11 Tips for Health Coaches to be more Profitable in 2017, written by Amber Dugger
It is a very exciting time to be a health coach. Thousands of motivated, determined and knowledgeable health coaches are graduating each year from health coach training and are paving their own path to a career of gratifying and fulfilling work. One area that is so often overlooked in health coach training is how to run a profitable health coaching business. I am on a mission to change that. I have spent the last month interviewing some pretty incredible thought leaders, business coaches and mentors of health coaches. I’m excited to share their wisdom on how you can build a profitable health coaching business. Grab yourself a cup of tea, throw a blanket over your shoulders and grab your favorite moleskine notebook. This is truly a goldmine!
Tip 1: If all you are offering is a 6 month program, you are leaving money on the table. ~Kathleen LeGrys
Having an entry level program at a lower price point and lower time commitment will allow your client to test you out. They are skeptical and need to be eased into your work. Your prospective clients don’t think that they need a 6 month program so having a free offer that leads into a 30- 60 day program that can then go into a 90-120 day program is ideal.
Secondly, having a compelling name that is descriptive and conveys what your client is going to get out of it is key to bringing in more revenue (and therefore, more profits) into your health coaching business.
It is also quite helpful to offer more than one way that they can work with you. Having an online program with support, for example, allows clients who may shy away from 1:1 work to still benefit from your services.
Kathleen LeGrys offers an incredible (I’m talking pure gold) discovery call template. This template has helped me convert dozens of clients and I still use it to this day. To get your free copy, and hear more from the amazing Kathleen, please visit http://www.healthcoachsolutions.net/hcs_discovery_guide/
Tip 2: Put yourself out there and give more talks. ~Amy Lippman
This will attract new clients, build your list, and will position you as the go-to expert in your community. You can also establish yourself with referral relationships and social media. Knowing how many clients you want and pricing them to reach your income goal is critical.
A high end offering is key to being able to increase your profitability as a health coach. This can be especially good for health coaches still working a full time job as they can block out 1-2 Saturdays a month for VIP Days. This can be offered as a stand alone or an upgrade. A day retreat with up to 4 people together can also be a great upgrade and jumping off point for a class.
Own the number. In the beginning, consider demand and know that you may want to keep your number low enough that you get an easy yes but high enough that your client values your services. As you get more experience, you will start to get testimonials and referrals. You can then start to raise your price to keep up with demand.
Amy Lippman, Marketing Strategist for Health Coaches. Check out her awesome Speaking Kit for Health Coaches at http://speakingkitforhealthcoaches.com/
Tip 3: Know how much you want to make and make sure it is realistic. ~Lori Kennedy
Create a realistic financial target and grow from there. Most health coaches should not expect to make much money in his or her first year. Having a clear financial plan with realistic targets is the number one thing any health coach should do to be able to strategize her client goals, pricing and packages. Without this number, health coaches easily become overwhelmed by not knowing how many clients they need to make their goals and have difficulty sticking with their prices.
Bonus tip: One of the best ways to grow a list is to spend 3 days telling everyone you know about what you do and a link to your opt-in. Show up everyday. The only limitation is the one that you set for yourself. Set your own limits.
Lori Kennedy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Strategic Business Coach and Founder, THE WELLNESS BUSINESS HUB Learn more about Lori and the Wellness Business Hub here: http://thewellnessbusinesshub.com/.
Tip 4: Develop a daily mantra at the beginning of each month. ~Amanda Daley
What you focus on grows. By getting clear on the exact amount of money you desire and why, your intended action plan to create this money and a time frame on which you intend to receive this money, you will set yourself up for more profits as a health coach. Before starting work, read your desire statement out loud 10 times, and from that space create your daily action plan. Amanda also recommends combining this with The Golden Hour – 20 minutes of journaling, 20 minutes of meditation and 20 minutes of listening or reading a wealth consciousness book.
Amanda Daley, Founder and Creator of the Upswing Mastermind for Health Coaches, To learn more about Amanda, please visit www.amandajdaley.com.
Tip 5: Calculate your ROI (return on investment) before spending money on Facebook Ads. ~Claire Pelletreau
Determine how much money you want to spend on your Facebook ads and calculate your ROI to ensure that you are not draining your cash unnecessarily. As a small business owner and health coach, you know the benefit of growing your list and a great way to do that is by using Facebook Ads.
]Most people don’t breakeven on their first launch. Clair’s philosophy is spend what you can afford to lose. Look at your first few ads as paying for a lot of data. Learn what age groups, messaging and images convert and know that you are spending the money to learn and dial in to increase your ROI for future launches.
How to run your numbers for a Facebook Campaign:
Goal: you want 1000 signups in 2 weeks.
Your course price: $99
Your sales conversion rate: 3%
Facts: A good conversion rate on leads is an average of $2.50/lead (this is debatable and can be lower but if you are starting out, it can also be a lot higher). This will be cold traffic to your list.
Calculation of ROI:
● Cost = $2500 for the Facebook Ads
● Leads = 1000
● 3% convert = 33 people
● 33 x $99 = $3267
● ROI: $3267 – $2500 = $767.
And don’t forget to account for your other costs!
Claire Pelletreau , a confessed conversion junkie and Facebook ads consultant To determine how much you should spend on Facebook ads, check out Claire’s valuable free spreadsheet and process at www.clairepells.com/howmuch.
Tip 6: Treat everything as a fun experiment! ~Natasha Corbin
Tenacity is an entrepreneurial mindset. Rejection is part of the process. To be more profitable as a health coach in 2017, making an offer is KEY. Let’s quickly talk about active vs. passive marketing. Many health coaches spend loads of time perfecting her SEO and her website’s look and feel. This is a good example of passive marketing. To truly get your name and offer out there, you need to actually get in front of your audience and let them know what they can purchase from you. How will they find you? What do you specialize in? Get your offer in front of your people as quickly as possible and be very clear on how you can work with them. Actively offer your services with heart.
It is CRITICAL to treat this as a fun experiment. Your offer is most likely brilliant – it is not the photo, the offer or the price. It is YOU that is going to get your potential client to stop scrolling. What does this mean, exactly? Experts say that someone needs to see an offer 6 times to feel comfortable enough to consider purchasing. Generally, on Facebook, people will see 1 out of 24 posts that are there. 6 times 24 is 144 times that you need to post to even start to build your know, like and trust factor.
144 times? Yes. Post at least 144 times to gain traction. And have FUN and be persistent and consistent with your message. All of those posts should not be about your offer. They should be about YOU. Your dog, your kids, your LIFE! Blog posts with a lot of free and valuable content. Don’t worry about the crickets. They are just dancing away because you are dusting all of your posts with party pixie dust and this is just a fun experiment. Do this and your health coaching business will start rolling in the profits in no time (144 posts away time). 🙂
Natasha Corbin is a business coach for heart centered Entrepreneurs and the curator of the Heart Centered Business Conference in Australia, where Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First, will be a keynote speaker! To learn more, please visit www.ladyposse2017.com.
Tip 7: Hire a business coach. ~Angie Lee and Jen Casey
Embrace the fact that running a business may not be your genius zone and that’s ok! You also want to serve before you sell. Knowing your customer is KEY to being able to serve them. By finding your niche, you can hone in on what they are wanting and you will increase your know, like and trust factor much faster as you are relatable to them.
Angie Lee and Jen Casey , Founders of Wellpreneur Business Academy. To learn more about Angie and Jen and their Wellpreneur Business Academy, visit www.wellpreneurbusinessacademy.com.
Tip 8: Have a digital strategy that allows you to leverage your knowledge. ~Maya Gaddie
To lock in a profitable digital strategy for 2017 as a health coach, you want to leverage what you know. One of the very best ways to do that is to launch an online class or digital product. To do that profitably, Maya recommends using simple tools. Whether you’ve been at this a while or you’re just starting out, simple makes it possible to launch and grow your program without tons of overhead or headache. You want to focus on is getting your clients results. So focus and keep the digital stuff simple.
Maya Gaddie, Creator of Launch Your Class. Grab Maya’s guide to simplify your digital stuff so you can max your profit by visiting http://mayagaddie.com/toolstolaunchandgrow/.
Tip 9: Define what your superpower is. ~Gretchen Cawthon and Trina Fisher
Once you have determined your superpower, outsource the rest. Once you can admit what you are not good at, it is really easy to determine what you want to outsource. This allows you to step into your authentic self and focus on what makes you authentically shine. Gretchen and Trina’s clients who have done this have seen their business soar in a matter of months.
Gretchen Cawthon and Trina Fisher, Founders of Left Right Labs To learn more about Left Right Labs, servicing health and wellness professionals, visit http://leftrightlabs.com.
Tip 10: Pay attention to your money and don’t be afraid of it. ~Cassie Howard
Be aware of what your end goal is and start selling on a consistent basis. Instead of saying how am I going to make this money, shift your mindset and start acting as if it has already happened. Now it is time to sell on a daily basis and don’t be afraid to sell. The right people will see it and buy and the ones who don’t, aren’t your people.
Cassie Howard, Client Attraction Strategist. To learn more about Cassie and to grab her simple but effective plan to increase your profits from day one, visit www.cassiehoward.com/moneymanifesto.
Tip 11 – Make sure that you are paying yourself (and your business) first. ~Amber Dugger
It is completely normal to feel like there is never enough money and expenses are draining your profits – so stop beating yourself up for not feeling like you are ever getting ahead financially! The key to protecting yourself from this is to set up a simple yet effective system of setting aside your profit first and then use the remainder of your money for your business expenses, taxes and salary. Result? You will always run a profitable health coaching business. I am on a mission to spread the word to health coaches about Profit First. This simple but effective game changer of a system will make your health coaching business profitable starting with your next deposit.
Amber Dugger (moi!), Financial Coach for Health and Wellness Entrepreneurs. To learn more about this magical system called Profit First and to grab the core chapters of the book, check out www.amberdugger.com/profitfirstchapters.
Alright, chica. Now is it is time to IMPLEMENT! We can learn all day, but until we take action and implement, we don’t move forward! Share in the comments below, or consider joining my community http://amberdugger.com/community and share with us there what you plan to implement first. Have a tip of your own that isn’t listed here? Fess up, girlfriend!
Here’s to a profitable, exciting and fulfilling 2017! Health coaches unite!
Amber Dugger is a financial and wellness expert, known for helping her clients find actionable, simple solutions and empowering information that allows them to explore the sweet life with purpose. Visit her at www.amberdugger.com/.
