A Beginner's Guide To Starting A Health Coaching Business
/If you have knowledge about healthy living and are passionate about sharing it with others to help them live their best life, then you may wish to start a health coaching business. If you are working full time in your current profession but you are looking to supplement your income, then starting a health coaching business as a side hustle can be a great home business and online business option for you.
Health coaches help their clients achieve their health goals by providing guidance and motivation around eating habits and lifestyle. If you are interested in starting your own health coaching business to help people live their best life while making money as a health coach but you have no experience in this industry, then here is a beginner's guide to starting a health coaching business as a side hustle.
Identify your target audience
If you are interested in starting a health coaching business, you need to identify your target audience based on your interests and experience. The health coaching field is massive. You may choose to offer generic health coaching services but if you are trying to be a health coach to everyone, you will not be able to help anyone.
But if you focus on working with people within a specific niche, you will be able to create more value for your services and attract more clients. You could choose to focus on a specific niche like healthy living, mindfulness, stress management, or anything else you are passionate about and have experience with.
If you choose your niche based on your passion and knowledge/experience and that is profitable, then people can benefit from the services you provide while you make money as a health coach.
Get certified as a health coach
One of the best ways to attract clients for your health coaching business is to get certified as a health coach. Certification validates your ability to provide professional coaching services. It allows your potential clients to see you as a professional health coach. If you get certified you can help clients achieve more success by providing them with valid and reliable information.
A certification program helps you develop your business skills and increases your credibility as a health coach. If you are looking for a certification program to become a certified health coach, here are few health coaching certification programs:
NSHC (National Society of Health Coaches)
American Council on Exercise (ACE)
Health Coach Institute
If you are looking for an inexpensive health coaching certification program, then you could consider becoming an ACE Certified Health Coach. You should consider taking some supplementary courses if you want to serve a specific kind of client.
Write a business plan
If you are looking to start a health coaching business, I recommend drafting a business plan. It does not have to be long. In the Money Makers program, I walk through how to create an effective one-page business plan for a six-figure coaching business.
Some of the aspects included in your business plan will be itemizing your initial startup costs, monthly expenses, the type of people you will serve, how you will reach your potential clients, how much you will charge, and how many hours you think you can dedicate to your health coaching business.
You will need to write down what services you will provide to your clients, what outcome(s) your clients can expect to achieve by buying your services, and what advantages you have over the competition.
A business plan will help you set your goals for the short and long term goals. It will help you stay motivated, reach your goals, and re-assess your business
Decide how to communicate with your coaching clients
You will need to decide how you want to offer your health coaching services. Will it be online, by phone or in person, or a combination of them all? As a health coach, you are not legally obligated to see clients in person. But if your prospective clients are located near you, and it is safe by Covid-19 standards, you may want to see them in person.
Depending on where your prospective clients live, you could offer your programs online using platforms like Skype, Zoom, or Google Hangouts. If you want to offer your services to a wide audience, you will need to work online.
Create your health coaching programs
Once you have identified your health coaching niche, now you are ready to create your health coaching packages. You need to create a package tailored to one type of person. For example, you can design and create a package on stress management for a specific type of people.
There are no hard and fast rules on how you package your services or how you design and create your packages. But it needs to be as easy as possible for the client to implement and achieve the expected result(s). You can organize your lessons into tutorials, videos, or workbooks. When structuring your health coaching packages or programs, you will need to define the number of sessions and the length of each session to include in each program based on the needs of the client.
You can create your coaching packages or programs based on delivering a specific result in a specified amount of time, i.e. one-off packages, or based on per-session packages. For example, you can create one-month packages/programs, multiple-month packages, etc. Or you can create one-session packages, multiple session packages, etc. Once you have structured a package/program based on the client's needs, you can sell it to multiple people.
As a brand new health coach, you need to consider what people are willing to pay combined with the financial goals you’ve set for yourself, and then price your packages accordingly. You might choose to set your rates lower than others who have been in business for a while so that you can gain experience and knowledge. But you should not set your rates too low even if you are just a beginner health coach. This will put you in a vicious cycle of not charging your worth.
Note: When creating your coaching packages, make sure to avoid using words such as "prescribe", "cure", "treat" or "diagnose" in your materials, as only health or medical professionals legally can use these words.
Market yourself as a health coach to attract clients
The health coaching field is huge so once you have decided what type of clients you would like to coach, next you will need to decide how to attract them to work with you. As a beginner health coach, knowing how to market yourself the right way is essential to get clients for your health coaching business.
Here are a few ways to find paying clients for your health coaching business:
Regularly conduct wellness workshops and/or webinars
Conducting a wellness workshop is a great way to increase your credibility as a health coach and turn prospects into clients. A workshop allows you to quickly create a bond with your audience. As a result, they will be more likely to attend your future workshops, subscribe to your email list, buy your products and services, and attract more attendees in your future workshops through word of mouth.
By consistently conducting workshops at wellness-oriented establishments such as holistic grocery stores/health food stores, gyms, yoga studios, and community centers, you will build your reputation and increase your following on your blog and social media. You can offer freebies such as an eBook or a collection of recipes at the end of your workshops through your blog or website to increase your audience.
Form a joint venture with wellness-oriented companies
Forming joint ventures with companies or organizations that are related to your business, such as holistic grocery stores, local sporting equipment stores, etc. A joint venture can help you acquire leads and thus get new clients.
Use your current network
Your current network can be a great source of clients for your health coaching business. Contact your friends, family, past and current coworkers, acquaintances, and more people you know and let them know about your business. They could be a source of referrals for your health coaching business. Attending networking events is a great way to market yourself.
Contact people you know in the health field and let them know what you are offering. Develop your existing network by surrounding yourself with people who can refer clients to you.
Ask for client referrals
One of the best ways to get paying clients for your health coaching business is by asking for client referrals. If your coaching helps your clients achieve their goals, they will gladly refer you to their friends, family, and colleagues.
Get in touch with other professionals in your industry, such as doctors, specialists, therapists, trainers, and more to start building a relationship and later ask for client referrals.
Content marketing is another great way to get referral clients. Posting articles on authority sites and sharing content on your social media pages can bring traffic to your health coaching website.
You can offer a referral fee to people you have worked with for every new client they send your way.
Create a website
Your health coaching business must have a website marketing yourself as a health coach, especially if you want to reach a wider audience beyond your own geographical area. It is also a great tool to attract prospective clients who are located near you, as most people go online to look for information on products and services they want to buy even if it’s in the local area.
Having a website will also increase your professionalism and credibility as a health coach. So, make sure to set up a website as soon as you choose a name for your health coaching business:
Buy a domain name for your website from a domain registrar like Namecheap or GoDaddy
Buy a web hosting package from a reliable web hosting company such as Squarespace or Bluehost
If you choose Bluehost, most folks then install WordPress to set up their website on the WordPress.org platform
Start creating content
You can create your own website yourself as long as you know how to surf the web. Most web hosting companies will provide their clients with an easy-to-follow guide on how to set up a website. I use Squarespace for my website and it is super easy to use even for a non-website designer like myself.
Once you have your website up and running, write a few pages about your services, skills, experience, and how people can solve their pain points by working with you. Set up a section on your website for people to buy your coaching packages from your website.
If you post content to update your website regularly and you are active on social media, you will start getting traffic to your website. Write content that informs your readers how they can improve their lives by working with you.
Set up an email list right from the start so you can build a mailing list. Give something away to entice your website visitors to sign up for your mailing list. An email list is a great way to build trust with your potential clients and turn them into paid clients. You could offer a free eBook or worksheet, or a mini-course that is delivered to your email subscribers over a number of weeks. If you offer very good value to them, they will most likely buy from you.
Protect your business with health coaching insurance
Your health coaching business can become vulnerable if you do not protect it with health coaching insurance. It is an essential investment for a health coach to protect their financial assets and reputation.
The most common type of insurance for health coaching business owners is general liability insurance (CGL). Other types of insurance for health coaches should obtain include professional liability insurance, commercial property insurance. In addition to the insurance mentioned above, health coaches may require to get worker's compensation insurance for their part-time and full-time employees
Outsource tasks
You will likely find it hard to run your health coaching business as a side hustle while working full time. But you can manage your workload by outsourcing time-consuming tasks to a freelancer who works remotely. For example, you can turn to a virtual assistant (VA) for help.
A VA that specializes in your niche can help you with certain time-consuming tasks such as email management, calendar management, scheduling appointments, website management, social media management, travel arrangement, etc.
You can hire a VA on sites such as Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer, and Fiverr.
Diversify your health coaching business
Successful health coaches diversify their income streams using various strategies. Here are a few ways to diversify your health coaching business:
Create and sell products and/or online programs
You can create digital products such as eBooks, worksheets, checklists, online courses, email courses, audios, videos, etc., depending on your skills to sell on your own blog or website or via online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Udemy, Thinkific, etc. Once you create a digital product, it can earn you passive income, as it basically sells on autopilot.
Online programs can include webinars or virtual courses that are delivered as one session or as modules released over the course of several weeks through email. You can offer valuable information to hundreds or even thousands of people via online programs.
Sell advertising space on your website
This is not something I recommend, but it is an option. You can sell advertising spaces on your health coaching website directly to brands and companies that run businesses related to your niche.
You can also run online ads using online advertising programs like Google AdSense. Depending on the advertising program, you can earn money from your website every time someone clicks on the ad on your site or every time an ad shows up while someone visits your website or a webpage on your site.
The reason I don’t recommend this option is because Google can change its algorithm at a moment’s notice. One of my blogger acquaintances was earning $9,000+ per month from ads. Then Google changed the settings and her monthly income plummeted to less than $4,000 per month. While this approach can generate a healthy revenue, keep in mind that it can change without any notice.
Make money with affiliate marketing on your website
Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your health coaching website where you earn commissions by promoting other people's products or services on your site. Make sure you promote relevant products or services to your audience. Since your audience is interested in your niche, promote products that are related to your niche.
Write for online publications
As a health coach, you can also write for established online publications if you have a knack for writing. If you have a health coach blog already, then you can write for other blogs in your niche or write for established websites and online publications that also cover your niche to grow your own blog and gain recognition.
In conclusion
Health coaching is a lucrative and rewarding business you can start as a side hustle if you work full-time at your current occupation. You can also start a side hustle as a health coach by working remotely or on-site for a company, depending on the company if you do not want to work independently.
If you plan to start a health coaching business and are looking for a beginner's guide to starting a health coaching business as a side hustle, follow the suggestions above and you will be able to start your own health coaching business as a side hustle.
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Disclaimer: the content presented in this article is for informational purposes only, and is not, and must not be considered tax, investment, legal, accounting or financial planning advice, nor a recommendation as to a specific course of action. Investors should consult all available information, and consult with appropriate tax, investment, accounting, legal, and accounting professionals, as appropriate, before making any investment or utilizing any financial planning strategy.
