How to start an Online coaching business From Scratch (that makes Money Fast!)

As of 2024, the coaching industry continues to boom. It is currently valued at $9.3 billion globally. This growth reflects a greater demand for personal and professional development.

Ready to join the movement? Want to help others while aiming for a six-figure income?

Are you wondering: how to start an online coaching business? In this article, I will give you all the insider tips. Drawing on my expertise, I’ve helped over 600 coaches launch successful online businesses. You’ll learn proven strategies that work.

what is an online coaching business?

Online coaching business involves delivering transformative products and services via the internet. These sessions can occur through video calls. Whether you’re coaching in life skills, business, or fitness, you can connect with clients globally from your home.

Running an online coaching business is rewarding and profitable. There’s a big market and high demand for personalized online coaching. This creates great opportunities for coaches.

Begin Your Online Coaching Journey in 5 Steps

Select A Niche
Set Up Your Website
Create Your Coaching Program
Choose a Platform
Build Your Network

1. Select A Niche

97.8% coaches fail because they don’t choose the right niche. In an online coaching business, focusing on a specific niche is key. Instead of coaching broadly, target clients who need specific help in your area of expertise.

Here’s a simple way to identify your niche. Here, we make use of the Niche Diamond:

Are You Passionate About Your Niche?
You need to be passionate about who you are helping. Your passion will drive you to understand your clients’ needs, dreams and fears. This will help you find better coaching solutions for your clients.

Is Your Niche Abundant And Easy To Reach?
Find a niche that can give you abundant clients. Don’t select a niche that has very few people or isn’t easily accessible.

Can They Pay You?
Determine whether your clients have the financial capability to pay you or not. For example, let’s say your niche is to help people get people back on their feet after filing for bankruptcy. Your clients are already in a financially distressed state where they are struggling to make ends meet. Do you think they will be able to pay you though you might deliver immense value to them? So, always select a niche where clients can pay you for your coaching services.

Are You Solving A Problem Worth Paying For?
How much someone pays to fix a problem depends on how much it bothers them. Make sure your clients really feel the pain of their problems. Only then they would be willing to invest in you.

2. Set Up Your Website

Your website is the most important detail for attracting potential clients. It’s an ideal platform to promote your services and resources. Create content that clearly shows how you can help improve people’s lives.

Here are some dos and don’ts for your coaching website:

If you’re considering starting or revamping your coaching website, you might find my article on the best WordPress themes for coaches quite useful. It’s packed with tips to enhance your online presence.

Businesses with simple websites often perform better than those with complex, flashy designs. Research indicates that given 15 minutes to consume content, two-thirds of people would prefer to engage with a website that is beautifully simple rather than overly complex.

3. Create Your Coaching Program

Your coaching program should reflect your unique selling proposition (USP). Design it to help clients overcome specific challenges in your niche. Focus on common issues. Provide solutions and resources to manage and overcome these problems effectively.

Set Objectives: Start by defining what your program aims to accomplish. Think about the specific improvements or changes you want participants to experience.

For example, if you’re coaching new managers, your objective could be to enhance their team leadership skills effectively within three months.

Develop the Program Content: Organize your coaching material into a series of progressive steps or modules that build on each other. Include practical examples and interactive elements to keep learners engaged.

For instance, for a management skills program, you might have sessions on communication, delegation, and conflict resolution.

Decide the Pricing: Choose a pricing strategy based on your target audience. For low-ticket clients, you should offer a basic package that’s more affordable.

For high-ticket clients such as corporations or top professionals, set a higher rate. For example, a basic course could be priced at $200. A comprehensive program offering extensive personal coaching could be priced $2000.

4. Choose the Right Platform & Tools

To deliver online coaching, you need the right technology. Select the right tools and choose a platform that fits the needs of your coaching business.

Here are some recommendations:

Leading digital Platforms

Thinkific:
🎯 Best for: Coaches with long-educational-courses.
⭐️ Features:  It has course builders, quizzes and surveys. Also, allows you to take live lessons via Zoom integration.

Kajabi:
🎯 Best for: Online course creation and marketing.
⭐️ Features: Offers a comprehensive toolkit for building and hosting online courses, including a website builder, email marketing capabilities, and advanced automation for sales funnels. Kajabi is ideal for coaches who want to create a strong online presence.

Tools Every Coach needs

Zoom:
🎯 Best for: For new coaches leading one-on-one online coaching.
⭐️ Features: Offers high-quality video and audio conferencing, screen sharing, and the ability to record sessions. It is widely used for its stability and ease of use.

Google Meet:
🎯 Best for: For coaches who prefer group coaching.
⭐️ Features: Can host up to 250 participants per call, live captioning during meetings, and integration with Google Workspace for seamless scheduling and management.

EverWebinar:
🎯 Best for: Conducting automated or live webinars.
⭐️ Features: Focuses on automated webinars that feel like live events, perfect for regular content. It includes simulated live chats, polls, and detailed reports to track how well attendees are engaged.

Asana:
🎯 Best for: Managing tasks and projects.
⭐️ Features: Provides tools to manage tasks, track progress, and use templates for projects. It also connects with other communication tools for easy updates.

JotForm:
🎯 Best for: Creating custom forms for client information.
⭐️ Features: Allows easy creation of customizable forms that work on any device. Coaches can quickly build forms for various needs, receive submissions instantly, and secure sensitive data.

Calendly:
🎯 Best for: Simple scheduling.
⭐️ Features: Streamlines booking by letting clients pick from open times, eliminating scheduling conflicts. It syncs with calendars to avoid overlaps and sends reminders to reduce missed appointments.

5. Build Your Network

As a coach, your business’s longevity requires resilience. Running an online business is challenging—you must retain clients and attract new prospects. To thrive, you need to constantly expand and nurture your professional network.

Strategies for Client Engagement

Testimonials
Display success stories and client satisfaction to build trust with potential clients. Testimonials act as social proof, encouraging new clients to engage with your services.

Run Email and Marketing Campaigns
Keep your audience engaged and informed about your services, updates, and special offers. Consistent communication through emails and marketing keeps your brand in the client’s mind, aiding retention and attracting new prospects.

Offer Freebies
Introduce potential clients to your coaching value without initial investment. Free resources like eBooks, webinars, or trial sessions generate interest in your services.

Conduct Workshops
Reach a wider audience with practical, interactive learning experiences. Workshops allow you to showcase your expertise. Attendees often convert into regular clients.

Speak in Seminars
Position yourself as an authority in your field by sharing insights and best practices. Speaking engagements enhance your visibility. It fosters new networking opportunities and client leads.

How much does it cost to start an Online coaching business

The cost to start an online coaching business can vary widely but generally ranges from $1,000 to $5,000. This includes expenses for legal fees, website creation, and initial marketing efforts​​.

These costs are initial investments for setting up your online coaching business.

Cost of Registering your Business (depending on your location): You need to register your coaching business name. The cost will vary according to location. For example, forming an LLC (Limited Liability Company) typically involves fees from $50 to $500.

Laptop and Internet Access: You can get an affordable laptop with internet access.

Website: You can spend up to $1000 to build a professional website. I recommend new coaches to have a simple website that just reflects your brand.

Online Platforms and Tools: Some popular platforms and tools are worth investing in for virtual meeting space. These include Zoom ($14.99/month for Pro plan), Kabaji ($119/month for Basic plan) and Thinkific ($49/month for Basic plan).

Insider Tips for Success

Scaling up your online coaching business requires strategic effort and smart planning. Here are my 3 top tips for expanding your coaching business effectively.

1. Engaging Content to Drive Enrollments 

Offer sneak peeks of your courses with video pop-ups or sample lessons to entice potential students. Offer them a glimpse of how you can transform their lives.

Key Insights

Course Previews: Give a preview to entice learners.
Social Proof: Display engagement stats to attract students.

2. Seamless User Experience and Clear CTAs 

Ensure your website is intuitive and straightforward, with prominent CTAs like “Enroll Now” or “Start Free Trial.” Every step from browsing to enrollment should be smooth.

Key Insights

Clear CTAs: Direct users with noticeable buttons.
User-Friendly Design: Make navigation and enrollment easy.

3. The Casino Strategy

Create engaging and entertaining touchpoints across your business to keep visitors interested and inclined to engage further.

Like a casino, the goal is to offer value at every interaction. Thereby, encouraging visitors to stay longer and engage more. This enhances customer loyalty and increases conversions.

Key Insights

Multiple Touchpoints: Keep visitors engaged with various interactive elements.
Value Extraction: Offer value at every interaction to encourage further engagement.

Avoid these 4 mistakes

Coaching is a highly competitive industry. What may seem like minor oversights can significantly impact your business. Be mindful to avoid these common pitfalls.

1. Trying to make a product for everyone

This will only amplify your problems. Don’t go for this ‘one size does fits all’ approach. For example, as a health coach, you might create a weight loss program that you believe could suit both retirees and women suffering from PCOS.

However, these two groups have distinct needs and challenges. Retirees might require a gentler exercise regimen due to age-related physical limitations. In contrast, women with PCOS may need a program that addresses insulin sensitivity and hormonal balance.

By trying to make a one-size-fits-all solution, the program fails to effectively address the specific health concerns and goals of each group. Resulting in dissatisfied clients and bad reviews.

2. Not knowing your ideal clients

You should have a clarity of what kind of clients you want to work with. Begin by mapping out their demographic and psychographic profiles.

These profiles include basic statistics like age and occupation. They also cover values, challenges, and aspirations. Understanding these aspects helps determine the best channels for outreach.

For instance, if your target audience includes working professionals, LinkedIn could be a key platform for engagement.

3. Not taking into account the client’s feedback

Your client’s feedback is the ideal way of knowing what is going good and what has to be refined. This will help you to improve your services.

I personally like the idea of anonymous feedback since it gives the client the opportunity to put his/her opinion freely. (try it once!)

4. Worrying much about how to scale fast

Many new coaches make this fatal mistake of scaling fast. Concentrate on building a value coaching business rather than a vanity one.

We can help you achieve your vision of growing your business. Just keep hustling. Understand that slow and organic growth is the need of the hour. Rome wasn’t build in a day!

Conclusion

All you need to set up an online coaching business is a laptop and internet connection. This completely remote coaching model as gained significant popularity post-pandemic.

I’m here to help you with your online coaching business. Feel free to leave comments and ask for any advice!