How to Scale a Coaching Business

Due to the inherent limitations of one-on-one coaching, many coaches seek alternatives to their products and services to better leverage their business. Here’s how to successfully scale your coaching business.

Scaling Your Coaching Business

Whether you consider yourself a coach or a consultant, scaling a your business can be a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be.

I’ve been coaching and consulting for over 20+ years, and helping coaches start, grow and scale their businesses for the last four years. In that time, I’ve learned a lot about how to build a successful coaching business.

First, let’s talk about why a coach would consider scaling – because this is not for everybody. If you are just starting, many of these tactics will be a challenge in and of themselves. These are designed specifically for existing coaches who have already launched and experienced their growth. Now perhaps you’ve plateaued. You’re ready to aggressively scale and leverage your platform.

Let’s discuss how to scale a coaching business:

1-to-1 coaching can be limiting in terms of time and profitability, that's why it is important to have a plan to scale your coaching business. — One-to-One coaching can be limiting in terms of time and profitability, that’s why it is important to have a plan to scale your coaching business.

1. AUTOMATION

At this point in your coaching business, I hope you have embraced automation. More than just lead magnet delivery and nurturing, but for scheduling, invoicing, reminders, social media / content sharing, etc. Your time is likely billed at hundreds an hour, off-load and outsource any administrative tasks that do not need your explicit attention. Take advantage of evergreen content and campaigns – recurring recorded webinars, for example, are amazing value-added pieces of content and only require you to record it once.

2. EXPANSION OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Entry-level ebooks, checklists, guides, and worksheets are wonderful lead magnets. Consider adding paid ancillary products to your offering, for example, complex calculators or spreadsheets, industry-specific templates, self-paced courses, accountability groups, or Mastermind groups. Each category of product should be thought of as concentric circles, each moving away from demands on your time.

3. VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

It is a myth that you can do it yourself cheaper. In the short term, perhaps. But the long-term success of your coaching business depends on you focusing on what you’re best at – the task that no one else can do. Take advantage of capable, knowledgeable, and skilled staffers who can manage administrative tasks and organization. Your To Do list will thank you.

woman in gray and white striped long sleeve shirt using silver macbook — Partnering with a virtual assistant is a powerful way to scale your coaching business.

4. ONE-TO-MANY COACHING SESSIONS

I see many coaches overlook one-to-many sessions – especially with the widespread acceptance of online meetings now. If you cater to employers, you are already doing one-to-many (in terms of employees), but consider how you can group similar clients together and deliver a single presentation rather than meeting one-on-one.

5. EXCLUSIVE ACCESS

Think about the last time you called a brain surgeon to ask a question. Likely, you’ve never done that. Nor would you even expect her to answer the phone, instead, you would be greeted by an assistant or other associate. Similarly, access to you must be thought of as exclusive. Now, this comes with a great deal of discretion and humanity. I want you to think of your time as precious, access to you should be regulated.

6. COMMUNITIES & PAID NEWSLETTERS

Similar to the one-to-many session approach, you now understand that access to you must be limited and restricted. You only have 24 hours in a day, and that should be spent learning, digesting, researching, and overseeing. A private, paid community or newsletter is a trending tactic that both scales and provides exclusive access to your knowledge. Consider creating a private mailing list, Slack channel, or community network for your elite clients. Put this on a monthly retainer and you’ve created a passive income generation machine.

1-to-1 #coaching can be limiting in terms of time and profitability, that’s why it is important to have a plan to scale your coaching business. Let’s dive in.

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7. DELEGATION & OUTSOURCING

Simply: You can’t do it all. You must start delegating the tasks of your business. Stop updating your website, stop managing your IT department, stop manually handling bank transfers or product orders. Understand that your time and knowledge is the secret sauce of your business. Surround yourself with experts in their own field and entrust them to help you work towards shared success.