5 Steps To Getting Your Coaching Business Off The Ground
The start of your coaching business can be a doozy. You have your idea, you think you’ve figured out your niche, you start pumpin’ out content, and BAM. Crickets.
It stinks.
I experienced it at the start of my business and I want to do everything in my power to make sure other coaches can avoid experiencing the same thing so if you’re feeling hopeless right now, I got you.
Here are 5 steps to getting your coaching business off the ground:
#1: NICHE DOWN WITH AN *ALIGNED* NICHE
Make sure it’s not just any ole’ niche, it’s an aligned niche.
Here’s the difference between a regular niche and an aligned one:
A regular niche is something you think sounds cool so you try out for a few months.
An aligned niche is a niche that you have personally experienced. It’s a part of your story. Your dream customer is you a few months or years ago. You have a deep connection to this niche and are on a mission to make an impact with it.
Notice the difference there?! Your business will too – trust me, it’s a game-changer!
RELATED: FREE STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO ON HOW TO FIND YOUR COACHING NICHE
#2: START BUILDING AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY
Once you’ve got that aligned niche down, it’s time to start building an engaged community.
The best way to do this is through sharing your story (another reason why having an aligned niche is so important!)
The more you share your story, the more your audience feels seen and heard. You’re automatically positioned as the authority because your dream customer sees that you’ve gotten yourself a result (aka: where you’re at now vs. where you were) and now they want to learn from you.
Once you’ve gotten them into the position to want to learn from you (this can be through following you, joining your email list, etc), it’s time to nurture them.
Serve, serve, serve the heck out of them. Give away your best content for free. Earn their trust. Don’t hold back.
These are your people. Treat them like it and they’ll stay awhile.
Make sure you’re serving at least 80% of the time in your content and have your primary focus be relationship building.
I tell my clients all the time: I’d rather see you with 10 engaged followers vs. 1000 random ones. You will make so much more money + impact with those 10 people.
RELATED: HOW TO BUILD AN ENGAGED AUDIENCE FOR YOUR COACHING BUSINESS BLOG POST
#3: PUT TOGETHER A PROFITABLE PRODUCT SUITE
Disclaimer: Just because you’re a coach doesn’t mean that your product suite has to look like every other coaches with a high-ticket offer and a low-ticket offer.
Your product suite can look however feels best to you, we just have to make sure it’s profitable AND scalable.
For instance, a lot of the coaches I work with have memberships, courses, masterminds, retreats, etc. as part of their product suite. They aren’t cookie-cutter people and don’t want to be put in a box – so we make sure their product suite reflects that and gets the job done.
The focus of your product suite should always be solving your customer’s problems and providing a tangible takeaway that they’ll get once they’re finished working with you.
Start by thinking about what you needed back when you were struggling (this is the beauty of being your own dream customer!) and reverse engineer it to put together a program, course, membership, etc.
What is your dream customer’s shiny north star? What do they want to walk away with by the time they’re done working with you. Showcase that heavily in your product suite.
#4: BUILD OUT AN ALIGNED MARKETING STRATEGY
How do you envision people coming into your space? Is it through referrals? Going viral on a social media post? Are they coming to you or are you reaching out to them?
Make sure your marketing strategy is individual to you and how you authentically operate. This is key!
For example, if you hate dancing and feel awkward in front of the camera but you’re forcing yourself to make trendy TikTok videos – don’t. The more you force yourself to do something, the more you’re eventually going to resist it.
Turn inward and find how you authentically like to show up and honor that. Don’t try to change who you are. Honor it instead.
Also, make sure that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket (ah-hem *this means not relying solely on Instagram for all your marketing efforts!!!*). Having an omnichannel presence is incredibly important to increase your visibility so definitely make sure that is included in your marketing strategy as well.
RELATED: CHECK OUT THIS PODCAST EPISODE ON HOW TO FIND YOUR ALIGNED ATTRACTION MARKETING STRATEGY
#5 PUT TOGETHER AN ALIGNED SALES STRATEGY
What does your current sales strategy look like?
If it involves reading from a script…PIVOTTT *insert Ross Geller’s voice* and lean into what it looks like for you to sell from an authentic standpoint.
For instance, if you are an introvert and you’re sliding into people’s DM’s because that’s what you feel like you should be doing, it’s not going to work.
Why?
Because it’s not genuinely aligned with who you are.
Sales is all about energy. The second your energy shifts on a sales call, the person on the other end picks up on that and 9.9/10 the sale doesn’t go through because of it.
The best thing you can do is approach your sales conversations like you’re talking to your best friend and the easiest way to do that is to make sure you’re approaching the conversation naturally.
RELATED: HOW TO FIND YOUR ALIGNED SALES STRATEGY BLOG POST
There you have it! 5 steps to getting your coaching business off the ground.
