Start an Online
Coaching Business Using
Your Talents and Expertise

Learning
something new is fun; it can also be a challenge. Many times we are required to learn something new with our
job and there are times when we are interested
in something and want to learn more about it. That’s why a coaching business offers a great way to make some nice profits.
There is so
much information out there so it seems very easy to just do some research and find what it is you need to
know. How easy is it to apply your new found
knowledge in a real life situation, and how much can you trust the information out there? It is not really that simple. Learning
something and doing
something are two different things.
Learning
something and putting it into practice takes time, patience, and a good coach. This is where you come in handy.
Think of your current niche, and as you are
thinking about it, is there something within your niche that people need or want help with? Maybe you cannot think of
something within your niche, so below are ten coaching
businesses examples.
The purpose is to
give you the coacher ideas within different niches, then go back and think of ways you can create a
coaching business within your own niche. If you
still cannot think of anything within your niche, then it can be a totally separate business from what you have right
now. Read each one and think about it.
Then read it again thinking of ways you can apply that knowledge to your own business.
Types of Coaching
Businesses
The ten
coaching business ideas are computer/IT, financial, career, parenting, gardening, school (high school and
college), cooking, instruments, hone improvement,
and sales. Each one is a different type of business, and you may or may not need any special experience to
start. You won’t need experience to start the
business either, but one thing to note is you must let your potential clients know you are simply coaching
and not giving
professional advice.
If you are a
professional, that is great and you will be a step ahead of others coachers out there. But nonetheless,
people will seek a non-professional who charges less to
give supplemental knowledge
to what they already know.
Another thing is
do not limit your thoughts and beliefs to what is written. You are encouraged to take these types of
coaching business ideas and come up with creative ways to start your own business with your skills and expertise.
Computer and IT
Computers are
designed to help you to become more productive. But there are times when they can slow us down. If you
are great with computers, you can start a
coaching business to help with those pesky issues that get in the way of
getting your daily tasks done. Let me walk you through some ideas to get you started with this type of business.
If someone has a
minor issue and he or she cannot afford to pay a professional, you can charge
a lower rate and coach them through
the issue from home. Maybe
it’s not computer
issues that you can help with. There are many new computer
programmers out
there who may need a little coaching to help them apply what they
learned in school to their
career.
Financial
Money
management can be very tough for many people. It is very important to have
your finances in order so you
are prepared for now
and your future.
You
know the
saying “save your pennies for a rainy day.” You literally need to save your money so that it works for you and
not against you. So many people borrow more than they
make in one year.
The best way to
help anyone is to help them before they get into a financial bind. You are there to help people make sound
financial decisions, and coaching will greatly
motivate people to take action and be wise with their money. It is heartbreaking to see people when they lose
so many things they worked so hard to
get. Financial coaching may be the most sought after and necessary business today.
When people get
into desperate situations they look for someone to help them out. Their reasons for creating this
problem are all different, but in this day and
age, it is hard to survive on the little income most people make. There
are however, ways to manage your
money well and live off of the income you have
and be in good financial
standing.
So as a
financial coach, you will be giving sound advice and helping people learn how money works. You may also help them
grow their wealth and use certain people for your resources
such as Warren Buffet, Napoleon
Hill, and Dave Ramsey
to name a few.
These people and more helped many people make their money work for them.
Career Coaching
Your career
is the most important decision you will need to make in life. It will give you income and ultimately help you to
decide your best path through life. It is
hard for some people to decide which career path will ultimately allow them to live the life they choose.
You might believe
your dream of becoming a doctor or nurse when you were five years old is the best career choice. When
you reach adulthood however, your way of
thinking may change significantly. In reality, the best way to choose a career that is most fitting to you is one that
reflects the lifestyle you want. There are tests
you can take and studies performed that act as a guide and give you advice on a career but, may not be a definite answer.
So if you have a
lot of knowledge about careers and which ones are ideal for certain
personalities, then you can make a nice business reflecting what you know about
it to clients. Sometimes it helps if you studied psychology because much of how you match someone up with an ideal
career has a lot to do with his or her psyche.
Do remember this
and all businesses in this article are ones you will not need previous experience to start, but it does
require some ability to work well with others.
You need to be good with people, understand their concerns, and attract people
who are willing to take
advice. They should
be informed that the final
outcome of the
coaching sessions is a reflection of their choices. You are only there
to help them see things
with a different perspective.
Parenting
Having
children is a blessing. Knowing effective ways to parent your children can seem obscure or even a little difficult
at times. You will also notice each child is
different. The best advice for someone to start a parenting coaching
career is to have some background
working with children. It is even a good idea to have a degree in child psychology, but not required.
Whichever
coaching business you decide to start is designed to give people advice and supplemental knowledge. Look for
people who are willing to take advice as sometimes giving parenting advice
can turn people off.
When you get the
chance, look up a show called “Nanny 911” and learn from it. These professionals have helped many
families get their children on the right track behaviorally. If you notice,
a lot of it has to do with the parent changing the ways they believe they should discipline their children.
Success only comes from taking the
advice the nannies give and working with their children in a consistent manner.
So if you feel
you have what it takes and love working with children and are good at helping other see things from a
different view, then this can be a very rewarding
business choice. Remember the world needs people who are willing to help others in need.
Gardening
No matter
what season it is, people love to garden. Some have indoor plants and others plant during the spring and summer
months outside. Others have greenhouses
where they can plant any time of the year. No matter how you setup your garden, I always hear people say
they do not have a green thumb and their plants will not
last.
It is those
people who many times want to learn to garden but feel they do not have what it takes. This is where a
gardening coach comes in handy. There are many
facets and different crucial elements that go into gardening to have the most success with it. Each plant is not
created equal and will require different types of attention and nutrition.
If you are great
at gardening and have had much success with it, then you might consider coaching others through it. It is
always best to have a coach of some sort help
another person. Hearing the advice and seeing it put into action are very different. There is also terminology that
is easier to show than to just know the definition.
School (High School
and College)
Learning is very rewarding
but can be challenging at times. It does not matter who you
are, your upbringing, or how well you absorb information. As a child, many times you can absorb information like a
sponge. However, when you reach adulthood,
learning is NOT the same. There are many resources out there to help you learn something, but there is no such thing as too much help.
With so many
learning styles and information changing so rapidly, there is a NEED for people to coach others through their
learning experience. Now there will most likely
be some subjects you excel at and others you are not so great at. So think about what you are good at and work with people with that subject.
Cooking
When you open your Facebook or Twitter profile, you will notice there are
a lot of recipes and videos of
people making the recipe. They look so good and so you just want
to try it. For some reason,
you quickly think,
“I won’t be able to make
it as
good as they
did in the video.” But you know that
simply is not true.
You probably
will not be making a career out of a few people who just have an interest in making one simple recipe, but
rather someone who has a deeper interest
in it. So how will you know if they do or not? You can look at the comments on the video to get an idea of
how to market this type of coaching business,
but may never know who is really interested until they respond to you ad.
To advertise your
cook coaching business make your own video of a recipe and put a link in it or in the description
letting people know you have coaching sessions for people who want to become chefs
or improve their
cooking skills.
Instruments
Music is often considered a universal language. It reaches deep down in
our souls and touches many
generations. When you like something you are listening to, you will
put your own meaning to it.
No matter what language you speak, music will
be interpreted in
your own language even when you do not understand the words and their meaning.
People want to
carry on a legacy that has been passed down for generations, or they want to make a crowd of people have
a great time. No matter what the reason, learning
instruments is, and will be in high demand for a long time.
If you know an
instrument and have a passion for helping others learn to play, you are on the fast track to growing
a lucrative business
and earning many clients.
What
instruments are easy to learn without being face to face with an instructor? Pretty much every instrument on the planet
and that is due to video and web cameras.
Home Improvement
Your house is
your home. You want it to be more than just a building you eat, relax, and sleep in. It is a part of your
well-being. Keeping your home in working order
and having it look presentable is something we all desire. Sometimes we do not know
where to start and we begin to
look for some good advice.
If you have the
expertise in home improvement, then why not create a coaching program for it? For example, say you want
to lay new tile in your kitchen. It may seem
like no brainer, but there are actually some important things to keep in mind so you can prepare yourself before
you start. The measurements of course along with how
to prepare the sub-floor and so
on are all things a good coach can help with.
Sales
Selling is a part of life.
Whether you realize
it or not, when you go to a job
interview, you
are “selling” your expertise and skills to the potential employer. People think of sales in a negative
connotation, but here is your chance to show
people that it is not so bad. Plus people who are already in the sales
profession know that they always
need to find ways to improve.
This is why sales
coaching will be a great profit maker for you. More and more people are starting their own businesses,
and guess what; sales are going to and always
will be a big part of it. How else will you get your clients? Selling is a
must, but unlike the old days, the strategies used to sell have changed
dramatically.
For this section,
I will talk about different selling styles. First selling is not something that can be forced upon others.
Whatever way you word things, a “NO” most likely will be a NO. You have to respect that no and realize you do not want to do
business with someone who gives you a negative response.
What are some
selling styles? Proactive, consultative, aggressive, and passive are some of the styles you may notice. For
your business, you may want to take one style
and build it all round that. A majority of people will probably want to focus on the passive way of selling. In my life,
I have noticed that there are more passive people
and introverts than there are impassive
people extroverts.
Now, I want to
break these styles down for you and give you a better understanding of each. This is in hopes that if you choose to be
a sales coach, you may be able to
understand more than one style which in the end will be more profits.
Let’s go
backwards from the order I listed the styles in since I know there are many more passive
sellers than impassive:
·
Passive
Passive selling
is pretty effective. You do not want to be labeled “pushy sales- person”
and so you take this approach. As a coach,
you will teach
others how
to get the sale without “selling
to” someone. Passive
selling can be achieved in a
more laid back setting where people are already aware that your product or service
exists.
This makes
things easier for you in the long run. Passive selling may require aggressive selling at the start. This is
until people are aware of your brand and company.
When people become loyal customers, then they will be looking out for new products
and services and special offers.
·
Aggressive
Aggressive is when you seek after
people to tell them you have a product
and convince them to buy it. As I
said above, when your business is new, this may be an approach you need to start with. As more people are
aware of your brand, you can
transition into a passive approach.
·
Consultative
This is actually
what coaching is about. As a coach, you are not just helping people understand their skills or business
better, but rather acting as a type of consultant.
You are the expert in your niche, so you can rest assured that there will be
people who trust you for
your expertise.
·
Proactive
Proactive
selling allows you to cause the sale to happen. You are not just standing to the side, then responding to
the sale once a transaction occurred. The
sale may never have happened if you were not proactive in it. When you are coaching people
with this style,
you need to emphasize the importance of being
proactive. You are proactive with your sales whether you are passive or aggressive in sales.
How to implement your coaching business
Once you have read about and decided which
coaching business you feel fits you best, it is time to implement it. All of
these coaching businesses can begin the same
way. First a good plan will need to be set in place. Follow that plan exactly how it is because consistency is
important.
With your plan
you should include a mind map of each component of your business. Search Google® for some sample mind maps. Here you can
see all the different components and
can add more or take away some as necessary. Having an illustration right before you will help you gather all the
ideas possible to set your business up and run it.
Now take each section of the mind map at a time and figure out an order
to put them in. There is no wrong
or right order here, but your instinct may tell you to do certain things before others. Follow that instinct and refer
to your resources. This may require
more research to see if there is any logical order to implement your business
in.
Now, take one
piece at a time and execute it. Then observe what happens. The parts which work best will require less
attention. Now take those pieces which did not deliver an
ideal outcome. Focus on them and try to work out
a way
to improve it. Once it
improves, keep executing it. Now repeat this now and for the life of
the business.
Note that things
will change as your business grows. What worked one time may not work in the future. So always be open
to creating new plans for your business. Remember to also be consistent.
Resources and example
coaching businesses
Resources are
very important. They also help with credibility. For example, if you want to increase sales a good resource
for you is a person such as Tony Robbins. Tony
Robbins is a renowned leadership expert and helps people plan their businesses.
As a life coach
himself, Tony has helped tons of people achieve goals the can only dream of. Part of your career as a coach
is your ability to speak in front of people.
Again, Tony Robbins is a great example to use. You can find out more
about him by doing a quick google search.
Besides people
like Tony, what other resources can you trust? If you do some more research and find peer reviewed
articles, they will help tremendously. If you
are not familiar with what
a peer reviewed article is, they are
written by experts in
a particular field and reviewed by other experts in that field. After it has
been carefully reviewed then it is
published.
You can find peer reviewed
articles, journals, and other texts
of the like at your
library or
through the library’s website. Please be advised that you should get as many resources
as possible and refer back to them
as needed.
Marketing your coaching
business
Now that you
have decided on your coaching business and have some important plans set in place, you will need to know
how to market your idea and realize which
ways will be most effective. No two businesses are alike, so there is no right way to market that will work every time.
Even though there are people out there that say their method
works, proceed with caution.
It is best to do
some research and test your own methods out. Remember that you can research the internet, but get as
many sources as possible. Many people will
create a site or blog and say whatever they want. So when you get a good number of sites, compare the sites and
blogs with the credible information you found. Take the marketing ideas that make the most sense and use them to guide
you.
Marketing should also be treated similar to selling and keep in mind what
I talked about in that section. As
there are different selling styles, there are different sub- categories for marketing your coaching business.
For those people whom you want to do business with, these small
categories are something you should
really pay attention to. There are three categories, which I learnt that take some unknown out of
sales and change the way you think about it
from now on. One is relationship marketing, two is social marketing, and three is content marketing.
I chose these
three styles because they are extremely important in a coaching business. There are other styles out
there in the world but the main focus is getting
some ideas across so you have a foundation to base things off of. Now let’s
talk about the smaller yet important sales categories.
·
Relationship
Marketing
Relationship
marketing is a fairly new concept as it stands, but in reality, it is something most people learn when they get
a job. What you learn is that you should
treat the customer so they feel as if they are welcome in the store or company.
You want them to
feel at home.
This builds a
relationship with the very people you want to do business with. Another way to build relationships with
people is to remember things about them.
When you see them face to face, try and remember their name. When they give you their information send out
a birthday, holiday, or anniversary card which
can help build a stronger relationship.
This is one
marketing category you want to be focused on more than others. The more personable you can be, the better
your business will run. Those who are
experts in relationship marketing and can relay the importance of this concept
can expect to have an easier time growing their coaching business.
·
Social Marketing
This category
has been around, but there are some important ground rules to adhere to. Do a bit of research on the
different ways you should market through
social media. It is more than just putting an affiliate like on your Facebook
wall or on you Twitter
feed. You have to
engage the audience every
way you can and
NOT seem like you are just trying to get them to click a link and buy an affiliate offer.
Once you
understand the ground rules, the sky is the limit with social marketing. You can join groups and go on
message boards, but be warned, you want
to build rapport with the members first. There are some places like the “Warrior Forum” that are designed for
internet marketers. You still need to build
relationships with the members before you dive right in and post your ads.
·
Content Marketing
Content
marketing has been around since the written word. People have been finding ways to communicate with other
people since language began. It is something
that will not soon die out, so this should be another of your focuses when
it comes to marketing
Making your business
fun and engaging
Being an enthusiastic person greatly increases your ability to attract
more people to your coaching
business. Attracting people is way more than just speaking in an enthusiastic way and sounding exciting.
You have to be authentic as well because people will be
able to tell if you are or not.
If you are just
going through the motions, you will not seem real or that you are really interested in what you are doing.
The best way to be successful with this part is to really
have an interest and passion for what
you will be doing.
You also want to
attract the right people to your business. Trying to get as many people as you can to jump on board and get
coaching from you seems like the ideal
thing, but if those people seem like they are on board then drop off the face of the planet,
it will just be wasted effort
in the end.
One thing I
warned about early on is be careful of the resources you use. However, one thing you can do as an
exercise to help your business to be more fun
and engaging is to read blogs. Since many blogs are not expected to be professional and people may not be writing
about the subject in the most professional manner,
you can always get some good ideas
from it.
When reading the
blog, think about what makes reading it fun and engaging for you. Apply that to your own
business and it will be easier
to get motivated.
Motivation is the key to
a successful coaching career.
Find out what people want and need
How do you
know what people want and need? It is a great open ended question to start you out with. You will never
know right off the bat, and it can be hard to
pinpoint what people actually want. If you are a social person, it may
be easy for you to approach someone
and have a nice conversation and from there learn what they want and need.
This is
considered small talk and is a great way to find the information you are looking
for. On neutral ground, people
are more likely to talk about
superficial
things. They
don’t know you on a personal level, so it is easier to simply talk about what is happening at the given moment.
This is to your advantage. And if you are not the most social
person or are shy or even a little self-conscious, don’t be.
The reason being
is you should not worry about what people think of you at that moment. They do not know you and if your
conversation was not the greatest, they
probably will not remember the negative things about it. And that is okay. Consider
it practice and keep
going out in the world and try again.
Once you build up
confidence, you will begin to see a change in how people react to you. Take note of how things have
changed and realize those changes. The more
you connect with people and learn their needs, the better things will get for you.
Plan each session
before you start
Hopefully you
have heard of the saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Write this one down and put it into view either
on your bathroom mirror, the bedroom or
front door, or anywhere where you will see it. This will act as a reminder that you need to make
sure you planned
for what you will be
doing from day to
day.
Keep a
schedule
Having a schedule
is so important. You want to know when you hold coaching sessions and also know what activities you will need to do to
accomplish certain goals. Many people
get stuck here because structure is not a huge part of our daily lives. Get something into practice
before you begin your business and make a
point to follow it daily. This will be a big step toward getting into the habit
of being organized and prepared.
Organization is important
Being
organized and staying that way is very important. In fact this is one of the most important attributes to your
business and will save you from huge headaches
later. It goes along with planning as well. You plan needs to be organized
and having an organized plan will help you here.
I have some tips and advice for being and staying
organized and so I want you to read once, then go back and read it
again. The second time you read it, you will
think to yourself how you will accomplish this task. In the end I hope
you will be better organized and see success down the
road as a result.
Be prepared to answer questions
You want
people to ask questions. That is how you know they are engaged in what you are presenting to them. You
will never be able to have all the information
you need set in place as to avoid any uncertainties. In fact it is actually good to have uncertainties
because as you are able to answer the questions, you will
also learn something new.
Coaching isn’t
about knowing everything, but knowing enough to help people who want it. If you do not know the answer
to something, do not just tell them anything. If you do, you will
be in a world of hurt in the
future.
How to get your clients
engaged
How do you get clients engaged? Remember earlier I said you want to
attract the right type of people.
So once you have the right people, then it will be that much easier
for you. One thing to ask
yourself is what gets you engaged? I know
one
thing that gets
me engaged is simple; eye contact and using my name when someone speaks to me.
Acknowledge as many people
as you can. “I have a bad memory”,
or “I’m not
good with names,”
are the most common excuses people make. The problem is that neither excuse is accurate. You just did not “learn” how to
remember
someone’s name. Learning and remembering go hand in hand. Find out
different methods that people use
to help them remember things and practice it. The best way is to try and continue
to try.
Create a calendar (so people can view
your schedule)
My favorite
thing is to have a calendar with all my events written in. There are digital calendars you can share with
people and even free software you can find from your website hosting
to meet your needs for this.
Experience tells
me to write everything down; EVERYTHING. If you have working experience, meaning you have held a job of
some sort, you will realize that people will
tell you something one time then later on, what they told you will be irrelevant. Even at your job you should
write everything down not just to cover your end, but so you can refer back to it to help you remember
what was said.
With the calendar
software of your choice, you can have your schedule viewable to your clients and to whomever you
choose. If you have workers who are helping
with your business, it is a great way for them
to know what is going on.
Conclusion
Coaching is
all around you. It comes in subtle forms and other times coaching is blatantly
obvious. Obviously coaching
is associated with sports, but certain other
life activities greatly benefit from coaching. Take the different types
of coaching businesses in this
article as something to compare to different life situations where coaching can be beneficial.
Remember, the
most important part in starting your own coaching business is to think about and decide what it is that
motivates you the most. From there, you can
look at the examples above and use them as a guide as you begin to develop a plan for your business.
As the plan develops, certain strategies can be executed
giving you a “jump start”
for a long and successful path. Success is only measured by the results
from the type of effort you put into
it. It will take time and effort to start the business and keep it running. There are no easy answers
and learning from others will not prevent
you from making your own mistakes. It is important to make your own mistakes
so you can learn from them and grow
stronger.
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