If you're considering starting a health & wellness coaching business, you have some decisions. Do you want to work with athletes? People with chronic diseases? Maybe both? Do you want to focus on general fitness or specialize in one area, like weight loss or fertility? These questions will affect where and how much money you can make as a coach. And the truth is that very few health & wellness coaches get rich off their businesses (and then there's the issue of sustainability). But if that doesn't deter you from making this career decision, here are seven mistakes I see people making when they start:
Not Having a Plan
It would help if you had a plan. You can't just wing it and hope for the best. You need to know what you will do, how long it will take, who will be involved, and where this journey is going. You also need to understand that there are many paths to success, but not all are right for everyone.
There is no one way, or one size fits all when it comes to health & wellness coaching; however, there are some commonalities among successful coaches: they know their purpose and mission statement; they have goals related specifically to their business; they have created systems (processes) within those systems that support each other so that everything runs smoothly without having any gaps in communication between departments/teams/sub-contractors working on behalf of clients etcetera...
Not Being Realistic
You can't be all things to all people, and that's okay. But it's important to know your goals and how realistic they are. If you're working with clients who want results in two months, but your business model takes six months to show any profit, something has to give!
You may also feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks on your plate or the amount of information available on a topic--and then find yourself needing help to choose which ones are most important for you right now. So take some time each week (or even each day) just focusing on one thing: do nothing else but focus on this one task until it's done or near completion before moving on to another one in its place. This will help keep things manageable without getting bogged down by too many distractions at once!
Posting Too Much
You've probably heard the saying, "Variety is the spice of life." It's true, but it also applies to your social media posts. Many coaches need to do more to avoid posting too much and overwhelming their audience or posting too little and not being seen as an authority.
If you post too much, people will get tired and stop paying attention to what you have to say--and that's not good! On the other hand, if you post more often (or at all), people will know who you are and what value they can get from following your account. So how do we strike this balance?
Not Having a Group of Other Health & Wellness Coaches to Support You
You will also benefit from having a group of like-minded people to support you. This can be an online forum or, even better, a mastermind group that meets regularly in person. Having a group of people who understand what it's like to work as a health & wellness coach can help with referrals and advice when needed. They can also keep you accountable for the company that you work for, which is critical since most people don't want their coaches out there making mistakes!
Whatever method works best for your needs, make sure that everyone involved knows how important keeping up on industry news and staying current on trends and new product releases (or service offerings) is for their business success--whether it's yours or theirs!
Not Doing Your Research
- Research is the foundation of your practice. With it, you can give your clients what they need and want.
- How do you find out what they need? You need to do research!
- How can I learn about my niche? There are lots of ways! Here are just a few:
- Read books and articles on the subject matter (or even better yet--read them all).
- Talk with other health coaches who work in similar niches as yours or even ask them questions about their own experiences in this field. -Attend seminars where experts in the field will teach you things that will help improve your business practices as well as a knowledge base about how things work within these industries overall so that we don't feel like outsiders anymore when trying new things out ourselves later down the line if needed later down the line when needed again sometime soon after doing some more research first before making any decisions based off those conclusions made earlier today but hopefully not tomorrow because then would mean having wasted half an hour researching something else instead which wasn't necessary since no one cares about anything except getting paid for doing nothing anyways so why bother trying harder than anyone else ever could've imagined possible without any effort whatsoever unless maybe there was some kind incentive involved somewhere along those lines perhaps?"
Overlooking the Small Stuff
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a coach is overlooking the small stuff. The details matter and often have an outsized impact on your client's success.
Here are a few examples:
- If your client has been struggling with insomnia, it's important not only for them to know that drinking warm milk before bed can help them fall asleep faster but also for you to ask about other factors in their life, like stressors at work or home that might be affecting their sleep patterns. Try helping them identify those stressors so they can take action on them (for example, talking with their boss about changing shifts).
- If your client is trying to lose weight but has yet to see results, look at how many calories they consume each day versus how many they burn through exercise and activity--and then adjust accordingly! You may need more guidance than "eat less" because so many factors are involved in losing weight successfully (like genetics).
Not Following Up with Clients and Prospects
You might think, "What's the point of following up with clients and prospects? They'll know I care about them if I give them my best work." And that's true. But there is another reason why you should follow up with your clients: it helps you stay top-of-mind with them so they'll call on you when they need a health coach again.
As a new health & wellness coach, it can be easy to forget that people have busy lives and may need to remember everything about their experience working with you or even who their coach was (especially if multiple coaches were involved). By following up after each session, you not only are making sure that your client knows how much value they received from working together--which means more referrals from happy customers!--but also reminding them of all the great things their body has been doing since starting our program together!
Takeaway:
- Be realistic about your goals.
- Have a plan.
- Be prepared to work hard, but don't let that discourage you from taking the first step in pursuing personal health coaching as a career! If you do these things, chances are good that you'll be successful and find success within this field--and maybe even find yourself loving it more than you could have ever imagined!
Conclusion
If you want to start a health and wellness coaching business, it's important not to get overwhelmed by all the details. Take it one step at a time and make sure that each step is as close to perfect as possible before moving on to the next one.
