{"id":5816,"date":"2021-09-02T17:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T17:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/?p=5816"},"modified":"2021-09-03T14:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T14:05:48","slug":"start-coaching-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/?p=5816","title":{"rendered":"How to quickly start a coaching program that makes $500 an hour"},"content":{"rendered":"

4 years ago\u00a0this caught my eye…<\/p>\n

\"noah-kagan-coaching\"

I distinctly remember being blown away that someone would have the audacity to sell 1 hour of coaching\u00a0for $1,000 and being even more surprised that people would actually pay that much.<\/p>\n

The thought of charging even $50 or $100 an hour seemed absolutely insane.<\/p>\n

$1000? Ludicrous.<\/p>\n

But shortly after this, I hired my first coach and saw how much momentum and impact working with someone 10 steps of head of me could generate.<\/p>\n

This gave me the initial spark to think about getting into coaching myself. I wasn’t an expert, but I was good at a handful of things and I often got asked about those things.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward 2.5 years. I’ve been able to work with 300 individual coaching clients 1:1 and it’s been\u00a0one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.<\/p>\n

The coaching program has generated\u00a0just over $500,000 in revenue and\u00a0we’ve seen\u00a0our hourly rates climb\u00a0from $50 per hour to $5,000.<\/p>\n

I get asked on a weekly basis about the program, how we run it and how we get clients. Today I’m going to show you everything we’ve learned and how you can do the same thing.<\/p>\n

[su_quote style=”modern-blue”]Feature Download:<\/strong> If you want to download the swipe file<\/a> we used to launch our coaching program along with a 60-min special workshop on how we run our coaching program click here<\/a>.[\/su_quote]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How we started our coaching program<\/h2>\n

<\/b>It was\u00a0March of 2014 and\u00a0the Videofruit blog was just a few months old.<\/p>\n

At that point, I had 1,200 email subscribers and was starting to make video tutorials for businesses using the Santa Claus Formula<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’d seen Noah’s $1,000-per-hour coaching offer several months earlier and listened to an interview between Stu McLaren and Andrew Warner on Mixergy in which they discussed membership sites.<\/p>\n

After hearing that podcast, I starting noodling on how I could validate that a membership site would be something my list would buy without going through the entire process of building a membership site.<\/p>\n

That’s when it occurred to me that I could make sure people would be willing to pay a monthly fee in exchange for information, by offering a coaching program. It would be higher touch, but I wouldn’t have to spend months creating something people might not even want.<\/p>\n

I quickly wrote an email (more on that in a minute), sent it to the list and the 5 coaching spots sold out in under 2 hours @ $100 each.<\/p>\n

Here’s the email:<\/p>\n

\"coaching-launch-email\"

And that’s how everything started.<\/p>\n

In the rest of this article, I’m going to share the 6 steps we went through to start and manage our program.<\/p>\n

Step #1:<\/strong>\u00a0Pick the exact problem your coaching program will solve.<\/p>\n

Step #2:<\/strong>\u00a0Decide on the structure of your program.<\/p>\n

Step #3:<\/strong> Collect 2 stories from people you’ve helped.<\/p>\n

Step #4:<\/strong> Decide on your pricing structure.<\/p>\n

Step #5<\/strong>:\u00a0Set up your internal processes and systems.<\/p>\n

Step #6:<\/strong> Launch your coaching program.<\/p>\n

I hope this helps you!<\/p>\n

[su_box title=”Want My Team to Help You Launch and Scale a Coaching Program??” box_color=”#09DD82″]Click here to book a free Strategy Call<\/a>\u2014one of my in-house experts will study your business, hop on a call, and map out a clear plan to put your business in front of your ideal customers.[\/su_box]<\/p>\n

Step #1: Pick the exact problem you are going to solve.<\/h2>\n

The first thing I did before launching my coaching program was to pick the exact problem I wanted to help people solve.<\/p>\n

In my case it was the super broad problem of getting “unstuck.” In hindsight I should have made this more specific, but alas.<\/p>\n

You have to do the same. Before you can sell anything, you have to be able to show people how the thing you are selling will make their life better.<\/p>\n

Here are three methods to\u00a0help discover that pain point:<\/p>\n

Method #1: Identify the #1 question you get asked the most.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Think of the people you interact with on a daily basis:<\/p>\n

1. Friends<\/p>\n

2. Subscribers<\/p>\n

3. Customers<\/p>\n

4. Family<\/p>\n

What is it that people turn to you for?<\/p>\n

How do you find yourself currently \u201ccoaching\u201d people?<\/p>\n

What is the common pain point for those who seek your advice?<\/p>\n

This is your first and simplest place to look for the pain point for your coaching program.<\/p>\n

A quick way to find this out is to go through your last 50\u00a0sent emails and search for recurring\u00a0topics or questions that you are answering.<\/p>\n

Method #2: Sample your contemporaries.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You can also look to those who are in a similar market\u00a0as you and find the biggest pain point they are solving.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how you can\u00a0do this…<\/p>\n

Go to BuzzSumo.com<\/a> and type in the name of someone who is a leader in your niche:<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-2-18-47-pm\"

Look at their most-shared blog post.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Examine their top 15 most shared articles.<\/p>\n

What is the problem that this blog post solves?<\/p>\n

Chances are, if your site is in a similar market, your audience has the same problem.<\/p>\n

Method #3: Look at your most popular content\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are a few different ways you can figure out what your most popular blog posts are.<\/p>\n

I recommend trying these methods only if you have been writing and publishing\u00a0for at least 3\u00a0months.<\/p>\n

THE FIRST WAY<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just like you did for your contemporaries, go to BuzzSumo.com<\/a> and type in your website. With their free trial, you can see which of your blog posts have the most social shares.<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-09-13-at-2-24-30-pm\"

THE SECOND WAY<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Log into your Google Analytics<\/a> account and look up your traffic the past 12 months. Which blog has the most traffic?<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-09-14-at-12-38-21-pm\"

THE THIRD WAY<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Log in to your email service provider (like MailChimp, ConvertKit, or Infusionsoft) and look at the past year\u2019s emails. Which blog posts have people clicked on to read the most? In other terms, which blog posts have the highest click-through rates?<\/p>\n

Now that you have a sample of your most popular blog posts, evaluate them. Is there a common theme? What tends to be your most popular content?<\/p>\n

What is the pain point that people have, the one that they look to your blog to solve?<\/p>\n

…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to pick the problem you are going to solve!<\/p>\n

You may not be 100% convinced of the best problem to solve, but that’s ok. Go ahead and pick one. Go with your gut and pick the one that stands out the most. Don’t overthink this step: You can always change your mind later<\/p>\n

Your Action Items<\/h3>\n

Action Item #1:<\/strong>\u00a0Do in-depth research to discover the pain point that your coaching program will solve.<\/p>\n

Action Item #2:<\/strong> Once you’ve done your homework, choose one specific pain point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Step #2: Decide on the structure of your program.<\/h2>\n

Before we launched our coaching program, we had\u00a0to decide what it would actually include.<\/p>\n

Our coaching program includes the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. One monthly coaching call via Skype<\/p>\n

2. Video recording of the call for the client to review any time<\/p>\n

3. Weekly accountability emails sent to the client each Friday to check on progress<\/p>\n

4. Unlimited priority email access to me and the Videofruit team to answer any questions the client has<\/p>\n

5. Book of the month mailed to the client’s house each month (along with my personal notes and highlights from the book)<\/p>\n

\"\"

You’ll need to decide what your program will include as well.<\/p>\n

What would be the most helpful and most likely to cause your clients to be successful?<\/p>\n

Here are some questions to get you thinking:<\/p>\n

\u2022 An application? \u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Pre-coaching homework?\u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Phone calls? How many?\u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Skype or Zoom calls? How many?\u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Video recordings of your calls?\u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 In-person coaching? When, where and how? \u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Action items to complete? \u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Some kind of teaching or material? \u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Email encouragement\/reminders? How often will you send them?\u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Access to you via phone\/email\/Skype\/text\/Facebook Messenger? How much access?\u2028<\/em>
\n \u2022 Physical touch points like snail mail, monthly book gift, physical welcome packet, etc.? \u2028<\/em><\/p>\n

There are two things to keep in mind when deciding on the structure of your program:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Your #1 goal is to keep your clients on track with their #1 goal. What do you need to have in place to make sure that happens?<\/p>\n

2. Keep it simple. Don\u2019t over-complicate this process and don\u2019t add in more work for yourself if it isn\u2019t actually going to help the client. Just choose the basics for your program. You can always add more later if you realize it is needed.<\/p>\n

Your Action Item:<\/strong> Decide on the format and structure of your coaching program.<\/p>\n

Step #3: Collect 2 stories from people you’ve helped.<\/h2>\n

One key lesson I learned is that the most effective way to get new clients in\u00a0our coaching program was by telling the stories of people I had helped in the past.<\/p>\n

In the beginning that can be tricky because\u00a0you might have not ever formally coached someone.<\/p>\n

But it’s highly likely you have been informally coaching for years.<\/p>\n

That could come in the format of free advice to friends or family. It could happen in articles you’ve been writing or help you gave someone in a side\u00a0convo over coffee.<\/p>\n

Here is the testimonial I used when I first launched my coaching program:<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jacqueline and I had had a short 15-minute Skype\u00a0call a few months before where I’d helped her for free. When I asked her to give a short testimonial, she was happy to.<\/p>\n

Your Action Items:<\/strong>
\nAction Item #1:<\/strong>\u00a0Gather 2\u00a0client success stories from those who have worked with you previously.
\nAction Item #2:\u00a0<\/strong>If you don\u2019t have ANY\u00a0success stories of people you’ve helped, reach out to a few friends or your most loyal readers and offer them a free session. Then follow back up in 7 days to check on their progress and ask for a quick blurb.<\/p>\n

Step #4: Decide on your pricing structure.<\/h2>\n

Now you need to set your pricing.<\/p>\n

I recommend starting out on the lower end with your pricing\u00a0so you can answer a few important questions first:<\/p>\n

Question\u00a0#1: Do I actually enjoy coaching?<\/p>\n

Question #2: Can I get clients into my program fairly easily?<\/p>\n

Question #3: Are\u00a0my clients happy and getting good results?<\/p>\n

Once you’ve successfully brought in your first batch of students, you can gradually raise your prices with new clients.<\/p>\n

Our monthly price started out at $50 per month and now is at $5,000 per month.<\/p>\n

Your pricing progression might look something like this:<\/p>\n

FIRST LAUNCH: $50 to $100 per month with 5 spots available
\nSECOND LAUNCH: $150 per month with 5 more spots available
\nTHIRD LAUNCH: $250 per month with 5 more spots available<\/p>\n

Our current pricing:<\/p>\n

\"\"

We’ll get into launching your program in the next step, but one thing that’s worked well for us is limiting the number of spots we offer in the first launch.<\/p>\n

In our first launch of the program, we only offered 5 spots. This created a sense of urgency and scarcity as well as limited the downside in the event that we hated coaching or were terrible at it.<\/p>\n

Your Action Item: <\/strong>Decide on the starting monthly price for your coaching program.<\/p>\n

Step #5: Set up your internal processes and systems.<\/h2>\n

Before you\u2019re able to start accepting payment, you need to set up the back end for accepting your payments and have the tools in place to organize your coaching program\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the tools we use and recommend for launching your coaching program:<\/p>\n

Gumroad<\/a>: Gumroad is a simple-to-use payment system that will allow your customers to sign up for your program and be billed on a monthly, recurring basis.<\/p>\n

One nice thing about Gumroad is you can set up payment plans in just a few minutes and it handles all of the recurring monthly payments as well.<\/p>\n

\"gumroad-subscription\"

HelloSign<\/a>: If you want to establish a formal contract for your program, you can send your contracts and have your clients sign online using HelloSign.<\/p>\n

We never have had our clients sign a contract of any sort, but there are some scenarios and industries in which this makes sense to do. HelloSign is one of my favorite programs to handle that kind of thing.<\/p>\n

\"hellosign-screenshot\"

Typeform<\/a>: Typeform is an easy-to-use form building tool. Once your clients sign up for your coaching program, you can use this free software to ask introductory questions.<\/p>\n

One thing you’ll definitely want to have each new client do is to fill out an in-depth onboarding survey. We’ve used a variety of form services for this but Typeform is my personal favorite.<\/p>\n

Here is a snapshot of an older version of our onboarding survey:<\/p>\n

\"\"

Your Action Items:\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAction Item #1:\u00a0<\/strong>Walk yourself through the processes your coaching clients will follow, from signing up to making payments to completing questionnaires.
\nAction Item #2:<\/strong>\u00a0Make sure you have all of your back-end processes in place and tested before launching your program.<\/p>\n

Step #6: Launch your coaching program.<\/h2>\n

Let’s quickly recap what we’ve talked about so far:<\/p>\n

1. Pick\u00a0a specific problem to solve.
\n2. Choose\u00a0your program structure.
\n3. Gather 2\u00a0testimonials.
\n4. Decide\u00a0on your pricing.
\n5. Set up your back-end systems.<\/p>\n

All of these steps should take you no longer than 34 to 48 hours to complete.<\/p>\n

Don’t overthink things. Don’t spend weeks getting these things configured. You can make your systems perfect later; for now, focus on getting a minimal, viable version up.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time to launch your coaching program.<\/p>\n

When I launched my coaching program, I\u00a0spent 4 hours writing one email and sent it out on a Sunday night at 7 PM.<\/p>\n

This doesn’t have to be complicated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I suggest planning two emails and adjusting if your 5 open slots sell out quickly.<\/p>\n

Here is what that sequence looks like:<\/p>\n

\"\"

Having a limited number of slots in the program as well as a closing date gives you two strong pieces of urgency to use (if you don’t immediately sell out spaces).<\/p>\n

Let’s go over each email.<\/p>\n

Email\u00a0#1: The Open Cart Email<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Recommended send time:<\/strong> 11 AM central time on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday<\/p>\n

Purpose of the email:<\/strong> Use this email to introduce your coaching program and inform your readers of the 24-hour availability for your coaching program.<\/p>\n

Example email content:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"