3 Steps To A Successful Coaching Business

In case you haven’t noticed, “coaching” is kind of a thing these days. No matter what you’re looking to achieve, there seems to be a coaching business out there ready and willing to help you get what you want out of life. Whether that’s losing weight, writing a book, finding true love or just about anything else you could name.

That’s great news if you’re looking for help. But what if you dream about being a life-changing mentor in a space that is becoming increasingly crowded and noisy? To start off, don’t give up on what you want just yet. You can still be the coach you want to be. It just takes an investment of time, money and passion. It also takes a solid foundation.

It’s time to cut the fluff, keep it real and make your way to becoming the coach that you want to be. I’m going to show you three steps you need to take right now to set this foundation. You will become more than just another face in the online crowd. Let’s start building something amazing right now!

Step 1: Help yourself first

What comes before a sparkling website, the perfect sales funnel or shiny new branding? You do.

You have to believe in yourself. Have total confidence in what you do. That means knowing that you have the solution to the problem that your potential clients have. More importantly, it means that you live that solution every day in your own life. You have to be the change that you want to see in the world.

If you want to help others, help yourself first. Become the person who practises what they preach and who walks the walk themselves. Think about it for a moment. Would you want to be coached to run a marathon by someone who never endured a 26.2-mile race? I seriously doubt it.

But what if you’re not there yet? What if you have the interest and the passion for something, but not quite the expertise?

You need to heal yourself. Help yourself. Do the work, reach the goals and become the person that you want to coach others into being. If you can make big things happen for yourself, you can show someone else how to do it.

This is the part where you ask yourself some serious questions. What coaching business do you want to be and what do you want to help others do? What do you stand for and what are your values? I recommend boiling it down to what I call the Five Characteristics. They’re the top five values that you bring to the table. The things that you want to represent in the world. And the things on which you will never compromise.

Take a few moments and really dig deep into this one. Then write the answers down on paper. Next, start stepping into this space by embodying these characteristics every single day. This is the “coaching yourself” part. Decide what coaching business you want to become. Start taking the steps and making big things happen in your own life. It’s how you become your own first testimonial.

Step 2: Put in the time

What if you’re dreaming about being a life coach, but you’ve spent 20 years as a medical professional or an accountant? You can transition into anything that you want to be, but it’s going to take work. You’re going to have to put in the time, get the experience and get the results.

If you wanted to go from being a doctor to a lawyer, you’d have to go to law school, right? Same deal here. You can transition into whatever you want to be, but it takes an investment of time, money and energy. It also takes practical experience working with real-life people.

Let’s say you’re living your Five Characteristics and you’re rising into the person you want to be. Next comes the practical part; getting out into the world, working with people and building your credibility. You do this by working with real people in the real world. And sometimes you do this for free.

I know, I know! You want to run a business and not a charity! But offering services in exchange for testimonials will do three big things for your cause.

First, you get the chance to perfect your craft. Second, you can track the results that your test clients get and use them to shape your coaching business. Finally, the more real-world experience you get and the more “IRL” (in real life) results you get for others, and the more confidence you get in yourself.

So coach yourself first and get big-time results for you. Next, start working with real people in the real world for real testimonials. And right from the jump, start tracking the results that you get along the way. You’re going to use it all in the last step.

Step 3: Own your value and your worth

So you’ve worked with several test clients and got some killer testimonials. Now the time has come to start (gulp!) asking potential clients for real money and get your coaching business on its feet. Kind of gives you heart palpitations, right?

Your first thought might be to play it safe and keep your prices low in the beginning. It might seem logical to start out cheap, get more experience, and then raise your rates.

But I’m here to tell you that going down this road might make you more miserable than not having any paying clients at all. First, you might find yourself taking any client rather than holding out for ideal clients. Second, you’ll be working really hard and not seeing the rewards. Put these two things together and the quality of your work will go downhill before you know what happened. Not exactly the recipe for a sustainable business.

This is the time to remember that you’ve already validated your services. Remember and review the results you got for people. Take note of your testimonials. Then review the Five Characteristics that you stand for in the world. This is how you start to remember what you’ve worked for and honour your worth.

You seriously can start that coaching business that you dream about. But it’s just like anything else in life. You need to do the work for yourself first. Be the person that you want to be. Get yourself the results that you want to get for other people. Then start practising, serving and helping other people make things happen for themselves. Curate your results. Celebrate your clients and yourself. Then start charging what you’re worth with confidence.

But remember, it all starts with you. Set that solid foundation first. Be the change you want to see in the world first. Then start making it happen for others.