Start Your Online Coaching Business With 7 Steps In 2023

It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or an expert in the coaching industry. If you want to start your online coaching business, you are at the right place.  

This article is aimed to familiarize you with everything related to coaching. It gives you a Step-by-Step Practical Guide on how to start your Online Coaching Business. 

So, if you are ready, let’s start! 

What is coaching?

Let’s start with the concept itself. So, what is coaching?

According to ICF (International Coaching Federation), “Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.”

So, coaching aims to guide the clients and help them achieve their desired goals & results, unlock their full potential, overcome past blockages, and contribute to personal growth as well as self-awareness levels. 

Online over offline: Why?

Which coaching is the best online or offline? This is a question many of you will ask, and we are here to provide you with an answer.

In this era of digitization, choosing the most flexible and safe option for your business would be smarter. According to recent events, including pandemics, it was obvious that online businesses were the safest option, and they continued to operate. 

An online E-learning business provides you and your students with multiple benefits, including:

• Flexibility - work anywhere, anytime, without worrying about 9 to 5 office jobs. 
• Scalable - online learning is the go-to way for youth nowadays; therefore, take advantage of this opportunity and start your online coaching business. It will automatically open up the international market to you, giving you higher income potential. 
• Low Start-up Capital - the investment you need is on your knowledge as a coach, e.g., to get a professional coaching certification, continuous growth training to grow as a professional, and a platform on which your website will be hosted. So, you eliminate the costs of renting a space, keeping it clean, and transportation. 

These benefits remain the main reasons you should choose online coaching over offline. It is incredible to start with, as the investments required are affordable, giving you access to international audiences and many expansion opportunities. 

Risks and challenges of online coaching

However, it is also worth considering certain risks and challenges that coaches may face throughout online coaching. When you are aware of the possible risks & challenges, it is easier to deal with stress and come up with optimal solutions for the problems. 

These risks are potential disadvantages of online coaching. However, all of them can be avoided.

So, here are the main risks and challenges that coaches may face.

Risk 1 - Bad Reviews 

The potential risk of any business, including an online coaching business, is bad reviews. First of all, calm down and read the review. Maybe it is constructive criticism you can take and improve further; if it’s not, then to avoid bad reviews, get clear on every aspect of the coaching program. 

Risk 2 - Accountability 

Some clients forget that they are accountable for the change, and without following the coach’s recommendations or participating regularly, they won’t be able to achieve the desired results. 

This is a risk to your reputation; therefore, explain to the client that regular sessions are necessary. 

Risk 3 - What is the Coach’s role

Many clients may confuse coaching with consulting or mentoring, which is a potential risk of disappointment and dissatisfaction, which can affect your reputation. To avoid this risk, explain to the client your role as a coach and what they should expect. 

And the main challenges and how to overcome or avoid these are presented in the paragraphs below. 

Challenge 1 - Technical Issues 

Technical issues are one of the most common challenges faced by online educators and students. 

If they do occur, just have a Plan B, e.g., enough mobile data to host the session on your phone or let participants know about the issue, and that session will be rescheduled. 

It shouldn’t take more than a few hours or a day to fix if it’s a laptop, camera, or microphone-related issue. 

Challenge 2 - Clients 

Where to find these clients, and how to make the first sales? It is quite challenging for beginner coaches to find their first clients, especially if they don’t yet have reviews and an established online presence. 

However, one solution to this is to add your certifications as testimonials and ask for reviews from the first clients you get to display them on a separate section of your coaching business’s website. 

Also, if you want to get clients, you should know who your audience is to build organic and paid marketing strategies. More on this, you can read in Step 6, under the Top 7 Steps to Create and Promote Online Coaching Business paragraph. 

Challenge 3 - Time Management 

It can be hard to keep up with all the schedules and manage time online. However, many tools are meant to ease up your life, starting with Google Calendar and ending with phone reminders that are easy to set. Keep track of your sessions, and individual clients set clear schedules and to-do lists. 

Online Coaching will greatly improve your time management skills. 

Check “The Main 15 Benefits, Risks & Challenges of Online Coaching” article.

The differences between 

Before we move on to the more practical part of the article, let’s also take a look at the differences between coaching, mentoring, consulting, online courses, and virtual training. 

People frequently tend to confuse those. However, these are entirely different things. 

Coaching and mentoring

First of all, let’s review the difference between coaching and mentoring. 

Coaching is aimed at long-term behavioral change, so basically, practical and spiritual development and overall performance improvement. 

On the other hand, mentoring takes a holistic approach & is personalized. In mentoring mentee also remains the one who drives the relationship and asks for advice or help, or expert opinion. 

The main difference, perhaps, is that mentoring does not measure results but rather an advice. Meanwhile, coaching guides you toward finding the solution by yourself and measures results/progress. 

Coaching and consulting

Next up is the confusion between coaching and consulting. No, those are not the same thing, either.

Coaching, once again, is aimed at transformation, mindset shift & personal growth; it is meant to guide the client toward finding the optimal solution for the obstacle.

Meanwhile, Consulting directly advises about an issue and suggests possible solutions that can be implemented to resolve the issue. 

Online coaching and online courses

Online courses are a set of multiple lectures that are aimed to equip students with a particular set of skills in a certain area, e.g., programming. 

However, online coaching is aimed at helping people reach their full potential and to equip them with lifelong skills of self-assessment, finding solutions, staying motivated, and being flexible. 

Compare Online Coaching and Online Courses.

Online coaching and virtual training

Online Coaching and Virtual training provide entirely different experiences for the participants. 

Virtual Training is like offline training, but in an online manner, they aim to educate, train and improve certain skills in participants. They are very specific from the start, “specific topic and common objective for everyone by the end,” and they are not individualized. 

Meanwhile, Coaching is highly individual-centric. It focuses on guiding the client toward achieving goals & results or behavioral change that they want, getting the career they desire, etc. 

Top 7 steps to create and promote online coaching business

Does online coaching work? It absolutely does, and it is one of the most demanded professions nowadays. 

So, I believe that it is time to dive into the practical part of this article. Here you can see the step-by-step guide on how to create & promote your online coaching business. 

It is worth mentioning that each step is elaborated further to give you an even clearer idea of a particular aspect of the coaching. The steps offer practical guidelines and tips; some come in handy with the main sub-steps. So make sure to read this section quite carefully. 

#1 Be more specific: Choose

Being specific is vital, especially at the beginning. 

You need to get clear on a few main aspects: Niches, Types, Styles, Techniques, and Target Audience. 

All of these will help you move forward and offer efficient coaching training. 

Your Coaching Niche 

First and foremost, you will need to choose your coaching niche. When you choose a niche, all the other aspects, such as style, philosophy, and target audience, will become more apparent to you. 

Down below, you can see the main niches presented and briefly explained: 

• Career Coaching - everyone wants to get their dream job, make a good career, and make a good living; therefore, career coaching has become one of the most in-demand coaching niches. 
• Life Coaching - is one of the most popular coaching niches. Many people wish to improve their overall life and multiple aspects of their lives; that is what life coaching is for. 
• Health Coaching - technology evolves, and the sedentary lifestyle has become a problem for health; not just that, many people have started to value their health and wish to improve it. So, if health and well-being is a topic you are interested in, then learn more about this type of coaching and go for it. 
• Business/Executive Coaching - Business Coaching’s focus is a strategy to implement for the team to achieve the business’s objective and unite the team for a common objective. Meanwhile, Executive Coaching focuses on helping the individuals within the team to improve their performances. 
• Relationship Coaching - no time, dynamic industry, and millions of other reasons that cause today’s people struggles in relationships, so if you find this area close to your heart, then also note that it is quite profitable., 
• Fitness Coaching - Fitness coaches focus on fitness and cardio activities and everything else that comes within and utilize individual-centric approaches. 
• Weight loss Coaching - Many people struggle with obesity and the inability to lose weight, so as a health or nutrition coach, you can niche down once more and focus on the weight loss coaching niche. 
• Resilience Coaching - people always have certain challenges to overcome. Therefore resilience coaching nowadays is one of the most in-demand coaching niches. Basically, its target goal is to help the client to overcome obstacles that they are facing. 

Also, get clear on what type of coaching you feel more comfortable with, such as one-on-one or group coaching. 

Your Coaching Style

There are various coaching styles available out there, and as a professional coach, you must be able to implement multiple of them on different clients. Why? Because what works for one client may not work as efficiently for another one. 

• Democratic Coaching - is one of the most popular coaching styles, as it fully leaves the goal-setting & decision-making to the client and simply guides them throughout. 
• Authoritarian Coaching - is a more direct approach to coaching, the coachee comes with a clear goal, and the coach keeps an extreme focus in each session to help the client achieve the desired goal in a specific period of time. 
• The holistic Coaching style is about Balance & Harmony. It helps the coachee to see the bigger picture and widen their worldview. It is best to reshape the client’s mindset, achieve perception change, connect with the inner self, and find the best solution by being able to listen to themselves. 
• Vision Coaching relies on visualization techniques and assessments that help the coaches visualize goal achievement processes better and stay motivated. 
• Bureaucratic Coaching will be quite a good style to implement while working with various businesses & teams. It is not as individual-centric as other styles, so it works best for Executive Coaches. 
• Developmental Coaching - is aimed at the long-term development and equipment of participants with the necessary tools & skills for lifelong personal growth. 
• Transformation Coaching, as the name suggests, is about mindset shift & transformation of the coaches. It aims to help the client to achieve the desired inner transformation that will change the external reality. 
• Mindful Coaching - due to living in this dynamic world, most of us are pretty much living in automatic mode. Mindful coaching aims to help the coaches to switch to the “living & being world.” 

Your Coaching Technique

You can implement various effective techniques in your coaching program throughout the sessions. And the main techniques are:

• Ask open-ended questions - this will help you to maintain the conversation and develop it in a way that will give you better insight into the client
• Use Implications wheel - this tool will help your coachee improve their decision-making abilities
• Discovering subconscious biases of the client - on a cautious level, the client may be well aware of everything that stops or motivates them, but if everything is so clear, why can’t they move forward? Your job as a coach is to work and implement techniques to discover the clients’ subconscious biases. 
• Follow-ups - another technique to keep up with clients’ progress and make sure they are motivated is follow-ups. So, do not underestimate those power, and stay in touch with them even after the session.

Check 11 Online Coaching Techniques. 

Your Target Audience

Finally, you should identify your target audience if you want to construct truly efficient coaching sessions. Plus, knowing your target audience is the first step if you expect your marketing strategy to work. 

Here are the top-notch tips & steps on how to identify your target audience. 

• Conduct Market Research in order to identify industry trends, selling niches, etc. 
• Create Buyer Personas to understand who is your ideal client. 
• Identify the market segment that does not fall into your target audience category and is unlikely to make a purchase. 
• Do Competitor Research, identify keywords they rank for, search intents they try to match, and who are their target buyers. When doing competitor research, consider both direct and indirect competition to understand the market better.  

Never Underestimate the power of monitoring competitors and market leaders, as you will gain so much knowledge related to every aspect of your business from them. 

Your Online Coaching Platform

Also, a vital aspect of being able to start your online coaching business is choosing your online coaching platform. In the digital era, there is a wide variety of platforms available, so the choice can be difficult to make. 

However, here are the criteria you should look for if you plan to establish a full-featured coaching business and further expand it. 

• A Website builder is a must-have tool. It will allow you to customize your business website and communicate your brand’s unique message to customers.
• Live lessons - as a coach, your main tool will be live lessons, so make sure the platform allows you to host those and offers video conferencing integrations. 
• Control - the platform of your choice should be full-featured enough to allow you to take control over every aspect of your business from one place. 

Such platforms that have all the above-mentioned qualities are Uteach, Thinkific, and Kajabi. We will review them in more detail in later paragraphs. 

#2 Write your coaching philosophy

As far as you are clear on everything above, it is time to identify your coaching philosophy. 

What is coaching philosophy? It is a mindset that coaches adopt to guide themselves. It showcases the main motives behind being a coach, the purpose of being a coach, and the work ethics that coaches follow. 

To become a good coach, you must be aware of coaching philosophies and adopt one that best works for you or create your own. 

Coaching brings out the best in people, helping them to reach their full potential; therefore, as a coach, you must be a person who truly cares. 

Here are a few tips that will help you to come up with your coaching philosophy:

• Understand why you want to become a coach
• Be yourself and stay truthful to yourself, 
• Focus on the big picture, and stay consistent

Check 5 Steps To Develop Real Coaching Philosophy.

#3 Get Acquainted and Choose a Coaching Model

As an expert coach, you should be familiar with various coaching models and choose the one that will best work with a specific client. 

All clients are different, and the model you choose will also depend on your niche. For instance, life coaches tend to choose the GROW model of coaching. 

Down below, you can see the most common Coaching Models (Frameworks):

• GROW stands for Goals, Reality, Options & Will. It starts with establishing the goals to be achieved, then identifying current reality and possible solutions (options),then will (action & motivation). If you plan to implement this model, you truly need to focus on developing your Questioning skills, as every step requires the right questions to be asked. 
• CLEAR coaching framework stands for Contract, Listen, Explore, Action and Review. Approximately the structure is as follows. It starts with a contract between the coach and the client at the beginning of each session to identify the goal of a particular session. Then, the coach, as an active listener, explores the client’s conscious and subconscious biases and, through the right questioning, helps them see those as well. Afterward, they explore possible solutions, and the coach motivates the client to take action. At the end of the session, as well as the overall program, they review the progress. 
• STEPPA model stands for Subject, Target Identification, Emotion, Perception, Plan & Pace, and Action. It mainly focuses on the emotional aspect and emotions affecting the client’s reality. It aims to develop stronger EI and is best to implement with clients whose quandaries are mostly emotion-related. 
• OSCAR framework stands for Outcome, Situation, Choices, Action, and Review. It is best to implement not for the whole program but rather to structure the coaching conversation effectively through identifying its outcome, understanding the situation and options (choices) available, then taking action and reviewing everything covered throughout the session. 
• AOR model stands for activities, objectives, and results. This model is best in more professional rather than personal settings, e.g., if you are hired by a business to work with a sales team. Throughout this coaching, you and the coaches analyze the activities that occur or need to achieve objectives and measure results. 
• FUEL coaching framework includes four main components that are: Frame the Conversation, Understand the Current Truth, Explore the Desired State, and Layout a Successful Plan. It is highly conversational and essentially aimed at long-term behavioral change in a person that will result in continuous improvement and goal achievement. 
• WOOP coaching model stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan of Action. Essentially if the coach chooses this framework to work with the client, they focus on motivational techniques to push the client forward. 

If you are wondering how to select a coaching model, consider the niche, target audience, and client’s specific characteristics. 

#4 Develop a well-structured coaching program

The fourth step is - Development of a well-structured coaching program. And this step has many sub-steps for you. However, it is one of the essential ones. 

To create a successful coaching business, you need to have a well-structured coaching program that will be truly efficient for the participants. 

Many people are baffled by the question of How to structure a coaching program? Therefore, we dedicated a detailed paragraph to the essentials of structure.

First of all, let’s take a look at the main elements of an efficient and working coaching program:

• A coach-client relationship should be prioritized, and the trust factor has to thrive.
• Identification of quandaries and goal-setting are also essential elements of an effective coaching program that you should focus on. 
• Implementation of various tools that contribute to better self-awareness and motivation.
• Ability to define outcomes and measure results .

How to create a coaching program Major Steps?

To create a coaching program, you need to:

• Name the Coaching Program - essentially define who your client is and offer a solution in the name of the program. 
• Choose the frequency of the sessions - how many sessions does the program has in overall and is it a twice or once-a-week frequency? Maybe more? 
• Choose between one-on-one and group coaching.
• Create an outline & choose what coaching tools you are going to use
• Price the coaching program - In this article’s FAQ section, you will find the answer to “How to price a coaching program.”

Now, let’s get into the sub-steps of developing a coaching program. 

#1 Organize great coaching sessions

Coaching sessions are like regular lessons for a virtual course or training program. The lessons have a purpose and cover a specific area; the same goes for coaching sessions. 

The good coaching program and its incredible outline won’t bring the expected results if the sessions are not organized properly. 

Main Elements of Coaching Session

First of all, let’s look at the primary elements of effective coaching sessions. 

• Constructive feedback is a vital element of a good coaching session because, in order to grow and transform, the client needs constructive feedback to push them forward.
• None of the sessions can go without Questioning; it is an inseparable part of coaching.
• Assigning tasks and implementing various assessment tools to improve self-awareness as well as explore the client’s cautious and subconscious blocks
• Follow-ups - remember that your coachee remains your coachee even outside the sessions. So, do not forget to occasionally check up on them till the next session and answer their questions.         

How to Level up Your Coaching Sessions?

Now, we can look at the Attributes to take a coaching session to the next level.

• Pay extra attention to the trust factor and ask open-ended questions to keep the dialogue going.
• Always learn and grow as a professional, especially focusing on improving communication, questioning, listening, and EI skillset.
• Establish a focus and maintain it throughout the session. Each session must have a goal, and questions you ask throughout should help to achieve the goal and keep conversations on point. Of course, the sessions should not be robotic, and you should allow clients to talk. However, you should master the art of bringing the focus back in a respectful and not noticeable manner. 

#2 Choose Assessment Tools

Various assessment tools will help you improve clients’ self-awareness and contribute to the effectiveness of the sessions. Besides, it will give you a deeper insight into their reality to guide them toward transformation. 

Let’s take a look at a few. 

Wheel of Life

Originally created and developed by Paul J. Meyer, the wheel of life is now one of the most potent life assessment tools. 

Essentially it is a wheel separated into multiple sections (main aspects of life) representing your life. The sections are also divided in order for people to be able to rate their satisfaction degree for each aspect. 

The sections are:

• Romance/Partner/Love
• Family
• Career
• Finances
• Health
• Friends
• Personal growth 
• Vacation
• Free Time 

However, they may vary and be adjusted depending on the client and the purpose of coaching. 

When clients fill out the wheel of life, they clearly visualize their current reality and satisfaction from it. Then, they are able to choose areas they lack to work on the improvement of those. 

So, this potent tool allows everyone who uses it to see the bigger picture of their life and decide what needs to be balanced. 

PES - Process Evaluation Scale

Process Evaluation Scale assessment tool, originally developed by Ianiro, Lehmann-Willenbrock, and Kauffeld in 2014, is another potent tool to have in your coaching toolkit. 

The participants should rate their degree of goal achievement on a scale from 1 to 10 during each session. And these numbers allow for measuring results in more practical terms and seeing the progress throughout the sessions. 

Simply put, it implements quantitative measurement into qualitative results. 

VIA Inventory of Strengths  

VIA Inventory of Strengths id developed by Peterson and Seligman in 2004; it is otherwise known as Values of Actions. The main purpose of this tool is to assess the client (coachee) and identify their individual profile alongside character strengths. 

This is quite useful to identify and showcase the client’s strengths, which they can utilize later on utilize to achieve their goals faster. 

All these tools are widely implemented by industry leaders and are proven to be successful. However, keep in mind that these are not the only ones that work. There are many other tools available that you can utilize depending on the client’s situation, goals, and coaching niche you are in. So, never stop learning & always keep growing as a professional. 

#3 Implement These Activities in Your Coaching Program

The third sub-step in creating an effective coaching program is the implementation of a certain set of activities to enhance the session’s productivity.

Visualization

Many lifestyle coaches, in particular, understand and fully make use of the power of visualization. 

In more spiritual terms, it works like the following. 

When you visualize your goal and how you feel as if you already have it, your subconscious mind realizes it is safe to be in there. Often times our subconscious mind is afraid of any changes as it does not distinguish between things labeled as “bad” or “good.” 

For instance, a person may feel depressed, which can be their current comfort zone, and “moving on” can be scary for their subconsciousness. 

However, with visualization of the “setting and feeling” as if you have already acquired your desired result or goal, it (your subconscious) realizes that your new reality is safe. And your actions align with the new reality you want to create. Therefore, goal achievement becomes easier as your mind and body are in alignment with the vibration of the goal you want to achieve.

In more practical terms, it increases a person’s motivation and emotional involvement, resulting in better problem-solving. 

Journaling 

Journaling is useful, especially throughout coaching, as clients reflect on their thoughts and emotions journaling. It greatly contributes to the improvement of self-awareness levels. 

These reflections can be reviewed and discussed throughout the sessions. 

Note that these activities can enormously impact goal-achievement setting and progress. 

#4 Measure the Results 

An effective coaching program helps the client to get the desired results and achieve the goals they established at the beginning. Your responsibility as a coach is to measure the results throughout the program and at the end. 

How to evaluate a coaching program? Well:

• Take notes to have a date for comparisons 
• Utilize various psychometric instruments 
• Suggest clients write self-reflections at different stages of the program to reflect on progress

So, these are the substeps you need to be well aware of to create a working coaching program. Now, let’s move on to the next step of the creation of an online coaching business. 

#5 Start Marketing 

One of the most vital steps if you want to generate sales and get return-on-investment is marketing. It is complicated yet simple at the same time. 

There are two main ways of digital marketing: Organic Marketing & Paid Marketing. Let’s break these down. 

Organic Marketing

Organic Marketing is a type of marketing that relies on unpaid strategies and tactics for improving brand visibility and rankings, building a customer base & generating sales. 

The main benefit of organic marketing is that it helps you to build an authentic and genuinely interested audience. Another benefit is low costs or no costs at all. What do you need for a blog post or social media post? 

So, essentially the main areas of organic marketing are:

• Unpaid social media posts that get engagement to build an audience and improve a business’s awareness/visibility 
• Blog with evergreen content meaning relevant content to your industry
• Email marketing campaigns - first of all, develop a good strategy so that campaigns bring actual results 
• SEO optimization of the content through keywords, link building (external & internal linking),and backlinks, you aim to rank higher on SERPs 

Understanding that organic marketing is a long-term strategy and takes time to show results is crucial. For instance, you must continuously implement various SEO strategies to rank higher on Google. 

Paid Marketing

Now, let’s dive into the concept of paid marketing.

As the name suggests, paid marketing is essentially about paid tools, tactics & strategies you implement to achieve the marketing goals. Plus, paid marketing is extremely good for short-term results, e.g., for fast lead generations when there is a Deal or certain sort of Offer.

Examples of paid marketing:

• PPC - pay-per-click ads 
• Google Ads advertising 
• Social Media ads
• Programmatic Advertising

To gain the most out of paid marketing, you need to know who your is to do the right & advanced targeting of the audience. This will ensure that your ad content will reach the people potentially interested in your product. 

Check 18 Great Ways To Get Coaching Clients In the Short & Long Term.

#6  Build your brand

And we are almost done. The next step is Branding. 

To stand out from the rest and generate sales, you must know about the key principles of successful branding.

1. Audit your Marketplace - simply put, observe competitors (both direct and indirect),learn from their mistakes, as well as learn from their success.
2. Having clear deadlines is another key element you will need to incorporate into your daily activities if you want to build a brand. 
3. Have a mission statement for your brand and follow it 
4. Do not underestimate the power of the right design. Create a unique website with unique imagery and style, as well as choose your brand’s four main colors.

To build your brand, ask yourself several questions, such as:

• If your client was your date and you were your brand, what would be the first thing you would tell them about yourself? This question will help you to get clear on the way you want to position your brand. 
• If a potential client says no, what would be the reason? Be brutally honest while answering this question, as it will help you identify your business’s weak spots and fix them. 

You can also do a SWOT analysis of your business idea or brand to clarify strengths and weaknesses and further actions. 

PRO TIP: Choose a platform that provides you with opportunities for branding, including website building customization, white labeling, and custom domain. 

#7 Keep patience, measure, and improve 

Keep in mind that brand building from scratch, even online, takes time, practice, and patience. 

You will succeed indeed if you love what you do. Therefore, first, make sure that coaching is your passion. And, if it is, then get started now to learn within time. 

Keep in mind that you constantly need to keep track of every aspect of your business, including website, marketing, client-relationship management, and finances. Besides being a coach, you should be an entrepreneur who takes full responsibility for your brand. 

Measure results, keep track of progress, and generally have business goals to stay motivated. 

Choose between 1:1 and group coaching sessions

Let’s start this section by revising the primary similarities and differences between these two. 

So, as far as we are clear on the differences and similarities between 1:1 and Group coaching sessions, it is time to choose the one that best works for you. 

Similarities between 1:1 and Group Coaching 

So, the main similarities are:

• Both are individual-centric and aim to help the participants to achieve the goals that they have
• Both offer the flexibility of online learning in terms of time and location 
• No matter which one you choose, you still will need a platform for your online coaching business 
• Due to the popularity of coaching, both are quite scalable
• Both require basic coaching practices 

Differences between 1:1 and Group Coaching

The main differences are:

• Both are individual-centric; however, in group coaching, you usually have a tailored program for which you gather coachees to start it. Meanwhile, in one-on-one coaching, you, the client, can choose a ready program or create a fully individualistic one designed to fulfill their needs. 
• One-on-one coaching is easier to handle, especially as a beginner, as your focus is one client at a time, allowing you to work with them as effectively as possible. 
• Group coaching requires less time than individual coaching. Let’s say you have five clients as a starting coach; with group coaching, you can have a meeting once a week and spend overall around 2 hours. Meanwhile, if you spend time on everyone individually, even an hour, it already adds up to 5. 
• You can charge higher fees for individual coaching. 

You are free to choose. However, we would recommend starting off with 1:1 sessions as those are easier to manage. Then, when you become an experienced coach with an established online presence, you can start group coaching sessions. 

FAQ about online coaching

It is time to dive into the Frequently Asked Questions about Online Coaching. Are you ready to find answers to everything? Then, let’s start! 

How much do online coaches charge, or How to Price a coaching program?

One of the not common questions that beginners have is, “How much to charge for online coaching.” Well, that depends on multiple factors, such as niche, expertise level, and even certification. 

Logically, beginner coaches and mid-level coaches charge less than professionals who have already made themselves a name. However, the average market price that average coaches charge is pretty much the same for beginners. 

New and Average coaches charge around $50 - $75 an hour per client or offer packages (usually six sessions each) that cost around $300 - $400. Life coaches, on average, for instance, charge $120 per hour. 

More established coaches charge $75 - $250 per session from a client or offer a package that can cost up to $1500 for 6-8 sessions. 

When you offer group coaching, usually, the price is 30% less than for individual sessions or packages. 

We hope we answered your question on “How much to charge for online coaching” with the above data. 

Do coaches need certification?

The short answer is yes, but the long answer is not really. 

Let me explain. Technically, as a coach, you do not need a certification, e.g., to become a lifestyle or dating coach. Hoover, you need expert-level knowledge in those which you will gain through continuous self-development, practice, and courses that will also provide you with a certification. 

So, suppose you are going to learn everything related to coaching. In that case, you might as well take a structured course that will provide you with internationally accredited certification. Later on, you can use it as a powerful testimonial that will help you to get your first clients. 

Above all, you will learn everything about coaching in a professional and structured manner. 

What skills do Coaches Need?

There is a set of skills that every coach must have, no matter what niche or style they have chosen for their sessions. 

So, the skills every coach needs are:

• Active Listening - if you cannot listen to what your client says, you won’t be able to guide them. Forget about assumptions and get to know them better. 
• Questioning - asking the right questions is crucial in coaching. A good coach always knows when and what questions to ask to help the client find the solution or gain a better insight into themselves. 
• Communication - another vital skill you should possess as a coach is a professional communication and the ability to build trust. 
• Effective goal-setting - another vital skill the coach needs is effective-goal setting. A client may come to you with a very unclear goal, and you should be able to help them clarify it, making it SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-specific). 
• Giving constructive feedback - for your coachee to grow, they need to know what aspects they lack and how they can improve. So, one of your skills as a coach should be the ability to give constructive feedback.
• Observing - your coachee may strongly believe in certain things that are not objectively true, which may be things that stop the theme from achieving desired results. So, as a coach, you should be a good observer and pinpoint those things to help them overcome the blocks. 

Suppose you are aware of all the basics, familiar with the professional-level implementation of certain styles & techniques, as well as equipped with these skills on a professional level. In that case, you can consider starting your first online coaching program. 

What Questions Should I ask?

Essentially the questions you ask as a coach vary depending on the niche and model you choose to implement with the client. However, in general, questions under the categories presented down below should be included in almost every coaching program. 

Identifying Goals

• What do you want to change in your reality?
• What will make you happy?
• How will the achievement of X make you happy?
• What are you passionate about? 
• What do you want?

Identifying Current Reality 

• Where are you now?
• How satisfied are you with your current reality?
• What would you like to change? Why?
• What are the obstacles that stand in your way?
• What are the factors or people that support you and push you forward?
• What are your strengths? 

Identifying Solutions & Options 

• What can you do about X obstacle?
• How can you overcome Y challenge? 
• Why does it stand in your way? 
• What can you do in X situation?
• Why aren’t you doing it now?
• What other options do you have?
• If you separate people from the problem, what would you do? 

Asking all of these questions is vital in order to gain more insight into the client, increase their self-awareness level, and have purposeful coaching conversations. 

Check the best 57 questions to ask during a coaching session. 

How to price an online coaching program?

Another commonly asked question is how to price a coaching program. The pricing depends on various factors, including what niche you are in and what level of expertise you have. 

You can price your coaching sessions at an hourly rate, monthly, or the coaching program as a whole.

However, consider these strategies before pricing the program:

• Penetration pricing is skimming through market prices and offering the lowest price to get clients. Do not offer very low prices; first of all, consider your comfort, then the fact that if the price is too low, clients may think that the program lacks in quality. 
• Value-based pricing means that you should price the program thinking from the customer’s perspective in terms of what or how much value they will gain from it.
• Dynamic Pricing, with this strategy, you can occasionally change prices on the program and sessions depending on the current demand in the market to meet the closest to perfect equilibrium point and make good profits.

How to name your online coaching business?

Think about what makes you unique. 

Tips on how to name your online coaching business:

• Use your name 
• Play with words 
• Check if it’s legal to use 
• Use various business name generator tools 
• Have fun when choosing a name 

How to get first coaching clients?

Many beginner coaches struggle with getting the first clients as they have no built-up reputation that speaks for themselves. However, do not worry; there are multiple ways of marketing and display of testimonials you can implement to get your clients. 

For instance:

• Utilize the power of organic and paid marketing; to do so, know who you are targeting and create content regularly. 
• Organize free coaching sessions - this is a great way to attract new clients; if you handle the sessions successfully, there is a huge chance that you will convert participants into real-time clients.
• Offer discounts and special offers to create a feeling of missing out and push clients toward impulsive buying decisions. Yet, ensure to provide value and meet their expectations to build a good reputation for yourself.
• Agree to go on interviews on various podcasts to improve your brand’s visibility, even if the interviews are for free
• Besides having a blog on your website, you can also do guest posting 
• Make sure that your website content is SEO-optimized to rank higher in SERPs, which automatically will increase visibility, awareness of the brand, and chances to generate leads
• Start a Referal/Affiliate marketing program, basically motivate your clients or people to sell you courses and get a percentage from sales. 

Be creative and have fun with every aspect to succeed. 

Best 6 online coaching platforms

Also, you would need a platform as a coach who wants to have an online coaching business. Many of you may think of building a website from scratch with Wix or WordPress, but no, it takes too much time & effort (as well as resources). 

Instead, choose a platform already meant for online educators and coaches, giving enough customization options to host your website with a custom domain and white labeling. 

Here, we are ready to present the Best Online Coaching Software which you can utilize and expand your business.

Uteach

Uteach is one of the leading platforms in the e-learning industry, and there are several reasons for that. 

• Offers lots of customization options to ensure that you are able to design your website to communicate the unique message of your brand 
• All-in-one potent automation that allows you to take control over every aspect of your online coaching business from one place 
• Offers integration with popular platforms and apps that will help to enhance the user experience 
• Works fast and has an incredibly beginner-friendly interface

Main Features

• Website Builder that allows you to build every aspect of your website in a visual drag & drop builder, change themes, etc. 
• Course Builder with SEO boxes that allow users to add courses and optimize them before publishing 
• End-to-end live sessions - this feature is especially useful for coaches to host online coaching sessions. 
• Automation, including calendars, notifications, email campaigns 
• Blog option to create a blog and publish relevant to your industry content in order to utilize the power of organic marketing fully 
• Dashboard to take control over marketing & payments 

So if you are a coach who wants to find an easy-to-use yet powerful coaching platform that will give you the opportunity to expand, then Uteach is the right choice for you. Plus, it is worth mentioning that it has extremely affordable pricing plans and a 14-day free trial run period. 

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Coaching Loft

Coaching Loft is another tremendous cloud-based software for coaches. It offers enough features to start and successfully handle coaching sessions. 

The main features include the following:

• The automated appointment scheduling system 
• Tools to improve the engagement of the clients 
• Coaching notepad 
• Cloud file storage and sharing 

So, as a beginner coach, Coaching loft can be a great place to start. However, if you plan to have a full-featured business and further expansion, then consider Uteach. 

Thinkific

One more good coaching platform that offers enough features to host online coaching sessions is Thinkific. Thinkific is not just a coaching platform; it is a full-featured platform that will work great for online course creators, instructors, and educators. 

The main features it offers include:

• Drag & Drop course builder 
• Membership site builder
• Community 
• Cohort-based classes model for online coaches 
• Incredible support 

Everything a coach may need for a successful session. 

Mighty Networks 

Mighty Networks is all about community. It allows you to bring courses, memberships, webinars, and even coaching sessions together and create a potent community. 

Its main features are:

• Tools to create good-looking landing pages
• Tools to sell bundles
• Activity feed to ensure that members of your community are engaged and up-to-date on the latest news 

FreshLearn

FreshLearn is an all-in-one creators’ platform to create, market, and sell digital products online directly to your fans on your branded website.  

Some notable features that FreshLearn offers: 

• Connect all your digital products to your domain and build your brand. 
• Gamify the whole course journey to keep the members excited while taking courses online. 
• Set up assessments with a scoring mechanism to help your students gauge their progress. 
• Customize the certificates you can reward your students with upon course completion.

Kajabi

The last platform on our list is called Kajabi. Kajabi promises to give you an opportunity to turn your knowledge into income, and it successfully meets its promise. 

It is a great platform for coaches who want to have online coaching businesses. 

The main features that Kajabi comes in handy with include: 

• Website builder to ensure that you have enough customization options
• Custom domains for better branding
• SEO-optimization tools
• Unlimited Hosting 
• One-click publishing 

Top 3 best coaching websites

Also, to get a better idea of what your coaching website should look like, let’s look at the Top 3 Best Coaching websites. 

Mel Robbins 

Of course, when talking about Coaching, it is impossible not to think of Mel Robbins, one of the best motivational speakers and lifestyle as well as business coaches. She is definitely on top of her industry as well as her website. 

When we visit her website, we see everything she does, it is clear, and no questions are raised. She features the latest news on the first page, e.g., a New podcast. Then she has sections of her website Podcast, Books, Speaking & About. 

Everything is on point, the color choice suits her brand and is recognizable. The website manages to be minimalistic yet full of everything at the same time. 

Mel Noakes

Another amazing coach that you can learn from is Mel Noakes. She is a self-care coach that also knows how to position herself. 

When you look at her website, the first thing the eye catches is a definite minimalistic approach. However, she manages to fit everything about herself and what she does on the first page. It is all about the right organization.

Preston Smiles

There are multiple things to learn from this incredible life coach. However, start with learning how to create a website as amazing as his. 

One of the noticeable approaches that he uses is he gets personal and works on building the trust factor upfront by using best copywriting practices. 

So, if you want to build a great coaching website for your business, then take a look at the examples mentioned above and learn from the best. 

8 mistakes to avoid 

Finally, if you want to succeed, you should be aware of the Top 8 Most Common Coaching Mistakes to avoid. Why? Because the best way to start selling online is a way that will create a good reputation for you as a coach upfront. 

Mistake 1 - Not setting clear expectations for the program

Remember the paragraph about Risks & Challenges? Well, if you do not set clear expectations for the client from the program, you risk facing those. 

Let’s say a client comes in with no sense of accountability, expecting that just a talk throughout the session will solve everything; how are you going to deal with that later on? 

Just talk to the potential client, understand their expectations, and clarify anything that is not applicable to avoid further issues.

Mistake 2 - Not Defining Program’s Objective 

Another mistake that can ruin the program’s effectiveness is not defining its objective. 

Especially vital the objective is for group coaching. In individual coaching programs, the clients set objectives, and you develop a plan, but in group coaching, you should already have an approximate outline of the program with the main objective so that people know what it is about and whether or not they want to participate. 

Mistake 3 - Not defining a Goal for Each Session 

When any of the sessions do not have an objective, it will result in messy, not-focused conversations. And those will have no actual contribution toward the achievement of the final goal. 

Therefore, make sure that you talk to the client about the objective of each session. E.g., the first session can be about building trust and getting to know the client better; the next session can be about the identification of goals and current reality; the third one about obstacles and solutions, and so on. 

Mistake 4 - Underestimating the Power of Organic Marketing

Many people underestimate the power of organic marketing. Essentially it is a long-term strategy and usually does not give instant results. However, organic marketing is necessary for every online business, and it is truly potent. 

Avoid underestimating it and create a content strategy to improve your brand’s visibility and reputation. You can start as simple as regular posts across various social media platforms and grow to have a blog on your website. 

Mistake 5 - Not knowing who your Target Clients are 

Another mistake that coaches make, which contributes to failure, is not being aware of the target client. Well, how will you target or get clients if you do not know your potential clients? 

Many coaches ignore the vitality of market research and the creation of buyer personas and then struggle with sales. Know who your client is to be well aware of their pain points and offer a solution with your product/service that will motivate them to purchase it.

Mistake 6 - Asking Close-ended Questions 

You, as an expert coach, should avoid close-ended questions as much as possible. 

 Why? Because those are mostly yes or no questions that do not need further elaboration and create unnecessary barriers to dialogue’s further development. 

Instead, ask open-ended questions that stimulate thought and allow the dialogue to develop naturally.

Mistake 7 - Not being a Good Listener 

If you won’t listen to your client, then who will? They came to you with a goal in mind and with lots of barriers on the way. 

You are not a consultant or an advisor, do not jump to conclusions and leave judgment behind. Instead, simply listen to the coachee, and observe their behavior and certain patterns to gain more insight and guide them.

Mistake 8 - Forgetting about the Feedback 

The client comes to you with a desire to grow, transform, and achieve the goals, right? Well, how will you do that if you won’t provide them with constructive feedback? 

As a coach, you should be a good observer who notices various patterns in clients’ behavior, etc., and can give constructive feedback that will improve their lives.

However, if you made it is not the end; you just must be able to learn & grow as a professional. 

Start your online coaching now

Stop hesitation and get started! 

Online coaching is one of the most in-demand industries nowadays, and with the right marketing strategies, you will easily find coaching clients and build amazing income streams. 

Choose the platform that best works for your needs, one of the industry leaders is Uteach. Uteach will provide you with everything necessary to build a full-featured coaching business website, do marketing and collect payments from one place. 

Plus, it offers lots of SEO optimization features, ensuring that your website is SEO-friendly. So, with the right long-term organic marketing strategy, you will rank higher in SERPs. 

Just start now to build your audience and find clients faster!

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