The use of internet marketing is on the rise for a reason. It gives you the ability to expand your business globally without losing your freedom. Even so, there is one question that still keeps entrepreneurs from entering the online space: “Is it possible to make a living on the Internet?”
Not only is it possible, but also profitable when done correctly. We are living in the golden age of internet marketing. Thanks to social media and video conferencing, anyone can sit in front of a room and present their ideas to the masses. Pretty good, isn’t it?
Not really. Nowadays, a good idea will only get you started; what matters is what you do to package and bundle that idea.
Can You Build a Successful Online Coaching Business?
If you’re wondering what exactly an online coach does, here’s what you need to know.
As an online coach, you work exclusively online. Most of the time, you do not meet your clients personally. Instead, all of your training and marketing is done with online tools like Calendly, Callbridge video conferencing and payment tools like PayPal and Stripe. And that is why online coaching has so many advantages. When you work online, your business offers flexibility, scalability, and the ability to impact thousands of people at a go. Additionally, an online business has low overhead and low start-up costs (all you need to get started is a good internet connection and a laptop). Plus, your business is virtually risk-free.
Which Type of Online Coaching Is Right for You?
One thing is to know that you want to become an online coach. Another is to choose your specialty and follow it. Before you start marketing your business or build a website, let’s figure out what kind of training to take.
Private Coaching
This is where most coaches start; it is easier to attract private coaching clients interested in working with you one on one. When you train someone, in particular, you get all the attention and brainpower during the session.
This is why private coaching is generally considered to be the most sophisticated offer. This can be a valuable resource for people who want to pay for that extra personal touch.
Additionally, there is no need to develop a full coaching program if you are training privately, as each of your clients will be looking for coaching sessions tailored to their needs.
Private coaching is a profitable source of income, but it’s not the best scalable option. When you train your clients privately, you can only meet with them one by one. With only a few hours a day, it won’t be easy to extend beyond the desired working hours with individual coaching clients.
If you are looking for a major, scalable option or prefer to meet groups of people simultaneously, you may be more interested in group coaching.
Group Coaching
Some coaches thrive in a group atmosphere. They prefer to run online coaching seminars and build a community rather than preparing a handful of clients one by one. If you want to help more than one person at a time, group coaching can be a great option for you.
It’s also great if you’ve been training privately for a while and find that you are talking about the same thing with everyone. This would facilitate the process of training sessions and significantly reduce your working time.
You might not be ready to give up private coaching entirely. It’s completely okay! You don’t have to choose one over the other. There are several ways to add both to your business model.
You can always create a private coaching offer exclusively for your group coaching clients at a reduced rate to earn additional income. It’s easier to sell a package to a customer who already knows the value of what you’re bringing than to a new prospect who needs more energy to make a sale.
Life Coaching
Life coaching is the most common form of online coaching. You’ve seemingly heard of life coaching before, but you might not understand what it all means because it sounds too broad.
A life coach is usually a coach who guides clients through an obstacle or transition in their life, asking them thoughtful questions and helping them find the best answer. It’s less about needing all the right answers and more about asking the right questions so they can find the answer on their own.
Life coaching is one of the most straightforward niches to start with because you can choose from almost any recipient. Everyone goes through transitions so you can help different people in different areas of their lives.
Because coaching is not a highly regulated industry, there is no specific certification or degree that you should have before being appointed as a life coach. However, going through a coaching certification process can help you learn important skills and build confidence in your coaching experience.
Business Coaching (Sales, Entrepreneurship, Etc.)
With companies spending over $1 billion a year on business coaching, it has become one of the top-performing niches for online coaching. Life coaching focuses on clients’ personal lives, while business coaching focuses more on clients’ professional growth.
Business coaching can be seen in several niches, including entrepreneurship coaching, executive coaching, marketing coaching, organizational or team coordination, and sales coaching, team or organizational coaching.
Having excellent business experience is important when working as a business coach. You can’t teach someone how to grow a business until you scale up yours or help another business grow. You can’t help someone learn how to be a marketing manager if you’ve never been in a managerial position or helped someone achieve it.
Therefore, we recommend that you start your business first. It can also help you find your niche while exploring different types of businesses. You can create online courses, publish books on your own, offer freelance services, or start an e-commerce business. The possibilities are limitless!
Once you have the first-hand experience of running a business, you can start training others who are within walking distance of where you are today. You don’t have to know everything to be a great business coach. All you need is an experience in the areas where your customers need help.
How to Start an Online Coaching Business
Considering your ideal type of online coaching, we can begin the learning process to start an online coaching business from scratch.
Instead of being nervous about skipping a step or not knowing where to go next, we’ve created a step-by-step guide and checklist to guide you on how to start your own coaching business from scratch safely.
Choose a Profitable Niche
We’ve talked about life and business coaching before, but there are other niches in online coaching that are also profitable and easy to start.
Here are some other online training options you might want to explore:
- Financial coaching
- Performance coaching
- Photographic coaching
- Relationship coaching
- Skills training
- Spiritual coaching
- Wellness or health coaching
As you define the niche you want to pursue as an online coach, you will also want to define your target audience. This is extremely important because you may not have the experience or desire to work with everyone you meet.
Find Your Unique Selling Point (USP)
Considering your niche, it’s time to think about your unique selling point. This is just a sophisticated marketing term for what is unique to your online coaching business compared to other competitors. It can come from your experience or your personality.
As your clients are looking for a unique customer experience, they will want to see what is different about you from all the other online coaches in your niche.
What Do You Offer That No One Else Can?
At this point, it is useful to observe your competitors and see how they are promoted. But that doesn’t mean you should be promoted in the same way.
Once you’ve found something to offer that’s better than your competition, you can start thinking about how to incorporate it into your sales copy and search calls. You can also include it in your social media bio to clarify what you do and who it helps.
Increase Your Visibility Online Via Social Networks
One of the few things you can do when starting your online coaching business is to connect with other people who fit your ideal client description. Socializing with them on these social media platforms is easy, fun, and revealing for new coaches who want to know what their target audience expects from a coach.
Since people are active on social media, you don’t have to persuade them to join you on another platform. Instead, you can interact with them where you found them.
It can be as easy as commenting on their photos on Facebook or joining their Instagram Live. You can interact with Instagram Stories, join Facebook groups, and start a conversation on Twitter. Even if you don’t already have a comprehensive social media strategy, you can still benefit from social media exposure.
Several of these conversations can lead to lasting relationships and new potential customers in the future. The more people you know, the more likely they are going to refer you. Having a relationship will do wonders for the development of your business.
Create a Website to Sell Your Services Online
Once you’ve taken your online coaching business more seriously, it is time to create a website that will enable you to sell your services. Your website will give visitors and potential clients a clear idea of who you are, what you are offering, and who you are helping.
It’s the first place people will go to find out more about you, so it’s no wonder that a lot of your potential customers will want to check you out.
Gather the Tools and Software You Need
While the steps we’ve talked about so far will help you jump-start your business, it’s just as important to know how to nurture your long-term customers with the right processes and systems at your disposal. Your next step is to know what tools and software you need to deliver the perfect customer experience. Without the right video conferring and screen sharing tools like Callbridge, you will end up working more on your business than on your customers.
Pitching Comes Next
After you’ve completed most of the prep work, you can move on to the last step: starting your services!
That means writing and posting a well-designed sales page, posting your services on social media, handing out case studies in your newsletter, and mentioning your offers when you meet people at networking events.
It might seem a bit scary at first to pitch your services, but remember the value you offer and how online coaching can benefit the person in front of you.
Bottom Line
Take the time today and take the first step towards your online coaching business.
Did you realize that online coaching is for you? The first step is, therefore, to decide on your niche. Do you already know your niche? So what is your exclusive selling point?
Keep asking yourself these questions, as it will guide you towards creating a successful online coaching career. Applying the steps listed above will help you launch your business.
