Dave Newberry Chicago - How to Start Your Own Business Coaching Business

1. Dave Newberry Chicago - How to Start Your Own Business Coaching Business If you are thinking of becoming a business coach, there are 10 things you need to think about before you launch your business. You don't have to have all of these in place before you start your business, but it's a good idea to have a plan in place at the very start on how you will approach these. The first 5 things to consider relate to organization of your business. 1. Home or office - Will you work from your house or an office location In this day and age, I prefer to work from home. My reason for working at home is that my model is primarily based around phone coaching. If you plan to meet clients in person, you may want to consider office space. 2. Licenses - Depending on your city, state or territory, you may be required to have certain licenses. You need to look into this for your particular region. If you don't know the answer to this, consult an accountant. They typically know what licenses are required. If you are working from home, you may need a permit or license from your city to run a business out of your home even if you don't "see" clients at your home office. 3. Business structure - This one is also regional. You will want to consult with an accountant to decide the best business structure for your company and decide if you should "incorporate". I personally use an LLC model in my state. It is the most efficient way of structuring this business based on my region.

2. 4. Bank accounts - You need business bank accounts that are separate from your personal accounts. In order to do this, you will most likely need to be incorporated and have your official business documentation to open an account. 5. Processing payments - At some point, you will need to process payments. I suggest PayPal and Intuit's IPN online products and services for this. These solutions have minimal fees per transaction and don't require monthly fees. They also have options for all major credit cards and IPN has an option for bank transfers. I personally use both in my business. The next series of tips all relate to you running the business. 6. Define your niche - Most coaches go wrong right here by trying to serve everyone under the sun. You need to get as narrow of a niche as possible. You can either define your niche by the type of customer you serve or by the service you offer. So if you are having a hard time defining the customer you want to serve, think about the one service you want to offer people and make that your focus. 7. Your program - You need a system that you will use to coach your clients. You can either buy a system from a franchise or another coach or create your own. I prefer to create my own. It's not that hard to create something and you will be surprised at how much you "customize" someone else's system. 8. Marketing - You need a basic understanding of marketing, writing copy, and marketing pieces. If you don't understand how to market, you won't be able to fill your sales funnel and you won't get business. So take some marketing classes and read books on marketing. Marketing is always changing so you MUST continue to educate yourself in this area. 9. Sales - You have to learn how to close people into your programs. If you can't close very well, you need to get better at marketing and increase the amount of people in your sales funnel. If you are really good at closing, you can focus on your sales skills and not invest as much time or money in marketing. 10. Retention - Most coaches think that the way to wealth in this industry is by closing new clients each month. While that usually won't hurt you, the real key to wealth in coaching is actually retention. If you can't keep clients, you will always be chasing new ones and your revenues will never grow. Focus on keeping your clients as long as possible by serving them well and getting them amazing results.