Home » Coaching Blog » Grow Your Coaching Business » Get Coaching Clients » What You Really Need to Do to Grow Your Coaching Business | by Ruby McGuire What You Really Need to Do to Grow Your Coaching Business | by Ruby McGuire Published: June 2, 2022 Reading Time: 4 min Ruby McGuire ShareTweetSharePin33 SharesWhen you run your own business, you obviously want it to grow. You also probably want it to grow quickly. Unfortunately, business doesn't work that way: overnight success is rare. I recently listened to Mel Robbins talk about our desire for instant business success. She says the harsh reality is that you have to put in years of hard work. You'll face many rejections, and it's your job to bounce back and keep going. Tough but true. In fact, if your business did grow super fast overnight, you might not have the capacity to keep up. You might not have the systems in place to take on all of those fabulous new clients or contracts (or even the energy to serve them). So instead, I'm sharing three reliable ways to grow your business. They don't fit into the "overnight success" category. However, they will help you make strides towards having a business you love that pays you well. Here are 3 Reliable Ways to Grow Your Business 1. Get back to basics Many business owners fall into a trap by chasing the next idea or "secret ingredient" to business growth. But if there was a secret, it's to go back to basics: put the essential business things into place. I use a five-step business model for helping clients get clarity around their: Passion. Allow your passion to shine in what you do, and more importantly, ensure you have the skills to back it up. 'Dreamies'. Get clarity on who your 'dreamie' clients are, the clients who excite you. Packages and pricing. This needs to be clearly defined and you need to know how you help your clients and the benefits of the package you're offering. Message. Once you've got 1–3 nailed, then you can clarify your message to attract the right clients. Marketing and visibility. Write a simple marketing plan, and then stick to it. Keep showing up, over and over again. Your efforts will pay off if you're consistent over time. If you're not good at sales, focus on learning that for a month or two. If it's list building you struggle with, join a challenge. If you want to learn how to share stories through your marketing, read some books. Make that your focus. Top Tip: Stop trying new things before giving yourself time to see the results. Instead of thinking something isn't working, ask yourself why it isn't working. Then, go back to basics, and keep improving on them. You don't need more "secrets to success". Actions: Think about your business. Get the basics nailed down. Go through the five steps above and choose an area to focus on. 2. Step up and Be Consistent Building a business takes persistence and consistency. Doing one newsletter might feel monumental. It's great that you've done something, but it's not enough to keep a steady stream of clients. If you want your business to grow, you must keep being brave. Dipping your toe in and out isn't an option! You must keep at it! Make it playful If you feel that being consistent sounds like hard work, make a game of it. Set yourself some mini targets. For example: Reach out to _____ people a week to offer your services. Write two newsletters a month. Do a video once a week. Ask three clients for testimonials. Take the right action You get the gist. Faffing around getting every word perfect on your website and creating pretty graphics doesn't bring in the business. Specific client-attraction tasks do. Taking action on something now might not have a knock-on effect for a few months or even longer. But consistently taking action will give you results. Focus on one thing The best way to grow your business is to focus on one key thing at a time. When you promote one program or event, you may often find other business areas drop off slightly. Get absolutely clear on the areas you need to focus on. Then go all out to build that one area of business. Review your progress, ask for feedback and adapt accordingly. By focusing on just one area, you will start to figure out much more quickly where any problems might be. It is much better than doing 10 things and not doing any of them very well. Actions: Decide to step up and be the leader of your business. Create a plan of action, and then stick to it. Simple. 3. Be more visible I'm an introvert, so despite teaching visibility for years, I'd still prefer to hide behind my laptop. However, my Double-F, Double-D Four-Step Plan (no, we aren't talking bra sizes!) helped me get more visible: Fear – Figure out what fear is holding you back. Know that fear is normal and that you'll experience lots of it as a business owner. Get support to clear your fear if you need to. Find your thing – Start with a platform where you're comfortable, maybe networking, newsletters, Facebook, LinkedIn, one of your groups, etc. Share your tips and tricks with your favourite audience. Declare – Tell people you're going to be more visible. Get them to help you stay accountable. Do – Do it! The more you do things to raise your visibility, the easier it is to speak up or push that post/publish button! I no longer market with social media, but I've been in business for nearly a decade, so I have now built a following. But I still need to be visible, though, whether I choose to use social media or not. My visibility is just in a different format like: Writing (books, articles, newsletters) Podcasting (being a guest or host) Referrals and relationship building (networking, creating referral systems) Staying visible (getting out there with your message) gets your business noticed. Action: Choose an area of visibility to focus on and consistently show up. Wrap-up You have to get out of your own way if you want to grow your business. So get someone to support you in taking action—a coach, mentor or friend, mastermind group or accountability partner. To recap, I've shared three ways you can grow your business: Get back to basics. Step up and be consistent. Get more visible! Now, remember to take action! Share in the comments below the action you'll take after reading this post. Then make it happen! If you liked this article, you may also like: 3 Ideas to Supercharge the Success of Your Business also by Ruby McGuire The Secret to Developing a Consistent Flow of Coaching Client Leads by Stephan Wiedner Two Key Types of Coaching Clients & What You Need To Know To Easily Market To Them by Stephan Wiedner Also WATCH this 10 Lessons Webinar with Emma-Louise (What does it REALLY take to Grow a Coaching Business?) Contributing Author: Ruby McGuire is a Business & Mindset Queen. She's an Accredited Master Coach & Master Mentor with the IAPC&M, Trainer, Inspirational Speaker and Author of multiple books. She loves helping her clients step up and become leaders (aka Queens) of their businesses. She helps her clients develop their leadership and business skills, create a success mindset and attract dreamy clients. She is a Brit on a mission to live a simpler life without marketing on social media so that she can spend more time in her beautiful Scottish surroundings. You can find her at her pretty online home, over on her podcast show, Rock Your Fabulous Biz, and here where she shares her Mini Guide to Marketing Without Social Media. When she’s not working you’ll find her surrounded by books, making hand-made cards, and enjoying life with her hubby, little dog and chickens (usually with a Whittard Vanilla cappuccino in her hand)! Learn more about Ruby & see all their articles here >> Categories: Get Coaching Clients, Getting Organized, Guest Author, Marketing 9 Comments kylie June 5, 2022 Amazing article - thankyou for sharing your insights and expertise - so grateful Reply Ruby McGuire June 7, 2022 Hi Kylie, I'm pleased you found it helpful 🙂 Reply Doreen June 5, 2022 Very timely and useful. Thank you. Love the fact you are an introvert like me. Yes consistency is key. It’s rare people admit it takes years (even decades) to build a success Business. So many people out there promising to help people make £10k months in a few weeks. It’s laughable. Fortunately I’m not so gullible, but I fear for those who are. Thanks for sharing. Reply Ruby McGuire June 7, 2022 Hi Doreen, my fellow introvert! Sadly, there are so many stories about 'overnight success'. Let's define our own success, and enjoy the journey 🙂 Reply Joy June 5, 2022 Awesome article!!!! I plan on stepping up and being consistent as well as being more visible. Reply Ruby McGuire June 7, 2022 Thanks, Joy. That's fantastic! Those consistent steps make all the difference over time 🙂 Reply AB June 5, 2022 Thanks for this post. Great to hear from someone further along the journey than I am and especially from someone who's an introvert and averse to social media! I like the reality check here. Much appreciated. Reply Kenn June 7, 2022 I've got one for your "Be More Visible" Tip. Paste this onto your refrigerator (I should make a PDF printout for folks and give it away here at the CTC site). Every day that goes by that you're not out there reaching new clients is a day someone else stays stuck and frustrated with a serious challenge. If they only knew you existed, had a chat with you, and had the invitation to work with you, they'd sign up, your income grows, and the this person gets the support they need. Everyone is struggling in some way. They are out there, one or two connections away. There are more than you can handle. Show up big for them and ... * Launch that website * Get content out * Contact that referral source * Follow up with people * Do your email marketing * Write that blog * Whatever your plan is, move on it * Let go of over thinking, fears, etc — even though they are there. Those people need you ;D Reply Ruby McGuire June 9, 2022 Hi Kenn, that's great! Thanks for sharing 😀 Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ
kylie June 5, 2022 Amazing article - thankyou for sharing your insights and expertise - so grateful Reply
Doreen June 5, 2022 Very timely and useful. Thank you. Love the fact you are an introvert like me. Yes consistency is key. It’s rare people admit it takes years (even decades) to build a success Business. So many people out there promising to help people make £10k months in a few weeks. It’s laughable. Fortunately I’m not so gullible, but I fear for those who are. Thanks for sharing. Reply
Ruby McGuire June 7, 2022 Hi Doreen, my fellow introvert! Sadly, there are so many stories about 'overnight success'. Let's define our own success, and enjoy the journey 🙂 Reply
Joy June 5, 2022 Awesome article!!!! I plan on stepping up and being consistent as well as being more visible. Reply
Ruby McGuire June 7, 2022 Thanks, Joy. That's fantastic! Those consistent steps make all the difference over time 🙂 Reply
AB June 5, 2022 Thanks for this post. Great to hear from someone further along the journey than I am and especially from someone who's an introvert and averse to social media! I like the reality check here. Much appreciated. Reply
Kenn June 7, 2022 I've got one for your "Be More Visible" Tip. Paste this onto your refrigerator (I should make a PDF printout for folks and give it away here at the CTC site). Every day that goes by that you're not out there reaching new clients is a day someone else stays stuck and frustrated with a serious challenge. If they only knew you existed, had a chat with you, and had the invitation to work with you, they'd sign up, your income grows, and the this person gets the support they need. Everyone is struggling in some way. They are out there, one or two connections away. There are more than you can handle. Show up big for them and ... * Launch that website * Get content out * Contact that referral source * Follow up with people * Do your email marketing * Write that blog * Whatever your plan is, move on it * Let go of over thinking, fears, etc — even though they are there. Those people need you ;D Reply