You’re an attentive listener, pay attention to the details that others may overlook, and are often approached for your guidance. You’re passionate about helping people and also a fantastic problem solver. Basically you’re a natural born coach!

But when it comes to creating a sustainable, successful business that utilises all of these traits, you’re having trouble figuring out how to start your first coaching business.

If that sounds familiar then, this blog is for you!

We’ll help you understand the inner workings of creating a coaching business that fits your ideal work-week schedule, empowers you to use your experience, and helps you attract the right kind of clients and achieve your business goals.

That way, you can embrace your gifts and positively impact the world through your own business.

Step 1: Estimate and Understand the Commitment

When starting a coaching business, it’s important to have realistic expectations of the time, effort and energy commitments required without stressing yourself out or getting overwhelmed.

Building any kind of business is time consuming, particularly at the outset. You will need time to conduct market research, developing marketing materials, getting your social media accounts set-up and networking with other professionals (and potential customers) in your field.

I think it’s safe to assume you also have other priorities that you need to take care of – family, friends, a job etc. whilst setting up your business. So my advice here is start small and commit an amount of time that you can sustain consistently.

You would be surprised at what can be achieved with just one hour of focused attention every day. Baby steps taken consistently will get you where you need to go. Setting yourself up to be overwhelmed and tried will not!

Step 2: Conduct your Market Research

When starting your own coaching business, it’s important to do your research and understand the coaching market and niche you want to get into. Too many coaches neglect this step and end up in niches that are not profitable – don’t let this be you!

Doing proper market research includes understanding who your target coaching clients are, what services they’re looking for, and what competition you’ll be facing in creating your successful coaching business.

It’s also important to understand the coaching industry as a whole. What are the latest trends in coaching? What topics are people most interested in? What are the latest and greatest ways to market a coaching business? Are there new target audiences appearing?

Doing your research will help you understand the ins and outs of the coaching industry and give you a competitive edge.

If you’re not sure where to start, there are a number of resources available online. I highly advise checking out your local coaching associations and networks who can provide you with information about the coaching industry.

Step 3: Choose a Profitable Niche to Specialise In

When starting a thriving online coaching business, it’s important to choose a niche to specialise in. I wasted a huge amount of time what i was starting out by not identifying and committing to a niche.

Investing time sussing out your niche options will help you attract the right type of clients and provide them with the specialised services they need. There are hundreds of different types of coaches and coaching businesses:

• Life Coach
• Wellness Coach
• Business Coach
• Career Coach
• Executive Coach
• Parenting Coach
• Relationship Coach

So it’s important to find one that fits your interests, your experience and your core values.

One great way to find a niche is to think about your experience and skills. What areas are you passionate about? What problems have you solved? What life or professional experiences have you had that you are proud of? Once you’ve narrowed down your options, do some research to see if there is a demand for coaching services in those areas.

Another important factor to consider is whether or not you’re comfortable working with certain types of clients.

For example I love working with coaches who are ambitious, driven, motivated, enjoy learning, embrace feedback and don’t take themselves too seriously. When I get to work with women like this my business is a breeze to run and so fulfilling!

Being clear about the personality types and characteristics of the kinds of clients you want is just as important as getting your niche right.

Step 4: Identify your Unique Value Proposition

It’s incredibly important to find your Unique Value Proposition. In order to find your unique value proposition, you’ll need to think about what makes you different from other coaches. What do you offer that others don’t? What are your coaching specialties? Why should people choose you over other coaches?

Once you’ve come up with some answers to these questions, it’s time to start marketing your coaching business. Your unique value proposition will be a key part of your marketing materials, such as your website and brochures. It’s important to make sure that your potential clients know what sets you apart from the competition.

Be clear about your message and your value. Language is powerful. Yet most coaches often dismiss it because they are unclear about their message and the value they offer. Get crystal clear on your messaging before you launch.

So, how do you go about finding your unique value proposition? Start by thinking about what makes you unique and what you can offer coaching clients that others cannot. In my experience your uniqueness will come from the way you work (which is obviously unique to you) – it maybe your style of coaching, your approach to coaching or why you chose to become a coach in the first place!

And if you need some inspiration please feel free to check out my Unique Value Proposition and more here: www.deehutchinson.com/about

Step 5: Get the Training you Need to Succeed

If you’re serious about starting a coaching business, then it’s important to get the training, education, and (in some cases) coaching certification you need to be successful. This includes learning about coaching methods, coaching tools, and coaching techniques.

You’ll also might need to learn how to run a business, particularly in areas you might not be familiar in for example, digital marketing, social media, leveraging technology platforms etc. Now, it’s important for me to say that you don’t need to know it all to get started – so don’t go signing up for every course out there please!

It’s more important that you start taking action with what you do know and learn the rest as you are going along. And I promise you will learn so much from doing rather than sitting in front of screen listening to somebody else talking about it. That said, I do have a mini little course available on the lessons from starting my own coaching business that would be a great use of your time and could possibly save you loads of time and money so please feel free to check it out here – it is totally free.

Step 6: Keep the Concept Simple

When starting an online coaching business, it’s important to keep the concept and approach simple. You don’t need to start with a fully fledged six month coaching program designed and developed – in fact the opposite is better. Start with a one on one coaching offering allowing you to hone your skills and better understand what you customers really want from a coaching perspective.

I’ve seen too many coaches waste time designing their programs and courses only for them to hear crickets when they are launched because they never got any input from their target market.

You will never go wrong if you are interacting with your customers whether that be through surveys, on social media, discovery calls, webinars etc. And by keeping it simple you can avoid the overwhelm and stress that often comes with launching a new coaching business.

One thing at a time (please repeat that to yourself often). Keep it as simple as you can and design your offering as you go (with your customers leading the design process).

Step 7: Establish a Reliable Support Squad

When starting a coaching business, it’s important to have a support squad that you can rely on – I promise you you will need them and they will be worth their weight in gold. This might be your bestie or a family member to cheerlead you on your way or people in your network who can help with tasks that are new to you like book-keeping, advertising or techie stuff.

Your most useful squad will be other coaches who are going through or have already been through the journey you are on so make sure to join active coaching communities like with the International Coaching Federation or a coaching school in your area. Also feel free to follow me on Instagram as I frequently share useful information on setting up and running coaching businesses:

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deeisfordigital/

Starting an online coaching business is an extremely time-consuming process. Sure, it’s exciting but it can also be very isolating. No matter how hard you try, you cannot run a business on your own. Whether you hire staff or not, it is important to establish a team that can support you from the very start and encourages you along the way. 

These people don’t need to be business partners or employees. They can be peers, freelancers, virtual assistants, part-time admin support or even finding a mentor to help you through the early stages of setting up your business online. Whoever you turn to, it’s just important to have people you can lean on and celebrate with.

The benefits of having a strong support squad cannot be underestimated. With the right team in place, you’ll be able to focus on coaching your clients and growing the coaching business.

Step 8: Increase your Online Visibility Through Social Media

One of the best ways to increase your online visibility and attract new coaching clients is through social media. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn offer great opportunities to connect with potential coaching clients.

Be sure to create a social media profile that accurately represents your coaching business. In addition to your profile photo and bio, include information about the coaching services you offer and the areas you specialise in. You can also use content marketing strategy and share articles and blog posts about coaching, as well as images and videos of yourself coaching clients.

Another great way to use social media for your coaching business is by hosting online chats or webinars. This gives potential coaching clients the opportunity to learn more about you and your coaching services. And it allows you to connect with your target audiences.

If you’re not a fan of social media or are not deliriously happy at the thought of dancing on an Instagram Reel (don’t worry that’s not for me either) I have a great little webinar called “How to Have a Successful Coaching Business Even When You Don’t Like or Want to be on Social Media”. It’s free, it’s only an hour and it might change your life – you can watch it here:

Step 9: Be Confident with Your Pricing

Pricing is a topic most coaches get nervous about. What do you charge? Is it too much or too little (it’s probably too little)? How do I get over not wanting to discuss pricing? And listen, I offered my first online coaching program for free for NINE WHOLE MONTHS! But, I did have an up-sell at the end of that course (thank God) which kept money flowing in.

The fact of that matter is the sooner you get confident with your value, your pricing and the importance of the service you are offering the better. You must charge your worth or you will be consistently under-valued (please repeat that with me for those at the back)! My first coach told me that I would know I had set the right price when I felt physically sick about it lol (and she wasn’t wrong).

You are likely to feel uncomfortable about your pricing for a while and that’s okay. But the success of your business will hinge on your pricing strategy. Price too low and you will always be hustling for customers and feeling like you’re fighting an uphill battle. Price correctly and you can focus your time on doing what you love most – coaching.

And – don’t feel you need to charge the same as everybody else. My approach is to create services that are jam-packed with so much value that the price becomes insignificant. Always resist the urge to price low and instead look to add value.

Step 10: Leverage Technology to Fast-Track Your Results

When it comes to launching a coaching business technology can be your friend even if you don’t consider yourself a “techie”. I started my own business with just a Facebook group and a Mailchimp account for sending out emails – that’s it! As I progressed I was able to leverage all of the amazing tools and platforms that are available at very little cost.

Here are some of my absolute favourites to get you started:

Canva for creating social media posts and slide decks for my webinars

Convertkit for landing pages and sending/tracking emails

Jasper for creating social media, blog and website content

Typeform for creating coaching activities, surveys and forms

Mighty Networks for hosting my courses and community

Crowdcast for hosting webinars (paid and recorded)

It is easy to get overwhelmed with the huge selection of platforms available to you but please don’t let that put you off. Running a coaching business, which you will likely do on your own, can be made so much easier by the clever use of technology. Familiarise yourself with one tool at a time – it’s not a race. And don’t spend too much on any platform – give yourself time to work out what you need so that you can invest your hard earned money wisely.

Step 11: Learn to Love Sales and Selling

This is probably the most important point of all. One of the biggest mistakes a I see new coaches make when starting their businesses is they focus so much time on getting everything set-up, products designed, website built, business cards made etc. etc. etc. and no time at all marketing, promoting or selling their services.

You must have a strategy in place for how you will sell your services and you must fall in love with that strategy. Sales doesn’t come naturally to us all but luckily enough there are endless ways of selling your services that you and your customers will love. You just need to choose ONE way that works for you.

For example, I love doing webinars and creating valuable content that demonstrates my ability to potential prospects. I write a weekly email to keep in touch with everyone and I communicate my offers vial social media, email and more recently my website (please note you don’t need a website when you are starting out).

I do most of my selling with interested customers via Zoom call and you can find out more about this specific process and templates that I use in this webinar (see how I did that lol):

Find Out How to Create a High Converting ‘Discovery Call’ Experience you and your Clients Will Love

Whatever way you choose to sell just play to your strengths and you will be fine.

Conclusion

If you’ve made it to the end of this article then congratulations – you are one step closer to starting your coaching business! Remember that the key to success is taking action consistently and not getting bogged down in the details.

Keep it simple, have fun and enjoy coaching your clients to help them create amazing results in their lives!

If you enjoyed this article please feel free to share it with your network – the more people we can help to start coaching businesses the better!

And if you want more support in starting and running a coaching business make sure you check out my free resources right here:

www.deehutchinson.com/courses