The Health Coach Group

March 22, 2014

I get many emails all week that look like this:

Hi there,
My name is xxxxx and I've been working in health/fitness industry for a while but am only now learning how to build my business. I need help with getting more clients and exposure in media.

Or

Hi Cathy,
I am currently an IIN student and I feel so completely confused and frustrated with where I am at.
Am loving the course, always loved learning about the body, especially in medicine and have all this knowledge and ideas, but don't know where to start with anything for getting an online business started.
I am just at a place where I wish someone would just tell and help me with what to do and where to start...not sell me another "program" that I can't figure out. Don't get me wrong I am more than willing to pay for help and guidance, but everybody is the "guru" and where do I go and do you trust just to get some truthful, honest help?
Would be happy if you could help me!
Thank you,

Full disclosure; we sell programs too. We sell tools to help health coaches build their business. We decided which tools to build because of the needs we saw as health coaches and by listening to our health coaches.

We would all like a flow chart that guides us from point A- to point B- (below) because health coaches choose different niches and different paths, making and working from a standardized list isn't ideal. Our business course (Building Abundance), was developed to walk you through setting up your business plan according to YOUR needs, not my suppositions.

Your Step by Step List to Building a Health Coaching Business:

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Get clear on your niche
Know your Ideal Client Inside and out
Understand passive vs. active income and balance the two the way you want to. Get clear on what products and services you will offer.
Choose your business type – Sole Proprietorship, LLC, Sub Chapter S, Corporation
Select your professional support team
Understand your strengths and weaknesses – choose your administrative team
Budget
Build a website
Build the funnel that brings people to your site (blog, social media, advertising, networking….)
Get your elevator pitch down
Understand Sales
Create an environment to support your customers
Create a system to communicate with your customers
Create your business rules and guidelines
Give back to your community.

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Here is an example:

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Niche: Weight loss, Women over 50, Upper Middle Income, Married w/grown children – career oriented
Know your Ideal Client Inside and out: Ashamed, would like to be proud, check out Weight Watchers and follow Oprah.
Understand passive vs. active income and balance the two the way you want to. Get clear on what products and services you will offer. Weight Loss Program, Sell Supplements and Workout Gear
Choose your business type – Sole Proprietorship, LLC, Sub Chapter S, Corporation LLC
Select your professional support team. Attorney, Accountant, Insurance man
Understand your strengths and weaknesses – choose your administrative team Can’t type, can advertise, know nothing about websites. Hire a virtual assistant, IT person, graphic designer.
Budget. I won’t write out a budget, but you know how that works…what is it going to cost? What are your sales goals?
Build a website. Get this going, do it yourself or hire someone.
Build the funnel that brings people to your website (blog, social media, advertising, networking….) Blog on healthy habits, Facebook and Pinterest, Flyers for Gym and Spa, Visit gyms and spas join an Oprah Book Club and advertise to people who like weight watchers on Facebook.
Get your elevator pitch down. This helps you to gain clarity on your role as well as making it clear to others what you have to offer. Hi, I am XXXX, I went from 250 lbs to 145 lbs and feel great. I help other lose weight by taking them step by step through my secrets.
Understand Sales Get the service aspect of sales down…help your client get what they need…not what you want to sell them.
Create an environment to support your customers. Understand the process you are taking them through and make it easier for them to do business with your and continue. The customer sees your blog – comments – you comment back – they sign up for chat – you visit and make recommendations – sale – program – follow up – ask for referral – follow up – ask how they are doing……etc.
Create a system to communicate with your customers. a-weber
Create your business rules and guidelines. Order agreements, policies, disclaimers ( the good thing to work on with your attorney).
Give back to your community. Donate or volunteer for your community health program for lower income women or children.

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The Inner Circle Membership gives new coaches a handful of precious tools, including professional programs to use and sell to your clients;

3-6-9-12 Month Program, 28 Day Spiritual Cleanse (meditation), 28 Day Slim, Sexy & Smart, 12 Day Cleanse and Healthy Holidays (a Facebook group program set up to build your client base for the new year).
The Inner Circle includes a unyielding business course that teaches coaches about building a business from beginning to end. When you finish the course, you will:
• Know your niche.
• Understand to whom and where to market.
• Know everything about setting up a website
• set your infrastructure with the type of business
• have your professional support team
• choose different ways to make money – passive vs. active
• have a social media plan
• set your marketing plan
• understand ethical and comfortable sales
• know how and why to give back to your community
• have a plan to go to the bank with to get a loan – if that is what you need.
This business education is worth 4 times the price of The Inner Circle Membership. For this year, it is included for you at no additional cost. You can ask anyone who has taken it (over 600 health coaches so far) – they will tell you, they learn more from this course than in an MBA University program.
We make The Inner Circle Program VERY affordable by discounting it to new students and graduates throughout the year.
The course is a linear path from where you are now – to where you want to be. You can feel the love and go with the flow all you want, but a defined pathway will take you to success faster and keep you from the pitfalls.
This article wasn't intended as a sales pitch - it's just that when I started thinking of what these women needed, it was our products...because that is what we do.
We also have FREE resources for health coaches. Health Coach University is loaded with new articles and videos weekly, and the information is useful. If you are an IIN student…take advantage of the Immersion program, it is GREAT, and it is FREE. Our Building Abundance course is different, it gives you clarity in what to use for your particular needs from all the tons of information Immersion gives you. You can gain access to HCU by opting in, you will also receive our weekly newsletters.