So you have spent your career going up the ladder and becoming great at what you do. But, you are at a point where you feel like it’s time to take action into building your own business. I’m not going to lie, if you feel scared, I want you to know that it’s totally normal. I remember back in 2008 when I decided to quit my job in Advertising, I was really freaking out at the time. But, I knew inside me that a 9-5 (more like a 9-9 if you work in advertising) wasn’t the life I wanted for myself. I wanted freedom, I wanted independence and I wanted to be able to bring the perfect balance (if such a thing exists) between my business and my personal life.

I wasn’t willing to give up having a career and being a GREAT mom at the same time, and for me and my lifestyle, it meant that I wanted to be able to work from home. By the time I had my first daughter in 2015, I was well on my way into feeling comfortable of owning my own schedule, but that’s a topic for a different post.

The point is, I get how powerful it can be to decide to quit your job and make your passion or your experience into your own full-time career. And, in my experience, coaching is probably one of the best ways to make that happen.

Over the past few years, I have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and students which are mostly in the coaching industry, using their expertise, guidance and strategies to be able to transform peoples’ lives. The great thing about coaching is that what you need is to have knowledge in a particular area in almost any industry. Over the years I have worked with health, fitness, marketing, mindset, spirituality, life, business, finance, productivity, relationship and career coaches.

In this free mini-course, I talk about the complete process and secrets to building a successful multiple 6-figure business online.

The great thing about coaching, apart from leaving you a ton of time flexibility, is that you can quickly replace your income by working with a handful of clients, especially if you create a premium package that offers a powerful solution to your audiences’ problem. This is exactly what has allowed me to make multiple 6 figures within 18 months of launching my business online.

The other magnificent benefit of coaching is that it allows you to leverage your time while making a larger impact. We will talk more about the different avenues you can use in order to turn your coaching business into offers, but, essentially, you can choose options such as group coaching, courses, ebooks and workshops to be able to reach a larger audience in less time.

When I began my business back in 2008, I did it 100% locally in Venezuela. It was a completely word-of-mouth, and referral type of business and I was doing pretty okay. Fast forward to 2015, we decided to move to the US which meant that all of my happy clients weren’t going to be able to bring me more business. Why? In part, Venezuela’s economy has currency control, meaning people can’t freely access Dollars, which, of course, made my referrals pretty irrelevant.

In 2016, when I made the decision to launch my business online, I did it understanding that I could coach from no matter where I was living and no matter where my clients are at. This has allowed me to live in Miami while working with clients all over the US, Egypt, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and Latin America. It has also allowed me to grow my business and income even if I’m traveling or on vacation as well.

Why? Because when you pair a coaching business with a badass digital marketing strategy, it means that you can scale while leveraging your time and making a larger impact than if you were in a traditional business where you are selling a product or having to do visits with clients. In my case, I do bi-weekly calls with my clients over Zoom and a cup of coffee. Pretty simple.

The amazing thing about building a coaching business is that you have to understand that you don’t need YEARS and hundreds of certifications in order to be successful. As opposed to a therapist, you don’t need to be certified in order to have clients. In my experience, what really matters is the result that you can provide.

Essentially what this means is that you know the problem that your potential clients have and you have a pathway that will lead them to solve it. Clients will pay you for the transformation you will help them get and they pay you for your skills, your experience, your stories, the unique touch that only you can bring to the table.

In my many years working as a Brand Strategist, not ONCE has my MBA mattered when someone hires me. No one has ever asked me about where I studied, but what they care about is the fact that I have helped hundreds of clients build successful businesses.

Now, of course, when you are starting out you probably don’t have a lot of case studies or testimonials to stick in your website, but you do have the experience you have gained over the years and, very likely, your own case study tends to be the strongest.

99% of the time, your own story is going to be the strongest one you have to share with your audience around what you can do for others.

Another part of this is understanding that you want to build what you do and your offer around the outcome you provide instead of around your credentials. The best way to differentiate yourself is to talk about your clients and how to fix their problem. This is what will allow you to stand out from the crowd even if you don’t have testimonials.

In terms of building your coaching business, there are essentially 4 categories in which you can focus on:

Let's look at examples for each of them.

Health: Christine Fox

My client Christine Fox transformed her experience in dramatically improving her own body and losing weight as well as becoming a fitness instructor into building a coaching business as a transformational health and mindset coach in which she helps women unleash their inner strength. She offers a 12-week intensive program which generated over 5 figures within 1 month of launching.

Wealth: Joiness

As a digital marketing strategist, Jo has built a business helping entrepreneurs transform their analog businesses into powerful digital brands. She took her experience in the corporate world from marketing strategies for Fortune 500 companies working in Viacom, and transformed it to helping local businesses up level their digital marketing game. Jo was able to generate over $60k within 3 months of launching her business.

Relationships: The Heartbreak Alchemists

Rebecca and Jannae turned their years of experience as therapists into building a business helping heartbroken women heal their broken hearts and improve their relationships. They are soon to be launching this business.

Personal and Spiritual Development: Tasheena Lewis

Tasheena was a hairstylist who had a passion for spirituality and card reading. She turned her intuitive gifts into a powerful spiritual development business which allows women to uncover their true mission while unleashing their path to greatness.

So, by this point, you understand that coaching is an incredible business opportunity that can allow you to do SO much more and replace your 9-5 faster than you probably had imagined. So now the question is, how do you know what the best option for you is?

The truth is that it all comes down to understanding what makes you different and what you are the best at. I talk about differentiation right here in much more detail. In terms of deciding which niche to choose, you essentially want to start by asking what is the problem that you can solve? What is that thing that you are exceptional at that you know you can help other people with as well? Now, again, this doesn’t necessarily have to be something that you have formally studied or worked in for years, but it’s something that you are really good at. Think about:

What challenges have you personally overcome?
What skills have you mastered?
What are you passionate about?
What are your strengths?

Once you know what these things are, try to define whether these answers can solve a major problem that your potential audience has. The next step is to discover how to turn your coaching into an actual offer that sells.

Now you see how you coaching can be an extremely powerful business model that can allow you to replace your 9-5 while building a business that gives you impact, income and freedom. In the next part of this blog series, we will dive into how to define your coaching model and how to attract the best clients.

In the free mini-course, I talk in-depth about what you need to do in order to turn that coaching business into a powerhouse success. You can sign up for it right here:

Make sure you keep on reading and find out how to turn your coaching offer into a profitable coaching business model in part 2 right here.