How to Start an Online Coaching Business (No Money or Experience Required!)
Ready to dip your toes in the soon-to-be 325 billion dollar industry of online learning?
Ready to get paid for sharing your answers with your community?
Yay! This is what I LOVE to hear. 🎉
So what’s holding you back, friend?
Are you having doubts?
Don’t freak out! This is a totally normal feeling for a new coach.
Even if you’re super keen to start your online coaching empire you might still be hearing a little voice in the back of your head saying that you don’t have enough start-up capital or technical know-how to get your program off the ground.
I want you to tell that little voice to get lost because today I’m gonna give you three tips on how to start an online coaching business with no money or experience required.
What do I know about how to start an online coaching business?
Well - I’m Molly Ann Luna, life and business success strategist, and let’s just say this isn’t my first rodeo!
I'm all about helping you create both lifestyle and financial freedom, or what I like to refer to as building true wealth.
Whether you're a coach, consultant, or wannabe corporate-escapee who's looking to pivot into online profits, look no further because helping you start an online coaching business from scratch is my jam!
Let’s dive into the three best tips for how to build a coaching business online.👇🏻
Step 1: Find Your North Star
I know that might sound a little cheesy, but trust me: this is the starting place for any amazing online coaching practice.
I see SO many coaches getting excited about ALL the amazing skills they have to share with their clients. But when you focus on TOO many things at once, you only dilute your impact.
When you try to solve too many different types of problems for too many different people, you limit how effective you can be as an online coach.
You need to have total clarity about the specific problem you help people solve and be very precise with what type of client you plan to serve.
This is your north star. ⭐
Your north star is what guides you and your clients through the mountains and valleys of their unique transformations.
I guarantee that you’re a smart and savvy coach, so you probably have a ton of options to choose from when it comes to picking a north star.
But when you choose ONE in particular that you are most passionate about, it will guide you to create a very powerful and profitable online coaching empire.
SO friend, ask yourself why this particular problem and this particular person?
Let that be your compass and you are ready to move onto step 2!
Step 2: Set Up Your Basic Systems
Once you’ve got that total clarity around your mission as an online coach, it’s time to set up your basic systems.
When it comes to setting up systems early on in your coaching journey all I ask is that you keep it simple.
Keeping it simple will allow you to start a coaching business with little to no start-up capital or tech know-how.
In fact, when I first started my online coaching empire I did it all by leveraging exclusively free tools.
My freebies of choice at the time were Gmail, PayPal, and Facebook groups, but there are seriously so many out there for you to choose from that won’t cost you a cent!
It is possible to put your idea together, pitch it to your prospective clients, and pre-sell it all before you start investing in a bunch of high-tech gadgets to help automate your system.
Before you get started with building your online coaching business, I want to share what I feel are the most important systems you need in place (and which free tools I’d recommend to get the job done!)
1. Scheduler 🗓️
The most crucial tool for starting a coaching business from scratch is setting up a scheduler.
Without a scheduling system, how will your potential clients let you know that they are eager to purchase your brilliant program?
Starting a business is all about growing those community connections. Having a scheduler in place gives prospective clients the chance to book a discovery call with you and join your roster of people that you need notified about all of your upcoming offers.
My current fav is Calendly. It’s a free resource that will help you set up those client calls with the possibility of upgrading to the paid version once you start generating some income! Plus, it will save you the time of having to go back and forth over email with potential clients, trying to find a day that works for both parties. All you need to do is set your availability once and Calendly takes it from there! Automation for the win 💪🏼
2. Payment Processor 💳
Once you’ve had that initial contact with potential clients, the best-case scenario is that they book!
At this point, you absolutely MUST have a payment processor in place to collect those coins from your lucky clients.
Like I mentioned before, I started off using PayPal but these days I’ve been loving Stripe.
It’s a completely free tool to set up but charges a small transaction fee that I remember to factor into my pricing.
Stripe makes it super easy to invoice clients, process one-time payments, or set up payment plans that suit your unique client relationships.
Having a mainstream platform with an excellent dashboard helps me keep track of all my financial matters in the easiest way possible for a very reasonable price.
3. Client Contract ✍🏻
Even in the early stages of your business, you need to have a basic client coaching contract in place to establish the nature of the relationship.
This is your chance to outline your terms and conditions and clear up exactly what your clients are investing in.
My fav free tool for this kind of contract is rocketlawyer.com. You can choose from a bunch of customizable contracts to help protect you and your clients while doing business together.
If you want to know my other fav free tools or what subscriptions I currently have for my own business check out my list of smart tools here.
Step 3: Package, Prove, Promote and Pre-Sell Your Program.
Assuming you’ve followed steps one and two and have clarified your coaching mission and set up your smart tools, you are ready to start building out your program. Yay! 🎉
This is where step 3 comes in.
Step three is my proven method for how to start an online coaching business.
My proven method goes a little something like this: Package, Prove, Promote and Pre-Sell. These 4 P’s are the foundation of a successful group program. Let’s dive a little deeper 👇🏽
Package
I want you to package your program. This means getting real with how much you want to make on this program and how to have your worth reflected in your pricing.
Packaging and pricing can be one of the hardest things to do as a business owner. Don’t let your discomfort scare you away from putting your offers out at the price you deserve to be paid!
Need a little help? Check out this post where I dive deeper into packaging and pricing your online group coaching program.
Prove
Before you spend any time, energy, or money on building out your online coaching program I want you to have solid proof that it’s profitable.