For starters, therapists are required to meet education and license requirements to provide treatment. Coaches aren't held to the same rigorous standards. Anyone can say they're a "coach," and expertise can vary drastically. (The International Coaching Federation is a self-regulating organization that provides training and credentialing for coaches, and is trying to change this.)
And broadly speaking, a coach's job (whether life coach or career coach) is to partner with a client to figure out what's important to them and help them take actions to achieve that, Flame Schoeder, a professional certified personal development coach who offers both personal and corporate coaching tells CNBC Make It.