Two Strategies for Hitting $10K/Months … and How to know which one is right for you
Many people struggling to build their business are following the right strategy for the wrong situation.
For a while, I worked on a team that helped health and wellness professionals build high-ticket coaching businesses. The approach was a one-size-fits-all model: cold traffic to a webinar, then a call with the coach. No alternatives. The guru believed anything else was a waste of time.
And for some people, it worked beautifully.
But I also watched others get absolutely crushed. They invested thousands of dollars in the program, then thousands more every month on Facebook ads — and nothing was converting. Some of them ended up with serious debt and no business to show for it. I won’t pretend that wasn’t hard to watch, because it was. It was heartbreaking.
Here’s the thing that stayed with me… These weren’t people who were cutting corners or ignoring the advice. Many of them were doing everything right. They were following the program to the letter. The strategy just wasn’t the right fit for where they were starting from.
That experience taught me something I wish more people in this industry would say out loud: there is no formula that guarantees you’ll get to $10K a month. Building a business involves risk. Anyone who promises otherwise isn’t being straight with you.
What I can tell you is that marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all. The approach that creates a thriving business for one person can be the wrong move entirely for someone else. It’s not because the strategy is bad, but because the fit is off.
So instead of a formula, I want to give you something more useful: two strategies that can work very well for health and wellness professionals, and a clear way to figure out which one actually fits your situation.
Strategy 1: The High-Ticket Offer Funnel
This is the one many health & wellness professionals picture when they imagine a successful coaching business. And it can be genuinely beautiful when it works.
Here’s how it typically runs: You drive traffic — usually through paid ads — to a webinar or masterclass. The webinar does the heavy lifting of building trust, establishing your authority, and creating desire for your program. People who are ready book a call with you. (Lately I’ve seen a paid consultation model work particularly well with this approach.) On the call, you learn whether they’re a good fit and present your coaching program — usually in the $3,000 to $5,000 range or more.
When this works, the math is beautiful. You only need to close a few clients a month to hit $10K. And your webinar scales without you having to repeat yourself to every prospect individually.
But this strategy has real prerequisites. Miss any of them, and it will burn you. I’ve watched it happen too many times.
You need a proven offer. Not an idea you’re excited about, not something you think should work — an offer you’ve already validated with real clients. You’re about to spend real money driving people to it. This is not the place to experiment.
You need a financial runway. I tell people to have $5,000 to $7,000 set aside for ads before they expect to see ROI. Funnels take time to optimize. Your messaging, your webinar, your ad creative — none of it will be dialed in on the first try.
You need to be comfortable on sales calls — or genuinely committed to getting there. One of my clients went from a 20% close rate to 50% in just a couple of months. I’ve seen coaches who dreaded sales calls start to actually enjoy them. But if you’re not willing to develop this skill, this strategy will be painful.
You need patience. It can take 6 to 12 months to fully dial in a funnel. You’re testing messaging, tweaking the webinar, optimizing ads, and building your sales confidence simultaneously. It’s not a quick win.
If you have all four of those elements, Strategy 1 can be one of the most profitable models in this industry. If you’re missing any of them, keep reading.
Strategy 2: The Strategic Offer Sequence
This is the right way to start for many health and wellness professionals. Especially if they’re newer, transitioning online, or don’t yet have the prerequisites for Strategy 1.
The structure looks like this:
You begin with a low-ticket offer, typically in the $17 to $97 range. This proves there’s demand for what you’re offering, gives people a low-risk way to experience your work, and builds your email list. From there, you nurture your list and invite people into a mid-ticket offer — maybe $197 to $497. That deepens the relationship and builds trust. Then you extend an invitation to your high-ticket program.
Each step in the sequence earns more trust before asking for a bigger commitment. By the time someone reaches your high-ticket offer, they already know you, they’re familiar with your work, and they believe in your results.
The advantages here are significant:
You can see ROI within 30 to 60 days. With a well-executed low-ticket offer, you could be generating revenue from the very beginning.
You don’t need a large upfront investment. If you’re going the paid ads route, a couple of thousand dollars gets you started. You test demand, build your list, and reinvest revenue as you grow.
The risk is lower at every stage. You’re not betting everything on a high-ticket funnel. You’re building incrementally, with proof at each step.
And by the time you’re ready to launch your high-ticket program, you’ve already validated your offer, worked with clients, and collected testimonials. You’re going in with evidence, not hope.
This strategy does require strategic thinking. You need to understand how your offers connect, create multiple buying opportunities, and be intentional about how you bring people from one level to the next. But for most people who are honest about where they’re starting from, this is the fastest route to $10K.
(And worth noting: it can be very lucrative even if you never want to offer a high-ticket program at all.)
How to Know Which Strategy Fits Your Situation
Run through these five questions honestly:
1. Do you have a proven offer? If you’ve worked with clients, have testimonials, and know your offer converts — Strategy 1 might be right for you. If you’re still figuring out what to offer or haven’t tested it with real buyers, start with Strategy 2.
2. Can you invest $5,000 to $7,000 or more in ads before seeing ROI? If yes, Strategy 1 is viable. If no, Strategy 2 is the smarter starting point.
3. Do you need to see revenue in the next 30 to 60 days? If yes, Strategy 2 is your best bet. If you can sustain yourself for 6 to 12 months while a funnel matures, Strategy 1 becomes a real option.
4. Are you comfortable selling on calls? If yes, Strategy 1 is faster. If not, Strategy 2 lets you build confidence with lower-stakes offers first — and by the time you’re on high-ticket calls, you’re practiced.
5. Do you have an existing audience or email list of at least 500 potential clients? If yes, consider Strategy 1. If you’re starting from scratch, Strategy 2 builds your audience while generating revenue at the same time.
3 Mistakes That Will Derail Either Strategy
Mistake 1: Buying into a promise without evaluating whether the strategy fits your situation.
I’ve seen health and wellness professionals invest $15,000, $20,000, even $30,000 in programs that teach Strategy 1 — before they have a validated offer, a financial runway, or sales experience. They’re told to “trust the process.” But the process only works when the right elements are in place. When they’re not, money flows out to ad platforms and nothing converts. The strategy isn’t wrong. The fit is.
Be honest about where you are right now before you invest in anyone’s program.
Mistake 2: Not understanding how your offers connect — and how to create multiple buying opportunities.
This is especially critical for Strategy 2, but it matters in Strategy 1 as well. Most people need significant time and exposure before they’re ready to invest in health coaching. A strategy that only creates one buying opportunity and then goes quiet is leaving most of your potential clients behind.
You need email marketing. Consistent, weekly at minimum. Some people are ready to buy quickly. But most need more time — your emails build the relationship until they’re ready. Your offer sequence needs to work for both types.
Mistake 3: Skipping your positioning.
This is the one that almost no one in the business-building world talks about. They go straight to tactics — build the funnel, run the ads, create the content — without doing the foundational positioning work first.
Here’s what strong positioning actually does for you: it makes your sales calls easier. When people get on a call with you already knowing what makes you different and better for their specific situation, you’re not convincing — you’re confirming. I’ve watched coaches go from dreading sales calls to genuinely enjoying them because better-positioned marketing pre-sold the relationship before the call even started.
Positioning gives you clarity. It differentiates you from every other coach people may be considering. And it shows them why you — specifically — are the right person to help them solve their problem.
Where to Start
If you’ve read this and recognized yourself in Strategy 1’s prerequisites — proven offer, financial runway, sales readiness, patience — that’s the direction to move.
If anything on that list gave you pause, Strategy 2 is where to build your foundation. It’s lower risk, faster to revenue, and it sets you up to move into Strategy 1 later with proof instead of hope.
Whichever direction you’re heading, the work is the same at the start. Validate your offer, develop your positioning, and make sure the marketing approach you choose actually fits your situation.
If you want a shortcut to all three, I wrote a book about it.
The Trust-Based Marketing Method™ walks you through the positioning and messaging framework I use with every health and wellness professional I work with. It comes with three bonuses — including the Marketing Path Decision Guide™, a 10-minute assessment that tells you exactly which strategy matches your timeline, budget, and risk tolerance, so you stop borrowing a plan built for someone else’s situation.
The whole package is $17. You can find out more here.
Which strategy fits your situation right now? Drop it in the comments. I read every one!
P.S. If you're a longtime reader, you may have noticed the name change. "Be A Profitable Health Coach" is now The Trust-Based Marketing Method. I made the change because trust isn't just a tactic I teach — it's the principle I believe everything else in health and wellness marketing has to be built on. In a space full of hype and high-pressure tactics, I think the practitioners who win long-term are the ones who lead with trust. It felt right to put that front and center. More on this soon.
PP.S. And if you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing. I write about marketing your health or wellness business in a way that feels good to you… and to your potential clients.