Here is a 30 day plan I’d follow if I were going to start an online coaching business focused on serving fitness clients.
Day One – The first day in this journey is quite possibly the most important one. It’s about making the decision to go from ‘I could’ to ‘I will.’
Every success starts with that decision, yet only a few choose to make it. We consider the vast array of things we could do or would like to do, but we fail to actually make the most important decision in building a successful business: the decision to start.
So, day one is about committing to the process and deciding that over the next 30 days I’ll discard the reasons why ‘it won’t work’, let go of past failures and focus on simply moving forward every day.
I know that It takes just as much effort to think big as it does to think small and that I can accomplish some pretty meaningful things if I’m willing to work hard. The foundation of me getting back on my feet in just a month is the inner belief that I can do it if I simply execute my plan.
Day Two – The first step to is crafting my plan is to take inventory of what I do have.
It’s my belief that the foundation of creating your Ideal Business is playing to your strengths, so that’s the first place I’d start – identifying my strengths.
For me, that would be 25+ years of experience coaching in the fitness industry, coaching plenty of athletes as a S&C coach and balancing self-care with the demands of being an entrepreneur & dad / husband.
With that in mind, I’d document those specific strengths…
- Coaching
- Performance Training
- Lifestyle Design for Entrepreneurs
- A variety of Social Proof Examples from Offline Experiences
- Credibility (College Coach, Gym Owner, College Instructor, Etc.)
Completing this first step of planning would give me confidence that I have something valuable to bring to the market.
Day Three – Now that I’m confident that I can build a solid online coaching business foundation and have something valuable to offer the market, I need to identify the target market I want to serve.
The easiest place to start here is to look at the target markets I’ve been a part, currently belong to or have successfully served.
To narrow this even further, I’d identify where my strengths match the biggest available opportunities or most pressing needs.
If I didn’t know what those opportunities or needs were, I’d join a few Facebook groups and start diving deep into research to discover what the pain points for my target market were.
In this case, it would be helping entrepreneurs who are dads with performing at a high level physically and mentally through offering online coaching solutions.
Day Four – Now that I know who I want to help (entrepreneurial dads) with a focus on peak performance, it’s time to craft my initial offer.
Since I’m just starting online in this scenario, my irresistible offer needs to really remove the risk for the client since it’s a new offer.
With that in mind, I’d lead off with the offer a Free Coaching Call where we’d talk for an hour and I’d design a simple, peak performance plan for them – no strings attached.
At the end of the call, I’d make an offer of two options if they wanted my help in an ongoing way to execute the plan we’d developed and help them optimize their overall lifestyle for peak performance:
Option A: We’ll work together for the next 4 months and we’ll designed a more detailed, personalized program for you to achieve peak performance and I’ll coach you as well as hold you accountable to execute it. We’ll check in daily via Voxer, you’ll have unlimited access via Voxer for questions, we’ll do weekly coaching calls and we’ll update your program every month based on your progress and needs. This program is only $299 / mo.
Option B: We work together for the next 4 months. I’ll design your peak performance program and we’ll talk 1X per week to make sure you stay on track as well as updating your program every month based on your progress and needs. This program is only $199 / mo.
The logic is simple…I first deliver results in advance with the free call and then make two low risk, irresistible offers and let the prospective client choose between them.
Day Five – Now it’s ‘build day.’ I’d got to build my funnel to get prospects to schedule the initial call so I’d create a pretty basic sales letter funnel with the focus of hitting the hot buttons that I’d identified on day three and how I can help…at no cost to them.
Day Six – Today is the day to set some initial goals and start executing the plan.
I’d initially want to schedule a minimum of three calls a day, with the expectation that a minimum of two would show and that I’d close one sale on either the A or B offer.
To start toward achieving this goal without any ad spend or an email list, I’d reach out to anyone that I personally know who fits my target market and offer to help them by providing the free call.
Through this outreach to my personal network (a network that each of us have that often goes untapped), I’d expect to be able to schedule 15-20 calls.
Where would I find those connections?
I’d start by pulling out my phone and going through all of my contacts there.
Then I’d move to my Gmail contacts and finally my Facebook and LinkedIn contacts.
While I don’t expect that everyone would respond positively, with personal outreach and a truly risk-free, high value offer I am confident that I’d be able to schedule those 15-20 calls.
OK…we’ve now crafted a plan and started the initial execution of it…in less than a week.
Days Seven Through Nine – These days are basically dedicated to two things:
First, I would really focus on doing a great job delivering results in advance during my calls with prospects and converting them into clients for one of my two offers.
Second, I’d begin delivering great ‘coaching’ videos on Facebook Live, basically treating it as my own business coaching TV show on a daily basis and then offering my free coaching call at the conclusion of the video.
Between that video and continued outreach to my connections, I’d expect to be able to add another 1-2 scheduled calls per day during those 3 days.
Since I’d already scheduled 15-20 calls, I’d expect 6-8 of those to have happened in that 3 day window (knowing that some wouldn’t schedule that quickly and others would no show or reschedule). From that 6-8 calls I’d expect at least 3-4 sales.
Day Ten – With $600-1000 in cash collected from the initial sales, I would be able to start some small-scale advertising, spending $10 per day to keep driving prospects to the free coaching call and boosting any of the Facebook Live videos that got any traction.
This approach would keep a modest but steady flow of prospects signing up for calls, with roughly a call every day being scheduled and a pace of a sale every 2-3 days…for now.
Day Eleven – Because of my past experiences, aside from generating immediate clients and cash flow, I’d also place a significant amount of energy into list building.
My goal has always been to build businesses that were stable and not dependent on any single traffic source or promotion, so beginning on day 11 I’d start investing a couple of hours each day on building a lead magnet that would be a high value asset.
In this scenario, I’d create a small book.
Now, before you think that this sort of thing is overwhelming, here’s the plan I’d follow:
Step 1 – I’d outline the 3 biggest problems I help my clients solve…then, I’d identify 3 things I do to solve each of those problems.
Step 2 – I’d take each chapter and list out 3-5 talking points about each on a slide.
Step 3 – I’d schedule time to record 5 ‘chapters’ during each of the next two days. Each chapter would basically be me talking. At 1250-1500 words per 10 minutes, I could have a short book draft dictated in a couple of hours of recording.
By now, my days would be a mix of coaching the handful of clients already on board, doing calls with prospects and investing a couple of hours a day in generating leads or building my first marketing ‘asset’.
Things are starting to feel like a ‘real’ business!
Day Twelve – I’d basically be executing on things I’ve already plotted out. I be recording the first 5 chapter drafts, doing a call with a prospect and coaching my clients.
By now I’d have converted at least 1-2 more prospects and my advertising efforts would be keeping a lead or two coming in daily.
Now you’re seeing how things are starting to take shape.
I’ve got a foundation of a few clients to build from.
There are enough prospects coming in to yield a few clients, some cash flow now and some additional revenue based on production.
And now I’m creating a marketing asset that will help me build a list and serve as a positioning tool moving forward.
Day Thirteen – Aside from coaching the 5-6 clients I have at this point, I’d be focused on recording the final five chapter ‘drafts’ today.
Hopefully, I’d have at least one coaching call with a prospective client and I’d be sure to get another FB Live coaching video posted too.
Day Fourteen – Two weeks in and I’m feeling good.
I’ve got 5 or 6 clients and a couple of them are already getting great results after just a week of coaching, feeling better, enjoying more balance in their lives and, overall, performing at a higher level.
My FB Live coaching videos are getting good feedback and, combined with my ads, I’m up to doing one free coaching call a day and selling one coaching program about every other day.
I’ve recorded 10 chapters and now it’s time to get them transcribed.
I want to conserve funds, so I pick an AI based transcription service called Temi over the live transcriptionist based options. The total transcription will likely come in at under $30.
Days Fifteen Through Seventeen – These two days are more of the same as far as coaching, doing a Free Coaching Call each day yielding one new client and doing another FB Live coaching video.
The rest of my time is spent on editing the transcripts that I got back from Temi.
It takes a while to shape spoken words into something that reads well and I want this to make a great first impression with anyone who gets a copy, so a spend a lot of time reading and editing until it flows.
Day Eighteen – I submit the draft of the book to someone who does editing on Fiverr and pay to get it turned around in a day so I can then hand it over to a designer from Fiverr tomorrow.
At the same time, I hire the designer to get me a cover design finished so I can start promoting the book before it’s finished.
Everything is starting to take shape.
While I’m waiting on the editing of the book to get finished, I find a book funnel I like and model it so that’s it’s ready to go when I have the book ready to go.
Day Nineteen – I get the book back from the editor and immediately hand it over to the designer to format it, again paying for the 24 hour turnaround.
I get the cover art back and like it, so no changes needed. It helped that I gave the designed 3 examples I liked that were all books that were bestsellers on Amazon. Model what works.
To generate some buzz about the book, I do a post asking if anyone wants a free copy when it’s done and telling them, if so to just comment below the post. It gets some traction pretty quickly so I boost the post.
My clients are continuing to get great results, but my Free Coaching Calls are slowing down a bit so I’m pretty happy and relieved that I’ll have the book ready soon.
Day Twenty – I change my FB Live Video up a bit today and interview one of my successful clients, basically sharing a Case Study for my coaching program. This produces some immediate interest and yields 6 more scheduled calls, so I boost that video.
Day Twenty-One – The PDF version of the book is ready so I share a copy with the fitness entrepreneurs who replied to the previous post wanting a copy. In addition to that, I create my first ad promoting a free copy of the book, with the second step in the funnel now being the same page I’ve been using for the Free Coaching Call.
From the FB Live Case Study Video I boosted I’m up to 12 scheduled calls and I’ve already gotten 2 clients from it, so I schedule another Case Study Video for tomorrow.
Day Twenty-Two – I send the book to a fulfillment center that does print-on-demand so I don’t have to pay for a lot of books up front. The cost per book is higher, but I’m not doing enough volume for the potential loss of a couple dollars per prospect to scare me since I’m still converting about 33% of the prospects to schedule calls into one of my two coaching offerings.
So far, I’m up to 10 clients, producing $2500 in cash collected for the month.
Plus, I’ve got about 40 other men who’ve downloaded the book, so I send them a quick personal (very informal) email asking if they’d like to jump on a quick call to see if I can help them apply some of what’s in the book.
Four take me up on the offer, but I’m starting to send a daily email with a quick tip, idea or story that educates and motivates all of them, so when they’re ready I’ll have a relationship with them.
Hopefully, you can see how this is starting to take shape.
Even if I was just 30% as far along as I’ve shared here (it all depends on how much time you can invest)…that’s still a great foundation for a ‘Virtual 2nd Location’ based around online coaching.
Day Twenty-Three – By now, my days are divided between:
· Coaching my 1 on 1 clients.
· Doing a daily FB Live Coaching video as a marketing vehicle.
· Writing a daily email to my small but growing list of men who’ve downloaded my book.
· Connecting with 1-2 prospects for Free Coaching Calls and closing about half of those I talk to into one of my two coaching offerings.
While things are going well, I’m already recognizing that to keep scaling this I need to add a course so I can keep growing my audience and revenue without doing four times as many prospect calls.
So, I decide that I’m going to launch a Peak Performance Program and make it one of my offerings in addition to the two coaching formats I currently deliver.
Now, I’ve got one option that not only provides me with a little more leverage…but it means I can spend a bit more on ads and be profitable.
I’ll start recording the new program over the next few days.
Days Twenty-Four Though Twenty-Six – I’ve maintained the ad spend so I don’t spread myself too thin as I’m averaging 1-2 Free Coaching Calls per day and I’m still closing about half…and still need time to record the program.
It’s been a busy 26 days…and it’s finally time to take a day off.
Day Twenty-Seven – After pushing straight through for 26 days, I’m taking today off. I read for a while, get a decent workout in and go the park with my family before catching an evening movie.
It’s nice to celebrate the ‘win’ of getting some traction with my new business in less than a month. That sort of appreciation for things that are going well professionally and personally is something I didn’t do enough of when I was younger and I’m not going to fall into that trap again.
Day Twenty-Eight – After a refreshing day off, I’m back at it and energized.
I’m up to 13 private clients and I’ve recorded about 20% of my new course. If I stay the course I should have the new course done in about 2 more weeks.
The next step in the process for me is to craft a webinar to start pre-qualifying and pre-selling prospects before we do a call.
In fact, the plan will be to offer the course at the conclusion of the webinar before I ever talk to someone.
Between writing my daily email, delivering my quick video (another case study with a successful client) and my calls, I start scripting things out.
I get the first version of the webinar slides done and decide to sleep on it, getting up early tomorrow to tighten it up and record it while I’m fresh.
Day Twenty-Nine – I start the day by reviewing the webinar slides and prepping to record.
Admittedly, I’m a bit nervous about recording the webinar as it’s not something I’ve been practicing…but I know it will save me a lot of time over the coming months by pre-qualifying prospects so it’s a valuable asset that I’m committed to getting done.
I start recording and stumble a few times, but get it finished.
For the most part I leave it as is and don’t worry about the small hiccups, feeling like the informality seems more congruent with my business coaching approach anyhow.
So, between calls, my quick daily FB Live and a quick daily email, I get everything done and the webinar is ready to go.
For now, I’m going to use it immediately after someone downloads the book and offer it as a free training. Once the book offer slows down, I’ll start running ads directly to the webinar.
Either way, if everything goes as planned, it should improve my show rate for the prospects who schedule Free Coaching Calls and pre-sell them on my coaching options.
Day Thirty – We’re here – a month into the new business.
I’ve got 13 private clients and I’ve collected about $3000.
I’ve built an email list of over 100 additional prospects who’ve downloaded my book in the 10 days it’s been available.
Speaking of the book, I’ve now got a solid Lead Magnet and positioning tool and will have print copies available within the week.
When I get these, I’ll have the option to start running a Free + Shipping Offer but will need to get something else tied into the funnel to increase the average cart value so I don’t lose money on the front end if I can avoid it.
I’ll also send copies of the book to influencers along with a gift to see if I can start to do some guest posting or be a guest on some podcasts to reach my target market in different ways.
I’ve got a nice rhythm with my daily FB Live and my short daily email, so I’ll keep that going and, while I don’t have much of a sample of how the webinar is working yet, it at least feels good to have version 1.0 live and working.
I’m wanting to get to 25 1 on 1 clients and then I’ll see how much time it’s taking to serve them at a high level. Between that and the course I should be able to generate 6-8K per month.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it’s been a great first month and now I can look at ways to hand off some of the administrative work to free up a little time as I’ve got some recurring revenue to cover the expense.
Not a bad first 30 days.
Again…this is based on building my online coaching business when I’m not dividing my time between that and operating an offline business. If my time was divided, it might take anywhere from 90 days to 6 months to accomplish this much.
But, at the same time…if I had that sort of additional income, I could invest more in list building or creating assets…so I might be able to accelerate a few things with the additional investment.
Either way…I wanted you to see that whether you want to just add 1K per month in online coaching income or build a complete Virtual 2nd Location…it really comes down to having a simplified plan and executing.
