Small business coaches are in high demand as so many people are starting new businesses or trying to grow existing ones.
If you have an expertise or prior experience running a business, then you can start helping other entrepreneurs as a coach.
I actually got into small business coaches because previously, I mainly ran a content and social media marketing agency.
Many clients needed help with growing their business beyond marketing and I was able to see an opportunity to help them.
I have also coached aspiring social media managers and agency owners to help them build a similar business to mine.
Over the years I’ve done coaching, corporate consulting and done-for-you marketing services.
So in this article, I walk you through what you need to know to become a small business coach based on your specific experience and expertise.
I also created a video that explains this as well. Watch below:
Difference Between Coaching and Consulting
There’s a big difference between coaching versus consulting and this is something that a lot of people get confused by.
Coaching helps the client come up with their own answers versus consulting which tells the client exactly what to do.
As a coach you will ask your client open ended questions to help pull the answer out of them.
Whereas as a consulting you will give them a solution or a strategy. Consulting includes more advisory.
What does a small business coach do?
Goal Setting: A business coach helps clients set goals and identify the gap between where they are and where they want to be in their business.
A good business coach will also help the client identify their core business values and then build a business in alignment with that.
Accountability. Serving as an accountability partner for the client is also a big part of this process. Once you help your client set goals, you will also work to keep them accountable and stay on track.
Support. Many small businesses owners need ongoing support and someone to listen to their business problems and help them come up with solutions. As a coach, you’ll help your clients navigate through roadblocks and share their deepest doubts and fears within a safe, confidential environment.
Mindset. Being an entrepreneur is a journey in self development and clients need support in staying positive and changing their mindset about negative events that may happen in their business. Mindset coaching can help clients change negative thought patterns or belief systems as an entrepreneur.
Motivation. A good business coach will motivate their clients to reach their goals and work towards their dreams. This also a big reason why entrepreneurs hire business coaches and why this type of business is very lucrative.
Running a small business can be both rewarding and challenging at times, and that’s why business coaches are in high demand.
Decide On Your Coaching Specialty
Some business owners specialize in specific areas or they provide general support.
For example, you may have a background in sales and marketing and focus on helping your clients with growth.
Or you may want to focus on helping clients with business operations, hiring staff, or leadership and delegation.
You can also be a generalist and not focus on a specific area but provide general mindset support and accountability.
What Type of Small Business Will You Help?
A small business may be in a different phase of growth. For example a startup is in the early stage. This type of client may not have even started their business yet.
Your main goal would be to help a beginner get up and running, navigate mindset challenges around showing up online or putting themselves out there.
A startup may be confused about what niche to focus on and you would help them get clarity on what would work best for them.
The other type of business would be an established one that is already making revenue and has a lot of customers. For established businesses, you may focus on helping them expand their team. You can coach the CEO or founder on leadership and delegation, setting goals for their company, creating a clear mission and vision or identify KPI’s to measure performance.
Choosing a Niche Industry
You can decide to only focus on small businesses within a specific industry like restaurant owners, health practitioners, eCommerce businesses, etc.
Or you can decide to help ALL types of businesses regardless of their industry. This is really a personal choice.
There are benefits to focusing on a niche or a set of niche industries. One benefit is that your marketing message will be a lot more specific and easier to attract those specific clients.
When choosing a niche industry, think about the types of business you would enjoy helping or that you have a general interest in. Maybe you worked in a specific industry in your job or built a similar business and now you want to help other people start or grow that specific type of business.
How to Package Your Services
There are two main ways to package your services as a small business coach.
Monthly retainer
A monthly retainer is needed when a client has an ongoing challenge that they need a business coach to help the navigate. It’s a great way to provide mindset coaching, goal setting and accountability.
You can decide on a short engagement like 2 or 3 months or longer time periods like 6 to 12 months.
Another option is to offer a month-to-month contract. Personally I have found that setting a specific time container is more affective in creating goals and reaching them. And that’s why I prefer to work with clients for a set number of months.
Group coaching
Instead of just helping one client at a time, you can help 10 clients within one session when you create a group coaching program.
I personally have run many different group coaching programs over the years and I have a lot of experience in this. I’ve had hundreds of people go through my group coaching programs.
One thing I can say is that having a curriculum or a course to accompany your group coaching program is the best way to help your clients get results.
You can also include templates, workbooks, goal setting planners and other tools to help your clients thrive.
I recorded have a free checklist to help you onboard new clients as a business coach or service provider. Download it here.
Tools to Run Your Small Business Coaching Service
Once you start getting clients, you’ll want to have some systems in place to stay organize and grow your business. So here’s a list of tools that I have personally used to grow my own coaching business.
Dubsado CRM for sending invoices and onboarding.
One of the most important things you are going to need if you plan to run an online coaching business is an easy way to collect payment, send client contracts and properly onboard your clients.
Dubsado is a great tool to help you:
Send the initial client contract and get it signed electronically
Setup monthly billing and automatic invoicing
Send a welcome email automatically with the next steps
Create forms that you can send to clients to collect business information
Add forms to your website for leads who may be interested in working with you.
You can try Dubsado for FREE by using this link.
Notion - Project Management and Productivity Tool
To manage my business, my projects and also my social media content, I use a tool called Notion that really keeps me organized.
With Notion, you can manage a team if you ever decide to outsource or hire and assistant. You can also just keep track of your client work and tasks in one location.
ConvertKit - For My Newsletter and Sales Funnel
One thing that has allowed me to get a steady stream of clients is having an email newsletter that I send out each week. This has allowed me to build my authority and create a name for myself in my industry.
I’m also able to automate my sales by creating an email auto-responder when someone opts into my email list where I can sell them my consulting offers.
Convertkit makes this entire process very easy to do with their simple drag and drop templates.
