From Overworked to Thriving: 3 Mistakes Holding Your Coaching Business Back
I’ve spoken with countless coaches over the years who are on the verge of throwing in the towel for various reasons; they’re overworked, not making enough money, unsure of how to grow their business, etc.
This struggle is one that I care about deeply, as I know firsthand how easy it is to burn out and want to give up.
I’m so passionate about this topic that I’ve written two of our most popular blogs on it; “ 3 Reasons Why You’ll Quit Your Coaching Job” and “ Is Your Coaching Job Burning You Out? Here's Why”.
Today, I want to help you grow your business (and avoid quitting) by letting you in on three additional mistakes that I see coaches make all too often.
Let’s dive in.
This struggle is one that I care about deeply, as I know firsthand how easy it is to burn out and want to give up.
I’m so passionate about this topic that I’ve written two of our most popular blogs on it; “ 3 Reasons Why You’ll Quit Your Coaching Job” and “ Is Your Coaching Job Burning You Out? Here's Why”.
Today, I want to help you grow your business (and avoid quitting) by letting you in on three additional mistakes that I see coaches make all too often.
Let’s dive in.
You’re still working by yourself
If you haven’t hired any employees or contractors to help you grow your business or offload critical tasks that drain your energy,you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.
Nobody should be going it alone.
One of the most important things you should do is focus on building a business that can scale beyond yourself.
I’ve talked about the 7 Steps For Creating and Scaling a Successful Coaching Business before in greater detail, but here are a few key points I want to reiterate.
The first key is to identify your ideal customer. Before you can figure out what you’re doing, you need to know who you’re doing it for.
As I’ve said before, If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll end up being nothing to no one. You can avoid that happening by sticking to your niche.
By creating an irresistible offer that provides unparalleled value, you’ll actually keep those ideal customers engaged. Ensure you’re keeping your users happy by going above and beyond for them.
If you do this successfully, your athletes will do a lot of the work for you through word-of-mouth referrals. The final key to scalability - find what works for you and stick to it, or as I like to say, “rinse and repeat.”
The quicker you’re able to scale your business, the sooner you can hire additional help to both encourage even faster growth and save you time and energy.
Nobody should be going it alone.
One of the most important things you should do is focus on building a business that can scale beyond yourself.
I’ve talked about the 7 Steps For Creating and Scaling a Successful Coaching Business before in greater detail, but here are a few key points I want to reiterate.
The first key is to identify your ideal customer. Before you can figure out what you’re doing, you need to know who you’re doing it for.
As I’ve said before, If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll end up being nothing to no one. You can avoid that happening by sticking to your niche.
By creating an irresistible offer that provides unparalleled value, you’ll actually keep those ideal customers engaged. Ensure you’re keeping your users happy by going above and beyond for them.
If you do this successfully, your athletes will do a lot of the work for you through word-of-mouth referrals. The final key to scalability - find what works for you and stick to it, or as I like to say, “rinse and repeat.”
The quicker you’re able to scale your business, the sooner you can hire additional help to both encourage even faster growth and save you time and energy.
If you aren’t delivering value on-demand, you’re leaving money on the table (and working too hard!)
I’ve talked about this countless times before, but that’s because it’s crucial to the success of your business.
Any entrepreneur in any industry will advise you not to sell your time for money.
Let's say you’ve moved to subscription coaching, but you still only have one stream of income.
The most successful businesses in the world master the art of productizing their knowledge, skills etc. and implement systems that sell their product or service 24/7.
On one of our previous podcast episodes, CoachNow user and Olympic Coach Spencer Arnold shared what not to do; “Don’t assume you’re gonna have 20 clients forever, then be surprised when you have 200. Have the structure in place for 200+ from the get go.”
By creating digital products and evergreen content that users can engage with whenever they want, you have more time to focus on other things, like continuing to scale your business.
Digitizing your coaching doesn’t have to be hard - I talk more about it in depth here, but these are a few ways you can begin:
-Create an On Demand course
-Craft an e-book
-Run a paid community
As I cover in the ConnectedCoach Blueprint, pure evergreen will be a lower ticket that leads to a higher ticket.
Let’s say you make an e-book like I mentioned above. It’s probably not going to bring in hundreds of dollars. If you’re actively coaching someone one-on-one, that’s often going to be the highest ticket.
I want you to have a plethora of revenue streams that you can ratchet up and down depending on your business goals. The better you get at creating digital products, the more expensive you’re gonna be able to make them, and the more leverage you’re gonna have.
Any entrepreneur in any industry will advise you not to sell your time for money.
Let's say you’ve moved to subscription coaching, but you still only have one stream of income.
The most successful businesses in the world master the art of productizing their knowledge, skills etc. and implement systems that sell their product or service 24/7.
On one of our previous podcast episodes, CoachNow user and Olympic Coach Spencer Arnold shared what not to do; “Don’t assume you’re gonna have 20 clients forever, then be surprised when you have 200. Have the structure in place for 200+ from the get go.”
By creating digital products and evergreen content that users can engage with whenever they want, you have more time to focus on other things, like continuing to scale your business.
Digitizing your coaching doesn’t have to be hard - I talk more about it in depth here, but these are a few ways you can begin:
-Create an On Demand course
-Craft an e-book
-Run a paid community
As I cover in the ConnectedCoach Blueprint, pure evergreen will be a lower ticket that leads to a higher ticket.
Let’s say you make an e-book like I mentioned above. It’s probably not going to bring in hundreds of dollars. If you’re actively coaching someone one-on-one, that’s often going to be the highest ticket.
I want you to have a plethora of revenue streams that you can ratchet up and down depending on your business goals. The better you get at creating digital products, the more expensive you’re gonna be able to make them, and the more leverage you’re gonna have.
You’re struggling to gain new customers
Sound familiar?
Maybe you’re literally struggling to fill your book because you don’t know how to convert leads into customers.
Acquiring new leads can be done in countless different ways, but one of my favorites is by tapping into shared customer wallets, aka working with complementary businesses.
By partnering with other coaches who offer different services, you provide unparalleled value to your clients, while increasing the visibility of your business tenfold.
Not only are you tapping into new, different audiences, but the leads from these groups are warm. Clients are much more likely to use your services when they’ve been referred by a coach they already know and trust. Plus, your credibility will be that much stronger.
I also want to talk about the assessment funnel; it’s the proven key to helping you get from somebody not knowing about you to converting them into a high-ticket lead.
First, leverage your social media and use a call to action to get your audience to send you a DM.
Once they do this, redirect them to a landing page where you can collect their email addresses.
Now it’s time for the assessment. Ideally, you’ll get the prospective client on a call so you can ensure that you’re both the best fit for each other.
If everything goes well, it’s the perfect time to make a long-term coaching program offer.
Follow this process and your coaching business will thrive, bringing in more leads than ever before.
If you want a more in-depth look at how to integrate this process, read more here.
Maybe you’re literally struggling to fill your book because you don’t know how to convert leads into customers.
Acquiring new leads can be done in countless different ways, but one of my favorites is by tapping into shared customer wallets, aka working with complementary businesses.
By partnering with other coaches who offer different services, you provide unparalleled value to your clients, while increasing the visibility of your business tenfold.
Not only are you tapping into new, different audiences, but the leads from these groups are warm. Clients are much more likely to use your services when they’ve been referred by a coach they already know and trust. Plus, your credibility will be that much stronger.
I also want to talk about the assessment funnel; it’s the proven key to helping you get from somebody not knowing about you to converting them into a high-ticket lead.
First, leverage your social media and use a call to action to get your audience to send you a DM.
Once they do this, redirect them to a landing page where you can collect their email addresses.
Now it’s time for the assessment. Ideally, you’ll get the prospective client on a call so you can ensure that you’re both the best fit for each other.
If everything goes well, it’s the perfect time to make a long-term coaching program offer.
Follow this process and your coaching business will thrive, bringing in more leads than ever before.
If you want a more in-depth look at how to integrate this process, read more here.
Having struggled before myself, my goal is to help as many coaches avoid these mistakes as possible.
I don’t want you to suffer through burnout - I want to see you take your business to new heights.
So if you’re still working by yourself, still selling your time for money, and are struggling to gain new customers, I encourage you to take a step back, look at your business, and see what steps from above you can implement.
I’d love to hear from you - What mistakes have you made along the way and what solutions did you implement?
I don’t want you to suffer through burnout - I want to see you take your business to new heights.
So if you’re still working by yourself, still selling your time for money, and are struggling to gain new customers, I encourage you to take a step back, look at your business, and see what steps from above you can implement.
I’d love to hear from you - What mistakes have you made along the way and what solutions did you implement?
Spencer Dennis, Founder of CoachNow