The Best Strategy For Coaches Right Now
… How to know which of the 4 stages your coaching business is in and the best strategy to follow
The tutu doesn’t make the dancer. (Yes, that’s me in the pink tutu. And my childhood friend, Monique, is next to me.)
I loved ballet when I was little! I often dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina.
I also loved horses, and wanted to be a world class equestrian…
And acting! I loved being on stage and dreamt of being an actress…
And an artist…
And a writer…
If you think back to your childhood, I bet you dreamed of becoming a lot of different things, too. You may even have played dress-up or “let’s pretend” games acting them out, like I did.
Role-play is an important part of every child’s development. But turning the dream into reality takes a lot of work. And it usually happens in phases.
This is the perfect analogy for building your coaching business. Because there are phases to doing that, too.
There are 4 phases to building a successful coaching business. And each phase has its own strategy.
I’ll walk you through them here. As I do, think about which phase your business is in now, and whether or not you’re using the right strategy.
If you’re not using the right strategy, I’ve got you covered. There are loads of links to resources at the end of the post to help you out.
Phase 1: Launch Phase
Just like the tutu doesn’t make the ballerina, the certification doesn’t make the coach.
So this phase is all about gaining experience.
When I left the corporate world to start my business, I knew I wanted to focus on health & wellness. But what I really needed was experience. So I worked for anyone who would hire me!
I wrote for an interior decorator, a financial planner, someone teaching Catholic theology, an eyewear company, a supermarket, and many different SaaS companies.
I needed the experience of working with clients so I could develop my approach and start to gain traction. And I especially needed to gain confidence.
That’s what your launch phase is about, too.
Your Launch Phase Strategy
Get as much experience coaching people as you possibly can. Even if you already know what area you’d like to specialize in, at this stage you should say “yes!” to as many coaching opportunities as possible.
And if you don’t know what area you want to focus on, think of this as your role-play stage!
The more coaching experience you have, the better positioned you’ll be for Phase 2. And that’s where you’ll do most of the heavy lifting…
Phase 2: Acceleration Phase
I entered Phase 2 after spending a year working with as many people as I possibly could in Phase I. I decided it was time to shift my focus towards health and wellness.
I made a concerted effort to get in front of health and wellness people. But I still worked with other people, too.
Eventually, I put a stake in the ground. I started saying no to anything that wasn’t in health & wellness. And just like Paulo Coelho said in The Alchemist…
"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."
And it did! Suddenly, I was getting more and more opportunities to work with health and wellness businesses. One of them was Healthpreneur Group. (That’s where I first learned about the power of webinar funnels.)
So Phase 1 was about getting experience and gaining confidence. Now it’s time to build momentum. You need a proof of concept. That’s what this phase is all about. And you need to be patient.
Because this phase takes time.
How much time? It could easily be 2-3 years. There’s a lot to do. And you’ll likely be refining things along the way.
While you may be tempted to hire someone to do parts of this phase for you, I strongly recommend you don’t. At least not at the start.
The self-discovery you get in this phase is massively important. And if you eventually do hire someone to do parts of this for you, they’ll need that thinking to be able to create something of true value.
Your Acceleration Phase Strategy
Narrow your focus. Instead of working with anyone and everyone, now’s the time to decide on an area you want to focus on during this phase
Create your IBO (Irresistible Breakthrough Offer). This is essential for creating your proof of concept and getting the right people into your world. As part of this, you will:
Create your unique positioning. Once you focus on a specific area, you need to differentiate yourself from other coaches. That’s what your unique positioning is all about. It’s the key to your success going forward because…
The single most effective advantage you have in marketing is differentiation.
b. Craft powerful messaging. You’ll use this in all your marketing
Create your key marketing assets. The main purpose of these will be to get new clients and to build an audience that you own. (Your audience on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social media platform don’t count because you don’t own them. The platform does.)
This ultimately comes down to building an email list. And there are the 2 key marketing assets that will help you to do it:
A website that’s designed to capture leads
An amazing lead magnet (a freebie you give to people in exchange for their email address)
(If you like to write or podcast, I highly recommend Substack. It’s a fantastic platform to help you gain traction. And you own all your subscribers!)
Actively market your IBO. You can do this organically, such as through social media channels, or you can start some paid advertising.
Whichever way you do it, the goal is to get people through your IBO so you can test it and refine if, if needed. You also want to start building your email list.Start emailing your list regularly (more about that in the resources below)
Phase 3: Expansion Phase
You’re in Phase 3 when you’ve had enough people go through your IBO that you’ve got a solid proof of concept. You have evidence that your program produces results and have case studies and testimonials to back it.
Now you’re ready to scale!
Here’s your Expansion Strategy
Turn your IBO into a high-ticket, group coaching program, if you haven’t already. (Ideally in the $2,000-$5,000 or more range.)
Create a marketing system to book new client calls and capture new leads.
I like webinar funnels. If they’re done in the right way, they’re one of the best ways to get people excited to work with you before they’ve even heard about your program!
The funnels I create for health and wellness coaches typically start with an ad (usually a Facebook ad). The ad takes people to a landing page, where they opt in to watch your webinar. Then the webinar’s job is to get them to book a call.
If people don’t book a call, you will still have them on your email list and can continue to market to them.
You can also drive traffic to your webinar organically. If you have a strong following on social media, this can work great. That can be IG, content on YouTube or Tik Tok, or any other platform where people see you.Invest (or increase your investment) in paid traffic to get more people through your funnel
Continue to nurture your email list by sending them emails regularly
In this phase, your business should be making at least $10,000 a month fairly quickly. As your funnel gains traction and you get better at getting prospects to buy into your program when you speak with them, your revenue will grow from there.
Depending on where you are now, this might seem impossible. But many of the health and wellness coaches I’ve worked with are regularly making $25,000 a month, and some are even making over $1,000,000 a year.
That’s what can happen when you have the right positioning, messaging, and marketing assets in place!
Phase 4: Authority Phase
Now you’re ready to turn things up even more! This is where you position yourself as a thought leader in your field.
You can bootstrap this and do a lot of it yourself. But if you have the resources, I suggest you hire an expert(s) to get you in front of the right people.
Here are some ways to build your authority:
Be a podcast guest
Speak at summits and events
Give a TEDx talk
Collaborations, where you build relationships with other coaches and businesses in complementary areas. Then you support each other. You can even share your email lists.
Write articles for publications, or be interviewed for them
Write a book
Your Authority Phase Strategy
There are so many options at this phase that I can’t really lay out a specific strategy. I would look at the above list and see what resonates most with you and start doing it.
Like I said, hiring a person to promote you at this stage is a good idea so you can keep focusing on what you do best … changing people’s lives!
Before I get to the resources, I just want to mention something.
Your path might not follow each of these phases exactly. There can definitely be some overlap between them. And you may eventually go back to Phase 2 if you ever decide to create offers with a different focus.
And a quick favor…
If you got some value out of this, I’d love for you to give it a like. And of course share it with anyone you think might like it, too!
And if you have a question or want to give me some feedback, please drop it in the comments.
Okay, here are the resources I promised, plus some extras.
If you see places where I only refer to health coaches, that’s more for space reasons. Everything about my approach is relevant to wellness coaches, too.
Also, some of these need to be updated. If you see anything about a Founding Member or Premium Member subscription, I no longer offer those.
Finally, a few of these are posts for paid subscribers. If you want to read them but aren’t ready to upgrade to paid, you can use your trial to read one of them.
Be A Profitable Health Coach Resources
Creating Your Irresistible Breakthrough Offer
Positioning
Messaging
Website
Mindset
Strategy