Coaching can be a satisfying career especially if you enjoy helping people. While it is a field with no entry barrier, it is, however, not for everybody because it requires you to carefully assess your skills, knowledge, identify your niche and potential customers, amongst other things.
In this article on how to start a professional coaching business, we’ll define coaching business, and discuss how to start one.
WHAT IS COACHING BUSINESS?
A coaching business is a type of business where you use your expertise or knowledge to advice and guide people so as to transform their lives. You could coach people people on business, health, relationship, personal finance, productivity, spirituality, sports, etc.
If you have the required knowledge or skills and the ability to share it, you can be successful in helping people achieve their goals.
It is advisable to focus on a well-defined niche; the narrower your target audience, the easier it will be to attract qualified clients.
HOW TO START
Know your Expertise
The first step is to figure out what you’re really good at that you believe would help people. It could be something that you have a clear understanding about, valuable information that is needed by a particular set of individuals. However, if you identify any gaps, develop a plan to fill those gaps.
Your area of expertise should help you niche down and not the reverse; you cannot settle for a niche that you know nothing about. If you’re the go-to person within your circle of friends when it comes to relationship matters, why not explore that niche rather than starting a coaching business in fitness? Ask yourself questions like: What am I best at? What am I most interested in? What kind of advice do my friends and family seek from me? The recurring answer should be coaching niche.
If you want to get coaching clients fast, then find a niche that aligns with your expertise as soon as possible. Your niche tells you who your ideal clients are, how to tailor content and marketing, pricing strategy and so on.
READ ALSO: How to Nail your Pricing for your Service-based Business
Define Your Target Audience
This is the group of people who will be interested in your coaching service. In defining your target audience, you have to know their gender, age, and income level, etc. Understanding your target audience persona provides you with the key characteristics of an ideal client for your coaching business.
Choose a Business Name
Your coaching business should have a name it should be identified by. The name should also fit well into your niche, and speak to your target audience.
READ ALSO: Smartpreneur Tips: Choosing The Right Business Name
Register your coaching business
To avoid costly damages and regrets down the road, it is advisable to register your business. It shows that your business legally exists. In Nigeria, it’s crucial for business owners to register their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) because there are benefits attached to it.
Consider Certification
It is not required, but a certification would give you an updated view of your chosen niche, reveal paths to success that you might not have thought about, and refine your understanding of what your clients will need help with.
A certification could also serve as proof that you’re an expert. This increases your credibility and helps convince people you are a professional coach.
Create a Website
You need a platform to serve as host for your brand, communication, identity and community. Your website is the place to send prospects who want to learn about your coaching service, and a portal for content that your clients will need access to.
To ease the process of website creation, you can use StartWeb, Africa’s No 1 website building tool to help you create and design a professional website in 5 minutes with 5 easy steps.
An engaging website that describes your experience and credentials will be an invaluable marketing tool and a core part of your service delivery.
Make your knowledge a product
Coaching business being in the service-based industry does not produce tangible offerings but to make it a success, you have to productize The question is how? Well, you don’t have to give out all that you know at once. You could narrow down your service into various divisions or structured segments that are packaged and then administered strategically in a monthly or yearly program. This way you make available to your clients what they need at a particular time and an offering that they are willing to pay for.
Establishing how your knowledge will be productized is a crucial step that deserves significant attention because this will determine how you monetize.
Market/Advertise Your Coaching Business
Just like every other business, in order to attract customers to your coaching business, you’ll have to market and advertise to your target audience, highlighting your service offerings, your abilities and experience. There are several marketing channels available that you can utilize to spread your message.
You have to create a presence for your coaching business on social media, follow accounts of people who fit your customer profile, engage with their posts, run ad campaigns with a well thought out sales funnel strategy.
