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CHAPTER 2
Mapping Out Your Online Coaching Business
It's rare that a coach can't make it work online because they don't have the right skills.
For the most part, coaches barely make ends meet -- and sometimes they're even forced to quit -- because of bad planning.
This chapter is about mapping out your online coaching business model with a powerful framework that's been proven to create success, again and again.
This framework includes key elements that you need to focus on -- your niche, your marketing channels, your clients, your offers, and your growth plan.
Let's definite each one and break it down into actionable tasks.
Element #1:
Your Niche
There's riches in the niches.
That's a popular saying in business and it's because it's 100% true.
The online coaching industry is an amazing space but it's also a competitive space and there are countless skilled coaches all over the world who are looking to build a successful online coaching business - just like you.
Identifying your niche is a powerful, effective way to get noticed by ideal clients and to stand out from a crowd of coaches in your space as you build your reputation as an expert, rockstar coach.
What you need to do is craft a clear, well-defined niche that you can share on social media, on your website and at networking events to easily attract the right clients.
A well-defined niche is basically a detailed description of what you actually do in your zone of genius.
Element #2:
Your Client
If you don't know who you want to serve, it's all over before it even begins... and that's not an exaggeration!
The truth is if you're serving everyone in your coaching business, you're serving no one.
People want to work with a coach who is passionate about serving them whether they happen to be a 40-something executive or a 20-something writer.
If you're confused about who you'd like to serve, give yourself permission to work with a variety of clients for a couple of months until a specific group stands out to you as the clear favorite.
Element #3:
Your Marketing Channel
Marketing is about letting potential clients know that you exist...
It's about letting them know that you're great at what you do and ready to help them get to where they want to go.
The thing about the online coaching world is that there's a massive number of marketing channels you can dive into and a lot of coaches feel they need to work with all of these channels at the same time.
Bad idea.
When you're just starting out and you don't have a team yet or you just have one part-time virtual assistant onboard, there's only one thing to do if you don't want to end up burned out and ready to throw in the towel...
Pick just two marketing channels and go all in.
Your core online marketing channel needs to be email and your second channel can be your favorite social media platform such as Instagram or Facebook.
The idea is to use social media to give your ideal clients an easy, accessible path to find you and follow you, and then have them sign up to join your email list.
Start by creating consistent high-value content for free on the social platform of your choice. Then offer people a freebie, such as a simple PDF or audio or video coaching guide, that includes links for them to subscribe to your email list.
Element #4:
Your Offers
Your offers are basically how you work with your clients and there's a world of choice online.
From packages to programs, online coaching can be delivered in many different ways, but one of the most important elements to consider is how you can create coaching packages that can make a tangible difference in your client's life.
So, when you're developing your first coaching package (check the Take Action Section for more on this) think about designing something that is enjoyable and gets your clients real world results.
Coaching is a crowded industry and lots of coaches have amazing coaches packages out there. That's why yours needs to be incredibly transformational to inspire the right clients to sign up.
Creating powerful transformational coaching packages is something you can learn... thousands of coaches have done it and so can you!
Element #5:
Your Growth Plan
One-on-one coaching can be deeply fulfilling work, but lots of coaches get stuck in the endless "dollars for hours" loop where they work for hours and hours each day -- and on weekends -- just to pay the rent.
If working nonstop doesn't sound like your idea of a good time and if you want to have a life outside your online coaching business, you'll want to leverage your expertise and create a growth plan where you can offer one to many programs.
One-to-many programs basically means online group coaching programs, trainings, workshops and courses where you create the content and have a lot of people learning from you and working with you, at the same time.
This is also great because you can offer the same content and have different people invest in it. That means you create it once and you get to offer it again and again.
This is the secret behind a highly effective growth plan where you can scale your online coaching business, quickly and efficiently.
Plus, it's one of the key things world-class Master Coach and Co-Founder of Evercoach Ajit Nawalkha, encourages new online coaches to do (check the Take Action Section for more).
This chapter gave you the basic framework of building a successful online coaching business model. Let's go a little deeper with questions and action items that can help you get clear on your next steps.
Element #1:
Your Niche
Get clear on your niche with the following questions:
(i) What are some problems that you're great at solving for clients? If you're brand new and you don't have clients yet, think about the kind of problems you'd love to solve.
(ii) What are you passionate about as a coach? Eg: Do you love to coach people about having strong personal boundaries? Do you love coming up with awesome business strategies?
(iii) What are some of the other coaches working in the area you're interested in? When you look at what other people are doing in your niche, it can inspire ideas and insights around critical aspects of your business such as how to price your offers and packages, etc.
Element #2:
Your Client
There are a ton of "identify your ideal client" exercises online but many of them take hours to complete. Here's a super simple way to jumpstart the process and it involves a little bit of visualization. Read the question below, then close your eyes and imagine the scene before you write your answer.
When I visualize my perfect coaching session with a client, who do I see sitting in front of me?
Write down everything you saw and feel free to re-do this exercise as many times as you want, to get more clarity and details about your ideal client.
Element #3:
Your Marketing Channel
We've talked about email as one of 2 key marketing channels you need to have when you're starting and growing your online coaching business.
If you don't already have an email service provider, do some research and look at some of the providers out there (for more on this, check out the next Chapter in this Guide).
Next, think about social media. What's your favorite social media platform? Choose to focus on that and look at how you can build a presence with high value posts, videos, images and other content related to your niche.
Element #4:
Your Offers
To learn more about creating powerful coaching packages, watch this insightful video by Evercoach Co-Founder and World-Class Master Coach Ajit Nawalkha.
Element #5:
Your Growth Plan
To learn more about scaling your online coaching business with a one to many programs or trainings, watch this high-value video.
