How to start a coaching, consultancy or therapy business

Your guide to making a bigger impact by helping others

Starting a business is fairly easy and straightforward to do. This guide covers the basic steps but does not cover the financial or legal requirements which may be relevant to your industry, including the requirement for insurance and certification or qualification.

1. What one thing can you offer?

Keep it simple and think about what one service that you can offer that you’re interested in and have experience in. You can find a niche using the 3Es guide: https://www.wimble.com/the-3-es-that-mean-that-you-are-already-perfect/

2. What one audience can you work with?

Focus on working with one audience. When you do this, your message becomes clear. Your website, your social media posts and what you say to people becomes clear. Do not be all things to all people because you then have a vague message. You speak to a personal trainer to learn how to lose weight through exercise rather than speak to a doctor.

3. What one solution can you provide?

Create one clear solution that you can help your audience with. This may be an online course, a 1-2-1 programme or a service where you deliver the solution. There are many other ways of delivering a solution. What you offer is up to you. Again, keep it simple so people understand what you offer.

4. What one result can you deliver?

Talk about the result that you can help your client to achieve. People don’t buy mindfulness courses – they buy reduced anxiety. People don’t buy a plumber – they buy someone to stop a toilet from leaking.

5. How can you make money quickly?

Look at your low hanging fruit – who do you already know in your network that might need your help. Speak to them. Tell your friends and family what you’re offering and to whom. They might know someone who needs your help.

6. Create a simple sales funnel

Invariably, a stranger won’t buy from you immediately so you will need to create a sales funnel. This is a way of taking people from being vaguely interested to wanting to buy. If you look at a funnel, it starts wide and gets smaller towards the end. Similarly, the pool of potential customers is big but it narrows as you move along the funnel towards the pool of people who pay you.

A simple sales funnel is about making people aware of what you do and keeping them interested in what you do until you’re ready to buy.

The easiest way to keep someone interested is to create a mailing list. You can also increase the number of friends or connections on Facebook or LinkedIn.

You then feed them regular high value content to demonstrate your expertise.

Every now and then you can make an offer of the service that you sell.

7. Create your free thing

In order to build a mailing list, the simplest way is to create a free giveaway that’s high value and demonstrates your expertise but doesn’t completely solve the problem. Typically, this might be a guide, check list or plan. If you’re a life coach, this might be a step-by-step guide to achieving a specific goal. You are giving them the plan but if they want to effectively achieve said goal, their best solution is to work with you. When you offer the free thing, you first ask for their email. Direct them to a web page where they can put in their email and in return, they receive the free guide or whatever.

8. Where does your ideal customer hang out?

In order to promote your free thing, find out where your ideal customer can be found. This might be on LinkedIn. It might be at networking events. Wherever they are, you need to go and then offer them your free thing (via the web page).

Summary and conclusion

It really is as simple as this. Decide who to help, what to offer, and build a mailing list. Demonstrate your expertise to this list and occasionally promote your services.

If you would like help to plan your business, then message me via the contact page and let’s have a chat.