Nine Ways to Build Your Life Coaching Business

Some life coaching graduates add life coaching to an existing business, others have the daunting task of starting a business from scratch, often without any experience. Having started a number of businesses myself, including life coaching, I thought I’d share some of what has worked with me with you:

1. Walk your talk. Remember to practice what you preach. You may not always feel confident but you need to act that way.

2. Be prepared. You need to be ready to see clients before you start telling people you are in business. Do you have your materials to share with clients ready? Do you have an agreement, outlining your fees, times, appointments and what you expect and what you will give ready to give your clients? Do you have business cards, brochures or a way to tell people you’re in business?

3. Have you allocated a time to see clients? Most coaches work full time to begin with. Remember, you still need to allocate a time to see potential new clients even if it is after business hours.

4. Tell people that you are in business. It’s a good idea to keep your dreams to yourself while they are in the formative stages, but once you are ready to launch you need to let everyone know what you are doing.

5. Focus on what you want and keep your mind off what you don’t want. Don’t even entertain the possibility that you will not succeed.

6. Set aside a time each day to work on your business, even if it is only half an hour. This is a time when you actively do something, make phone calls, write a newsletter, it is not a time for worrying. Do between three and five things every week day to promote your business.

7. Look for a formula. Most businesses find a formula for promoting their business that works and they stick with it. Just look at McDonalds. Your formula may include advertising, public relations, free seminar, asking related professionals (e.g. naturopath) to refer to you, attending trade shows e.g. Mind, Body, Spirit Festivals, offering free consultations to people who could be potential clients, sending out newsletters, creating a web page. Experiment until you find what works for you and stick with it.

8. Use your flyer everywhere. Print a one page flyer outlining your services and every time you have to leave your phone number for anything, say for instance a shop orders in a product for you, give them a flyer with your contact details.

9. Seek the support of a life coach. Use the service you are promoting yourself and allow your coach to assist you in building your business.