Let's chat about how to prepare your coaching business to delegate.

Congratulations! You finally decided to take that huge step to start your coaching business. Did you have ANY idea how much detail was going to be involved? We are guessing you probably don't have the funds to pay someone to tackle the creation and set up of your business, but you will want to start outsourcing as soon as possible in order to keep your sanity.

So how DO you prepare your coaching business to delegate?

Once the basics are in place, you can reach out to freelancers who can help you with your daily administrative and marketing tasks so that you can focus on coaching.

Have a Clear Objective for Your Business

What do you plan to do with your coaching business? 

More importantly, how do you plan to achieve this? These questions should be answered clearly and succinctly so that it is easy for freelancers to understand exactly what your business is about.

Choose Your Niche. 

Once you have YOUR niche, it is easy to create an objective that will apply to all the clients you work with.

For example, a relationship coach will focus mainly on couples, while a life coach is more general and can work with couples AND individuals. Think about your skill set and what you want to offer your clients to determine your niche.

If you prepare your coaching business to delegate any of your marketing, from social media to email campaigns, your team will need to know your niche.

Create a Mission Statement. 

Once your niche is established, you can start working on other key elements of your business.

Step one will be creating your mission statement. This only needs to be one or two sentences describing your business values and what you aim to provide. When creating your mission statement it is important to incorporate three core elements:

• State your vision or mission for your business
• Define your objectives and goals
• State your core values (this will help to shape freelancer’s behavior in the future)

These statements should be short and to the point. When your mission statement is read, it should immediately become clear what your business is about and what you expect from those you work with in the future.

Create a Business Plan

Even if you have no need to get bank loans, a business plan can serve as a road map for your business. You’d never set out on a family vacation in the old station wagon without having an idea of where you are going. And you shouldn’t start a business without having a plan either.

Your business plan will also serve to help guide you as you work with freelancers.

The following are some steps you can take to start your business plan or simplify an existing one:

Do your homework!

Research your industry as much as you can. Read industry reports, examine competing businesses, and be detailed about exactly what you plan to offer your clients. You must also know your product, your business, and your competition intimately.

What is the purpose of your plan?

Think of your business plan as a type of road map that will give you and future freelancers the directions you need to execute daily functions to grow your business. With this in mind, your “road map” should include instructions on how to deal with foreseeable obstacles that could occur.

Develop your company profile.

Examples: What you plan to offer? Who do you plan to offer it to? What is the history of your business?

Document your business.

From the beginning, be clear about your cash flow, expenses, and industry projections. In addition to using this to show freelancers that you have solid a financial plan, you can also use it to attract investors in the future, if necessary.

Create your marketing plan.

Make sure it is aggressive, especially while your coaching business is new. It should state plans for your services, how you plan to launch them, and the marketing methods you will implement to get your business out to the masses.

Make sure that your business plan is adaptable.

The coaching business is ever-changing as society finds new ways to do things, and your business plan should have information about how you plan to adapt to these changes. What is your approach? Are there financial implications that may occur as a result of making the necessary changes?

Tell people why you care about starting a coaching business.

What made you so passionate about the industry that set you on the path to starting your own business? This is the sweet spot of any budding business...making people care as much about your coaching venture as you do.

Develop Your Business Brand

Even if you prepare your coaching business to delegate your brand creation, it is always a good idea to know what goes into brand development so that you can be involved in every step. Just remember, the brand you adopt for your coaching business will also be YOUR identity. It will play a major role in how freelancers and future clients perceive you.

Your brand must be consistent and something your target audience can relate to. Essentially, you're communicating who you are and what you can do for those who are looking for the services you offer.

There are several steps involved in effective brand development, including but not limited to:

1. What is the purpose of your brand?

Did a major life event propel you toward building a coaching business? Did something in childhood make you want to help other people? Answering these types of questions will allow you to determine your purpose.

2. Researching branding techniques

Industry competitors use certain branding techniques and knowing these will allow you to differentiate yourself from them and what they have to offer.

3. Make sure you are very specific when determining your target audience.

What is the buyer persona of your brand? For example, what is their age, location, education level, gender, and income?

4. Establish a mission statement

A mission statement will help your brand tell people exactly why you wake up every morning to perform your coaching duties.

5. State the primary benefits

These benefits and qualities are those that your brand offers, especially those which competitors are not offering.

6. Develop the voice of your brand

This helps to communicate with your target audience.

7. Make sure that the personality of your brand is always clear and present.

8. Develop the messaging and story of your brand.

Tell people exactly who you are and outline your motivations.

9. Create a tagline and logo for your brand.

10. Ensure that your brand is present in all elements of your coaching business.

Who Is Your Target Audience?

You should know who your clients are before starting your business. 

This is where determining your target audience comes into play.

Start by looking at the competition to see who their customers are...their demographics. Would any of them work well for your coaching business?

Consider the services you are offering and who could benefit from them the most. For example, if you want to coach young women, you will target women under the age of 30 who are struggling and need guidance in creating a solid foundation in their lives. They likely have, at the least, a high school education and are either recently married or single.

Psycho-graphics is another area you want to explore. 

Psycho-graphics is where you get into the personal characteristics of your target market. It includes things like:

• Personality
• Values
• Lifestyles
• Attitudes
• Hobbies and interests
• Behavior

You should spend some time narrowing down all of these characteristics and demographics until you have the ideal person in mind. This person becomes...you got it...your target audience.

Determine Your Unique Selling Proposition

Once you determine your niche, craft your mission statement, and create your mission statement, you’ll need to develop your unique selling proposition. 

What is your “unique selling proposition” or USP, you ask? 

Your USP is what sets you apart from other coaching businesses. It answers how you will outshine your competitors? Take time to answer these questions as it will help you craft the very best USP for your business. 

Not only will this help you build your client list in the future, but it will prepare your coaching business to delegate and help freelancers determine if your business is one that they want to work with. 

Examining your competitors is an important area to focus on while contemplating your selling proposition.

Ask yourself, “What are they doing and how can I do it better?”.

For example, if you plan on delving into relationship coaching where other coaches focus on repairing broken relationships, you could help new parents transition into parenthood as a team. This gives you a narrower niche and, let’s face it, there will always be new parents out there struggling to adapt to their new lives who could use some guidance from you.

In the above scenario, you can target freelancers who are parents with experience in this stage of life, making them more valuable to your team and clients.

What You Don’t Need

Just as there are some key things you WILL need to prepare your coaching business to delegate, there are also a handful of things you don’t need to worry about right away.

• Learn Everything - Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to learn how to do everything in your business before you delegate those tasks. You can read more about that on our article here.
• Having SOPs - It’s common to hear that you need standard operating procedures (SOPs) before you start outsourcing. That’s true if you are trying to work with very low pay overseas individuals. However, if you work with a team of specialists, they will bring the SOPs to you. 
• Pay for Tools - Many freelancers will bring access to tools or software you can use in your business. You won’t need to spend time shopping around and selecting the right tools before you get started.

Summary

Having the essentials in order before reaching out to freelancers will make the transition to having them on your team far easier. When you have these elements in order, freelancers get a clear picture of what your coaching company does and what your ultimate goals are. With this information, you can all work together to ensure all objectives are met and that you can continue to expand your business.

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