The Coach Business Model Simplified

I considered naming this article something like “It’s not Rocket Science- Here’s the Simplified Coaching Model”

But I wanted it to be more concise than that . .

But seriously, the reason I’m writing this is that I see clients consistently really want to have a coaching/training business – but they get so confused because there are so many “models” out there, and tons of different things you can sell, and ways to package coaching, and ways to package products, and other things to sell –

I mean, hey, I am feeling stressed just writing out that long sentence – because it SOUNDS confusing.

But my business is very simple – and it has consistently generated well over 6 figures for over a decade!

It’s a simple model, and really only has a few moving parts.

So I’m going to take a stab at simplifying it here.

But there’s one thing I want to say first:

Just because I share an idea here – say, a 6 week class – that doesn’t mean that’s the only way to go.

It could be an 8 week class, or a 12 week class, or a 52 week.

Or just because I say, a “10 hour training program” – it could be 12 hours or 9 hours or 100 hours.

And even as I write that – I can sense that you can see that that’s part of the confusion.

One coach tells you some parameters – like I say 6 weeks, he says 9 weeks – and all of a sudden, it’s confusing, is Sean right, or is Ryan right?

The bottom line is – it doesn’t really matter.

In fact, make it the way YOU want to –

do YOU want to teach for 6 weeks?

or 9 weeks?

And then of course (to complicate it) – how long does your CLIENT need?

based on what you teach – will your clients get better results with 6 weeks, or 9 weeks?

And the fact is – if you haven’t held a live class, you just don’t know.

But you must start somewhere – you can’t cop out and just say, well I won’t do this until some expert definitively tells me “6 weeks” or “9 weeks”

You simply have to DO SOMETHING and then adjust.

You see, if you hold a 6 week class, and it’s not long enough . . could you simply add a few weeks to the end of it?

Or if you hold a 9 week class, and your clients have done everything they need in 6 weeks, could you teach some bonus material for 3 weeks, and the next time around make it 6 weeks?

There’s no substitute for experience – and although my experience is powerful and I’ve done things so many different ways that if I were to talk with you personally and discover what you are stuck on, I can make some pretty strong suggestions – the bottom line is this:

Until YOU do something – you just don’t know EXACTLY what will work for YOU!

So having said all of that  . . .

let’s talk about the model –

So, the basic premise with online coaching, online training, selling online courses, or selling online coaching is this:

You know something other people want to learn.

And your coaching, training, or teaching is simply you teaching others how to do that thing.

And you can do that on “coaching calls,” “classes,” ,”products”

There’s no right way.

It’s your choice.

Now, having said that, the key thing here is that whether you call it a class or coaching or training –

it’s essentially the same thing by a different name.

You can teach on video or just audio conference (AKA telephone!!)

and you can record what you teach

But everything else is just a naming convention –

Bottom line: whether it’s a class, coaching, or a training session, it’s a video or audio where you are teaching something.

And if you record it – then you can put the recordings into your “program” or into a recorded “training program”

So . . .

Imagine that you teach 3 hours a week.

Imagine that those 3 hours are 3 separate hours.

During each hour you teach something your clients want to learn.

Again it doesn’t matter what it’s called.

But let’s imagine one hour was your “coaching hour”

Another hour was one class each week of a 6 week class.

And one hour was a stand alone training on a single topic.

Think about that.

You teach for 3 hours a week.

Your clients can learn for 3 hours a week.

And you are thereby recording 3 hours a week of new content.

Now, let’s look at that over a year.

After one year, you have recorded 50 coaching sessions.

Imagine putting all of those into your “coaching program”

After one year, you have recorded 50 standalone trainings on 50 topics.

Imagine having 50 one hour trainings!

You could sell them, put them on youtube, put them on thinkific, put them on Apple podcasts

PLUS – you have taught 8 6-week classes on 8 different topics.

And if you recorded each of those 6 week classes, you have 8 training programs with 6 hours of training inside them, ready for sale.

You literally have a coaching program with 50 hours of recorded training PLUS a weekly call.

You literally have 50 standalone trainings.

And you have 6 training programs with 6 hours of training in each one.

And of course, each 6 weeks you are teaching a NEW 6 week class.

All of this is just 3 hours a week.

Now, I have to ask at this point:

Has something snapped inside of you now?

Have you had an aha moment, like YES, I can do this!

It’s just 3 hours of teaching per week.

But look what you get out of it.

Friend, that’s my own coaching model and has been for more than a decade.

And it’s only 3 hours of teaching each week.

So now in one year you have:

–> A coaching program with 50 prerecorded trainings PLUS a weekly coaching call

–> 8 6 hour training programs on various topics

–> 50 stand alone trainings that can either be sold or put on youtube, Apple podcasts, etc

Think about that – in just one year, you have a complete business.

Imagine if your website has on it 8 products for sale from say $300 – $1000 each on your products page.

And you have a coaching program – maybe $1000 for a year.

And you have 50 stand alone trainings.

How would that feel?

How would your life be different with those 3 things in place in your business in one year?

It would feel good, wouldn’t it?

Kind of like, yeah, that’s a real business, right?

I think so!

So now my guess is that the next question you have is this:

So that’s what happens in one year, what about right now?

What do I do NOW to get started?

Here are a few simple steps to get started NOW:

1) Commit to doing 3 hours of weekly training on your topic. Period. Commit before you sell anything.

What’s the worst that could happen?

For the first 4 weeks, you simply teach for 3 hours per week, turn your recorder on – and after 4 weeks – you have not 1, but TWO 6 hour recorded training programs, ready for sale!

Think about that – in 4 weeks, 2 full training programs you can sell on your site!

The ONLY thing that’s stopping you right now is that you MUST just commit the 3 hours per week.

Put it on your schedule.

For example, you teach on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 2 PM ET.

That’s your commitment.

It’s like going to work.

(By the way, that’s one reason stay-at-home entrepreneurs often fail – they don’t go to work, they think of their work as play – )

2) Once you’ve made your commitment to teach 3 hours a week . . . call each hour something.

For example, Monday is coaching.

Wednesday is a training topic.

Friday is part of a 6 week course.

Until you have clients, just record.

Imagine if you had started recording like this one year ago today . . and had 150 hours of recorded training TODAY . . . where would you be?

Where do YOU want to be in one year?

If you want to get there . . start recording TODAY!

3) Once you are teaching for 3 hours a week – write a formal sales letter for each time frame.

1) Write a coaching sales letter. What’s the worst thing that can happen? One person enrolls and they get 1-1 help! Another person enrolls. A 3rd person enrolls.

2) Write a sales letter for your 6 week class. Once one person enrolls, now it’s a class. Until then, pretend it’s a class, and record it. Once the 6 weeks are done, take the sales letter and change the words from “6 week class” to “6 week recorded training program”

Put these on the “products” tab on your website.

3) Start inviting the folks in your circle – your list, or facebook, or linkedin – anywhere you are congregating and giving value online – to come to your weekly standalone training calls. Record every call.

 

Notice that you now have a coaching/training business.

You may not have clients yet – but you have a business.

You are teaching 3 hours a week.

You have a coaching program.

You have a 6 week class.

And you have a weekly stand alone training.

 

You see, until you have this in place, you don’t have a business.

Right now, you are struggling to get folks to your site because deep inside YOU KNOW you don’t have a business.

You are afraid people will see that you have no clothes.

But once you have 3 programs – recording 3 training sessions per week – when someone asks you how you can help them –

you can say, I have 3 training programs, one is coaching, one is standalone training, one is a 6 week course. Here are the topics for this month. Which class do you want to join?

But right NOW – you have nothing, so your mouth is dry and you have nothing to say – you have NO REASON to invite people to your site – so of course you don’t.

How would it feel to have a REAL coaching/training business?

if that would feel good, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 TODAY:

 

1) Commit to doing 3 hours of weekly training on your topic. Period. Commit before you sell anything.

 

2) Once you’ve made your commitment to teach 3 hours a week . . . call each hour something.

 

3) Once you are teaching for 3 hours a week – write a formal sales letter for each time frame.

 

By the way, I have written article that teaches you the core components you need to have in your coaching or training business, you can read it here:

The Fundamentals You Need to Have in Place in Your Coaching or Training Business