When you first start your successful coaching business you will have few resources so managing them well is important to your business’ survival.

Let’s start off with time. Time is the only resource where everyone gets the same amount. Nobody gets more or less of it no matter how rich or famous they get. It’s also the most finite and precious resource we have,

Any savvy entrepreneur knows that the secret to a thriving coaching business is leveraging time. There are three main ways to leverage time:

• Remove the unnecessary
• Learn what make you more productive
• Hire others to save you time

Let’s take a look at thow you can combine these principles to create a successful coaching business…

 

 

 

1. Build a successful coaching business by avoiding the unnecessary

There are many things that are superfluous in life and business. Often the way we’ve been brought up or the habits we’ve grown accustomed to in your coaching business stop us from seeing the wood from the trees. We need to learn to see the difference between ‘necessities’ and ‘nice-to-haves’ in order to simplify our coaching businesses.

How do we begin to remove the unnecessary, and what if we’re new to business? I had been in business about a year when I realised that my monthly bill for tools was a few hundred dollars.

It seemed to keep climbing. I had started my business with a desire to automate as much as possible, which is great. But then I started stacking and complicating matters – enjoying tools for the sake of tools. I gave myself a couple of months to assess what I really needed, looked at alternatives where necessary, implemented any changes.

My bill went down by a few hundred dollars to under 100 dollars a month.

I decided that if something didn’t give me money, joy (energy) or contributed to money and joy in the future, it didn’t have a place for it in my business.

In her book Chillpreneur, Denise DT mentions that she went through her business and simply removed what wasn’t necessary. When I read this it was an epiphany. “Some things don’t need simplifying, they can just be removed altogether”.

I asked myself, what makes something in my business necessary. Generating income would be the most important, investing in training, systems and strategies that will build further revenue in the future. Perhaps running experiments and building programs that will benefit my clients in the future.

I was quite clear about what was important for my business so why was I spending so much time adding tools to perfect things I had no business perfecting.

My goal was to create a lean yet successful coaching business that runs smoothly and easily. My top priority was to make money and turn my coaching practice from a hobby into a lucrative online business.

So I focused on the priorities.

 

 

Money Making
This included buying tools to make discovery calls, conversion, and getting paid easier. Tightening the sales process.

Marketing is the lifeblood of any coaching business, well, leads are. So lead generation was the top priority. Time and/or money needed to be invested in marketing. But only on those strategies that were working. (with some testing to find out what actually works.

Future-proofing my business This included forward-looking items such as updating the website regularly, making connections, getting contracts testing new markets/techniques and strategies, getting tutoring and mentorship, list building and hiring.

Measuring data to really understand my business.

When I looked at the above and made an effort to simplify as much as possible – suddenly my business started feeling easier. Remove the unnecessary.

I removed multiple payment links by creating simple pages that had all the links.
I supported my discovery calls with pdfs that had all the info and also payment links.
I simplified my calendar software.
I create a process that makes sure I have plenty of time to create content every week.
I batched admin jobs. I stopped uploading client recordings to youtube, I stopped over-running every call.
I automated my onboarding process. Etc etc.

I still declutter my business regularly. Every year I ask myself, what is absolutely necessary? And the answer is easy.

If it is directly or indirectly providing revenue or business resilience, it stays. If not removed altogether or replaced with something that is more consistent with the current set-up.

For example, I was spending money on list building but I didn’t have a strategy to turn the list into customers. I did the same with low-value programs. No real strategy – a bit of a waste really. So I integrated my list building with my SEO and Blogging work. I created a pop-up on the website for people to follow my blog.

Then started sending monthly, then weekly blog links. I also added an automated email sequence to get people on a discovery call after joining the email list. This integrated the whole thing into my existing strategy so the time needed was minimal and it enhanced the results of my existing strategy,

 

 

2. Learn what makes you productive and successful in your coaching business

Knowing what gives you energy and what helps you focus will help you keep your momentum and build your business faster. For instance, 1:1 brings more money into my business than group programs. I charge pretty high ticket (3K to 10K for 1:1 ) and I enjoy the time I spend with my clients.

Groups take more work, however, group calls energize me. I also get to have many conversations and keep a finger on the pulse as to what my clients need today. Group calls don’t leave me feeling drained, so they’re actually a source of energy and marketing material. So although less lucrative they have a role to play. They’re also scalable so they can actually help grow my business in the long run.

Writing is also one of my pleasures. I love writing and spend a lot of time doing it. Well, 1 day a week. This makes me excited about Mondays – I get to work and start writing, easing myself into the week. It makes my coaching business more enjoyable and that feels like success.

Ask yourself – does running in the morning help me get more productive? Do 1:1 or group sessions energize me more? What drains my energy? Get clear on how things make you feel and build your business and routines around your preferences. Ultimately that’s why you thought coaching might make a suitable business for you, right?

Another important aspect is to know how much time you spend on various activities. I’m a big fan of the Pomodoro technique. Pioneered by Francesco Cirillo, the Pomodoro technique is a system where you time your tasks in 25-minute sprints with 5-minute breaks in between. As a technique, it can help you stay focused, although it’s not always the best technique for writing because you want to have longer focus buckets.

I use it when I have admin tasks or smaller marketing tasks to complete. It really helps you learn how to predict your time consumption. By thinking in Pomodoro’s you will be able to predict more closely the amount of time it’s going to take you to complete a given task.

The Pomodoro technique has made a big difference to my productivity because before I started using it, I used to find it really hard to predict how long a task would take me. Now I know for sure. Because I think in Pomodoros, and when in doubt I just add an extra one to be safe. I love using the pomofocus.io which I believe is not an official tool but it really works. I like that you can change the Pomodoro time buckets because when I’m writing I like to work in at least 1-hour sprint. But, remembering to get up and have a little break works wonders for your productivity and you won’t feel as tired at the end of the day – well worth a try.

 

 

 

 

3. Hire others to save time in your coaching business

When you ask yourself the questions above, you might find that there are some things that you need to do but really don’t enjoy. They trip you up and put you in procrastination mode, wasting stacks of time.

The solution is to hire someone who loves doing just that. Do you hate data entry, accounting, sending emails, managing your inbox, and editing your podcast… outsource it!

Find someone good and expect them to do the job around 80 to 90% as well as you do – that’s realistic and won’t set you up for disappointment and virtual assistant hopping.

You can start with part of the job on Fiverr or Upwork. Then as you make your money, find someone who will take on more of the work. It’s the only way your coaching business will grow.

If you’re conservative and are not sure you can afford help yet. Think to yourself…

Are there any tasks in my business that, if I have more time for, I will make more money?

Are there tasks that really slow me down, a specialist would do this 10x faster?

Outsourcing these jobs will make you way more productive and profitable. And if you’re worried about the finances, just prepare for it. You can start with an assistant for 5 hours a week, multiply the rate $25 x 20 = $500/ month. Save $3,000 dollars so you can cover their wages for 6 months and you will feel way better about hiring.

If this sounds like too much then you’re in the Fiverr/Upwork bracket. Find someone who can do the job you need – You can get your podcast edited for $20 and your social media posts written or blog posts published on WordPress for $15.

Once you start using these services, just keep trying new people, if you’re not happy, and improve the quality over time. You will be in a position where you’re briefing these outsourced contractors, relaying emails, and documents, publishing your podcast etc. You will turn yourself into your own Executive VA.

Pay attention to your outsourcing processes, and document them. And soon you will be able to hire someone to replace you. And you will get so much time back!

 

A successful coaching business is built on taking the right turns and making the right decisions, especially when you’re in your first 0 to 3 years in business.

If you’re looking for mentorship or marketing coaching to get your coaching business off the ground (or to the next level) let’s talk at www.stephaniefiteni.com/call

 

 

 

 

---

About the Author: Stephanie Fiteni

 

Hi, I’m Stephanie, a Content Marketing Coach and Business Mentor for Coaches. I’m the creator of the Profitable Content Marketing Method™ and help coaches generate more leads and clients through their blogs and websites whilst helping them build a business that makes good money with ease. My clients get fully booked with just 2 hours of enjoyable marketing per week!

I have over 15 years of experience creating websites, building businesses, writing blogs, and creating social media campaigns, and funnels. As well as ranking articles, videos, and podcasts on the first page of Google. I also managed the content and web dev team in my own agency for over 10 years.

I can teach you how to create content that will convert your visitors into discovery call bookings, every time. Let’s Talk