7 Critical Skills to Build a Successful Coaching Business

You finished your training / certification — but what about everything you weren’t taught? Unfortunately, most coaching programs out there do not focus on how to actually coach, or run a business. They might give you tips, free contract or form templates, and a general overview of what you “should do” in your business, but the advice is usually REALLY missing the mark. I see it so often, and I’ve been there myself – you finish your coaching program but feel completely lost on what to do next and how to actually be successful.

There are a few key skills you’ll definitely want to develop in order to have a successful coaching business. Do NOT overlook these seven critical skills! These will make a huge difference in your business, no matter your niche or approach!

1. How to Actually Coach

Getting coached yourself and getting out there and PRACTICING are the best ways to learn. You’ll get better and better at coaching over time. Being a great coach requires asking better questions, understanding how to motivate your client, and adjusting your coaching style to the client’s needs. By getting coached yourself, and doing the deep work, you’ll get a sense of what types of questions to ask, how to guide the conversation, and how to motivate people. In addition, you also need to be practicing. Some programs / trainings require you to practice coaching friends, family, other students, and for a good reason. You can’t just learn the materials and automatically assume you can get people results.

2. Effective Marketing

Let’s be honest — the “business lessons” you had in your program were probably not that helpful (*cough cough* “Build a website & make a freebie!”) You want to learn how to directly reach your ideal client & use language that will actually CONVERT. You can reach your audience through a number of social media platforms (right now Instagram is the most popular), and you don’t need to waste your time or money on building the “perfect” website. People need to know exactly what services they can expect from you, and they need to get to know you, connect, and be interested in the information you’re putting out there. You can market yourself in a number of ways, but it really doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.

3. How to Nail Sales Calls

Before I learned this skill, I was so afraid of sales calls. Now I LOVE them! This is your opportunity to showcase your coaching skills, build a deeper connection with the client, and make sure it’s the perfect fit. Most of the time, you’ll know by talking with someone whether or not they’ll fit well with your coaching style. Not every potential client that comes to you is going to be a good fit, and that’s okay! These sales calls allow you to really start to build a connection with your client and get a feel for how it would be to work with them. You want to make sure that the person is READY for a transformation!

4. Premium Pricing Setup

Most coaches are taught to charge X amount per hour / per session…you can’t scale your business if you’re trading time for dollars!  Premium pricing allows you to work less hours, see less clients, make more money, & get clients better results. You want to create a powerful energetic container – that is what provides the best results. Plus, it ensures the client is serious about making the transformation.

5. Energy Protection

This is crucial so you can hold space for your clients & not get burnt out. Have you learned how to protect your energy, clear your energy, and manage your energy? This affects your coaching ability & how much time you have in a day. Setting boundaries is one of the first steps you can take to protect your energy, but you also need to be mindful of how things affect you and how you feel. Does seeing a certain client make you feel more exhausted than excited? Do you get done with work and feel so tired you can’t show up for the other people in your life? These are all common issues I see when someone is working out of alignment and not protecting their energy.

6. Mindset Work & Shadow Work

Are you doing this yourself, and learning how to do deeper emotional and energetic work with your clients? This is why I love teaching my clients brain rewiring. When helping others, it’s so important to have gone through your own personal inner work. Doing deep emotional and energetic work lets you process limiting beliefs, shift, and break through to create a more positive / abundance mindset. You are also better able to rewrite the stories you may have been holding on to from the past, setting both yourself and your clients up for success. When you have a positive mind and experience, your client feeds on that energy and it gets them better results. Additionally, most coaches don’t feel like they know how to do deep mindset work. This is a KEY part of coaching! If you want to get your clients lasting results, it’s so important to be able to guide them through shadow work and other types of deeper personal development work.

7. How to Scale

If you want to spread your wings and soar, you want to have a plan for how to scale. So many coaches have not been taught how to scale their services & the many ways they can do so. Set yourself up to grow! It’s a good idea to have an idea of where you’re headed, even if that plan changes over time. Scaling can look different for everyone – maybe you want to teach a group program, create a course, start a podcast, have a membership… think about what YOU want, and make sure you’re aligned with getting there!

I teach ALL of these skills and so much more in No Bullshit Business School. Enrollment closes this Friday, September 25th! This is your chance to learn all the tools you’ll need to build a 6-figure online coaching business without a big following. Head here to enroll in this round!