Completing your coach training is a first step for starting a coaching business. As with many other start-up businesses, planning opportunities for multiple income streams is smart. In addition to diversifying your income sources, the various income streams also often serve as a tool for promoting your coaching.
- Publishing: publishing a book can create revenue if you actively promote it plus it is also a credibility builder when you sell it online or at speaking or training engagements.
- Speaking: if you are new to speaking, start with a few free presentations and then advance to small honorariums and continue expanding by submitting proposals to speak at conferences. Different groups have different budgets so often this requires research and inquiry. Be sure your pitch for a presentation targets the interests of your prospective audience.
- Training: providing training, whether through programs you create or are hired for, is an opportunity to earn while you establish credibility, build your contacts, and find new clients. Training provides information to people and follow-up coaching serves as a process for implementing change based on the information.
- Consulting, HR contracting, Recruiting, Organizational Development: coaching skills are utilized in other professional roles and increasingly coaching is specifically requested as an add on service.
- Mental Health: mental health professionals help people become whole and for many a next step is looking to their future with goal setting, action planning, and working with an accountability partner or coach to move forward. For mental health professionals doing counseling (for example) and coaching is a powerful combination.
The Center for Coaching Certification provides graduates with resources and opportunities to expand into publishing and speaking. Specifically, coaching certification graduates can write a chapter in the annual Coaching Perspectives book, be a guest blogger here, or be a guest presenter in the continuing education webinars offered monthly.
