Read my uncommon advice and learn what helped me and my clients start and grow thriving coaching businesses

Starting a coaching business can be very complicated. Every guru will tell you that you need an online course, a group program, lots of social media, sales pages, funnels and to be an expert in marketing – but what if all you really want is to coach? Where do you start?

 

I want to share with you how I started my coaching business. 

 

It wasn’t on social media, and I didn’t do any crazy funnels. I followed what I now call The Simple Approach to Starting your Coaching Business. 

 

It’s considered quite unconventional because you don’t get results straight away, it’s focused on building a lasting foundation that will support your business as it grows. 

 

In this industry there are a few different perspectives, one that cares only about the money and the other that only cares about getting results for themselves and the clients, then you have people in the middle that care about both. That’s where I’m at. I care about getting results and about the money, but I started just caring about the results.

 

I started my first business as a youth coach, I was going to schools, and coaching young people. I was young myself, 23 years old and it was a way for me to give back and learn the skills of coaching. 

 

If you are just starting out, and you don’t have skills and expertise, you can still pursue this path. If you don’t have qualifications, but you want to help people and make a difference, you simply need to learn to build confidence as a coach and learn to build skills and trust in the industry. 

 

When I began, I decided to have as many coaching sessions for free as possible. And to quantify it, I did more than 200 free coaching sessions. 

 

Why? Because I had something to prove. Those free coaching sessions were my proof. At the beginning they were my training ground, then they became evidence that I was good at what I was doing. They also gave me the confidence and experience I needed, and I was able to receive feedback and that made things better.

 

The underlying concept here is to do the groundwork first. 

 

If you want to start a coaching business, start coaching. Tell people, Hey, I would love to try something out, I have some ideas, can I give you a session for free? This will build your experience and if you really want to be a coach, the money will come, then the funnel, your group program and your online course will follow. 

 

But the first thing is your credibility. 

 

People are going to look for someone that has case studies and testimonials before they buy from a coach. 

 

You can go to networking events, ask people to review and give you testimonials after you offer them free classes. That will accumulate and give you a foundation to build on. 

 

That’s what is going to get someone to buy from you, the trust in your ability and your social proof. 

 

Then you can start to think about how you can do this in a group program, or an online course. The idea of a group or online program is to expand something that is already working. 

 

BUT How will you know that it’s working if you haven’t tried a one to one? You can’t – that’s why you might be stuck. Trust me, if you have done one to one coaching with your clients, it’s going to be very easy to expand and extract a group program out of it.  

 

Start by having free consultations and low paid sessions. Start small. Get it until you feel confident, then go to the next step.

 

You can do this for each new level. That’s why I still coach one to one. I don’t have to, but I still love it because it gives me a finger on the pulse of what I’m teaching, and I want to do next. 

 

Now there is a caveat, if you’re starting out there might be a situation where you are already very established in your industry. 

 

You might already know what you’re doing. You may have work experience, corporate experience, a very strong reputation, and a very strong background. Maybe you are the CEO of a company. Maybe you have done this work, but not on your own, but for other organizations. Then you go straight away and build the funnel and website because the social proof that you needed was already coming from all the work that you did in the past. If you are in that category and already established, don’t do a clean slate.

 

We have worked with a lot of clients and when they start into a new industry, it’s almost like they closed the door on what they did before. And so look back and say, OK, where can you borrow testimonials from? You’ve already done the work, so now the difference is that you’re doing it on your own.

 

You can use stories, case studies and testimonials that you’ve got from other parts of your career. Build your portfolio of case studies and testimonials from your previous work and then build the funnel, the webinars, the offers, and your group programs.

 

The way I was able to build six companies in the coaching industry is because I became excellent at what I was doing. By becoming really good, people wanted to give me an opportunity. That’s it, there’s no magic trick. I learned about sales and the stuff I wanted to improve, but all the opportunities that I got were from the reputation I built. I hope my Unpopular Guide to Starting Your Coaching Business has been helpful, and you can apply it to starting your coaching business. Remember, put the foundation down and then amplify. 

 

I would love to know your thoughts on this topic, so feel free to reach out to us via email and check out the resources that we have to help you grow your coaching and speaking business.