This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Shout out to all of our coaches out there. We've got all kinds of people doing all sorts of coaching businesses. At the event I hosted a few months ago, neurodiversion. We had a bunch of people coaching in the mental health space, ADHD, autism, and beyond neurodivergence of all kinds. But of course there are lots of business coaches as well, fitness coaches, health, wellness, many other fields.
And something that I have noticed over the years, many years talking with side hustlers and small business owners. A lot of successful coaches have more than one source of income. And of course that's great. We talk about multiple sources of income all the time here. But if you are just starting out, if you are a new coach and you need to pick only one, which should you choose?
That is the topic of today's listener question. It comes to us from a new coach who's eager to jump in and is looking for direction. So let's see if we can be helpful. How do I choose a revenue model for my coaching business? That's today's topic, detailed question and my answer coming right up.
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Hey there, Chris. This is Cara and I've been following your work for a couple of years. I don't know if you know this, but most successful coaches have more than one source of income. They sell private coaching of course, but also group coaching. Then they usually have programs or other one-off educational resources for sale.
Some of them also earn affiliate income and maybe some other things too. When you're getting started though, is it best to focus strictly on a single business model or is it wiser to diversify and build multiple programs at once? I don't just mean different business ideas. I mean within the same framework of coaching. Thanks for your help.
- So Cara is right that over time, a lot of successful coaches do develop multiple sources of income. And I think that's great, but I also think it's great that you should start with one core service, especially if you want to be a coach. If you wanna be a coach, you need to kind of get down that core service, figure out what it is that you're gonna help people with and what is the method in which you're gonna do that. What is the structure of your coaching packages? If you don't get the core service right, then everything else in the business will likely be a struggle.
But if you do nail the core service, adding additional options can feel natural and easy. So I think much better to focus on a single business model in the beginning. And to do that, you wanna think about what is the transformative experience that you will offer your clients? Like what is the main benefit? What are they signing up for?
How will they be different after a session with you? And you wanna think really big here. You wanna think big, but also tangible. So it's like, I want my life to be changed, but in this specific way, I wanna be able to point to how my life is different after going through this coaching. And then second thing to focus on is how will you go from your coaching idea to a coaching offer, which we talk about all the time, right?
An offer has a price tag. It has a call to action. It is as clutter free as possible. An offer has clarity. Someone can look at the offer and know right away what it is.
Whether they want it or not is another story, but they shouldn't have to decipher it. They shouldn't have to go through like a complicated process of analysis to try to figure out what it is you're trying to sell. So idea to offer, focusing on the benefit, the transformative experience. Those are the questions to ask at the start of a new coaching service. You can do the multiple sources of income later.
Listeners, I'm cheering you on every single day. I want the show to be helpful to you. You can access it wherever you get your podcasts. We try to have as few barriers to entry as possible. It's also free.
How about that? I appreciate our sponsors who make that possible. And also you, our listeners. All right, much more is coming up. Stay tuned.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
