is $297 per month, which really adds up. After a year, your bill will be nearly $3600.

There are plenty of self-help books that will teach you the same thing that you can buy for $20. There is nothing special about this course.

The certification program costs $21,000!

Refund Policy

I had to dig through the site’s lengthy terms and conditions to find the return policy, which was nowhere prominently displayed.

You have 7 days from the start of the programme to request a refund.

After you have invested so much in the course, that’s not a very generous refund policy.

It’s better if you have at least 30 days to get a refund.

Praise for Life Coach School

1. Brooke Castillo is a legit coach

There are a lot of people who fake success online. But Brooke is a successful businesswoman. It seems that she knows what she is talking about.

Criticism of Life Coach School

1. The courses are too expensive

The prices of both courses seem excessive to me. For the first, it will cost you nearly $300 per month, for the second, it will cost you $21,000!

2. Not a good business model

Money is hard to make while being a life coach. When clients have overdue bills, life coaches often have to take on the awkward and uncomfortable task of collecting those payments. 

It is also challenging to get and keep enough paying clients in order to operate and make money. 

3. Poor refund policy

The refund policy isn’t mentioned anywhere on the site, and I needed to read through the lengthy terms and conditions section to find out what it is. You have 7 days from the beginning of the program to request a refund.

With all the money you’re investing in the program, that’s not a very good refund policy.

Refund policies should typically last 30 days or more.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Is Brooke Castillo a Scam?

I don’t think Brooke Castillo is a scam. With her popularity and large social media following, it seems unlikely that she’s out to trick anyone.

If you’re looking to learn, joining Life Coach School can offer valuable insights from Castillo. However, if your goal is to generate passive income online, her guidance may not be the best fit.

It’s worth noting that Life Coach School doesn’t have widespread recognition. This lack of visibility may make it challenging for you to justify your fees to potential clients, and referrals might be hard to come by. Putting in a lot of effort might not yield significant rewards.

While Castillo can teach you a lot, her program may not be the easiest path to a profitable business, especially if you’re looking for a step-by-step guide.

Should You Join Life Coach School?

Professional life coaching is a respectable profession. It’s not a pyramid scheme, and you can build a successful business with it.

However, if you’re looking for a passive way to make money online, I wouldn’t recommend Life Coach School.

Their courses are priced too high for my taste. You’ve to pay about $300 per month for the first one, and $21,000 for the second.

This isn’t a model I particularly enjoy making money from: life coaching is a difficult and, let’s face it, clichéd way to make a living.

The refund terms are poor, as you only have 7 days to request refund.

Is There A Better Way to Make Money?

If you want to make a full-time passive income, I’d suggest you to start an affiliate marketing business online.

In affiliate marketing, you can run your business almost at zero cost without any trouble from sourcing products or managing inventory.

Also, since you don’t need to spend hours after hours selling things over the phone, it can save you a lot of time. 

If you want to learn affiliate marketing, I’d recommend you to get started with the most reputable platform for affiliate marketing: Wealthy Affiliate.

Wealthy Affiliate is an all-in-one platform for building your affiliate marketing business from scratch. It offers you a free account (including a free website) with comprehensive training on SEO (free traffic methods), which enables you to get started with affiliate marketing right away without paying a penny.

But How Much Can You Earn with Wealthy Affiliate?

A 21-year old student from Wealthy Affiliate was able to earn $7,395 in just 1 week, which means he made more than $1k a day…all while using free traffic methods.

For more information, you can check out our full review of Wealthy Affiliate.