Everyone thought you were crazy when you said you wanted to be a coach. “You can’t make money as a coach! How will you pay your bills?” 

We hear stories like this all the time. Friends and family doubt the idea of coaching as a profession or business. 

“Who will pay for such a thing?” 

“It’s not covered by insurance so why would anyone do that?”

Fortunately, they’re wrong. 

Your desire to become a coach probably wasn’t to get rich but you didn’t start it as a hobby either. You truly want to help people transform their lives. Transformation, though, doesn’t pay the bills.

But, if you can figure out how to get people to pay for that transformation, THAT will pay the bills!

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How to Make Money as a Coach

Whether you are just starting out or wanting to add additional sources of revenue, there are 7 primary ways to make money as a coach.

So let’s dive right in and talk about some of them.

#1: One-on-One

The most commonly known way for coaches to make money is through one-on-one coaching which involves working with one individual at a time.

It’s a lot like traditional therapy models; one client, one coach, and it’s where most coaches get started. 

With every option, there are pros and cons. Let’s talk about some of the reasons this is a good way to make money as a coach.

Pros:

• A great starting point when you don’t have an existing audience. 
• Startup cost is practically $0. It doesn’t take a lot of money to begin working with clients one-on-one.
• One-on-one coaching is a great way to figure out your overall niche, style, and system
• It can be extremely rewarding when you get to see the transformation you facilitate.

Cons:

• It can be difficult to scale your business because you only have so many hours in a day. You’ll be locked in to how much money you can make.
• The search for for new clients that can afford your coaching services will be ongoing.

#2: VIP Days 

The next option to make money as a coach is to set up VIP Days.

VIP Days are a great way to do a deep dive with clients that need to get through your process fast.

While typical one-on-one coaching programs may happen over a period of time, VIP days condense all the work into one or two days.

Pros:

• You can charge premium rates for VIP days. 
• Transformation happens much more quickly for the client.
• Typically low investment costs. You may want to reserve a relaxing meeting space and provide some VIP extras for clients but the general costs can be taken directly from the client’s payment.

Cons:

• VIP days can be draining and often happen on weekends. 
• These are also not extremely scalable.
• You will always be looking for new clients.

#3: Online Courses/In-Person Training

Once you’ve narrowed down some of the main concerns for your audience, you can start to offer webinars or in-person training and workshops.

These programs typically focus on a specific strategy for moving your participants to the next level.

They are a great way to make money as a coach while also marketing your one-on-one coaching programs.

Pros:

• You can reach a larger audience than one-on-one coaching.
• The presentations are often a great way to promote your one-on-one coaching programs while getting paid.
• You can educate your clients on the basics that will help them get the most out of your one-on-one programs.
• If you are being hired to offer these programs, the cost to set up the webinar is very low.

Cons:

• On, the other hand, setting up webinars or in-person workshops that you will host can be expensive.
• You may not enjoy being on stage or in front of a camera.
• Participants all need to have the same starting place and ending place to truly benefit from the course.

#4: Group Coaching

Group coaching is a way for coaches to scale their services. You can make money as a coach by offering your coaching services to more than one person at the same time.

These group coaching programs typically revolve around a specific topic or desired transformation. They can be conducted virtually or in-person. 

Pros:

• Easier to leverage your time. You can serve multiple people at once.
• More scalable. You can offer more programs at any one time.
• Allow members to feel better supported and like they aren’t alone.
• Can be less expensive for individual members so you reach a wider audience.

Cons:

• Because these programs are less expensive for the members, that means you have to have more participants to get to a break-even point vs one-on-one coaching.
• You will probably have some start up costs for tools to help run your programs.
• More participants means you will need to do more marketing to fill your program.
• Clients may not see as much of a transformation since there isn’t as much time to work directly with each group member.

#5: Mastermind Groups

Mastermind groups are similar to group coaching programs in that you gather a group of individuals together.

However, group coaching is usually designed to last a limited amount of time and take group members on a specific, preplanned journey to the desired destination. The coach serves as the only guide on that journey.

Masterminds, on the other hand, bring together a group of like-minded individuals who wish to support one another.

The coach serves as the facilitator, rather than a guide, and each member can offer input and feedback to the other members.

There’s typically no fixed journey or destination in mind and the mastermind can last indefinitely.

Pros:

• You don’t need to be the all-knowing expert to run these groups. 
• It’s not necessary to have a pre-designed system or path to take group members through.
• Like group coaching, it’s easier to leverage your time. You can host more than one mastermind group at a time.
• Masterminds can be ongoing for long periods of time. This recurring revenue can be substantial without having to market over and over.
• The cost to start a mastermind can be low.

Cons:

• People typically join mastermind groups because of the leader. If you don’t have an audience already, it will be difficult to attract members.
• It can be tough to keep members engaged and active. Many mastermind groups fall apart when their members stop showing up consistently.
• There can be some headaches managing recurring payments and chasing participants whose payments didn’t go through.

#6: Membership Programs

Membership programs are another good way to make money as a coach. Programs typically combine a little bit of everything.

They include live courses, a resource library of training materials, some group coaching, and maybe even a little one-on-one time.

Pros:

• Membership programs, like masterminds, do not usually have an end date. They are meant to be ongoing providing recurring revenue for the coach.
• These programs also allow you to leverage your time and make resources available to more people at once.
• One membership program can easily be scaled to very large numbers.

Cons:

• Most membership programs include software on the back end to manage the members. This software can be expensive to set up and usually has a recurring fee. So if you're just “trying” it out, that can be a high cost to entry.
• If you do not already have a large bank of resources, you will be spending a lot of your time creating new resources for the members. 
• Managing recurring payments, dropping and adding members, and following up on tech issues can be challenging.

#7: Evergreen Courses

Evergreen courses are named after the trees that don’t drop their leaves in the winter.

These courses are made available year-round.

The great thing about evergreen courses is that, once you create them, your work is essentially done.

OK, you still need to promote them once in a while but the work to write and set up the course is done. You don’t even need to be present for the actual course! Another name for evergreen courses might be home study courses.

These programs are one of the most scalable ways to make money as a coach.

Pros:

• One time creation. You only have to write, record, and set up the course once. After that, the money continues to come in for you.
• Highly scalable. Evergreen courses are not limited to a certain number of participants. They can be sold to one or 100k+ people all at once.
• Affordable to the participants. Evergreen courses are generally less expensive than working one-on-one or even in a small group with the coach. 
• You can make money WHILE working with other clients or taking time off.
• Evergreen courses are a great way to introduce your prospective coaching clients to you and your style in an affordable way.

Cons:

• Expensive to set up. The tools and set up of evergreen courses can be expensive to do well.
• Larger audiences needed. Most coaches struggle to sell their evergreen programs and break even because they don’t have a large enough audience yet.
• No visible transformation. For coaches that love to see the AHA moment, there’s little of that in evergreen programs. The most you might get is an email with their appreciation after the fact.

Take it to the Bank

Time to review (as all good coaches would). You want to make money by coaching so you can create more transformation for more people and still be able to pay your bills. A noble and worthy goal.

Your options to make money as a coach include:

1. Offering one-on-one coaching to individuals
2. Creating special VIP days to accelerate the transformation
3. Presenting online courses or in-person workshops to groups
4. Setting up group coaching programs
5. Running mastermind groups 
6. Managing membership programs
7. And selling evergreen courses

By choosing one or more of these methods, you can create a coaching business that isn’t just a hobby but a profitable business.