Should I Start a Coaching Business?

Coaching is a powerful process that helps individuals achieve a goal, develop a skill or overcome an obstacle. And it’s not just for CEO’s or high performers – there are coaches who help rekindle romance, optimize gut health, pull off a midlife career change, have a stronger video presence, and many other unique and exciting niches.

If you have expert knowledge or experience, you might be considering whether it’s worth it to start a coaching business of your own!

Keep reading to discover if coaching is right for you…

The Benefits of Coaching

Obviously, coaching is a wonderful opportunity to transform lives and make an impact in the world! Providing encouragement, maintaining accountability and serving as a trusted ally are highly valued, and it is rewarding when a client makes a major breakthrough or achieves their goal. Coaching will also improve your interpersonal skills, solidify your knowledge and develop confidence in your own ability.

If your goal is to create an online course, but you’re still building your audience and don’t have results or testimonials just yet, getting some coaching clients can help to expand your expertise and get to know your clients' pitfalls and pain points. This can help you refine your messaging and develop your processes before delivering them in a DIY format, and get case studies to use in your marketing.

Finally, there is the potential for additional income and the flexibility to set your own working hours. You aren’t limited by location – your ideal client can be anywhere in the world, and sessions can be held over Zoom. It’s pretty easy to work around obligations, like an existing job or kiddos, so you’re able to take on as much as you’re comfortable with.

How to Know If You’re Ready

Let’s be clear: you MUST be passionate about helping people. If your only motivation is to make money, this isn’t the business model for you. While coaching can absolutely be profitable, it’s likely going to take some trial and error to find your groove as a new coach.

The next question: Can you fulfill your transformational promise? You don’t need certifications, but you DO need to be able to help your clients achieve their desired results – especially before you start charging high-ticket prices.

Are you able to dedicate the time it takes to build your business? Coaching obligations are typically long-term, so make sure you’re ready to commit to your clients success. It will also take time to grow your audience. Clients don’t just appear out of the social media ethers! You’ll have to put in the effort to build your authority and create content that attracts your ideal coaching clients.

Finally, do you have the resilience to overcome challenges and obstacles? Not everybody is going to understand the value of the service you provide. You’ll have to learn how to not only be a good coach but a good marketer, and an effective business owner.

Assessing The Demand

Before you launch that business, make sure you are in a market that is stable or growing – we don’t want to attempt to build in a dying market (think print and publishing, like newspapers or magazines). Another good way to assess demand is to find people who are doing the same thing! Search for content on YouTube related to your niche, and do a Google search to see who comes up and what they offer. Are there any gaps in the market you can fill?

Don’t be worried if there’s someone doing exactly what you want to do – this is actually a good sign, it means there is demand! YOU (and your method) are the unique selling point. Find a way to stand out, solve a more specific problem, and give a better or more personalized experience than your competitors.

The Financials

Okay – so you’ve determined that you have valuable expertise, you have the desire to BE a coach, and there is a demand for the transformation you can provide. So what are the costs associated with starting a coaching business?

The great thing about an online business (specifically coaching and courses) is the overhead and startup costs are typically very low compared to brick and mortar businesses. You can easily take on a few initial clients without going “all in” on software or marketing, then reinvest that into growing your business.

You will need a way to get paid, book appointments, video call and share resources. You can do ALL of those things for under $50/month. I won’t go into specific software and tech stacks in this post, but I promise there will be a guide for low-cost coaching solutions very soon!

As you grow and scale, you’ll want to invest in some systems and automation to save you time and improve your client experience. This may include things like a CRM (Customer Relationship Management), an invoicing system, and e-signing software for contracts. You may want to outsource some of the “backend” tasks like admin and social media management, and there are overseas virtual assistants who can provide that support at a very reasonable rate.

Risk Factor

Entrepreneurship and risk go hand-in-hand, and I do believe you have to have a somewhat high level of risk tolerance to be a business owner. Nothing is guaranteed – of course, nothing in life is! Personally, I would rather bank on myself than place my sense of security in an employer, but nobody is saying you need to quit your day job in order to start your coaching business. Oftentimes, the two can be complementary and you can build up your business on the side until the point where you feel comfortable going full-time – if that is your goal. Decide for yourself what you are willing to invest to pursue this, both financially and time-wise, and start there.

Key Takeaways:

• If you have expert knowledge and a desire to help someone achieve a goal or make a transformation in life, a coaching business might be for you!
• If you want to create a course, taking on some coaching clients can be a great way to refine your processes and get testimonials.
• Be sure there is a demand and do competitor research to see who is doing well in your niche. How can you stand out and fill gaps in the market?
• You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get started – keep it simple and scale from there.
• You should have some risk tolerance and be willing to put yourself out there!

Ready to start your coaching business? Learn how to design your offer, get clarity on your dream client, and create content that builds authority and influence, and build the systems to scale inside our brand new program, Start Coaching Academy.