How To Start A Profitable Career Coaching Business (Ultimate Guide)

When it comes to starting a career coaching business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some big decisions.

You may be asking yourself:

• What's the first step in establishing my business?
• How much will it cost to start my career coaching business?
• How do I price my career coaching business?
• How do I market my career coaching business?
• ... so much more!

We walk you through all of the steps; from idea → starting → launching → growing → running your business.

The purpose of this guide is to act as an outline for the steps you'll need to take to get your business running successfully!

💡 Introduction To Starting A Career Coaching Business

Players

Big Players

• Dice (4.92K Alexa Ranking)
• Wall Street Oasis (13.3K Alexa Ranking)
• Montgomery College (28.3K Alexa Ranking)
• PyImageSearch (28.9K Alexa Ranking)
• English- UnitedHealth Group (34.8K Alexa Ranking)

Small Players

• Vizio Makeup Academy - Revenue $235K/month
• Wall Street Oasis - Revenue $200K/month
• MentorCruise - Revenue $40K/month
• Social Media Manager Society - Revenue $20K/month
• Cultivated Culture - Revenue $20K/month
• Catalyst Growth Advisors - Revenue $20K/month
• AiApply - Revenue $15K/month
• Loopcv - Revenue $15K/month
• Metamorphosis Group - Revenue $11K/month
• Instamentor - Revenue $10K/month
• Screw The Cubicle - Revenue $10K/month
• Blue Sky Coaching - Revenue $6K/month
• CareerMetis.com - Revenue $3K/month
• MentorDial - Revenue $1K/month
• FVA Business Consultancy - Revenue $1K/month

Revenue Expectations

We've interviewed several different founders in the career coaching business and asked them how much $ they're making today.

Cultivated Culture

• $240K/year in revenue
• Sells top tier job placement service.
• Solo founder
• 1 employee

Wall Street Oasis

• $2.4M/year in revenue
• Sells finance modeling training and advice
• 2 founders
• 10 employees

CareerMetis.com

• $36K/year in revenue
• Sells career & freelancer advice
• Solo founder
• 1 employee

Vizio Makeup Academy

• $2.82M/year in revenue
• Sells professional makeup courses
• 2 founders
• 15 employees

Screw The Cubicle

• $120K/year in revenue
• Sells career transition coaching
• Solo founder
• 1 employee

Catalyst Growth Advisors

• $240K/year in revenue
• Sells business coaching, author, speaker
• Solo founder
• 1 employee

Search Interest

Let's take a look at the search trends for career coaching services over the last year:

How To Name Your Career Coaching Business

It's important to find a catchy name for your career coaching business so that you can stand out in your space.

Here are some general tips to consider when naming your career coaching business

• Avoid hard to spell names: you want something easy to remember and easy to spell for your customers
• Conduct a search to see if others in the space have the same name
• Try not to pick a name that limits growth opportunities for your business (ie. if you decide to expand into other product lines)
• As soon as you have an idea (or ideas) of a few names that you love, register the domain name(s) as soon as possible!

Why is naming your career coaching business so important?

The name of your business will forever play a role in:

• Your customers first impression
• Your businesses identity
• The power behind the type of customer your brand attracts
• If you're memorable or not

It's important to verify that the domain name is available for your career coaching business.

You can search domain availability here:

Although .com names are the most common and easiest to remember, there are other options if your .com domain name is not available. Depending on your audience, it may not matter as much as you think.

It's also important to thoroughly check if social media handles are available.

As soon as you resonate with a name (or names), secure the domain and SM handles as soon as possible to ensure they don't get taken.

Here's some inspiration for naming your career coaching business:

• Linear Career check availability
• Frame Career check availability
• Coachingzoid check availability
• Access Career check availability
• Intuition Coaching check availability
• Lock Career check availability
• Coachingonus check availability
• Careercog check availability
• Coachingaza check availability
• Careergenics check availability
• Coachingaro check availability
• Activator Career check availability
• Careersio check availability
• Bound Coaching check availability
• Coachingdo check availability
• Bot Coaching check availability
• Integration Coaching check availability
• Alt Career check availability
• Giga Career check availability
• Info Coaching check availability
• Rubicon Career check availability
• Pacific Career check availability
• Careerops check availability
• Careerdeck check availability
• Origin Career check availability
• Careerster check availability
• Alpha Career check availability
• Infinite Career check availability
• Surge Career check availability
• Cyber Career check availability
• Detect Coaching check availability
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• Coachingadri check availability
• Climax Career check availability
• Institute Career check availability
• Mainstay Coaching check availability
• Luminous Career check availability
• Managed Career check availability
• Trained Career check availability
• Alpha Coaching check availability
• Modular Coaching check availability
• Coachingella check availability
• Wired Career check availability
• Careerlance check availability
• Control Career check availability
• Chrome Career check availability
• Digital Career check availability
• Omega Career check availability
• Careerium check availability
• Point Coaching check availability
• Cornerstone Career check availability
• Macro Career check availability
• Association Career check availability
• Coachingorzo check availability
• Dev Career check availability
• Mind Coaching check availability
• Smart Coaching check availability
• Central Coaching check availability
• Careerjet check availability
• Careerocity check availability
• Dynamics Career check availability
• Coachinglaza check availability
• Careeraro check availability
• Iconic Coaching check availability
• Endeavor Career check availability
• Smart Career check availability
• Compact Career check availability
• Accent Coaching check availability
• Intel Career check availability
• Structure Coaching check availability
• Coachingsy check availability
• Franchise Coaching check availability
• Careernetic check availability
• Nomad Coaching check availability
• Determined Coaching check availability
• Structure Career check availability
• Guidebook Trading Co check availability
• Dramatic Manager Group check availability
• Subsequent Junior check availability
• Good Guidance check availability
• Online check availability
• Junior Group check availability
• Junior Trading Co check availability
• Varied check availability
• Life History Trading Co check availability
• Informal check availability
• Invaluable check availability
• Useful Direct Group check availability
• The Medical Lifetime check availability
• Cypher Advisor check availability
• Safe Scout Group check availability
• Transfer Career check availability
• The Rear Passenger Car check availability
• Defensive Passenger Car Group check availability
• Consulting Collective check availability
• Counselor Pro check availability
• Visual check availability
• Long Tenure check availability
• Congressional Coursework check availability
• Post check availability
• Consultant Co check availability
• MusicalAdvisor check availability
• Professional Collective check availability
• Job Pro check availability
• Checkered Camel check availability
• Spiritual check availability
• Pathfinder Group check availability
• Brilliant Professional Trading Co check availability
• Magnificent Passenger Car Trading Co check availability
• Legislative check availability
• Sure Conduct Trading Co check availability
• Closed Caboose check availability
• Advisers Collective check availability
• Congressional Corps check availability
• Class Chariot check availability
• General Governing check availability
• Grand check availability
• The Educational Advisers check availability
• The Musical check availability
• Military Life History check availability
• Later Professionally Co check availability
• The Class check availability
• Political Lifetime Group check availability
• OutstandingCoach check availability
• The Influential Officer check availability
• Outstanding Passenger Car Place check availability
• The Stage check availability
• Double Decker Co check availability
• Legal Profession Pro check availability
• The Executive Manager check availability
• Complete Pass Collective check availability
• IntimateAdvisor check availability
• Take Co check availability
• Strategic Counsel Trading Co check availability
• ChequeredCareer check availability
• EconomicAdvisor check availability
• Advisers Pro check availability

Read our full guide on naming your career coaching business ➜

Learn more about starting a career coaching business:

Where to start?

-> How much does it cost to start a career coaching business?
-> Pros and cons of a career coaching business

Need inspiration?

-> Other career coaching business success stories
-> Examples of established career coaching business
-> Marketing ideas for a career coaching business
-> Career coaching business slogans
-> Career coaching business names
-> Career coaching business Instagram bios

Other resources

-> Career coaching business tips
-> Blog post ideas for a career coaching business
-> Career coaching business quotes

🎬 How To Start A Career Coaching Business

Setting Up Your Career Coaching Business (Formation and Legal)

When it comes to setting up your business, you may find yourself in a place where you have to make some financial and legal decisions.

The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether you want to be an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp.

These three options are found to be the most common when starting a small business, and all serve to protect your personal assets and also provide you with certain tax benefits.

• LLC: All income and expenses from the business are reported on the LLC personal income tax return.
• S corp: Owners pay themselves salaries + receive dividends from profits.
• C Corp: C Corps are separately taxable entities that file a corporate tax return (Form 1120). No income tax is paid at the corporate level and any tax due is paid at the owners individual expense.

Depending on where you're conducting business, you'll also want to consider securing the proper permits, licenses and liability insurance.

Learn more about securing the right permits and licenses ➜

Need to start an LLC? Create an LLC in minutes with ZenBusiness.

How To Price Your Career Coaching Services

One of the most challenging aspects to starting a career coaching business is determining how much to charge for your career coaching services.

When businesses under-price their product, this can be extremely detrimental to their bottom line and reputation.

Often times, businesses under-price their products to drive demand and volume, but that last thing you want is for customers to view your product/service as "cheap." Additionally, this can have a big impact on the type of customer you attract, which can be difficult to recover from.

On the other hand, when businesses over-price, this tends to be just as damaging to the business.

When customers buy, it's likely that they will explore the internet and look at other competitors to ensure they're getting the best value + deal. This is why it's so important that you research your competition and understand where you land in the marketplace.

Here are some factors to consider when pricing your product:

Understand your customer

It's important that out of the gates, you identify the type of customer you want to attract and how much they're willing to pay for your service. One great way to do this is by surveying your customers. Here are some important items you'll want to takeaway:

• Customer demographic: Age, gender, location, etc.
• Buying habits of your customer: What they buy + when they buy
• Level of price sensitivity with your customer

All of these segments will help you identify the type of customer you're attracting and how to price your product accordingly.

Understand your costs

When pricing your career coaching services, it's critical that you first identify all of your costs and consequently mark up your career coaching services so you can factor in a profit.

The actual cost of your career coaching services may include things like:

• The actual cost to make the product (ie. raw materials, supplies, manufacturer).
• Shipping + overhead fees
• Rent
• Operating costs to run your business

You may want to consider creating a spreadsheet with every single expense involved in operating/owning your business. This will give you an idea as to what you need to generate in order to at the very least, break-even and will help you price your products to factor in a profit.

Create revenue goals

When determining the price of your career coaching services, you'll want to create goals for revenue + how much profit you want your career coaching business to make.

This process is simpler than you may think:

1. Think about your breakeven cost (by completing the above step).
2. Create a revenue goal based on your break-even cost
3. Evaluate the # of items you plan to sell in a given period (make sure this is a realistic number)
4. Divide your revenue goal by the number of items you plan to sell

This figure will help determine your estimated price per product in order to meet your revenue goals.

Evaluate your competition

The last piece in determining how to price your career coaching services is by simply looking at your competition.

The best way to do this is by finding like-minded businesses that offer product(s) with similar perceived value. Then, you can compare prices of the different businesses and determine where your career coaching services fits best in the marketplace.

All of these factors play an equal part in pricing your career coaching services, so it's important you evaluate each one individually to come up with an accurate price that will help optimize your business from the start.

Determine Which Business Bank Account You Need

There are hundreds of banks out there, and it can be overwhelming to find one that's right for your business.

Here are some factors you may want to consider:

• Location - Is your bank close enough that you can easily make deposits or get cash?
• Low Fees - Make sure to understand any and all fees associated with setting up and maintaining your bank account. Ask for a list - banks usually try to keep this hidden and in the fine print.
• Online Banking Services - Make sure you can easily navigate through your online portal and you have easy access to everything you need.
• Line of Credit - What do your options look like (even if you don't need this now, you may need this down the road).
• Every bank has something that differentiates them from the rest, so make sure whatever that is applied to your needs and values.

Check out this list of the 13 Best Banks for Small Business in 2020 and what makes them so unique.

Write a Business Plan

Writing a business plan from the start is critical for the success of your career coaching business.

Why?

Because this allows you to roadmap exactly what you do, what your overall structure will look like, and where you want to be in the future.

For many entrepreneurs, writing out the business plan helps validate their idea and decide whether or not they should move forward with starting the business.

You may want to consider expanding upon these sections in your business plan:

• Executive Summary: Brief outline of your product, the market, and growth opportunities
• Overviews and Objectives: Overview of your business, target customers, and what you need to run your business
• Products and Services: Specifics on the products and services your business will provide
• Market Opportunities: Analysis of customer demographics, buyer habits and if your product is in demand
• Marketing: Outline of your marketing plan and how you plan to differentiate yourself from other customers
• Competitive analysis: Analysis of your competition and the strengths and weaknesses therein
• Operations: Hierarchal structure of the company and what it will take to run the business on the day-to-day
• Leadership Team: Detailing roles and responsibilities of each manager based on their specific skill-set
• Financial Analysis Understanding of all expenses, operating budgets, and projections for the future.

Learn more about how to write a business plan here

Identify Target Customer

A very critical piece in building career coaching business is to identify your ideal target customer.

• Develop a niche and create a consistent brand that reflects your target customer.
• The colors, logo, content, and overall website should resonate with your target customer and should draw them in by helping them solve their specific "need".

Lydia Lee, founder of Screw The Cubicle identifies exactly the type of customer her services are curated for:

My core work focuses on helping corporate professionals transition their expertise and skills into an independent career where they choose a pathway like freelancing, consulting, and solopreneurship to earn a great living.

From self-guided courses like WorkReinvented to my 90 Day Launch program, the mission is to support passionate individuals to build the life they want with a business they can love.

Building an MVP (Minimal Viable Product)

When building a career coaching business, it's critical that you first validate your product/service rather than rushing to build it right away.

This could save you months, if not years of building the wrong product/service.

If you're hoping to decrease any sort of risk that comes with launching your career coaching business, designing a prototype can be a great way to de-risk your situation.

The point of your career coaching services prototype is that it doesn't have to be perfect.

In the beginning stages, it doesn't matter how rough V1 of your prototype is, it's more important to just get started and you can always refine from there based on feedback from your network and most importantly your customers.

How To Build A MVP

Here are several different ways of building a prototype/MVP:

• Start by building a landing page to see if customers actually need your product and if they are willing to pay for it
• Build a very basic version of your idea and ask for immediate feedback from potential customers
• Present a problem and solution via Facebook/Instagram Ads and see what the response is like

Anastasia Andreani, founder of Vizio Makeup Academy dives deep into the process of designing and prototyping their product:

How Much Does It Cost To Start A Career Coaching Business

If you are planning to start a career coaching business, the costs are relatively low. This, of course, depends on if you decide to start the business with lean expenses or bringing in a large team and spending more money.

We’ve outlined two common scenarios for “pre-opening” costs of starting a career coaching business and outline the costs you should expect for each:

• The estimated minimum starting cost = $62
• The estimated maximum starting cost = $23,259

Startup Expenses: Average expenses incurred when starting a career coaching business.	Min Startup Costs: You plan to execute on your own. You’re able to work from home with minimal costs.	Max Startup Costs: You have started with 1+ other team members.
Office Space Expenses
Rent: This refers to the office space you use for your business and give money to the landlord. To minimize costs, you may want to consider starting your business from home or renting an office in a coworking space.	$0	$5,750
Utility Costs For Office Space: Utility costs are the expense for all the services you use in your office, including electricity, gas, fuels, telephone, water, sewerage, etc.	$0	$1,150
WiFi & Internet: Whether you work from home or in an office space, WiFi is essential. Although the cost is minimal in most cases, it should be appropriately budgeted for each month!	$0	$100
Total Office Space Expenses	$0 (min)	$7,000 (max)
Employee & Freelancer Expenses
Payroll Costs & Fees: Payroll cost means the expense of paying your employees, which includes salaries, wages, and other benefits. This number depends on if you decide to pay yourself a salary upfront and how many employees you have on payroll. At first, many founders take on all responsibilities until the business is up and running. You can always hire down the road when you understand where you need help. Keep in mind, if you do plan to pay yourself, the average salary founders make is $50K.	$150	$250
Total Employee & Freelancer Expenses	$150 (min)	$250 (max)
Website Costs
Website Builder: The cost of your website will vary depending on which platform you choose. There are many website builders on the market, so it's important you choose the right one for your business and overall goals. To learn more about your options + how to build a great website, check out this article.	$10	$500
Web Designer: Web design includes several different aspects, including webpage layout, content creation, and design elements.If you have the skills and knowledge to design your website on your own, then outsourcing this to an expert may not be necessary. There are plenty of other ways you can design a beautiful website using design tools and software.	$200	$6,000
Domain Name: Your domain name is the URL and name of your website - this is how internet users find you and your website.Domain names are extremely important and should match your company name and brand. This makes it easier for customers to remember you and return to your website.	$12	$200
Business Email Hosting Service: An email hosting runs a dedicated email server. Once you have your domain name, you can set up email accounts for each user on your team. The most common email hosts are G Suite and Microsoft 365 Suite. The number of email accounts you set up will determine the monthly cost breakdown.	$1	$15
Website Hosting Costs: Server hosting is an IT service typically offered by a cloud service provider that hosts the website information and allows remote access through the internet. A hosted server can help you scale up and increase your business’s efficacy, relieving you from the hassles of on-premise operations.	$0	$300
Total Website Costs	$223 (min)	$7,015 (max)
Business Formation Fees
Small Business Insurance: Depending on which state you live in and the business you're operating, the costs and requirements for small business insurance vary. You can learn more here.	$500	$2,000
Permit and License Fees: Depending on your industry, there are certain licenses and permits you may need in order to comply with state, local, and federal regulations. Here is an article that goes over all the permits and licenses you may need for your career coaching business.	$50	$700
Lawyer Fees: Although you may want to avoid attorney fees, it's important that your business (and you) are covered at all costs. This comes into play when creating founder agreements, setting up your business legal structure, and of course, any unforeseen circumstances that may happen when dealing with customers or other businesses.	$0	$1,500
Set up business: LLC & Corporations: The first step in setting up your business is deciding whether your business is an LLC, S Corp or C Corp. The cost for this depends on which state you form your business and which structure you decide on. We put together an article that goes over the 10 Steps To Setting Up A Business.	$50	$500
Total Business Formation Fees	$600 (min)	$4,700 (max)
Software Expenses
Design Programs & Software: These programs might include the Adobe family of design tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and others. This is typically a monthly subscription ranging from $10-$50/mo.	$0	$50
Email marketing tool: If you plan to grow your email list and email marketing efforts, you may want to consider investing in an email marketing platform (ie. Klaviyo, MailChimp). We put together a detailed guide on all of the email marketing tools out there + the pricing models for each one here.	$0	$100
IT Support: IT support installs and configures hardware and software and solves any technical issues that may arise.IT support can be used internally or for your customers experiencing issues with your product/service.There are a variety of tools and software you can use to help with any technical issues you or your customers are experiencing. This is a great option for businesses that do not have the means to hire a team of professionals.	$150	$2,000
Accounting & Invoicing Software: It's important to have an accounting system and process in place to manage financials, reporting, planning and tax preparation. Here are the 30 best accounting tools for small businesses.	$0	$50
CRM Software: CRM (customer relationship management) software system is used to track and analyze your company’s interactions with clients and prospects. Although this is not a necessary tool to have for your business, implementing this, in the beginning, may set your business up for success and save you valuable time.	$12	$300
Project Management Software: You may want to consider using a project management and collaboration tool to organize your day-to-day. This can also be very beneficial if you have a larger team and want to keep track of everyones tasks and productivity. For a full list of project management tools, check out this full list here.	$0	$25
Internal Communication Tool: If you plan to have multiple members on your team, you may want to consider an instant message tool such as Slack or Telegram. The cost is usually billed per month (approx $5/user/month) or there are freemium versions available on many platforms.	$0	$20
Social Media Management Tools: If you plan to do social media marketing for your career coaching business, you should consider investing in a social media automation or publishing tool. This will save you time and allow you to track performance and engagement for your posts. Here is a list of 28 best social media tools for your small business.	$0	$50
File Hosting Service: It's important to make sure the information for your career coaching business is stored and protected should something happen to your computer or hard drive. The cost for this is affordable and depends on how much data you need to store. To learn more about the different options and pricing on the market, check out this article.	$0	$299
Total Software Expenses	$162 (min)	$2,894 (max)
Advertising & Marketing Costs
Business Cards: A career coaching business involves quite a bit of customer interaction, whether that is attending tradeshows, sales calls or simply having face to face interaction with prospective clients. Business cards are a great way to stay front of mind with your clients.	$0	$50
Networking Membership Fees: Joining local networking groups or your chamber of commerce is a traditional yet effective way to promote your career coaching business - but these fees add up! It's important to choose the right group(s) that align with your business and help with growth.	$0	$250
Direct Campaigns, Printing and Mailing: Although it may sound old-school, traditional marketing methods can be a cost-effective way to drive awareness for your brand. This includes flyers, postcards, sales letters, coupons, special offers, catalogs and brochures.	$0	$300
Press: If your business and story is unique enough, press and media attention may come to you, but odds are, you may need to do your own outreach and budget for this. We put together a guide here that discusses different press opportunities (both free and paid).	$0	$500
Google Ads: With Google Ads you have the ability to control how much you spend by simply setting a monthly budget cap. Additionally, with these ads you only pay for results, such as clicks to your website or phone calls! It's okay to start with a small budget at first and make changes accordingly if you see valuable returns.	$0	$300
Total Advertising & Marketing Costs	$0 (min)	$1,400 (max)
Total Starting Costs	$62 (min)	$23,259 (max)

Raising Money

Since the startup costs to start career coaching business range between $62 - $23,259, there are ways you can raise money to cover these costs.

Here are a few ways you can secure additional funding:

• Launch your product on Kickstarter
• Raise capital by asking friends and family
• Apply for a loan
• Find an investor!

🚀 How To Launch Your Career Coaching Business

Traditional Launch Strategies For Your Career Coaching Business:

There are various different ways you can launch your career coaching business successfully.

Here are a few different strategies to get customers excited about your career coaching business:

• Set up a Facebook page for your business. This is a great way to establish an online presence
• Host an event in a fun location with drinks & food. This is a great way to get exposure in the local community.
• Get Press! Pitch your story to the media and you may just land in an amazing publication
• Live sales to get customers excited
• Send a hand-written letter in the mail with a discount on your services to the local community/neighborhoods.

Danica Octa, founder of Metamorphosis Group dives deep into the process of launching the business:

Build A Website

Building a website is imperative when launching your business, and with the right tools in place, this can be a simple task to check off the list (without having to hire someone).

1. Pick a domain name that's easy to remember and easy to type
2. Choose a Web Hosting Plan (ie. Shopify, Squarespace)
3. Make sure you choose the right theme and design
4. Implement the proper page structure (ie. about page, contact page, pricing etc)

To learn more about how to build a stellar website with little stress, we give you all the details on this step-by-step guide.

There are a ton of different websites platforms out there, and it's important to choose the right one that will set you up for success

Shopify is most commonly used for eCommerce boutique businesses and Squarespace is most commonly used for physical storefronts.

Here's everything you need to know about these two platforms:

Web Design

Once you have chosen the domain, web hosting, and platform, it's time to get started with the design phase.

Themes are a great way to produce the fundamental style and identity of your website - this includes everything from your font design to your blog post styles.

One of the best ways to get started is to simply explore the various themes (free or paid depending on what you're looking for) and test them on your site.

If web-design really isn't in the cards for you, you may want to consider outsourcing a web designer to help bring your vision and brand to life.

🌱 How To Grow Your Career Coaching Business

Improve your SEO

SEO is not just about driving traffic to your site, it's about driving the RIGHT traffic to your site, and ultimately, converting leads into customers.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding what your customers are searching for, otherwise known as "keyword research."

Here are some tools that can help you choose the right keywords for your career coaching business.

• Google Ads Keyword Planner invaluable for discovering search trends.
• Google Search Console is very helpful once your website is up as it shows you what words/phrases are generating traffic.
• Ahrefs and SEMRush are paid tools that allow you to look at results of your competitor's website.

Publish Great Content

Finding keywords is an important piece of the puzzle, but Google also ranks your site based on the actual content you produce, as this is what your customers are reading and engaging with.

There are various different "forms" of content that you may want to consider diversifying on your sites, such as blog posts, articles, studies, and videos.

So let's discuss what google considers "good content:"

• Length - This will vary depending on the page, however, generally having a sufficient amount of content helps search engines recognize that your site is a good source for a specific topic
• Engagement - The longer people stay on your website to read your content, the higher Google will rank your website. It's important to have informative and "thick" content that keeps people reading
• Avoid Duplicating Content - Google will recognize this and may consider your content to have low value
• Ensure pages load quickly - This will also help with engagement and time spent on your website
• Shareability - Create content that people want to share, and is easy for them to share, especially to their social media accounts (ie. "click to tweet" is a great example of this).

Another element of creating good content is creating consistent content.

If (and hopefully you are) publishing content frequently, it's important to stick to a schedule - this helps build brand trust and easy user experience with your customers.

Planning out your content with a content calendar is key to staying consistent.

Here are a few great content calendar tools that can help you:

• Trello
• Airtable
• If you prefer to keep it simple, your average spreadsheet is just as useful!

Backlinks

Backlinks are an important piece to SEO, as they allow for other websites to link to your content.

Search engines recognize that other sites are essentially "verifying" your content and essentially rank you higher because of this.

Of course, some links are more valuable than others and can affect your site in different ways.

For example, if a highly valuable and credible site like the New York Times links to a page on your website, this could be remarkable from an SEO perspective.

Aside from organically getting mentioned from other sites, there are other ways that you can increase and earn backlinks:

• Create infographics with relevant data that people want to share
• Promote your content on different sites/look into "guest blogging"
• Contact influencers/journalists/bloggers and ask them to mention you!
• Write testimonials for other sites in exchange for a backlink
• Leverage existing business relationships

Learn more about the fundamentals of SEO ➜ here and check out Neil Patel's 3 Powerful SEO Tips below

Build A Blog

One of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and grow your business is through consistently blogging.

We've outlined some useful tips for you to consider when creating content:

Consistency and Quantity

Quality is important, but it should be the standard for any content you publish.

What’s more important is consistency and quantity.

Consistency is as simple as committing to publishing and sharing a certain number of posts per week. For me, that’s three per week right now.

This kind of commitment is key, because one day, a random post will blow up, and you will have never expected it.

Oversaturation

The easiest mind trap is to think "I’m posting too much", and “I need to give my readers/audience/this platform a break”.

This is nonsense.

There is no such thing as oversaturation. Well, there is, but it is just someone else’s opinion.

For every person that tells you you are posting too much, there is another person that wants even more of your content.

You should ignore people’s opinions on how much you post.

Patience & Persistence

Keep posting, keep trying, and keep putting out good content on the regular. Your time will come, and when it does, it will change everything.

The only thing you have control over is your content.

You can’t control how people will react to it. You can’t control pageviews, likes, or shares.

So the only metric you should focus on is how much content you can put out in a week, month, etc.

Where to share your blog content

Mailing List

I know it sounds obvious, but the best places to share your content is on your mailing list. It is guaranteed traffic and it is a great way to get rapid feedback from your most loyal readers.

Send newsletters often. I have done once a week since starting, and I’m moving to twice a week soon.

Work on increasing your mailing list as well. Look into ways to increase your conversion rate to your mailing list. I added a flyout popup thing to my site and now I’m collecting ~30 emails per day.

An email newsletter is one of the most powerful assets you can have and it is worth its weight in gold.

Reddit

Reddit is one of my favorite places to promote content.

It is a very scary place because you will often get banned or heckled, but it can really pay off.

Create social media accounts for your blog, the main ones I use:

Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Set up Buffer and share all of your blog posts to all of your accounts. All of these little shares really do add up.

Automate this as much as possible. I automated all of my social media for Starter Story.

Facebook Groups

When I started out, I put together a spreadsheet of relevant Facebook groups for my niche, and I would post to these groups whenever I had a big story I wanted to share.

Grow Your Email List

The more engaged list of emails, the more engaged customers, which ultimately leads to more sales.

One of the best ways to start growing your list is by providing your customer with something free (or discounted) in return.

This could also be anything from:

• Ebook
• Fascinating case study
• Video series
• Free week of the product
• Discount on the product

Learn more about how to grow your email list and improve email marketing ➜ here.

Improve Your Email Marketing

Different types of emails

Here are the most common types of email campaigns you can send to your customers and their benefits:

• Welcome emails - the perfect way to provide information from the start with a clear CTA. Make sure to tell your customer everything they need to know about your product or service.
• Newsletters - a great way to give customers updates or send out your latest content
• Product launch emails - the quickest (and easiest) way to increase sales is by selling to current customers. Make sure they're the first on the list to know about your new product
• Promotional emails - promote discounts, deals coupons etc. Try and make this feel exclusive and for a limited time only
• Abandoned cart emails - give your customers a reason to complete their purchase!

Here's a great resource for finding curated email designs, for all types of email campaigns!

Attend A Tradeshow

Having an online presence is important, but showing face will always remain one of the most effective strategies for growing your business.

As traditional as it may be, tradeshows and conferences are a great way to get your product in front of your customers.

It all comes down to basic human interaction - prospects are much more likely to invest in your product if they've created some sort of relationship with you and can put a face to your product!

Build A Facebook Community

Building a community is a great way to grow your network and your business.

There are several different ways of building a community, one of the most effective (and simplest) ways is to build a Facebook group

Setting up the group page takes less than 10 minutes, and we've outlined ways the top 5 ways to create an engaging and successful group:

• Make the group exclusive. This may sound counter-intuitive, however, this ensures privacy and that the group will feel comfortable posting and engaging with members.
• Try to be warm and welcoming. A great way to do this is by having a "Member Monday" where you welcome new members and ask them to introduce themselves in the group
• Use polls/surveys. This is a great way to know your audience and see what people want more of in the group (more business tips, networking opportunities, etc).
• Include influential people & conduct AMA's (ask me anything). This is a great way to get members engaged
• Host an in-person (or virtual) event with members in the group. This will create stronger relationships and build a strong community.

🏃🏼‍♀️ How To Run Your Career Coaching Business

Build a Referral Program

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get the word out about your business and acquire new customers. Especially when you are starting out, it’s important to build a solid referral program to encourage existing customers to help you find new ones.

A great way to do that is by offering a reward (ie. credit on your service or cash) to customers that refer you to their friends and family.

A fantastic referral program will help with clout, credibility, and establishing yourself in the space.

How To Retain Customers For Your Career Coaching Business

Retaining customers is one of the most effective ways to grow your career coaching business.

Oftentimes, it's easy to find yourself focusing on generating new customers, vs retaining your current ones.

Look at it this way - you are 60-70% more likely to sell a new product to an existing customer than you are a new customer.

That's not to say that finding new customers and revenue streams is not important, however, the easiest (and most inexpensive) source of new revenue is right there in front of you.

Here are some ways you can retain customers for your career coaching business:

• Responding to comments on social media
• Send discounts (or freebies) to loyal customers
• Provide valuable content, for free
• Write a hand written thank you note
• Provide awesome customer service and build relationships with customers

To find out more tips and tricks on retaining customers, check out this article ➜ here

Lydia Lee, founder of Screw The Cubicle dives deep into the process of attracting and retaining customers:

Resources

We put together the best resources on the internet to help you start your career coaching business.

Tools

• Platform tools such as Shopify, Amazon, Google Shopping, Wix.com, Drupal, Digital Ocean, Heroku, Django, Canva or firebase
• Email tools such as MailChimp, ConvertKit, SendGrid, Mailgun, AWeber, Hunter or Sendpulse
• Social media tools such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Hootsuite, Buffer, Reddit or SocialBee
• Advertising tools such as Google AdSense, doubleclick or Ezoic
• Reviews tools such as TrustSpot, Google My Business or Product Hunt
• Design tools such as Canva
• Analytics tools such as Google Analytics
• Productivity tools such as Google Suite, Slack, Asana, Notion or SparkMail
• Blog tools such as WordPress
• Shipping tools such as Shippo
• ** tools** such as Seed FS
• Accounting tools such as Wave or Google Sheets
• Customer service tools such as HelpScout or Buffer Reply
• Crm tools such as Hubspot, PipeDrive or Keap
• Freelance tools such as Fiverr or Upwork
• Education tools such as Udemy or Teachable
• Stock images tools such as Unsplash
• Web hosting tools such as WP Engine or GoDaddy
• Seo tools such as Yoast
• Payments tools such as Wave
• Sales tools such as Samcart

Books

• How To Start A Business Analyst Career: A Roadmap To Start An It Career In Business Analysis Or Find Entry -Level Business Analyst Jobs

• How To Start A Business Analyst Career: The Handbook To Apply Business Analysis Techniques, Select Requirements Training, And Explore Job Roles leading Career: Laura Brandenburg

• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Web Resources

• 10 Tips On How To Start A New Career - Dummies
• Career Advice News & Topics - Entrepreneur

Videos

• Best Career Advice For New Graduates
• Career Advice - 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Creating My Business

Case Studies

• How I Built A Business Helping People Land Their Dream Jobs
• From Getting Fired At 24 To Growing A $140K/Month Online Community
• How I Started A $1.5K/Month Blog About Career Advice
• How I Started A $200K/Month Online Makeup Academy
• How I Started A $10K/Month Career Transition Coaching Business
• How I Generate $32K/Month As A Business Coach
• On Starting A Business Training Virtual Assistants
• How I Started A $7.5K/Month Social Media Consulting And Training Business
• How I Built A $24K/Month Mentorship Marketplace
• How I Validated My Idea On Reddit And Built A $180K/Year Job Search Automation Platform

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• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
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• 8,628 business ideas
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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
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• 8,628 business ideas
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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
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• 8,628 business ideas
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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
• Live events, courses and recordings
• 8,628 business ideas
• $1M in software savings

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See exactly how online businesses get to millions in revenue

• 4,818 founder case studies
• Access to our founder directory
• Live events, courses and recordings
• 8,628 business ideas
• $1M in software savings

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