So, you’re interested in coaching online, huh?
We don’t blame you! It’s a wonderful opportunity that many people have taken advantage of, allowing them to make money doing something they really love.
If you want in on the action, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we discuss the biggest, most important benefits of coaching online. Then we share a seven-step process you can follow to build your own coaching business from the ground up.
We cover it all: setting goals, pinpointing your audience, designing a coaching program, setting prices, the best online coaching platforms, marketing, and scaling up.
We have a lot to get to, so let’s dive in and get started!
Table of Contents
Is Online Coaching Right For You?
Before we dive into how to start a coaching business online, let’s talk about whether this business model is right for you. In other words, why should you go down this path?
Here are a few reasons why coaching online may be the perfect fit for you:
You Can Make a Lot of Money
The best coaches have loads of cash.
It makes sense. Coaches help people achieve their goals. Once you prove you can do this for your clients, people will be more than happy to pay you for your services.
Online coaches have even more potential because they can work with clients from around the world. They don’t have to worry about travel either, which means they have less expenses than traditional in-person coaches, and can typically book more appointments each day.
You Can Easily Scale Your Business
There are more ways to scale an online coaching business than an in-person one.
For example, you can choose to host group classes and coach multiple people at one time. While technically possible, this strategy isn’t as popular in in-person settings.
You can easily record your coaching sessions, too, and turn them into on-demand coaching programs that you can sell. This will allow you to create passive income, reach more clients, and scale your coaching business while you sleep. Heck yes!
Your Services Will be in High Demand
Online learning is incredibly popular.
If you can generate results for your clients, people will be knocking down your front door to work with you—metaphorically speaking, of course.
And, since you can take on clients from around the world, as previously discussed, you’ll never run out of people to help (and earn money from.)
How to Start a Coaching Business Online
Are you ready to become an online coach and help people achieve their full potential? Great, just follow this seven-step process to start coaching online as soon as possible…
1. Set Clear Goals
What do you want to achieve with your online coaching business?
Before you do anything else, take a moment to identify the things that drive you. Do you want to help people? Do you want to make a lot of money? Do you want to only work specific hours so that you can spend more time with your family? These are all worthy goals.
Decide exactly what you want to accomplish via coaching online. That way you can build your business in a way that will allow you to turn your dreams into reality.
2. Know Your Audience
The next step is to identify and get to know your audience. Who do you want to coach?
Maybe you want to connect with 20-somethings and help them figure out a direction for their lives. Or entrepreneurs, who need expert advice to launch a new business venture effectively. Or young moms, who want to become the very best parents they can be.
Once you’ve pinpointed your target audience, learn everything you can about them. What are their goals? What do they struggle with? How can you help them achieve success?
3. Build You Coaching Program
Now that you know what your goals are and who your audience is, you can build an effective coaching program that will fulfill your needs, and the needs of your future clients.
First, decide on the kind of coaching services you’ll offer: one-on-one or group coaching.
One-on-one coaching is more personal, which will allow you to charge more money. Group coaching is more scalable. While each participant will pay you less, you’ll be able to work with more people at one time, which may help you make up the difference.
Of course, money isn’t the only factor. You have to decide which framework will be more desirable to you when coaching online. Not sure? Try offering both options.
Next, create your coaching program. It can be as structured or free-flowing as you like.
For example, some coaches will design specific lessons that they’ll guide clients through. By the end, said clients will have learned exactly what the coach wanted to teach them. Other coaches will let their clients lead the way, simply offering advice and support when needed.
You need to decide what your coaching program will look like before you take on clients.
4. Set Your Coaching Prices
At this point, you know what you want to achieve by coaching online, who you want to coach, and the kind of coaching program(s) you’ll offer to your clients. What’s next?
It’s time to talk about pricing.
You should set your prices based on your target audience and the value you provide. $1,000 an hour may seem crazy if you’re helping 20-somethings figure out a direction for their lives. But if you’re helping CEOs strike multimillion dollar deals, it’s a more than reasonable fee.
Here’s what we suggest: research the average rate in your coaching niche. Then add 10% to 20%. If you have trouble landing clients at this rate, you can always come down. But, if you market your services correctly (more on marketing below) you’ll enjoy a nice pay bump.
5. Invest in the Right Tools
If you want to start coaching online, you need to invest in software. With that in mind, let’s talk about the best online coaching platforms available to you in 2022.
- Video Conferencing: A video conferencing tool is mandatory. Fortunately, there are plenty of options available to you. We suggest ClickMeeting because it’s both easy to use and powerful. We’ll talk more about ClickMeeting in the next section.
- Text Communication: You’ll probably need to communicate with your clients on a regular basis. Email and/or chat apps like Slack are good options for this.
- Calendar Scheduling: How can potential clients book their initial appointments with you? We suggest using a calendar app like Calendly to make the process easy for all.
- Business Tools: You’ll need to invest in a few solutions to help you run your business, too. An accounting tool like Quickbooks will help you manage your finances and send invoices. A social media management tool like Hootsuite will help you market your services on multiple social media platforms. And an email service like ConvertKit will help you send newsletters to your audience and keep them engaged.
6. Market Your Services
You may be the most amazing coach in the world. But if your target audience doesn’t know about your services, you won’t have any clients or make any money.
So, you need to market the fact that you’re going to be coaching online. Don’t worry, there are tons of ways to do this in 2022. Just think in terms of the marketing funnel:
Top-of-Funnel Marketing Options
This is when you first introduce your coaching services to potential clients.
You can do this by posting on social media, running online ads, making appearances on popular podcasts in your niche, attending and/or presenting at relevant conferences, etc.
Basically, find out where your target audience is—both online and offline. Then go to these places and start telling people about your coaching services.
Middle-of-Funnel Marketing Options
Now that you’ve introduced yourself to your target audience, it’s time to start reeling them in.
Middle-of-funnel marketing tactics include sending email newsletters and distributing free materials (think ebooks and white papers) in exchange for contact details.
Your goal at this stage of the marketing process should be building relationships with potential clients. Nobody will hire you until you’ve built some kind of connection with them.
Bottom-of-Funnel Marketing Options
Those who reach the bottom of the marketing funnel are close to becoming paid clients. They just need a little extra push to get off the fence and join your coaching program.
This is where case studies, i.e. stories about other people you’ve helped and the results they’ve achieved, and free 30-minute coaching consultations come into play.
By offering these things to potential clients, you’ll build trust. Once that trust is established, a portion of the people in the bottom of your funnel will become actual clients.
7. Scale Up
The final step is to evaluate your efforts; then take what you learn to scale your business.
What’s working and what isn’t in terms of marketing? What aspects of your coaching program do clients connect with most and which are unpopular? And how can you deliver similar outcomes to your clients, without having to put in as much effort on a daily basis?
We suggest streamlining your marketing efforts, optimizing your training programs, and either investing in technology or paid help (or both!) to accomplish more in less time.
Start Coaching Online With ClickMeeting
Coaching online is a wonderful opportunity. Especially if you have in-demand skills and the desire to share what you know with others—for a fee, of course.
The good news is, building an online coaching business isn’t rocket science. Just follow the seven step process we outlined above. Doing so will help you achieve success.
Just remember, you can’t achieve success without the right tools. Enter ClickMeeting.
ClickMeeting is the video conferencing and webinar tool used by tens of thousands of people around the world every day. Why do so many people trust our platform to help them reach their audiences? Because it’s easy to use and super powerful—a rare combination.
With ClickMeeting, you can host private and group coaching sessions online. Not only that, you can brand your online classrooms the way you want, share your screen with clients, send out polls and surveys, engage in text chats, and so much more.
We should also mention ClickMeetings recording feature. Capture lessons and then sell them as on-demand training materials to create a passive income stream for yourself.
One of the best things about ClickMeeting is its price. Get started for exactly $0—no credit card required. If you enjoy using our tool, sign up for a full plan for as little as $25 a month.
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