How Coaches are Using Online Course and Membership Platforms to Grow Their Business
Whether you specialise in life coaching, executive or career coaching, providing nutritional advice, or you're an expert in some other niche field, you positively impact people's lives with your expertise and guidance.
However, you've realised something's not quite right. Your current operations seem to be stunting your growth and potential.
You're ready for this to change, but perhaps you're not quite sure of the direction to take. Maybe you are intrigued by the world of online courses and membership platforms, but their labyrinthine inner workings leave you scratching your head.
You're not alone, believe me! Don’t worry though, you’ve come to the right place. I'm here to help you figure out why, and what you can do about it. Let's map out your paint points and objectives, then discuss how you can overcome these challenges and move forward.
What's Stopping You from Growing your Coaching Business?
To begin, let's get to the bottom of the issue. What problems do you face in your current situation? It's crucial to understand these so you can confront them head-on. Here are some potential pain points you might relate to:
1. Operational Limits: Your current coaching setup can only accommodate so many clients before it starts to feel like a juggling act. Even the most skilled jugglers drop the ball sometimes.
2. Income Plateau: You have caps on the number of hours in a day and the number of clients you can handle, limiting your earning potential.
3. Time Constraints: The administration and management hassle is eating into your time, leaving less space for you to do what you do best - coach!
4. Tech Unfamiliarity: The thought of wading into the sea of technology gives you the heebie-jeebies—you didn't sign up to become a guru in tech, after all!
Recognising these problems is the first step towards finding a solution. And don't worry, I’m here to help you do just that!
Aiming for Online Success
Armed with a clear understanding of your struggles, let’s now focus on what exactly you are wanting to achieve. Does this sound like what you are looking for?:
1. Scalability: You’d like to grow your clientele without having to work more hours.
2. New Revenue Streams: You want new sources of income without compromising on your quality of service.
3. Simplified Operations: Navigating technology should not feel like untangling Christmas lights every day, it should be streamlined and convenient.
4. Greater Reach: You want to share your expertise more broadly, beyond geographical constraints.
5. Diversified Pricing: You want to be able to offer new services at different price points, to cater for clients with varying budgets.
Sound about right? If so, let’s explore how an online coaching platform might be just what you need!
Behold the Power of Online Course and Membership Platforms
In a nutshell, online course and membership platforms can be the key that unlocks the potential of your coaching business. Let's see how:
1. Showcase your range of expertise: Even specialist coaches often cover a number of topics within their domain. Drilling down into a particular subject in more depth provides many more opportunities for your clients to discover and pay for courses to access distinct aspects of your expertise.
Once you create your first course, you'll feel exhilarated and empowered when you hear that virtual till ring, and serve your first client without ever spending direct time with them. There is of course always the opportunity (which I positively encourage!) to follow up with them to see how you could help them further, which leads me to...
2. Stepping stones. You can offer your clients a range of ways to benefit from your knowledge at different price points (course, live group workshop, one to one session, 6 month coaching plan or package). This is a wonderfully nurturing way to increase your pipeline of high-value clients by starting small, but adding value and building trust along the way.
3. Reach More, Earn More: Your expertise can help someone thousands of miles away just as well as somebody in your neighbourhood. By broadening your reach online, your revenue potential also consequently increases. Timezones won't matter one iota if your course modules are pre-recorded and accessible at any time, day or night.
4. Time Efficiency: Automated features like payments, registrations, and notifications streamline the management process. So you can save time (and hassle of tedious tasks!) and focus on, well, coaching!
5. The Power of Cohorts: Online communities where members can connect with one another leverage the wisdom of their peers and enrich their overall experience.
6. Building Your Brand: Online courses are a great way to build your personal brand, which is especially important if you coach in a niche where there are already established experts (like financial planning or nutrition).
7. Professionalism: An online presence lends credibility and professionalism to your work, making it easier for people to trust what you have to say. People are more willing to pay a premium for a service that is presented in a professional manner.
8. The Power of Recurring Income: Once you’ve established an active audience through providing ongoing value, you'll love the predictability of your monthly subscription revenue.
Making the move to an online platform sounds like a no-brainer now, doesn't it? Not so fast!
Admit it - you still have a few niggling doubts...
Despite the attractive features promised by online platforms, I sense you squirming in your seat with unspoken objections. It's only natural. Let's knock on the doors of these concerns and address each one:
1. Cost Concerns: Are these platforms worth the investment? Will you end up forking out for every handy feature?
2. Technical Expertise: Will you know how to use the system, or will it leave you stumped and helpless?
3. Time Effectiveness: Setting up an online course or membership is a significant time investment; how will you find time for this?
4. Losing the Personal Touch: Will you lose your personalised approach, turning into a faceless entity behind a screen?
Rather than discounting these, I will address each in my suggested solution. Which brings me to…
Introducing CoachOnline
I designed CoachOnline specifically to navigate the choppy waters of transforming your coaching business by making the most of the technology that helps you achieve your objectives.
1.Smoothing Out the Costs: At CoachOnline, there are no surprise "extras". The pricing plans are transparent and offer access to an all-in-one, convenient system, minus the hidden costs. No platform transaction fees are added to your clients' payments to you. (Stripe payment gateway fees still apply though.)
2. Driving the Tech Phobia Away: I will set up CoachOnline for you, ready with your course or membership content loaded up, so you can simply focus on coaching your clients! I will also train you up on how to make any updates yourself going forward, but I am still at hand to help if you want me to continue to make edits or additions on your behalf.
3. Time Saving: While the initial setup demands a cost investment, the returns are well worth it. You only start paying monthly when your content is ready, so you hit the ground running with paying members and clients.
How long have you been meaning to launch your course or membership program..? Typically, coaches wait months or even years to get going, as they are too busy steering the ship and don't have the time to take this lucrative step.
4. Keeping the Personal Touch: Our built-in client discussion forums allow you to foster an online community with an intimate feel. You're not hiding behind a screen, you're expanding your stage! Our private chat feature also allows you to keep in touch with clients individually without resorting to Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger chats.
You can even schedule personalised notifications to check in with specific clients or cohorts regularly. Your clients will hugely appreciate your increased presence and accountability.
5. Unlimited Plan with your Personal Branding: With the CoachOnline platform, you get to launch unlimited courses, pages and membership materials, invite unlimited clients and subscribers, schedule unlimited notifications. All this in your own personally-branded website and app that you - and your clients - will love.
The Ball is in your Court
It's about time technology became your ally in delivering seamless service to your clients. You can either stay where you are, or make a change for the better. Nobody is forcing you - the choice is yours.
If you do want to take your coaching business to the next level, why not reach out for a friendly chat, so I can help you create the coaching business you've envisioned? Let's get you unstuck and set on the path new opportunities and growth.
Together, we can open up endless possibilities for your business, and there's no time like the present. Click here to get in touch, and let’s get your journey started!
Warmly,
Tes
Founder, CoachOnline
PS Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn too!
Stay tuned to our blog to gain insights into expanding your coaching business.
About CoachOnline
We're not just a platform; we are a boutique agency for coaches, consultants and therapists. We get it – setting up an online course or membership can be overwhelming, especially if tech isn't your thing. That's where we step in. From integrating your subscription payments, hosting your course videos and discussion forums, to scheduling push notifications - we've got it covered. We simplify the tech, so you can simply focus on your clients.
The key difference is - unlike other platforms - we even set up your courses and membership materials for you. Contact us now, so we can bring your expertise online, with minimum stress and maximum efficiency.