Make Money as a Life Coach

Workbook

How to Become a Life Coach and Attract Your First Paying Client
 INTRODUCTION

Welcome! This workbook accompanies our book, Make Money as a Life Coach, which is
available on Amazon here.

There’s a lot of information in this workbook. So, please don’t expect to complete the action
steps in one weekend, or even in one week.

However, with focus you absolutely can start your business and land your first paying client in
30 days. Here’s a suggested schedule for you:

Week 1: Your Why

• STEP ONE: Is Coaching Right for You?

• STEP TWO: Identify Your Business Vision

Week 2: Niche and Offering

• STEP THREE: Find Your Specialty

• STEP FOUR: Determine Your Packaging And Pricing

Week 3: The Building Blocks

• STEP FIVE: Develop Your Online Presence

• STEP SIX: Cover Yourself Legally

Week 4: Marketing and Sales

• STEP SEVEN: Position Yourself As An Expert

• STEP EIGHT: Attract Your Potential Clients
• STEP NINE: Your First Paying Client

After Week 4: Beyond Your First Paying Client(s)

• STEP TEN: Scale Your Business

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 STEP ONE

Is Coaching Right for You?

1. Determine which traits you already possess that will help you be a good coach. Which traits
might you need to develop further? How will you develop those skills? Write down a list of traits
in the space below. Note: see chapter one in Make Money As A Life Coach for a list of traits of a
good coach.

2. Write down the fears you are facing about starting a coaching business. Seeing them in writing
makes them less scary. Realize that these written statements of fear are self-limiting and untrue.

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3. Come up with a self-affirmation that is meaningful to you. Write it down, and put it
somewhere you can read it every day. EXAMPLE: I am a successful coach who positively
impacts the lives of my clients.”

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 STEP TWO

Identify Your Business Vision

1. When you close your eyes and envision your life as a successful business owner and coach,
what do you see? In the space below (or in your favorite journal) answer these questions about
your dream business:

#1: What Do You Want Your Business To Look Like?

> Are you meeting with clients face-to-face or over the phone? Do you get dressed up to meet
with them or are you in your sweats? Are you using video conferencing or voice?

> How many hours per week are you working? How many days per week?

> Where do you run your business? Do you have a home office? Work in the local Starbucks?

> What does your typical work day look like? What time do you start and end? How do you
organize your days?

> How much money are you earning each month?

> How many clients do you take on at one time?

> Are you coaching one-on-one or in a group setting?

#2: What Are Your Business Goals?

> What are your short-term goals (one to two years)?

> What are your long-term goals (five-plus years)?

> How does your coaching business make you feel?

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2. Write a short mission statement focusing on why your business exists and the purpose of your
company. Your mission statement should state who you serve and what you serve them. Think of
it as the reason you exist. Here are a few examples from successful businesses:

EXAMPLE: To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. –
Facebook

3. Now, write a short vision statement answering the question, “What impact will my business
have in the future?” Your vision statement will answer how your business will change the world.
Think of it as your desired end result.

EXAMPLE: I envision a world where women don't feel like they have to choose between family
and career. I believe we can have it all. The gift of staying home with our kids and the
satisfaction of earning an income. – Sally Ann Miller

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 STEP THREE

Find Your Specialty

1. List at least 20 things that you excel at. EXAMPLES: Are you good with numbers? Are you
organized? Are you skilled at time management? Do you have a degree? Good with children?
Confident public speaker? Know the Bible from front to back? Love to write?

Don’t overthink it. Write anything and everything that comes to mind. If you are struggling to
come up with 20 different skill sets, take a break and come back to it later. Ask a few friends or
family members for ideas.

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2. When you’re done with step 1, circle five skill sets in your list that you identify with the most
or have the most experience with.

3. Now, list the experiences in your life which have had a big impact on you. For example: had a
baby in the NICU, gone through a nasty divorce, lost a family member, been in a management or
leadership position, had a child with a learning disability, completed an advanced degree.

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4. Next to each of your life experiences above, write out the wisdom you gained through that life
experience. If you went through a divorce, did you learn how to hire the best lawyer? Or did you
learn how to emotionally cope with losing someone you loved? If you have held a leadership
position, did you learn how to motivate your team? Did you learn how to interview for a
promotion? Try to list five things you learned through each of your experiences.

5. Let’s dig a little deeper. Ask yourself the following questions and write out your answers.

1. What do the people closest to you say about you? How do they describe you?

2. What comes easily to you that you love doing?

3. Which of your skills do you perform almost daily without really thinking about it?

4. What could you talk about for hours on end?

5. What do people say you excel in?

6. What is unique about you?

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7. What did you want to be when you grew up?

8. What do people naturally come to you for help with?

9. What brings you the most joy in life?

10. What type of person are you most comfortable speaking to (e.g. women in their 50s)?

6. At the intersection of your existing skillset, life experience, and wisdom gained lies the
specific demographic of people you are most inclined to serve and the focal point of your
business that will allow you to leverage what you already have. In the space below describe your
coaching niche.

If it doesn’t come to you right away, give yourself some time to mull it over. EXAMPLES:
Spiritual coaching for people dealing with grief, Stress management coaching for executive level
managers, Healthcare coaching for stay-at-home-moms, Emotional coaching for divorced men.

7. When it comes to creating a successful and profitable coaching business, there is nothing more
important than understanding your ideal client. This person (and other people like him or her) is
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the person you guide and encourage through their fears, doubts, and struggles. This is the person
you serve in your business. Answer the following questions to create your ideal client profile. By
the time you are done, you should know exactly who you are talking to, writing to, and
marketing to. You should understand which information he or she seeks and what triggers him or
her.

1. What is your ideal client’s gender?

2. What is his or her age?

3. What is his or her marital status?

4. What is his or her education level?

5. Does he or she have children?

6. What is his or her income level?

7. What are his or her hobbies?

8. What is his or her personality?

9. What are his or her personal goals?

10. What does his or her daily schedule look like?

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11. What is his or her biggest source of pain?

12. What is his or her deepest fear?

13. What does he or she avoid facing?

14. What is his or her greatest opportunities?

15. What are his or her greatest hopes and dreams?

16. What does he or she hope to accomplish in the next year?

17. How does he or she like to learn?

18. What has he or she tried in the past that worked?

19. What has he or she tried in the past that didn’t work?

20. What is he or she most grateful for?

8. When you finish the previous step, give your ideal client a name. Write up a short paragraph
describing him or her and his or her life. EXAMPLE: Tina is a working mother. She has her
graduate degree in engineering and loves her job. After having children, she feels guilty that she
enjoys her career. She wants to climb the corporate ladder, but she is afraid that doing so will

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affect her ability to be a great mother. She worries that she cannot effectively grow her career
without sacrificing her family life.

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 STEP FOUR

Determine Your Packaging And Pricing

1. Create a budget for yourself to understand how much money you need to bring in from your
coaching business. Be sure to include business expenses, income tax, estimated social security
and Medicare, estimated health insurance and retirement investments. Divide that number by
how many clients you’d like to serve each month. You can use a spreadsheet or enter notes in the
space below.

2. Research other coaches in your chosen niche to determine the “going rate.” Note down
example rates in the space below (so that you can refer back to them as needed).

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3. Determine which coaching models you would like to offer in your business. The main models
are:

• Individual Sessions
• Monthly Packages
• Group Packages

4. Set your rates for each package you plan to offer. If you’re not sure, a good place to start is a
monthly package, priced anywhere from $125 to $500 per month (depending on the going rates
in your niche and the number of hours included in your package). Enter your rate in the space
below.

5. Spend some time looking at your rates and say to yourself, “My rate is ______.” Say it until
you feel good about it. If you can’t feel good about it, start over.

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 STEP FIVE

Develop Your Online Presence

1. Choose the name of your business by evaluating naming for branding, niche, and transition. In
the space below, brainstorm ideas until you find one that feels amazing to you.

2. Develop your tagline by answering the questions outlined in this chapter. Don’t fret if you
don’t get it right the first time. Taglines are easy to change. Tweak it until you fall in love with it.
EXAMPLE: Empowering High-Achieving Women with the Formula for Success – Engineered
Motherhood

3. Build your website. This action step is going to take some time, and that’s okay. Your website
is an important part of your business. But once again, it doesn’t have to be perfect right away.
Consider outsourcing the techy side so that you can focus on the content. Get the basics together
and start putting yourself out there online. TIP: Your first website only needs three page: your
Home Page, About Page, and Services Page.

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 • Home Page – This is the page your visitors first land on, so it’s one of the most important
pages on your website. You want to convince visitors to stick around and learn more
about you and your services. Make your home page unique and welcoming. You want
your potential clients to feel the magic right away. Convey how working with you will
make them feel and why they should hire you. You can do this through pictures of you,
testimonials, and a confident color palette. Help them paint the picture of their upcoming
transformation.
• About Page – This is the page where you can let your light shine. Your about page is
about you and your clients. Tell your story. Show a little vulnerability by demonstrating
your unique life experiences, and then position yourself as an expert by showing them
how you overcame the obstacles. Also talk about who your clients are. Explain what they
get from working with you. Your about page is one of the most read pages on your
website, so don’t waste this opportunity to sell the transformation you deliver. Get
creative!
• Services Page – This is a page highlighting the services you offer. It serves as your sales
page. This page is where your messaging comes together to sell the transformation you
offer. You need to dive deep into your ideal client’s world, and use wording that conveys
you not only understand where they are stuck and why, but that you can help them
overcome the challenges they are facing. Make sure this page has a means to contact you
or book a discovery call with you.

4. Determine which social media platforms you will focus on in the beginning. Research where
your target audience is hanging out. TIP: When starting out, pick just ONE platform where your
ideal audience hangs out.

Set up your profile(s) with similar branding to your website (same pictures, wording, and feel).
Commit to how often you will update each platform and then stick to it. Enter your chosen
platform(s) in the space below.

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 STEP SIX

Cover Yourself Legally

1. Decide which legal entity you would like to pursue for your business and file the appropriate
paperwork. EXAMPLES: Sole proprietor or LLC.

TIP: Legal Zoom provides an affordable and easy-to-use service that can help you through the
steps to incorporate.

2. Add your legal terms to your website. Make sure you include:

• Limit Liability – Your website may contain errors every now and again so you’ll want a
statement protecting you from any errors in the content provided. If you allow comments
from your readers, add in a blurb that limits you from liability from anything offensive
someone might post.
• Copyright – A notice about copyright to protect your content.
• Privacy Policy – You are likely going to collect information from people who visit your
website to add to your email list. If you do, you’ll need a privacy policy statement to let
people know how you use that information.

In some cases, you may want to enlist the help of an attorney, but a simple Google search of
“terms and conditions generator” gives you a lot of options to get started with (and many of them
are free).

3. Write your liability waiver. Include a written disclosure stating that you do not provide
therapy or medical treatment. You also want to lay out an agreement of your services based on
the coaching packages you offer. Be specific on payment terms, refund policies, and what
happens if your client is late or misses an appointment.

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 STEP SEVEN

Position Yourself As An Expert

1. Decide if you want to get certified. Do research on the various certification programs available
and select one to pursue (if you choose). You do not have to complete the certification to start
your practice.

2. Commit to a professional appearance every time you put your name or image out there. Take a
fresh look at your website and social media profiles to ensure you are portraying the image of a
professional coach. Make changes as necessary.

3. Decide which content strategy you want to pursue. The content you post speaks as much as
the words that come out of yur mouths. As a coach, you want to post valuable content to attract
your clients. As with everything, don’t try to post content everywhere. Choose the avenues that
speak to you and then focus your energies on those avenues. Some options are:

• Blog Posts – Sharing blog posts, and other forms of content marketing, builds your
credibility and provides valuable and free content to your audience of future clients.
• Email Newsletters – As you start to build your tribe, you want to keep them engaged by
providing additional content not available on your blog. You can do this through weekly
or biweekly emails. In the next step, you’ll set up an email newsletter (if this is
something you decide to do).
• Social Media – Many of your followers know you by what you tweet, pin, or post. Offer
valuable tips and quick bits of inspiration and motivation related to your business on a
consistent basis. Link back to your blog and website pages. Share live videos. Etc.
• Free Incentives – Another piece of content you can offer is free opt-in incentives. This
can be an ebook, checklist, video series, or any other piece of content that you trade for
email addresses. Think about your ideal audience and what they are struggling with. How
can you add value and help them with a problem? I will discuss your email list more in
the next chapter.

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Capture your content strategy in the space below. Include your posting schedule for each part of
your content strategy. EXAMPLE: I will post to my blog once a week. I will post twice a day to
my Facebook business page. I will send biweekly email newsletters.

4. Research blogs and podcasts in your niche. These are places where your ideal clients hang out.
Write down 10 – 20 blogs or podcasts where you’d like to be featured (to get in front of your
ideal audience).

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5. If you’re feeling brave, pick out a blog or podcast from the above list and submit an inquiry
for a guest post or podcast.

6. Consider hiring a coach. In the space below, list the pros and cons of hiring a coach at the
beginning stages of your business and decide if the investment makes sense for you.

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 STEP 8

Attract Your Potential Clients

1. Get clear on your message by first answering the following three questions:

1. What do you love to do?

2. What impact do you desire to make?

3. Where do your natural talents lie?

2. Take your answers to those questions and craft a powerful why statement. EXAMPLE: I work
with high-achieving, working mothers who are stuck behind self-doubt and fear to help them
strengthen the relationship they have with themselves and create a world full of all of the
abundance and success they could ever hope for. – Melissa Ricker

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3. Print your why statement and put it somewhere you can easily reference whenever you create
content (blog posts, emails, social media posts, advertising). Your why statement should
influence every piece of content you create. It also serves as a key motivator to keep you moving
forward in your business.

4. If you haven’t already done so, research and choose an email service provider. Then set up
your account. I use and recommend ConvertKit (<- affiliate link). It’s easy to use and offers
advanced functionality at an affordable price.

5. Create your free opt-in incentive to build your email list. This can be an ebook, checklist,
video series, or any other piece of content that you trade for email addresses. Think about your
ideal audience and what they are struggling with. How can you add value and help them with a
problem? Promote it on your website, social media, and blog posts. Your opt-in incentive is
something

6. Finally, determine if you are ready to pay for advertising. If so, set a budget to use while
finding what works best for you. NOTE: paid advertising is NOT recommended when you’re
starting out. You want to make sure you have an offer that people want to pay for before
investing in paid advertising.

5. Determine if you will offer complimentary coaching to attract new clients. When you give
people a taste of your style and what they can expect from working with you, many will choose
to buy. There are several different ways to offer complimentary coaching.

• Free One-on-One Sessions – You can offer free one-on-one coaching sessions to
potential clients and invite them to join your program at the end of your call. These
phone calls can be strategy sessions or general Q&A calls. Make sure you limit the time
you spend on free coaching, but show your value. These free sessions are particularly
valuable when you are starting out. You can use them to get testimonials and potentially

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 sign your first paying client. Because individual sessions are time consuming, you want
to limit the amount of free sessions you offer.
• Free Assessments – You can offer free 20-minute assessments to potential clients and
invite them to join your program at the end of the conversation. Assessments are quick
calls where you look at something very specific and offer your opinion. For example, if
you are a business coach, you could offer an assessment of your client’s marketing
strategy or sales script. The key is to tell them what is wrong and not how to fix it. The
“how” is what they pay you for.
• Free Webinars or Live Coaching – You can offer a free training seminar either through a
webinar or live on Facebook or another social media platform. I love this option because
I can prepare slides in advance and provide a lot of value. The last slides or talking points
always ask people to sign up for a free discovery call with me to see what it would be
like to work with me as their coach. These trainings work out well because they build
trust and give you credibility. You can also save the videos and repurpose them later on.
• Free Discovery Calls – Discovery calls aren’t really coaching calls at all. The purpose of
a discovery call is to identify whether working together is a good fit for you and the
client. Instead of coaching, you focus on the issues that the client is experiencing and
then how your program can help. I’ll talk more about discovery calls in the next chapter,
but they are an effective method to attract new clients.

If you decide to offer a free coaching option, promote the offer in your email, on social media,
and by word of mouth.

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 STEP NINE

Your First Paying Client

1. Write a “pep talk” for you to read before each sales call to get you pumped up, confident, and
in the zone.

2. Write out the framework for your phone calls along with questions that are authentic to your
voice, your message, and your business. Walk through your sales call out loud. Your framework
should include the following elements:

• Opening: set the tone by creating a joint purpose and positioning myself as the expert.
EXAMPLE: “Hi! I am excited about our conversation today. I understand you are
interested in potentially working with me in one of my private coaching programs. Is that
true?”
• Motivation: Next, ask questions to identify the gap between where they are now and
where they want to be … and why. EXAMPLE: “What is it that made you invest the time
on the phone today to fix _______?”
• Challenges: Now, identify their challenges. Allow your client to become painfully aware
of what is not working in their lives. EXAMPLE: “What is the biggest obstacle for you to
get to ___________?”
• Readiness: You also need to identify whether or not your potential clients are ready to
change now. EXAMPLE: “Why have you decided that now is the time to change?”

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• Commitment: Next, determine how dedicated they are to change. You want to know that
your clients are committed and willing to do the work to make things happen. Change is
not easy. EXAMPLE: “How committed are you to ______________?”
• Pitch: Finally, summarize how you can help your prospect (using their own words as far
as possible) and recommend the right package for them. EXAMPLE: “Would you like to
hear more about what it would be like to work together?”

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3. Determine the probing questions you will ask if objections arise. Again, make sure your
questions are authentic and feel good to you. Some example objections and responses are:

• “I can’t afford it.” EXAMPLE RESPONSE: “What would you need to get out of the
program to make it worth it for you?” or “How can we make this happen for you?”
• “I have to think about it.” EXAMPLE RESPONSE: “What do you need to know in
order to make a decision?”
• “I have to ask my spouse.” EXAMPLE RESPONSE: “Great! Is there something
specific you need to speak with him/her about?”

4. Finally, determine how you will celebrate your first paying customer. It’s important to
celebrate your wins!

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 STEP TEN

Scale Your Business

It’s possible to land your first paying client in just 30 days. But don’t be disheartened if it takes
you longer. Sometimes, you need to tweak your message and offer before landing on the type of
coaching you and your potential clients love.

Once you have a few clients, it’s time to think about scaling your business. In this final step, we
cover some actions you can take to level up your new coaching business. Read through this final
step and keep these action items in mind as you build out your new coaching business.

1. Write out a list of all the tasks you complete in your business. This includes administration
tasks, marketing, and time serving clients.

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2. Now, determine which of the above tasks can be automated, eliminated, or delegated. For
example, you may want to automate your social media postings or hire a virtual assistant to
handle some administrative tasks.

3. In the space below, write out specific goals for your business and determine how you will
measure your progress. Make sure you set goals in different areas of your life (work, family,
health, spiritual). If you set all your goals for your new business, the other areas of your life may
suffer.

4. Finally, create an ideal schedule for your week and load it into your calendar. For example,
perhaps you handle your team meetings on Mondays. Tuesdays are for content creation and
creative work. Wednesdays through Fridays are set aside for coaching calls and sales calls. Or
even better, maybe Fridays are set aside for family time.

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 THANK YOU

Thank you so much for downloading this workbook and congratulations on reaching the end!

If you have any questions or need further help, please don't hesitate to email me at:
[email protected].

I'd love to hear from you and learn all about your new business.

Wishing you all the best,

Sally

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