When you research how to become a coach, do you assume you will only be doing private, one on one coaching to start and grow your coaching business?
I know when you learn coaching skills, you spend a lot of time doing one on one coaching. So, it’s normal this is the first option you think of when considering how to grow your coach business. You may not have realized there are many other great options.
I find one on one, private coaching very rewarding and effective but I also discovered, through experience, that if I coach more than four people in a day, I am exhausted. It’s essential for me to be fully present for my clients. I need to be refreshed and alert to help them best. So, when I become a full-time coach, I quickly discovered I needed to branch out and try other ways to make money through my coaching.
Variety and diversification are useful in any business, let’s look at some of the many ways you can make more money and make the most of your coaching skills.
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Before we dive into how to earn money as a life coach let’s talk about who pays for coaching.
The three main groups who will pay a coach are:
- Individuals
- Sponsors
- Organizations
Individuals
These are people who decide to invest in themselves and their development. There are many people who find a coach and pay for them directly so they can achieve their goals faster and more effectively.
Sponsors
A sponsor is when someone else pays for a client’s coaching. You will often see this when a parent pays for their child’s coaching or when someone pays for his/her spouse’s coaching.
Organizations
More and more companies and organizations hire coaches to work directly with team members. You might be hired to work with the C-Suite, or you may be engaged to coach any staff member.
If you’re working as part of an organization, you can be an external coach (consultant/subcontractor) or internal coach (as an employee of the company).
Types of Coaching
1. Individual Custom Coaching
Also known as 1:1 coaching. This can be in person, by phone or video conference. In this type of personalized coaching, the focus is on the specific client’s goals, and the coaching supports them as they move forward to resolve an issue or achieve the goal.
Calls usually take place on a regular schedule of weekly, biweekly or monthly.
2. Individual Coaching Program on a Specific Topic
Often known as a signature coaching program. If you havespecificexpertise, for example in sustained weight loss or confidence building, you might create a program approach to coaching.
While this is still very much individualized, you are engaged to take the client on a designated journey during the program.
You have a solution that they would like to learn, achieve or embody. This type of program can last anywhere from a few weeks to a year. Calls take place on a regular schedule that facilitates the client’s journey.
3. Couple or Family Coaching
A relationship coach might coach a couple, an in some cases a family to overcome challenges. For example, helping blended families succeed or supporting military families thrive when they move overseas.
This method of coaching would primarily be done in person or through video conference.Phone coaching will not be very effective for this engagement.
The focus is on specific issues or goals, and the coaching supports them as they move forward to resolve a problem or achieve the goal.
Sessions usually take place through regular biweekly or monthly meetings, and they may be supplemented by separate private one on one sessions for the individuals.
4. Email or text-based coaching
This is individual coaching, but instead of meeting in person, by phone or video, all coaching is done by email. If you love to write or are proficient at keeping your thoughts clear while dictating voice to text this can be a great option.
The client will send issues, and you may have a back and forth coaching session in writing.
5. Coaching intensives
You may have heard these called VIP Days.
They can be half day, full day or a weekend of intensive one on one coaching.
Primarily, these are in person, and often the client and coach will meet at a hotel or resort, a locale selected to facilitate the intensive nature of the work. They are a highly focussed event for people who want to accomplish something very quickly.
6. Group coaching programs
These group coaching sessions are a great transition and depending on your comfort level it can be up to 20 people. The coach focusses on a theme and decides the best way to lead the group. There are usually worksheets, discussions, accountability, reading, video content and individual coaching within the group environment. Group coaching can make it more affordable for clients. And it provides group support and camaraderie. This effective use of your time usually nets a higher hourly rate.
7. Workshops / Webinars / Seminars
A workshop usually addresses one topic or a related range of topics. The duration can be as little as an hour to some full days. There may or may not be coaching specifically, but the coach will present, demonstrate and teach new skills and often this is done with a coaching approach. You can conduct these virtually or in person.
8. Retreats
Usually, these are conducted in person, but there is a growing trend to virtual retreats as well.
Coaching forms either a portion or is the main focus of the retreat. In other words, coaching can be the prime topic, or it can be an added side approach to embed learning, or even act as a tune-up for the attendees. These are an excellent opportunity to work with complementary partners.
9. Coach in residence
A part-time coach who is committed to a particular schedule at an organization (e.g. one day per week, two days per month). During the time the coach is on site they are available for individual or group coaching with the team.
10. Team coaching
This style of coaching is usually done on-site at a workplace, and the team is coached to improve performance, engagement, cohesiveness and other organizational goals. At times, this can be layered with individual coaching of team members.
11. Monthly Memberships
There are many forms of monthly memberships. They are defined only by your imagination. The group members usually fall within a common niche (e.g. work at home Moms, high potential leaders, women entrepreneurs, creatives, women in STEM)
Memberships usually involve delivering material, resources or training on a regular basis. They also often combine group coaching via video conference.
These usually combine handouts, assignments, audio or video training, group instruction, periodic live coaching of one or two individuals and Live Q&A sessions.
12. Speaking engagements
Public speaking delivered to small or large groups at events. There is often an opportunity to couple this with a small coaching demonstration. It’s an excellent way to get visibility for your business. Wherever possible, take advantage of a business card drop, sign up sheet or offer a prize to encourage people to submit their email address. This lets you follow up afterwards to further networking and promote your services.
13. Write a book
Share your knowledge on a specific topic. Promote your books on your website or through Amazon Noble and other online bookstores.
It is a simple and easy process to create an eBook, and there are also print on demand services through Amazon if you want to make print versions of your book available.
14. Audiobook
Once you’ve written a book, you can record an audio version of it and distribute it on an audio platform such as Audible.
15. Digital Coaching Program
Delivered through a courseportal or regular emails with a combination of reading, videos, workbook(s) and specific actions. These programs are topic specific and are often coupled with a group forum on social media (Facebook Groups).
16. Consulting
You may have an area of expertise where you can combine work as a consultant with your work as a coach.
For example, you could be brought in as a Transition Manager when a company is undergoing a significant change. You might provide your expertise and coach team members to manage their stress, deal with their emotions and remain resilient during the transition.
17. Training Program
You could deliver a training program on a specific topic for an organization. For example, many coaches are also certified in other modalities such as Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Management or Diversity and Inclusion. You would provide an end to end training program that combines the material that you teach with coaching to support the participants to get more value and more fully understand and integrate the training topic.
I hope these ideas have given you insight and got you thinking creatively of how you might like to make money in your coaching practice. These methods are being used every single day by successful coaches.
As you design your coaching practice, you are only limited by your creativity. You can deliver any of the one-on-one or group coaching modalities in ways that inspire you. For example, perhaps you love to hike. You could coach on morning hikes. Or if you love book clubs, you could create a monthly group coaching program based on books. Each month, you could select a book to read and then the group could meet to discuss the book and be coached on some of the book’s topics.
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