3 Game-Changing Tips for Scaling an Online Coaching Business

Hey everybody, it's Tara Bryan and you are listening to the Course Building Secrets Podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical real life tips that you can use today to build your online experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding more time or team to your business. If you're looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it to scale, you're in the right place. Let's dive in. All right, so I don't usually do this, but I am going to take a shot at this this evening. So I am just taking a couple of quiet minutes to reflect on the day today because it was a doozy. And probably because my house is empty and quiet, I actually have some like processing time. So thought I would take a minute and just do a little bit of a behind the scenes Sort of reflection of the day. So I'm working with a couple different clients right now on Doing some audits of their business and then also a strategy session and I was doing one today And so I wanted to just capture my reflections not only for myself but also just to be able to share them because I think a lot of the journey that this coach is having is really typical for everyone who's kind of in this spot. So I'm working with someone and he is trying to take his existing one on one coaching business and look at like, how does he package it into something that's scalable? Because obviously one on one coaching, even, kind of the group coaching that he's doing is not scalable beyond himself. And so we're working through that. We're working through The INFINITE SCALE™ Method and, you know, how do you start kind of scooching yourself forward so that you can start to package your service in a way that is scalable beyond you and however you want to, to show up and deliver your zone of genius. So working with him today, it was great. Like he has a great business. He has a great business model. It's a great understanding of who his person is that he wants to work with and how he helps them. so the crux though of the challenge is a couple of things. Number one is when you are an expert, when you are the one doing the coaching or the training or whatever it is that you are doing to help somebody in order to play this game, you have to separate yourself from the value and the the delivery that you provide. And so if you're coaching, for example, and your method is you have a number of different meetings with somebody and you're, you're riffing and, and really you have, you have a method for how you do things, but it's really driven by what the, The challenges that that particular person is having and then you ask questions, you help them work through the challenge and then you move on kind of to the next challenge that they have in the sort of the focus of what you're coaching them on. Which is very typical and as you look at, okay, so what if you're not in front of them anymore, what if you're not listening to their specific challenge and you know, you have, you can't provide an intervention or you can't provide a solution, then or kind of guide them on how to solve that because you're not you're not having that level of dialogue. How do you look at providing something that still provides a ton of value that really captures your expertise but but does it in a way that you can do without doing one on one coaching? And that's a really hard pivot, not necessarily the mechanics of doing that, but the mindset of doing that of, you know, people pay me because I can get to the heart of their challenge and then walk them through it, hold them accountable and do all the different things. And so when you, when you are, when you have that construct, you have that definition, it's really hard to kind of take yourself out of it and say, well, what happens if I'm not there? Physically there. What am I providing along an experience or a journey for that customer so they can get from where they are today to where they want to get to, right? Go from that current state to the future state. Like, how do I do that if I'm not physically with them? So that's really the first challenge or hurdle that we tackle in a strategy session with someone who's in this place of being able to kind of separate themselves from the method or unique way that they deliver on the promise that they are working with someone with, right? So how do you, how do you separate the two of those? So, so that kind of reflection point, I think, is. Is something I don't talk about as much, but that's a really important piece of being able to separate yourself and and then to be honest, what we do is we separate you, we, we package sort of the approach that you take, and then we put you back into it, right? But you got to step out of it first and look at it. Like what, how can someone become successful if they're, you know, dealing with the clone of me, right? Like the virtual version of, of you showing up without kind of that one on one. So you have to go through that transition point. And a lot of times it's, it's pulling yourself into a group coaching model, right? So you're doing one on one. Can you replicate the model in a group scenario? And then can you rep, Replicate the model without you necessarily being the one doing it. Either you have other coaches or you are completely stepping out and and letting the virtual version of you start to take the reins and and deliver your methodology, right? So that's sort of the, the, the path that you take. And then once you get to that place where you're like, oh my gosh, people are becoming successful with my methodology when I am not physically walking them through each and every step every second of the of the day, you start to see the power of how your methodology can start to scale. How your unique way that you help somebody get to a solution can happen even when you're not face to face with them all the time. So that's a reflection from today is is really being able to help somebody go through that process. I, a lot of times I I don't take it for granted, but my journey through that was was long and painful. And and so I, I tend to try and get into the more of the brass tacks of like, okay, here's how we're going to go and do this. Here's the approach. Here's how you create your methodology. And I don't think I spend enough time painting that picture of that transition of how do you do that? Like, it's very difficult to be like, I'm going to cut off one on one and go directly to a simulated scenario. And so a lot of times you have to take those baby steps. So anyway, that was a reflection from today is really being able to help someone else go through that transition a lot faster than I did. And so that was a, that was a piece. I think the other piece is when someone decides that they're going to go from one on one to more of a mass market strategy or more of like one to many and try and scale what they're doing, There's this kind of common thing that happens where when people think about helping more people, they automatically go to, I need to broaden who I'm helping. Instead of really being clear on who your avatar is and what niche you are in. And actually, Even if you are thinking about going broader, right? Like you're thinking about scaling what you're doing, you want to scale within the avatar or the niche that you currently have, unless you don't like to work with them and you want to pivot and that's totally fine. And that this is the time to do that. Which is absolutely what I did. but there's this thing like if I'm going to go bigger and I'm going to attract more people, I have to attract more people in general. And that's actually false because it's harder to do a mass market strategy to everyone than it is just to keep like finding more of the juicy people that you're already working with that's working really well. And so that's another reflection point is I hear that all the time and going bigger and scaling doesn't mean necessarily like widening the net. It means being really clear about how you're attracting people in your niche and then taking that, methodology that you've created. And then move to another niche, right? So it's easier to scale your methodology and move it to different market segments or different niches than it is to be like, this method is going to help everyone. And so I'm going to go out and like, go on Facebook or go whatever, go wherever and be like, I can help everyone. That's not going to help you because just like when I yell at my kids at home and I'm like, can someone do the dishwasher? Nobody answers, right? It's that same concept. So the more specific you can be especially when you're first starting so you can get the momentum going and get some testers in, you can, you can start to build the foundation of your business. It's much easier to do that with a smaller you know, targeted group. Not, it's not smaller in volume, but smaller in focus. Right? And so if you want to, let's say help people in health care, right, that's really broad. You may start with like, I want to help dentists, or I want to help you know, ER doctors, or I want to help chiropractors, right? Like, that's very specific. It's easier for you to attract people who think that you have a specialization with that particular group because they're like, oh, that's me, right? But if you're like, I want to help health care professionals to do XYZ Somebody maybe well, I don't I don't quite know if I'm like the health care professional that they work with. They're like, what does that mean? Like they have to think about it. And if they have to think about it, they're not gonna buy but if you're like, I help chiropractors do this, I help dentists do this, that level of specificity will help you as you're going out and trying to attract more people. And then you're like, oh, this is the system I use for dentists. This is the same system I use for chiropractors. I'm just going like it's the same system, I'm just calling it or I'm just calling out to a different group. That's going to work a lot better for you. The caveat to that is I do also recommend niching on a problem. So if you're calling out a specific problem, then you're going to get people who have that problem, and then you can solve it. So either way, you're actually tightening your audience before you go out to mass market because you have to be really clear in your messaging. So you're starting to attract people to you versus like, I can help everyone with my strategy. And you may be able to, but that's not going to help you when you're out marketing. And so that was another reflection point today is I hear that all the time. And so there's that tendency to do that which is a natural tendency, right? Like we, we want to go broader. We think, more people means broader and it actually doesn't. In most cases, every market that you're looking at has enough people that you will have a really nice sizable business by just focusing and targeting on that one avatar in a particular niche or again with a specific problem. the other big one I had was You know, when you're looking to scale your business and you are in a one on one service based business right now sometimes it's just like like stripping out part of your business and and using that as your test to productize your service. Sometimes it's not like I'm just gonna blow it all up and everything is gonna be automated and everything is gonna be a scalable model that's delivered in, some other way than you're delivering today, right? Be it one, one to many, be it automated, be it simulated, be it a hybrid, whatever you, you know, however you're going to do it. Sometimes it's more digestible to take a part of your business, right? So in this scenario, one really effective strategy is, to start moving towards is what are those repetitive things that you're that you're doing when you're working with your customers? Like, are you doing some training? Where, you know, every single time you have a new customer, you're doing the same thing, right? Like you do you know, a training on this topic, or you're helping them through this, or you're giving them some homework, or you're, you're just doing lots of things that you are doing with every single client. That is an amazing, thing to start kind of pulling those out. That is great low hanging fruit to be like, okay, so how do I just create this one time and then serve it to my clients in the future? So I don't have to repeat myself all the time. So I don't have to keep creating things. Your onboarding is a great place to start. If you're looking to just start to get some packaging, get some assets in your business that are gonna help serve you, and then magically those start to become the pieces that are the building blocks for you to build that more scalable model. So, onboarding again, is a great example. How do you, welcome people in? How do you share with them your core philosophy or the process that you're going to take them on or any of the things that they need to get started? And, and develop a relationship with you, feel really good about you know, the decision that they've made. Most of the time you're, you're helping them either set goals or kind of evaluate where their current state is, right? Like there's some sort of upfront piece that's happening. That's a great place to start instead of like trying to do all of it at the same time. And so that's a great approach as well. As you're going through this. And then lastly, I think that just the other piece of it is that building a business takes time, right? It takes time. It's not something that you can do all of the things. in like a day or even six months, right? Like it's, it's an evolving process. Give yourself time. Give yourself the gift of grace to just go through the process. And like I said, take the baby steps. Start really thinking about, what is what is the ideal person that you want to work with? What's the problem that you're best at solving? What's your approach to that problem? A lot of times people skip through that. And so when I'm doing business audits, I can tell who has taken the time to really be clear on that and who is just like, well, this is kind of what I want to do and I'm just going to get started. Unfortunately, a lot of times people, you know, take that latter approach and then they find themselves in trouble when they have a, you know, a business that's, that's bigger than they anticipated, but not the infrastructure, not the foundation behind it. And so if you can do that up front, if you can start to pivot and and put some structure in, you will be operating with such a great base that you'll be able to grow much easier without all of the sort of the crazy that happens as you're scaling your business. So Hopefully that was helpful. I think the only other thing is I was working with another different client this afternoon on some tech stuff. And I have to tell you and we're guilty of it, our clients are guilty of it, I'm sure you're guilty of it, but you work on something, and you think that you're going to remember like the process or the steps of that forever. And you're not going to, I'm just telling you right now, but like, I'm finding myself in that position where it's like, I, I have given those steps. I've given the, the sort of the, the SOPs about like, okay, here is how this whole process works. And then inevitably we come back to it three months later, whatever it is. And we're like, what did we do? How do we set that up? What, What's the step by step path for that? Like, I don't remember. And so that happened this afternoon. And and so I think my last reflection I'm going to leave you with is it, when you are creating something, just document it. Because. As much as you think you're going to remember, you're not going to, so you might as well just document it. And the benefit of that is that you can hand it off to your team or your future team so that once you have it documented, you can easily train other people. And it may actually end up being part of your core methodology. So I absolutely recommend it. Every single time I don't do it, I just like, you know, bang my head against the wall. And so that is my last thing I'm going to leave you with this evening. But thanks for being with me while I'm reflecting a little bit on the day. So look for some more reflections from me a little bit later.