3 Actionable Strategies to Start and Build a Profitable Coaching Business You Love

If you want to be a successful coach, you need to be great at coaching, right?

Sure, that’s true, but it’s only half the story!

If you want to be a successful professional coach, it’s not enough to be great at coaching, you also need to know the ins and outs of running a business.

These three impactful, actionable strategies will help you rapidly start and build a coaching business that lets you do the work you love and pay all your bills without breaking a sweat.

Actionable Strategy 1: Get Comfortable with the 4-Letter Word

If your business isn’t making money, it’s not a business; it’s a hobby.

So, if you want to create a healthy income in your coaching business, you need to get up close and personal with a four-letter word a lot coaches are afraid of…

S-e-l-l.

The good news is being great at sales and selling doesn’t mean you have to be sleazy, unscrupulous or that you have to resort to questionable, manipulative methods to get clients to sign up with you.

Some of the world’s top coaches—the ones who can enroll 50%, 60% or even 70% of potential clients—don’t see themselves selling in an enrollment conversation, they see themselves coaching.

They take time to connect deeply with every single potential client in an enrollment conversation. They learn about the client’s struggles and challenges and then they dive right into coaching mode.

When you come from a place of service, your potential clients can feel that you want to help, and they get to see you in action as a masterful coach.

This is a powerful combination that can take them from “I’m not sure, let me think about it” to “Where do I sign up!!!?”

The truth is sales can be an act of love, and selling is just the path you take to connect with people who need you and your unique expertise as a coach.

Actionable Strategy 2: Create Irresistible Coaching Packages

A coaching package is basically a series of coaching sessions aimed at helping your clients find lasting solutions to a problem or challenge.

The art of creating irresistible coaching packages is related to two key factors that you need to get clear about:

1. The outcome or results your clients can expect from working with you
2. The structure of your package

Let’s say you’re a health coach specializing in healthy eating. You could design a coaching package around “how to make healthy eating a lifelong habit.” This clearly defines the outcome or results your clients can expect.

Next, choose your structure. This could be bi-monthly or monthly sessions with your client over three months, six months or more.

The truth is creating irresistible coaching packages is a key element that separates superstar coaches who have a long waitlist of clients from coaches who can barely make ends meet.

So, keep in mind that when it comes to starting and building a successful coaching business, knowing how to position yourself with great coaching packages is one of the most important skills you can have.

Actionable Strategy 3: Hit the Right Price

Pricing is tricky and it’s one of the biggest challenges a lot of coaches struggle with.

The secret to getting it right: Keep things simple.

Here’s a timeless foundational rule that will take you a long way to hitting the right price for your offers: Never price on how you value yourself as a coach.

Most people greatly underestimate their own value and their worth, so if you price based on what you believe about yourself, you’ll probably end up charging way too low!

What you need to do is price for the results you can create.

If you’re a business coach and you can help your clients take their business from six-figures to seven-figures, what’s the value of that? What’s that worth?

Don’t feel like you have to hit premium prices right out of the gate. Understand that if you’re starting out, you need to give yourself time to build your coaching skills so you can get to a higher price point.

You should also know that pricing isn’t fixed. Always have the mindset of re-evaluating your prices based on changes in the industry and in your area of expertise, and you won’t go wrong.

Starting and building a profitable coaching business isn’t easy, but it’s not rocket science either, so whatever happens…

Keep going!

Stay consistent with your efforts and stay open to new business strategies and skills. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll create a long waitlist of clients and more than enough income to live the life you want, doing the work you love.