This is your one-stop-shop for everything about building a successful online coaching business.
When you start a business, you are always hungry for success. But, even if you have lined all your ducks, there is no guarantee of success. The same is true when you put up a coaching business, and more specifically, an online coaching business. With many coaches coming up in an already crowded industry, it is already difficult to find a niche, and staying there is another story.
If you are thinking of going into online coaching or you already have one but want to penetrate the market, allow me to discuss some key strategies that I have applied in my own business. I cannot promise you 100% success, but I can assure you, you will gain some tips and tricks that will help your business gain momentum.
The Online Coaching Business Model
Does this sound familiar to you?
I have a rough idea of what type of business I want, but there is a lot to consider. Luckily, I had multiple conversations with different coaches who had been successful in the digital coaching business. They told me some ideas and the lessons they’ve learned about the business. These tips and tricks helped me navigate my early days as an online coach.
There are common items that most coaches struggle with. And that includes:
- Identifying what exactly are they offering to their clients
- Their pricing model or how much their clients are willing to pay and their financial goal
- How much time they are required to work with their clients
Before we untangle this web, let us first get to know why you should consider the online coaching business model.
Why should you choose coaching business model?
Recently, more and more coaches are gravitating towards the online model simply because it expands their target market. When you remove the need to meet someone personally (aka face-to-face) it removes the hindrances of finding the right clients. Furthermore, it allows you to expand your reach and gain clients across the country and across the globe.
To elaborate further, when you take a particular area, for example, the city you lived in and get the number of people who can pay your asking price, you’ve got a very small target market. Then, consider the driving distance if you are meeting them personally, the number will further decrease. This is without even taking the actual number of people who might consider or want a coach.
What you will get is only a handful of clients, which may not even be enough to keep the business afloat.
This is a clear illustration of why more coaches are going digital. They need to access more target audience.
The Key Elements of Building an Online Coaching Business
Now going back to the common struggles that most coaches have when they are starting their online business.
What You Can Offer as an Online Coach
In starting a business, you cannot fire on all cylinders at once and hopes that one of them hits the target. You can never be good at everything. Before launching the marketing campaigns and even the business, choose your main service and stick with it.
By keeping your menu simple, you can reap many benefits.
- It will help you scale your business faster. How? Simple, by being the best at what you are offering.
- You can easily promote and market your business.
- Your prospects will not feel overwhelmed. Choice paralysis is real, so stick to your core offering.
How Much Will You Be Charging Your Clients
Financial gain is what drives you to put up your business. To establish your pricing scheme, you need to take a minute to answer a critical question: How much money would you like to make as a coach? Then you can work your way backward. Just be honest with yourself, and you’ll find an amount that will make you feel better. Remember that it should be competitive, though.
Your Coaching Efficiency
Beyond the pricing and what you can offer, the next question you should be asking is how much time you are willing to allocate for your business. Whether it is a part-time or full-time gig, you should find a model that will fit your financial needs and your time.
When I began to realize I have time constraints affecting my online business, I began to tinker with the concept of group coaching. Don’t get me wrong; I still find one-on-one coaching more effective, but the thought of reaching to more people in the same amount of time isn’t far-fetched.
As your business gain more traction, you will learn more from your clients and will have an idea of what other services you can offer. Over time you can expand your offering to serve them better.
Establishing an online training can help you grow your target market and reach more people. However, setting up a business is not the end; you have to spend more time at the front end and work through the numbers and hone your model.
How to Build a Successful Coaching Business: A Step by Step Guide
Now that you know the elements, let us learn how to launch your online coaching business. The best way to build a thriving business, you need to strategize. I have put them in simple steps for ease of understanding.
Step 1. Commit to building your coaching business.
There is no surefire, perfect way to make your coaching business successful. Stop searching for the best way online because you cannot find a magic formula. If you find one, that is a scam. The first step that you need to do is to commit yourself to start your business. You can do this by creating goals – financial, lifestyle, and personal.
Start by being honest with yourself and answer these questions.
- What is your monthly income goal?
- How many hours are you going to commit to your business?
- What will be the legacy you want to leave behind?
Step 2. Know who do you want to serve
To be successful in business, whether retail or coaching, you have to help your clients in ways that the market is not doing or have not done before. With many coaches offering the same service, you need to stand out and be unique.
If you want to succeed as a coach, start by knowing the pains, troubles, and worries of your target clients and offer a solution. You will become irresistible when you offer them your service.
You can also get in-depth understanding by reading conversation is social media. Be active in the discussions and ask questions. Don’t stop researching until you find out what your clients actually need.
Step 3. Make a differentiated offer
I have mentioned this in Step 2, and I’m repeating this, to be a successful coach, you need to stand out. In a crowded industry that is continuously growing each year, how do you stand out? You need to deliver what your clients need and deliver them with results. Be as creative as you can be but, bear in mind of who you are serving.
Step 4. Offer value for money
For a client, nothing comes cheap or expensive if it guarantees value for money. If you can offer solutions to a pressing problem, you can charge them for premium prices. Don’t go too low just to get clients. It will diminish your worth as a coach.
Step 5. Get clients
There is no need to wait for expensive ads or an elaborate website to get your clients. There is a saying that time is gold, and this holds true when launching a coaching business. Tap into your network to start your venture. Make your business simple and tap into people’s emotions. By showing empathy and care, you can persuade them to listen. When you open the gates of communication, go for the kill and enroll them as your client.
Step 6. Scale your operations
When you get your feet wet, you can start dedicating more time to your business. Think of ways to get more clients and spending less time with them for the same or better results. How are you going to do this? Again, you need to strategize on how to turn your hobby into a scalable business.
With more time in your hands, you can start an online community with your clients. Establish a platform where they can share their experiences and exchange ideas. Post some thought-provoking questions for your clients to ponder on.
You can also grow your community through your content, marketing, and advertising. You can find different avenues to drive traffic; you only need to find the one suitable for your niche.
Step 7. Get Help
There will come a time when your online training program will be so complicated; you will get your hands full running your business. Admit that you are not Superman or Superwoman, get help.
For you to thrive as an online coach, you will learn that there are things that you have to let go of. You also need to trust mentors to guide you, a business coach. Face it; no matter how skilled you are, you have limitations as a human being. Even mentors have mentors; you should have too.
When your training program has grown, you need to be a leader and no longer the operations guy. But being a leader comes with a whole lot of responsibilities too. You need to get help.
Launching Your Online Coaching Business
Internet marketing is increasing exponentially for a reason. It helps you expand your business to the far reaches of the earth without sacrificing your freedom. Is it possible to launch a successful business online?
The answer is yes. It is not only possible, but it is a lucrative business, too, if you play your cards right. Because this is the Golden Age of internet marketing, you can sit in front of your camera and pitch your idea to your audience. It seems easy, right?
Not quite so. A big idea will not be enough to get you started, it’s how you market it that matters. I am sharing with you three steps I’ve found to help you launch a profitable business.
Substantiate your ideas
Before creating a product, you need to have an idea. This idea must be able to solve a specific problem that your target clients are facing. You need to establish this first before moving forward with your plans.
You also need to create a sales copy before you create your product. Why do you have to do this? Many coaches are making the mistake of writing a copy that has a lot of promises but fails to deliver in the end. Remember this: do not overpromise. When creating a copy, be sincere about what can satisfy your client’s needs. It should address their problems.
Explain how your offer is a solution to their current predicament and make it clear by listing the benefits in bullet points. Add a call to action with a sense of urgency to your copy and boom – it will gather clients.
Build the “trust” factor
Most people are selling to their prospect first then deliver the results. Why don’t you go the other way around? In marketing online coaching, it is easier to “sell” if they know and trust you as an authority in your niche. You can start by giving lots of free content like videos and blogs.
When your clients implement your content on their business and begin to see results, they will trust you more. It creates a craving for more knowledge from you to the point that they would be willing to pay for your coaching. These prospects will eventually be your loyal clients.
Create your front-end product and upsells
After creating your copy and building love and trust, you are ready to create your front-end product. This should be easy to sell but not necessarily your main product and modestly priced. An example of this is an eBook.
The purpose of selling the front-end product is to use it for upsells. An upsell is priced higher and an offer when a customer purchased something from you. It’s like the purchase-with-purchase scheme from the store. It should complement the front-end product by making it more efficient at getting the results they want.
Move your clients to your flagship product
Most of the money from your online business comes from your back-end product. What is a back-end product? It is what your client should be buying after they are done with the front-end products. It could be a spot to an exclusive masterclass or high-end mentoring sessions.
The front-end products will get the clients to your door, but the back-end products are the ones that your clients will more likely buy after purchasing something from you.
How to Promote Your Coaching Business
After learning how to launch your online business, it now leaves you with one problem: How to market your coaching business.
While you are still building your business, you can take a step ahead by promoting your business. There are several ways you can do it. I’ll tell you how.
1. The simplest and fastest way involved your family and friends
Sending your first email to tell about your new venture as a coach can be exciting and terrifying at the same time. It would be better if you begin with a warm audience. One of the fastest and simple ways is to market your online coaching business is to your family and friends. Let your loved ones know what you are up to in a precise and actionable way.
2. Market your online coaching business in a way you actually like
It is easy to do something when you are comfortable doing it. The same is true when you are marketing and communicating your new business. There are a hundred different ways to deliver the message, but it always involves you doing the talking.
So, think carefully about how you want to communicate. Are you comfortable speaking face-to-face with people? Do you like speaking in front of many people? If you hate doing something, don’t do it, or your new business will suffer.
3. If you are like speaking, then do it.
Get into social media, Google, your local paper, or any events that are happening in your area. Volunteer yourself to speak for free on a topic you are familiar with, and if there’s a chance, promote your business and invite people to try working with you.
4. If you like talking to a lot of people, find events that are relevant to your market
During these events, your focus is to connect with the people and find a prospect. Ask them if they know about coaching or if they are interested to know more. Educate them about coaching, might as well invite them for a free session with you. There goes your first client.
How to Grow Your Online Coaching Business
When you have established your online business, your next goal is to scale them. There are different ways on how to do this. But while doing so, you always have to keep in mind your ideal clients. Listen to your gut and consider what would be the best fit for them. These are the scalable offerings that you can apply to your online business.
Group Coaching
The simplest way to improve your product is to increase your clients. This is not possible in an exclusive coaching setting because you have only a limited time in a day. Group coaching is the next best thing for coaches like you who want to scale their business.
Group coaching takes a similar energy output while coaching more people at one time. It does, however, significantly affect your bottom line. It also helps coaches who are talking about the same topics over and over again.
It is not only favorable to the coach but for the clients too. The participants in group coaching can help create deeper connections between them and could lead to opening a community.
Mastermind Classes / Retreats
Instead of going on a one-on-one retreat, why not invite like-minded people to a mastermind retreat. Your clients will think of it as a vacation with a purpose. It will be time for your coaching clients to unplug and reconnect with their business vision. Here they can be focused on creating a plan and taking action to improve their lives and business.
Building a Community
Building a membership community is more of a hands-off approach to coaching but still helps people unlock their potential as a moderator. It can open the doors for more business potential like exclusive memberships or high-value memberships that give members access to group coaching. A membership community, however, is long-term, and you should be prepared for a long haul. Having team members to delegate the tasks can help so that all of them will not be on your shoulder.
Create Online Courses and Products
If the membership community is not your thing, you can create a short-term community and share information using digital products. Creating online courses with video lessons, worksheets, and other resource materials will be handy as your clients can access them anywhere and anytime. Many coaches create online videos to have more impact on people using this platform.
Become a speaker
Instead of working one-on-one with a client, you can take topics and create a talk on it. With this unique talk, you can market yourself as a resource person in workshops, conferences, and retreats. You can bring a unique perspective to your audience based on your coaching niche.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, we have given you in-depth knowledge on how to increase your income streams with online business coaching. Building such business is a tremendous help in working with more people and expanding your target market. Start with a simple approach and work your way to a profitable and scalable business.
