10 things you need to start an online coaching business

5. Establish a Reliable Support Team

Starting an online coaching business is an extremely time-consuming process. Sure, it’s extremely exciting but it can also be very isolating. No matter how hard you try, you cannot run a business on your own. Whether you hire staff or not, it is important to establish a team that can support you from the very start and encourage you along the way. 

These people don’t need to be business partners or employees. They can be peers, other freelancers, virtual assistants, part-time admin support or even finding a mentor to help you through the early stages of setting up your business online. Whoever you turn to, it’s just important to have people you can lean on and celebrate with.

6. Understand the Commitment

Plenty of people quit their 9-5 job to start their own business because they want to make their own hours and have control over their schedule. And while this can certainly happen, it won’t always be the case straight away. 

In fact, you might find that (at least to begin with) you are working even harder than you were before.

You must understand the commitment it takes to launch an online coaching business before you start, otherwise, you might be in for a surprise! However, it is important to remember that doing the groundwork, in the beginning, will help set you up for future success, flexible schedules, and so much more.

7. Timing is Everything

We know how it feels to come up with a fantastic business idea – you want to shout about it from the rooftops. But timing is everything. 

Picking the best moment to officially launch your company can mean the difference between failing at the first hurdle or succeeding in the long term.  

When to launch your business will depend on the ebbs and flows of your industry, the success of your competitors, the availability of funds, your personal circumstances, your business plan, and pretty much all the points we’ve listed above. 

It’s important to be aware of your competitors’ activity when deciding a launch date. Be mindful of whether competitors have recently launched a new product/service that will potentially rival your new venture. 

Launching your business early doors as a disruptor to your sector will often benefit from attracting initial interest from your target market. However, don’t feel time-pressured to launch too prematurely, there are many benefits of waiting, observing what your competitors are offering and then using the feedback from customers to help inform and improve your product (pre-launch). 

Timing, when considering your competitors’ activity, can be the difference between a successful, thriving business or a startup flop for your coaching business. 

8. Be Flexible to New Ideas

Flexibility is key to running a successful coaching business. All the planning in the world cannot prepare you for every eventuality and despite your best efforts, you may find that your business model needs to be modified or even rebuilt to work effectively. If this is the case, be flexible and open to new ideas. 

Developing a concept into an actual business often involves a lot of trial and error. However, being flexible and open to new ideas will help your online coaching business be the best it can be.

9. Creating A Coaching Program

Creating a framework for your online coaching programs will improve efficiencies and deliver better results for you and (most importantly) your clients. 

Having a unique framework for your online programs, you’ll spend less time on repetitive inefficient tasks and more time spent strategizing and being present in your coaching sessions. 

Before even sitting down and thinking about designing and creating a coaching program ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the focus of your coaching program?

• What challenge is your target client looking to solve? Where are they struggling?

• What will your client be able to achieve through your program?

Just getting started designing a new online coaching program, or digitizing an existing in-person program is often the hardest part.

To help you get started faster, check out Nudge Coach co-founder Phil Beene’s simple playbook for how to create a new coaching program from scratch.

The benefits of having a considered coaching program will help define your coaching scope or niche area of expertise and deliver a better service to your customers.

10. Delivering A Coaching Program

There are many formats, mediums, platforms available to deliver an online business coaching program. We recommend incorporating a mix of content types to keep clients engaged with your offering and brand.

Engaging online coaching programs can take many different forms, but they are always a balance of 3 things:

1. Digestible educational content

2. Simple progress tracking for accountability

3. And personal coaching touchpoints

Nudge Coach gives you the option to deliver your programs at scale while engaging with your clients remotely. There’s also the option to work with them to build White Label apps, custom-branded coaching apps that will help scale your online business.