Six Tips For Growing A Thriving Coaching Business
You want to make a difference in this world. You want to help people.
You’ve healed from your past, you’ve taken the training and now it’s time to create your business.
The thing is… starting a business is hard, especially as a solopreneur.
You’ve got to wear many hats such as marketing manager, content creator, graphic designer, accountant and salesperson. You’ve also got to be confident, stay motivated, navigate obstacles and keep your work on track.
So what’s the best way to move forward? Below are 5 steps that will allow you to create a thriving business with ease.
1.Know thyself.
When you know your own strengths and weaknesses, you can determine what specific problem you solve for your clients, your unique selling proposition and your niche. There are so many coaches right now, you must know and be able to explain why you are unique and why someone should choose to work with you instead of someone else. Understanding your unique personality, skills, talents and gifts allows you to craft a business and brand based on that which excites you, motivates you and makes you unstoppable.
2. Get crystal clear on who you want to serve and how you will help.
To be successful, it is incredibly crucial to understand what your client is struggling with and what she’ll pay you for and then create a program to solve her problem. As such, you’ll have to get to know her very well.
When you know exactly who your dream client is, you can speak to her in ways that develop a relationship with her. You can use language that she understands and talk about things that connect with her on an emotional level. As humans, we are emotional creatures who base the majority of our decision-making and buying decisions on how we feel.
Knowing your customer allows you to have clear messaging about exactly what your client will get, the benefits she will experience and the consequences of not hiring you giving her everything she needs to know to make her decision about accepting your offer.
3. Start small and then go big.
This is important for a couple of reasons. If you start small, then you get a chance to work out any kinks or obstacles that may arise before scaling into a large business. You also get to build your confidence and experience while avoiding overwhelm and burn out. Choose one thing to start with, do it, gain experience and skill and then move on to the next.
4. Create a community of raving fans.
It’s crucial to allow your audience to get to know you, like you and trust you, otherwise they won’t buy your coaching packages from you. People need to trust you if they are going to hire you. A great way to help people get to know you is to create a community for your dream clients to interact with you and your offerings.
Create a community by creating valuable content and offerings that speak directly to the heart and soul of your dream client. This ties in to step one because you need to be clear on who you are serving to be able to connect with her on a deep level. Speak to her about things she is interested in, in a language that she understands. Provide training and workshops on the main problem that she is struggling with. Serve her and nurture her while she gets to know you.
When people know, like and trust you, then they are primed to buy from you.
When people love you then they rave about you to all their friends and family and anyone else who they meet that they think could use your services. This helps grow your business so much faster than if just you were promoting your business
You can create a community in person, online or both. To grow your community, you’ll want to get in front of new audiences using an email list, social media, hosting workshops or talks and writing for popular blogs or publications.
5. Create a marketing strategy that’s right for you and start selling.
There are many marketing techniques and strategies out there however it’s very important that you create a plan that you will enjoy carrying out. You need to enjoy it because marketing is about showing up consistently and if you don’t enjoy it, you won’t end up doing it..
The three main ways of marketing your business are writing, speaking and networking. Which one feels most appealing to you? Choose that one first and start there. If it’s writing, start simply by writing your website and social media posts, then expand to writing articles for publications or popular blogs. Once you feel that you’ve got the handle on writing, then if you choose to, you can start speaking or networking. If you try to do everything all at once, you’ll likely get overwhelmed and frustrated; so take it one at a time.
If you don’t have any experience with selling, you’ll want to get support in this area as well. Many women feel uncomfortable with marketing and selling but they are both skills that you can learn and master. As a coach, you will want to master selling your own services and the good news is that it is possible for this to feel fun and easy with practice when you align your strategy with who you truly are and with what you enjoy.
6. Get support.
As a solopreneur, it can become incredibly lonely, not to mention that it’s difficult to stay motivated and to know what is the best next step to take. You’ll want to surround yourself with other amazing women who are doing the things that you want to be doing.
Join a mastermind, hire a coach (me?) and find a business bestie. Collaborate instead of competing with your peers. Connect with other successful women and let them support you in your obstacles, celebrate your wins and guide you when you are confused.
To continue to thrive as a coach, of course you’ll want to have your own coach because no matter how skilled you become, you are human and we all have limitations and blind spots that we can’t see. We need the reflection, support and guidance of someone else who can see what we can’t. Coaches have coaches, and so should you.
Starting a business can be an incredibly fulfilling experience and these tips will help you succeed in creating a thriving, meaningful online business doing valuable work. I can’t wait to see what you’re going to create.
I’m Tani Morgan
I followed the story we’re taught - finish school, get a good job, get married, buy a house, have kids and then you’ll live happily ever after - but I still wasn’t happy. So I redesigned my life to create a soul-aligned business that changes the world for the better. Now, I support ambitious women to overcome the mental & emotional resistance holding them back from bringing their highest self to their business every day so they can make money doing what they love.
