Module 9 : Key Steps to

Start, Market and Sustain a

Successful Life Coaching
Business (Part 1)

Objectives
Getting started as a life coach
Attracting your first clients or attracting clients
after a lull
Profiling your target market and potential clients
Blog posts that aspiring (or veteran) life coaches can
consider writing
Social media as a marketing tool for life coaches
How to create powerful social media profiles

Key Steps for Setting up a Successful

Life Coaching Business (Part 1) – 05m 54s

9.1 Introduction
Life coaching is an engaging and interesting
profession, and you can help people from the
comfort of your home, at times that suit
you.

If you are interested in becoming a life coach, you can look

forward to a successful career that offers flexibility,
opportunities, contact with other people and the chance to
enjoy a fulfilling and meaningful career.

You must strive to be the best life coach that you can be.
This module explains how to start your own life coaching
business.

In order to get started as a life coach, you should make use

of technology and maximise its potential. One of the first
steps towards establishing your life coaching business is to
find paying clients. The tips and strategies described in this
module help you attract your first clients or attract clients
after a lull. The important thing to remember throughout is to
be confident in your ability as a life coach.

Getting started
The very first step in starting your business as a life coach
involves targeting the right customers for your services. This
will involve understanding the type of life coaching that you
wish to offer, the client demographic, as well as other
crucial factors.

It is important to be specific about the type of clients that

you are looking to coach, so that you do not waste your time
looking for the wrong type of clients.
The best way in which to kick-start a career in life coaching
is to create a detailed business plan. This will help you
think about the likely risks and how you wish to plan for
success.

Every life coaching business plan should contain a detailed

mission statement, objectives, financial projections,
planning, a profit and loss analysis, and so on. In addition,
you need to consider aspects such as marketing and how to take
payment.

Creating relevant, engaging and useful blog posts is an

effective way in which to reach out to your target clientele.
Crisp, well-researched and well-structured content can help
build a rapport and engage with the community, and this can
help establish your credentials.

Social media platforms are very powerful marketing tools, and

your profile should reflect what you can do to help people.

Fact

Statistics from 2016 estimated that

33.2 million UK residents – which made up 50.5% of the
population – would log onto Facebook at least once a month. It
was estimated that Twitter had 14.3 million regular UK users.
Source: emarketer.com

9.2 Life Coaching as a Career

Let us briefly recap on what life coaching (also referred to
as personal coaching) actually is.

Life coaching is a collaborative, sometimes one-to-one and

sometimes group process, whereby a life coach works with a
client, in order to help them achieve their goals.
People may seek assistance in different areas of their lives,
including physical fitness, career, relationships, finances,
happiness and fulfilment levels. They may come from different
age groups, occupations and economic backgrounds, but they
have one thing in common: the desire to improve some aspect of
their professional or personal life.

A life coach’s job is to help you feel ‘unstuck’ from that

point in your life, using a variety of tools, techniques and
processes. A successful life coach helps clients stay focused
and motivated and helps them to progress further on their life
paths, in less time than if they had managed on their own.

The challenge is making the transition to becoming a life

coach who earns a living from their job.

9.3 Education Requirements to

become a Life Coach
Life coaching is a holistic process and does
not require any formal university or college
degree.

To be honest, it is not even mandatory to undertake training.

However, as with any profession, a familiarity with what it
entails and an awareness of the best ways in which to
communicate and help your clients does go a long way in
helping you establish a good reputation.

You may wish to consider investing effort, energy and time

into preparing for a long and successful career as a life
coach, and it requires hard work, just like anything
worthwhile in life. There is no doubt that, with the right
motivation and the necessary background, you will be able to
help people lead better lives in no time.

While a college or university qualification is not mandatory,

it is a good idea to obtain certification, in order to enhance
your credibility.
As you work, you will gain experience, and there is no
education that can compare to experience. This experience is
invaluable in the extremely competitive field of life
coaching.

Firstly, as life coaching is still a relatively new

profession, you may have to be prepared to let your clients
know exactly what you do and how it can benefit them. This is
especially relevant because most people confuse life coaching
with counselling or therapy. (The differences have been
clearly outlined in Module 1.) Clients should know what life
coaching can do for them, before they express their wants,
needs and challenges to you. It is not fair to expect clients
to trust you, if they are unfamiliar with the process of life
coaching and its objectives.

Technology plays a very positive role in helping you reach

clients. You can access potential clients, information and
many other resources on the internet. Moreover, you can
respond to e-mails on your laptop or messages on your mobile
phone.

The best part about being a life coach is that you do not have
to invest money into your business to begin with. You can
start from your home and then hire premises at a later stage,
if you need to.

Most life coaches find it challenging to get started in their

career because they do not know how or where to start. The
following are important steps that will help you get started.

9.4 Step 1 – Business Plan

As with any business, the best way in which
to start is by having in place a well-
structured business plan.

Business plans are excellent tools that help you plan for
success and also contain plan B and plan C, in the case of
failure of plan A.

The best way in which to create a business plan is by using

one of the ready-made templates that are available on the
internet. Choose one that is ideal for your needs, and fill in
the required fields.

Outlined below are some of the important pieces of information

that you need, in order to prepare a detailed business plan:

Long term vision/objectives

Services that you would like to offer clients: include
details such as the duration of the sessions, forms to
be filled in by clients, coaching assessments and
communication methods
Market evaluation: evaluate your target market and
prospective client profile
Outline the benefits to clients
Competitor analysis: explain what you can offer that
helps you stand out from the competition
Marketing budget/techniques
Choosing marketing strategies that work best for you
Researching social media profiles, blog posts, etc.
The use of technology: the internet, smartphones and the
costs involved
Patents/copyrights
Financial: key assumptions
Financial projections
 Profit and loss analysis

As your business progresses, you should consider upgrading

your business plan every now and then.

Activity
Estimated time: 10 minutes+

Think about a business plan for your life coaching business.

What are all the important details that you would like
to include in it?
Have you given serious thought to how you will market
your services or who will be your target clientele?
Are you thinking of starting your business from home?

9.5 Step 2 – In Which Niche would

you like to Offer Services?
Decide on the niche in which you want to
specialise.

Marketing generalised life coaching services can feel

overwhelming and without direction.

To begin with, life coaching offers an intangible service: a

better future. Therefore, in order to add structure, it is
best to hone in on a single area in which you would like to
help people. If this feels confining, you can always consider
expanding into additional life coaching services, after
gaining experience. Focus on the ‘top-of-the-surface’ to which
clients are looking for an immediate solution.
In order to attract clients and keep them coming to you
regularly, you must offer specialised services that help them
solve specific problems. There is a higher likelihood of
establishing yourself as a go-to life coach for a specific set
of problems.

9.6 Step 3 – Deciding on an

Effective Life Coaching Business
Name
The name that you give your life coaching
business should be able to capture unique
aspects of your business.

It may seem overwhelming at first, however, if you sit down

and come up with various options, you will definitely find a
name that fits the business profile.

One way is to use your own name. The advantages include the
fact that it’s uniquely tied to you and you probably don’t
have to legally wrangle it from someone else.

However, it doesn’t reflect what your business does or your

niche. It’s also not useful because you cannot use the name to
reflect any additional niches in the future.
Also, avoid adding a geographical location to your business
name. At first, this may be useful for targeting initial
clients. However, if you want to branch out or expand at a
later date, this may become a hindrance.

Avoid very long names that are more than a mouthful to say.
Clients will not remember the name easily. People remember
good names by the sound and not by sight. Use alliteration,
rhyme and rhythm to catch people’s attention. For example,
PayPal, Beach Bodies etc. Incorporate results, promises and
benefits in the name itself

Once you have decided on an appropriate name, you can search

on the internet for ‘UK domain registration’, in order to
register your business name.

9.7 Attracting your First Clients

Attracting your first clients is probably the
most challenging part of this exciting
journey, and we will explain how you can get
your first clients.

At this point, you are ready to go but do not have any

previous testimonials as yet.

There is often nothing more disheartening than waking up every

day, only to find an empty inbox; however, personal
development is the first step towards helping other people
develop.

Dedicate a certain number of hours during the day or week to

follow up on new leads or develop old leads.

Activity
Estimated time: 5-10 minutes

Which clients do you think that you would like to

target?
What are the specific life coaching services that you
would like to offer?
Have you thought about your potential client profile
 with regards to age, gender, demographic, economic
status, etc.?

9.8 Tips to Help you Find your

First, or Next, Paying Client

Are you communicating with the ideal market?

As with any product or service, finding out your niche market
is one of the most important things to do, before expecting to
get your life coaching business off the ground.

The primary need is to be able to build a connection with your

ideal clients, and, in order to do this, you need to get an
idea of who your ideal client is. You are much more likely to
become a successful life coach if you specialise in a
particular area, as opposed to being a generalist.

For example

You may communicate with mothers who wish to return to

work after a break.
Alternatively, you may wish to work with clients who are
close to retirement or those who wish to change their
career paths.

Once you have done this, you are better placed to find clients
who meet the particular profile. If you keep your target
market too large, you may find that you do not produce any
tangible results.
To follow are some criteria that you can use, in order to
narrow down your field:

Age
Age is a very distinctive criterion because each age group has
its own set of wants, goals and limitations with which to
deal. This is one of the first criteria on which to decide.

For example
If you want to help stay-at-home mothers move forward in their
career, you may be dealing with an age group from
approximately 25 to 40. Therefore, you can immediately
eliminate teenagers or older individuals.
When you are starting out, it is very important to rule out
sectors of the population that do not fall within your target
market.

Gender
Life coaching practices may often cater for both men and women
but, at times, you may wish to tailor your marketing approach
to each gender.

For example

Men who wish to work from home may have different needs
and challenges, compared to women who wish to work from
home. In such cases, you may wish to run congruent
marketing campaigns for both genders, but with some
differences.
If you wish to target a specific sector of people, for
example, men who have been made redundant, you should
concentrate only on potential male customers.

Ethnicity and race

The UK of today is multi-ethnic and multicultural, and, if you
wish to run a successful life coaching business, your business
must make everyone feel welcome. Ensure that your email or
marketing campaigns do not offend any sector of the
population.

Try and gain information relating to the demographic with

which you plan to deal. Specific sectors of the population can
be found in specific areas of the UK. Your style of
communication should suit the comprehension, communication
style and affordability levels of your target clientele.

The lifestyles of your potential clients

What time of the day are they likely to be free?

What do they do with most of their time?

What are the challenges faced by people in your target

demographic?

How is your life coaching likely to benefit them?

What are their hopes and dreams, and what do they want?

You can consider engaging with potential clients, with the

help of blog posts or social media. One good step, to begin
spreading the word about your coaching services, could be to
start your own blog or social media posts, discussing common
problems and how you can help people overcome them.

Provide your contact details, such as your email address, so

that people can contact you. Your blog posts should be
specifically targeted to your potential clients and not to the
mass market. Generalised, woolly blog posts are no good at all
– in fact, they would mean that you may risk harming your
reputation.

9.9 Blog Posts for Life Coaching

This section provides information on
different types of blog posts that life
coaches can write.

The reality of the 21st century is that the internet is an

excellent place in which to look for potential clients. If you
are serious about wanting to reach out to them, you must
consider writing relevant, informative and regular blog posts.

It is practically impossible to build a steady coaching

practice without a steady stream of high quality online
content.
If you are feeling challenged at the thought of writing blog
posts, to follow are various ideas, to help you:

Personal stories
When first setting up your business, the best way in which to
build a rapport and connect with potential clients is to share
personal stories that demonstrate empowerment and success. You
do not have to share too many, but allowing potential clients
to be privy to your own story of personal development adds
credibility to your profile.

Stories about other people

People may not always relate to stories about celebrities, but
they are usually happy to read real stories about other people
who overcame the odds. These stories are motivating and tell
people that they can do it too.

Avoid revealing personal details, unless the person in

question is happy for you to do so.

‘How to’ posts

These can help spark interest in different aspects of personal
development. You can consider writing informative posts that
contain practical content and allow your personality to shine
through. You will be amazed at how much your blog posts can
connect to readers who may be potential clients.

Examples of ‘how to’ posts could include:

How to be happier
How to start a new career
How to prepare to return to the world of work
How to make time for yourself

Videos
You can post videos of yourself speaking on a subject related
to life coaching. This is a great way in which to directly
speak to prospective clients, and they can get an idea of who
you are and what you like.

This generally helps build a sense of familiarity. All you

need to do is practise speaking on a specific life coaching
topic and record this on camera. You can even use your mobile
phone camera.

Research and factual posts

These help generate interest.

Additional tips on how to write and use great blog

posts to kick-start your life coaching business.
Think about typical problems and challenges that your client
may face, and write them down. Also consider visiting online
groups, chats and forums, and read the common problems that
people need help with.

Share self-coaching tips and techniques, so that people are

able to derive real help from your blog posts. This will also
help establish you as an authority in your subject and will
also help increase awareness of your coaching business.
Make note of suggestions, comments and feedback, and respond
to people who have taken the initiative to communicate with
you. Engagement with the community is an excellent way in
which to build a rapport.

Share your blog posts in as many places as possible, in order

to aim for maximum visibility. The facts listed below show how
powerful social media is, when it comes to telling people who
you are and what you do for a living.

Fact

Research into search engine

algorithms shows that the best times during which to post blog
posts to Facebook is Thursdays and Fridays, when the
engagement level is 18% higher.
Source: blog.bufferapp.com

9.10 How to Create a Powerful

Social Media Profile that Appeals
to your Target Clientele
Social media is a versatile platform for
attracting life coaching clients

If you are just starting out, the very first thing that you
must do is create an effective profile on the social media
platforms that you plan to use. Your profile must contain a
credible mission statement, your current credentials and
explain the benefits of your business. It is not enough that
you offer exceptional life coaching skills – your profile must
be able to make potential clients want to meet you.

You must be able to relate to and connect to your clients’

problems and challenges and offer solutions that help them
overcome these. Life coaching offers several benefits, such as
increased confidence and self-esteem and a greater sense of
fulfilment. However, in your profile, initially address
pressing issues, such as excess weight, frustration, career
goals or relationship stability. Once people begin coming to
you for help, they will then enjoy the additional benefits of
life coaching.

Your social media profile should be able to specify the

problems that you can resolve for them.

For example, you could say that you can:

‘Help you overcome stress and become happier/more

productive in your work environment’
‘Help you achieve success at work, without suffering
from burnout or exhaustion’
‘Help you to replace wishful thinking with powerful,
result-orientated action’

Your profile should specify the problem and the solution in

concise sentences. Your proposed solutions should be aimed at
your target clientele. Your posts and communication may need
to be high-powered and technical, if coaching senior
executives. However, if your clients are stay-at-home mums
looking to get back to work, avoid boring them with business-
style content.

It is best to avoid using very technical or ‘highbrow’

language and, instead, use the language that your target
clientele is likely to use. For example, the word ‘harmony’
may not work as well as ‘stress-busting.’ It all depends on
how well you have managed to identify your target clientele.

Many social media profiles do not impress clients because they

are far too generic in nature and do not describe value-based
benefits.

Your profile and posts should focus on how clients can

benefit, rather than what you can do.
Potential clients should be able to immediately identify with
what you are offering them. You want the ideal clients to
instantly know that they can benefit.

In order to discover your own unique selling point, you can

ask yourself the following three important questions:

Why have I chosen life coaching as my career?

Why will my ideal (target) clients want to work with me?
What do close friends and family members say about me
that makes me unique?

These three questions can help you create an effective and

relevant profile.

You must also ensure that you do not overwhelm your reader
with an excessive number of promotional posts. Social media
experts recommend what is known as the one-in-seven rule. This
rule recommends that, for every promotional post, you should
write seven engaging and informative posts.
 A balance between engaging and promotional is very important,
as people do not wish to be bombarded with posts that are all
about free consultations and telephone calls. Keep your
communication subtle.
Life coaching is a very personal service, so make a point of
connecting with readers on a deeper level – after all, people
want to connect with a real person and not a soulless brand.
Please note that it is not necessary to tweet and post
messages all the time – this will lead to overkill – but you
should consider posting content from time to time.

Always have your desired outcome in mind. It can be very easy

to waste several hours each day on social media, without
actually achieving your goal: more clients. If your current
strategies are not working, change tack, and investigate as to
whether you have been doing something wrong.

Social media rules/guidelines for every life coach include:

1. Announce live events at least one week before the scheduled
broadcast
2. Include the CTA or call to action unobtrusively at the bottom
of the page
3. Collaborate with influencers and start off a social media
campaign, promotion or competition on Facebook or Instagram
4. Invest a little in multiple ads running across all social
media platforms to increase visibility
5. While creating content, think about questions or doubts that
clients have communicated to you in the past
6. Share relevant, high-impact and high-value content that
reflects what your coaching brand stands for

Take a Quick Recap Test

Assignment
Key Steps to Start, Market and Sustain a Successful Life
Coaching Business (Part 1)
Time: 30+ minutes

Hopefully, you took in as much of the information in this

module as possible. To find out how well you have done,
complete the following worksheet.

Download the worksheet below and complete.

Download Worksheet (PDF)

Module Summary
If you are starting out in your career as a successful life
coach, you need to consider becoming proactive, when
attracting clients. If you sit back and wait for your clients
to approach you or promote you by word of mouth, you may have
to wait a long time.

The tips described in this module help you attract clients to

your business.

The very first step involves deciding on the niche in which

you wish to specialise, followed by thinking of a simple,
unique name for your life coaching business. It is best to
avoid cryptic, complex and clichéd names.

Life coaching is not simply about chatting with a client over

coffee, collecting payment and moving onto the next café.
Remember that most of us do not have hundreds of thousands of
pounds to invest in our business, and clients will certainly
not come running to us just like that.

You must be prepared for it to take a great deal of time and

effort to build a life coaching business because what you are
essentially trying to build is credibility.

It is not necessary to employ expensive online marketing

agencies, to help you set up your life coaching business. By
spending a little time learning the basics, you can help
enhance visibility for your business.

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