I want to become a professional coach having worked in consulting for 7 years. Where would I start? What's a good qualification to do? Where do people go that do this? Can a career be made out of it?

Check out the CIPD's courses - as with consulting there isn't a clear professional grouping for coaching. However, the CIPD has been at the forefront of drawing together coaching as a profession. Yes, you can make a career out of it. Because coaching is a very personal, relationship-based thing, almost all your work will come through your personal network and recommendations. There also isn't a commodity market for coaching so your services are worth what each client will pay for them. Your earnings potential is greater if you know more, higher earners. You can also form loose partnerships with other coaches to bid for bigger contracts, such as providing coaching to a complete management team.

CharlieI am in a similar position to you - leave your personal email address here and I will contact you.Thanks

CharlieI am in a similar position to you - leave your personal email address here and I will contact you.Thanks

My girlfriend works for Impact, who are an awesome company to work for. It's based up in the lakes, so is a much slower pace, but the money's still relatively good. They've been in the times 100 best small companies for as long as I can remember, so should be pretty easy to research.