I couldn’t believe it.
I had just called the president of the local coaching federation and he wasn’t having it. “You’re not going to make it in the coaching industry he said. it’s too high of a price point.”
Now, this was a couple of years ago and I was working on software for coaches. The price point we were talking about was $99/month.
“90% of coaches make $30k/year or less he said.”
And while he had a negative attitude about the whole thing, I knew he was right.
But… I knew a lot of coaches making tons of money. I know plenty of coaches making $30k a MONTH. I even know a handful of coaches making over a million a year. A couple of them are making much more than that.
So what’s the deal? Why are 90% of coaches making almost NOTHING. Why is it that they have credentials, they know how to help people, but they don’t know how to make any money?
Even the average coach making money is making under $10k/month. That’s nothing compared to most of my coaching friends.
This set me off on a six month period of extensive interviews and research with coaches. I interviewed over 50 coaches about their practice. What was working, what wasn’t and why they were in the situation they were in.
What I found was that hitting your income goals as a coach isn’t that difficult, IF you avoid 5 key things. If you can fix these five things in your practice, the sky really is the limit.
I’m talking $10k/month EASY within 60 days.
I’m talking about scaling to $20k, $30k even $50k/month in the next 12 months.
For a lucky few of you, it even means breaking that million dollar a year mark.
5 Reasons your coaching business won’t hit six figures this year
Mistake #1: Doing too much marketing
Most coaches and consultants try a million different tactics. They try to be on Facebook, twitter, to blog, snapchat, Thumbtack, LinkedIn, in-person networking and everything else that the latest guru tells them to try.
This is totally backwards.
The reality is, most of these will prove to be a complete waste of time. Even the channels that do succeed will bring you marginal results.
If you don’t stop doing this, you’re going to burn yourself out. You’ll always be trying to keep up with the “marketing channel of the month.” You’ll keep getting marginal results.
You’ll never scale.
And you’ll never have consistency and predictability in your business.
If you start focusing on ONE marketing channel to the point where it works like clockwork, bringing you clients over and over again, your life will be much simpler and you’ll make a lot more money.
Most people never get good enough at any one channel to grow their business because they’re too busy trying to market everywhere.
The most successful coaches and consultants know that success comes from mastering one channel, and then adding on to that one marketing channel at a time.
Mistake #2: Using a slow sales cycle vs. a fast sales cycle
Have you ever spent hours or even days on a proposal, handed it off to a prospect to “let them think about it,” had them shop it around, and then never hear from them again? Yeah, me too.
How about following up with a lead for months or years before they pay you anything? Did you know that the average internet lead takes 14-30 touches to produce a sale. Do you think this is a sustainable way to run your business?
Most coaches use an elaborate funnel like, selling a $14 trip wire followed by a $39 e-book, then a $99 course, then a $1k coaching package. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t have the time or the patience for this.
Even worse, some coaches don’t have a funnel at all.
The best coaches have one three-step funnel that turns a stranger in to a high value paying customer within 48 hours. We call that a “fast sales cycle,” and if you want to start closing sales for $3k, $5k or even $10k, sometimes the very first time you talk to a prospect, you need to learn how to use a fast sales cycle in your business.
Mistake #3: Charging too little
A lot of the coaches I know, are by all outside appearances “successful.” They charge $200/hr which is more than they’ve ever made before, they have a full client load, but they don’t know how to grow. They’re stuck. They spend all day on the phone, and they still aren’t making the money they want.
They’re charging based on hours instead of value.
When you charge an hourly rate…
- Your income is capped at the amount of hours in the day
- You’re going to be burnt out from spending all your time talking with clients
- You will never scale much bigger than $20k/month
When you start charging prices based on “value:”
- You can charge $3k, $5, $10k or even $15k per client depending on which niche you are in
- You can leverage technology to deliver results (Because your client is paying for a result and not your time. Can’t do this with hourly)
- Coaches – if you think you can only charge for your time, you’re operating under a limiting belief. We will change this for you.
Mistake #4: Helping too many people
I know many coaches and consultants will sell themselves To anyone who will listen. They’ll do anything for anyone if they think they can help, and as a result they end up taking on clients who aren’t a good fit, juggling a million different tasks, and using up all their energy on other people’s businesses instead of their own.
If you try to be everything to everybody, you’ll be scattered, unfocused, and you’ll never gain momentum.
You have the choice to be a generalist or a specialist. You want to be a specialist and ONLY work with your ideal client.
Let’s take a look at your family doctor vs a cardiologist. Which do you think makes more?
The family doctor makes only $198,000 a yr (still a very decent wage), but the cardiologist makes $500,000/yr. That’s a $30,000/month difference!
Why does the specialist get paid more?
The specialist is paid to produce a result, while the generalist is paid for their time.
The family pediatrician will do anything for anybody.
The cardiologists job is to successfully transplant a heart.
As a result, the cardiologist has highly specialized knowledge that deals with one problem, while the pediatrician is scattered and dealing with a million different things everyday.
Mistake #5: Focusing on the details
Too many consultants focus on small details like the color of their business cards, tweaking their website, and updating their FB profile and head shots.
None of these things matter UNTIL you get the big stuff figured out. Does the market respond to your offer? DO you know how to get in front of your market? Are you generating strategy sessions? Do you know how to get results.
The answer to these questions lies not in your logo, but in the big picture of what you have to offer and to who. Dial in on your market and your offer, and selling will be easy.
If you make this mistake, you’ll be “busy” with work but won’t actually be generating more and more revenue each month.
You’ll keep trying to be an internet celebrity, and while your website and your photoshoots may look pretty on your website, your bank account won’t look so hot.
To change, you need to focus on the big picture. You need to focus on the only three things that matter to your growth.
To do this, you need to master
- ONE lead generation system
- Your high ticket selling process
- Your client delivery system to leverage your time
Want to learn more about how to avoid these 5 mistakes and scale to six figures/yr in the next 60 days? Check out a free upcoming webinar at
<<<<<<<<<https://www.digitalnomad.com/free/ >>>>>>>>>>
Interested in mastering your lead generation systems, sales process and client delivery systems together using a PROVEN system? Sign up for a strategy session above and let’s talk. It will be the best business decision you’ve made all year.
