Mamas,

How do I make money when I am just starting out in my business? Should I start coaching, or create a course or a membership group? OR…could I be an affiliate? Which comes first?

This episode is for YOU if you want to start making money TODAY with a very small, niche audience! Coaching is the #1 way you can help your avatar learn what you know, create a baseline for a future course, and do in-depth market research. Coaching is something every single online entrepreneur should consider!

This episode gives you my ENTIRE strategy to start coaching. If you want to become or fine-tune a coaching business, this show is a must.

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Hey, today we are gonna talk about how you can make money really quickly, do market research and hone in on your craft. You’ll also get the meat for a passive income product that you can build in the future. All in one simple solution: Welcome to coaching, my friend. I’m excited to dig into this with you.

(01:18):
Speaking of coaching, before we talk about if coaching is right for you and how you can get started, I’m a coach. Hey, isn’t that crazy? I help women just like you get outta their own head, figure out their niche, figure out their branding, come up with the branding plan, the tagline, the promise, the SEO and the content strategy.

(01:41):
If you need me to help you do that, let’s jam, okay? I help women map out courses and start coaching businesses, hone in on their craft, breakthrough, whatever the thing is, that’s hanging over them. If you’re a little mompreneur heart is struggling with it, I can probably help you because I’ve been there.

(02:01):
So if you wanna grab a strategy or breakthrough session, or become one of my monthly accountability sisters, once a month we meet, I help go through the questions that you have for the month. We’re constantly growing and scaling, so you have accountability.

(02:16):
Get from idea through the actual process of growing of having someone hold your hand, so highly recommended for those of you that are past brand creation. But now you’re in it. You’re like, Oh, snap, now what, Stef? I got you, Boo Boo.

(02:37):
Head over to your email and shoot us one to info@stefaniegass.com. Let’s start with, is coaching right for you. Hmm. And what is coaching?

(02:50):
Coaching is simply helping other people do what you have already done in the past, and that, you guys, is it. I think people overcomplicate it. They’re like, Oh, I could never be a coach or a strategist or a mentor, because I’m not qualified.

(03:10):
What qualification do you need to have a conversation with someone else and show them what you know how to do? Or help them with something you know how to help them with. So, there’s no fancy qualification for that. It’s just you sitting down, probably behind Zoom, which you can do for free on your computer.

(03:32):
You can share your screen if necessary and helping another human do something you’re good at. That’s it. Whether you wanna call that a coach or a strategist, insert your favorite word here. So is it right for you? Absolutely.

(03:51):
I think this is not just right for people that are in the online entrepreneurial space, but I actually think it’s a must. Even if it’s for a short amount of time, here’s why coaching is a way for you to start profiting in your business immediately.

(04:08):
You don’t need to create a course yet or pay for the evergreen sales webinar, a there’s no need to set up the email funnel yet. You don’t need to spend thousand of dollars on ads to start automating your process.

(04:25):
You just need to get to know your avatar, and so you need to understand what your audience really needs. There is a huge difference between what your audience needs and what you think they need or what you want to create, because this isn’t about you.

(04:44):
I know, I know it’s weird, right? We’re called to do something. We’re given this passion to go create, to go speak about something, but yet it’s not about us. So weird, so weird, but it’s not. It’s about the listener. It’s about the person you are helping.

(05:03):
If you’re a wellness and health coach, so you’re helping other people live healthy, have energy, find confidence, love their body, rock that bikini this summer, baby. Maybe you’re a business coach and so you help people create the backend of their business, create an LLC, understand taxes, how to set up the back office stuff like Outlook and blah, blah, blah.

(05:26):
Maybe you’re an email funnel coach, and so you help people set up an email system, create a funnel to help them cultivate relationships with their new leads. So, anything that you do within this online world, this space can become better by intimately understanding your listener, reader, customer, student, etc., okay?

(05:54):
I think even if you do it as a short term play and you say, Okay, for six months, I’m going to take clients and I’m going to coach or mentor them in what my skillset is. Wonderful, and so this allows you to practice your craft. Also, this allows you to get more comfortable working with people in an online capacity.

(06:17):
This allows you to charge a premium for your time. This also allows you to make money immediately, without any overhead. This also allows you to fine tune what your customer needs. This allows you to get market research behind what you think they need.

(06:35):
And finally, this allows you to get the content for what you can create as a system, as a passive product down the road. Here’s an example.

(06:46):
I wouldn’t have known, ladies, that I should create a podcast course. If I wasn’t coaching, I was taking clients on the side and I was like, Oh, coaching is just like, I’ll just one off with people. Just make some extra cash, courses are where it’s at.

(07:03):
Well, yes, courses are where it’s at once you have a big, established audience that’s gonna buy from you. When you have a podcast that’s funneling people into the courses. When you have a solution that is proven, the market research, the social proof is already there. Then you have the meat for a course.

(07:22):
So I was taking clients and all of a sudden, every week someone would ask me, Hey Stef, how do you create the brand for a podcast? What would it be called? What would my tagline be? How do you create a podcast? Hey, can I just hire you to set up my podcast for me? How do you get people to stay on the show? How do you get listener retention?

(07:45):
How do you grow? How can I funnel people from my podcast to my course? And every client I was getting was asking me, how do I grow an audience? Which, the answer is podcasting. How do I podcast? Can you set it up for me? I don’t understand the tech. How do I funnel leads from that podcast into something else like a course, etc.

(08:09):
I’m like, Well, hot dang. I’ve answered this now 10 times. I see a recurring problem in my market. I’ve answered it in a systematic way over and over and over again. I’m really comfortable with the results that these clients are getting. I now have the super, super clear layout of what a course would be, and Podcast Pro University was born.

(08:35):
Now 60% of the people that come to me for coaching simply need to start a show, and they can take the course. So I’m able to lessen my time for money load in coaching clients and funnel them into a systemized product that I created based on a need that my coaching clients had. Feel that?

(08:53):
My question to you is, what can you begin to teach in your niche, in your thing, in your realm? And you don’t have to have one thing either. I think you can start by saying, Hey guys, I’m a macro coach. I’m a macro mentor. If you wanna jam with me for 30 minutes, let’s get to together over Zoom.

(09:16):
I’ll help you map out your macros and then I’ll give you a plan for the next two weeks of what you can eat. You can charge whatever you would charge at a job. So if you work somewhere today, you need $35 an hour. You can say, Hey, 37, because we roll in sevens over here, 37 bucks an hour. Let’s do some macro planning.

(09:37):
That’s a beautiful place to start. You’re making the money you’re worth in the job market, but you’re doing it so that you can build your passion. So you can start to step into the calling work that you’re trying to grow. You don’t need anything fancy to do it either guys. And you start to take these clients on, okay, and let the client lead the way.

(09:59):
Let the client lead the way and start to notice what’s coming through in these question sessions. And let’s take another example. Let’s say that you are a productivity mentor. You teach productivity for the moms, okay?

(10:14):
How to be more productive in daily planning, how to be more productive in your email system, how to color code your meal planning for your kids so that you can meal prep in a more simple manner. Like you’re doing all of these things.

(10:29):
You can throw it out there on your podcast, on your Instagram, on your YouTube channel, wherever you hang out and you do your free content. Because that’s first, people. You can’t coach until you have a free content vessel, like a podcast or some type of video thing in the world. That is number one.

(10:45):
This is not for someone that’s like, I’m just showing up in the interwebs. Hey guys, I coach, Hey. People don’t know how to trust you. They’re not gonna hire you yet. Do the free thing first, solve, solve, solve, solve, solve. And PS guys, if you’re loving all these productivity tips, did you know that I do productivity sessions? I do productivity coaching.

(11:08):
Let’s hop on. We can talk for 45 minutes or however long you wanna do. I recommend 30 minutes to get comfortable at first. Then you can extend to hour long coaching sessions, if you see the need for your avatar.

(11:22):
Hey, we can jam for 30 minutes. I will help you with one specific productivity related topic. Come to the session with your number one question.

(11:32):
Let’s say that person in the job market is worth 50 bucks an hour. Wonderful. I charge $47 or $57, and then you cut it in half, if you want. Interestingly, I think that coaching, you can charge actually a higher price typically than what you’re worth in the job market, which is really cool, even to start and it’s a beautiful thing. So sidebar, that’s it. That’s it. And then you jam with them.

(11:59):
So what do you do when you’re like, Okay, crap stuff but now I actually have a client. I don’t know what I’m gonna coach ’em. What am I gonna tell ’em? How am I gonna give ’em the solutions that they need? Guys, coaching is client led. It’s listening. You already know because you’re already doing it, okay?

(12:17):
You’re already the productivity queen like, Hello, I need to hire you. So all you’re gonna do is you show up with your student and then I’ll take you through the actual process. Like what do you need to set up the backend stuff? Those of you freaking out like, What do I need?

(12:34):
Listen. It’s more about the actual conversation. So you hop on Zoom and I just have plain, old free Zoom on my laptop. I look a hot mess, you know, gym clothes, whatevs. And I’m like, Hey girl, ‘sup? So tell me, what is the number one thing you wanna accomplish today in a 30 minute session?

(12:58):
Ask your client or student to come with one problem. One. What is the number one thing we’ve gotta solve today? Because you want your customer or client to walk away with a solution. That’s what they’re paying you for. So if they’re like, Oh my gosh, I’m so unproductive in my weekly planning. I can’t seem to get it together.

(13:20):
I’ve listened to all of your podcasts. I love all your tips, but I just need your help. Like, can we pull up my calendar and you can help me prioritize and help me clean this up? Oh my gosh. Absolutely. You screen share. You take them through your process.

(13:37):
You are very clear. You are direct. Make sure that they’re understanding you. Try to go in a methodical manner, taking them through step one, step two, step three. You record the session, okay? And then at the end, you recap. Okay, we have five minutes left. I’m gonna recap.

(13:54):
This also helps you with boundaries. It helps you get off the call on time. When you say, Okay guys, we’re gonna recap five minutes. Here we go. Step one. You’re gonna do this. Step two, next week you’re gonna pre-plan. Then step three, we’re gonna use color coding. Step four, we’re gonna cut out all of this open space.

(14:11):
Step five, we’re planning these five areas of your life. How do you feel? And they’re like, oh my gosh, I feel amazing. You changed my life, sister. Boom shaka laka. And then my friend, you ask them to leave you a review.

(14:27):
My favorite is for my clients to leave me a review over on my Facebook page. If you’ve been a client of mine in the past and you have not left me a review, please do so because I use it in my email marketing, my sales pages, my Instagram stories, all the places.

(14:46):
And it’s also good visibility for you. So tell your students and your clients, please leave me review, please, please, please. Ask them right away while you’re on the call. Okay, that’s it. You’ve just had your first client. Did that feel easy? It is. It’s easy. It’s a beautiful way to make money immediately when you have a really small audience.

(15:06):
You just solve a problem. Start with 30 minutes, charge what you charge in the workspace. Now let’s go through the tacticals the actual how, okay? So how do we find clients? You promote it through your free content vessel, your podcast or your YouTube channel or your blog.

(15:28):
In my opinion, those are really the only three that you can own. Then you can, you can supplement with one social platform, Instagram or Facebook or whatever the heck TikTok is. Like, I don’t even know what that is and I don’t care to know. Whatever.

(15:48):
So pick your thing and you’re just gonna simply say, Hey guys, I just started offering strategy sessions in this area. Let me help you. You don’t even have to be clear on what that means. Your customer will tell you what they need in that area. That’s the beauty of it. It’s client led. You listen. You listen.

(16:05):
Okay, so you promote it on there. Promote it on social. And then you get a hit. You can tell ’em, Just email me for info. You don’t need a website or fancy email crap. All you need is you, your free content vessel and Zoom on your laptop, okay?

(16:24):
So you tell ’em to email you. And then the next step for me is, I have a coaching menu. Now, you don’t need this at first and I actually would advise against it because you wanna see if you like coaching and you also want to practice and see what type of clients you want.

(16:44):
So I would actually just have one offer at first, like a 30 minute or max 45 minute session just to practice and get comfortable. And the next step, guys, is to do a coaching consult if you want. But personally, for 30 minute sessions, I wouldn’t. I would just say, if you have a question, shoot me an Instagram DM. Like, you know what I mean?

(17:08):
Instagram DM is the new phone call. One thing I do love Instagram for is DM. Many things I don’t love about Instagram, but I do love using DM as my conversational avenue with clients because it’s super easy and it’s simple and it’s free. So you get them to the other side.

(17:26):
They’re like, Oh yeah, yeah, I do. I wanna hire you for a 30 minute powwow. Awesome. The next step is one email and there are three steps. Step one is to e-sign a contract. You need a contract regardless of the type of coaching or strategizing you’re going to do. You want to cover your patoot.

(17:45):
You can find verbiage online. There are so many free templates. That’s a great place to start and you wanna search for whatever type of coaching you’re doing. If you’re doing, you know, online business coaching, you can look for an online business coach legal template and make it your own.

(18:03):
And then of course, disclaimering my booty here: It’s always a great idea to have a lawyer look it over. That’s step one. And I actually do it in my Word doc, save it as a PDF. And then I go to fill to sign. You e-sign it. And then you say, fill to sign again and you can send it to somebody for free. They e-sign it.

(18:27):
And it gets funneled back to your email for you for free. It’s so cool. The signing software SEJDA.com. Step two is for them to pay the invoice, so I invoice upfront. I use PayPal invoicing, super simple and free. If you wanna get fancy and use Honeybook or Dubsado, cool.

(18:49):
Do you need it today as a new coach? No way. I’m still just using this free signing software, free PayPal, and I pay 10 bucks a month for Calendly, which is step three. Book your time. In one email it says, Hey, I’m so excited to do a session with you. Please complete the following.

(19:08):
Step one, e-sign the contract. Then, step two, pay the invoice which has been sent through PayPal. And step three is book your time. I use Calendly. It’s $10 a month because I have a lot of different types of appointments, but you can also use the free version and just have one type.

(19:25):
Oh my gosh. You’re running a coaching business for free. Is your mind exploding? So cool, right? Once they’ve done those three things, the final tier for me is inside of Calendly, while they’re booking, I link Calendly in the settings to Zoom. So Calendly is doing all the work for me. Calendly sends them their Zoom invitation.

(19:49):
I also set up reminders for my client. They are reminded two days before, one day before and then, like an hour before. So hello, you just show up, your client is there and you’re ready. And then inside of Calendly is also a place where you can put questions and this is probably the paid version, but it’s so worth it.

(20:12):
I ask them, Tell me about you and your business. Tell me about what you wanna work on today. Give me your top one, two or three things. So if you’re doing an hour, you can fit three things. If you’re doing 30 minutes, tell me your number one problem we’re gonna solve today.

(20:24):
I ask them their Enneagram number and I ask them, Anything else I need to know before we meet? Then finally I say, you must use an external microphone for the replay recording and because I use a lot of this stuff on my show. That’s a whole, another conversation, but put anything you want ahead of time in the Calendly invitation because now you have everything you need.

(20:48):
They have the Zoom invitation. They’re getting automatic reminders and it links to your calendar on Outlook or Google calendar, and your appointment has been booked, so that’s it. Now, it’s the day for the session. Yay. Remember, nothing to prepare guys, you know your stuff.

(21:07):
If you are talking about something over and over again in the fitness realm, you know, busy workouts or quick workouts for busy moms in five minutes or less, get your sweat on in five minutes or less, and somebody wants to hire you for fitness mentoring, I think you know your stuff. Okay? Don’t flip out. It’s great.

(21:27):
The person that hired you is two steps behind you. They’re not gonna look at you and be like, Well, that sucked. That girl didn’t know her stuff or they wouldn’t have hired you in the first place. They’ve already seen your YouTube stuff.

(21:40):
They’ve already watched all the stories that you have. They’ve already listened to your show. They already know you. The number one thing that my clients say to me is, Oh my gosh, Hey Steph. I feel like I already know you. I feel like we’re friends and I love your show, and I learned everything from you.

(21:56):
I just need a deeper implementation or I need your help. I need your brain on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So there’s no need to be nervous. You got this, you totally got this. So you show up. I get on right on time. I use Zoom. Like I said, make sure that record button is on because you’re gonna send them the replay of the recording.

(22:16):
Small talk for 60 seconds, and then I ask them, what is the number one thing we’re gonna solve today? What do you need help with? And, they tell me. I ask any identifying questions that I need, so maybe tell me a bit about you, tell me a bit about the situation. Explain your business to me, explain why you’re having this roadblock. Explain your idea for your own course or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

(22:38):
Let them lead the way, and then all you’re gonna do is problem solve with them. Most often, what I find with my clients is they’re just in their own way, they’re overthinking it, so they have limiting beliefs as to if they can do it. Maybe they need help with verbiage.

(22:55):
Maybe they can’t seem to figure out the how, which is totally why they would hire you because you know the how, because you’ve done it right? And then the last five minutes of the session, you recap, give them homework, something to do and wrap it up. That’s it, you’re done.

(23:11):
Then the final step is to email them the replay and a little thank you email. Then I ask them for a review. You’ve just coached, like, is that not crazy? And coaching can fall under the business you already have, whether you’re an LLC or a sole proprietor.

(23:29):
It’s a piece, it’s an income funnel for you, and then you can use it to do market research and understand your avatar. It’s a way to hear from them, what they need. And you know what’s so crazy? The products I created first, which was the Facebook and branding bootcamp and the Instagram success formula, it’s what I wanted.

(23:53):
It’s what I thought my Lola needed, but she didn’t. But once I started meeting with clients and really getting to know the people that I was serving, I didn’t hear, Hey, Stef, I need to grow Facebook or start a Facebook group or get an Instagram following.

(24:12):
Instead, I was hearing, Hey Stef, I’m starting from scratch. So, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t understand who I’m marketing to. I feel this calling, but I’m confused. I wanna create passive income, but I don’t know how.

(24:27):
I’m like, Oh, I gotta get myself out of the way here, because I do see the solutions I can provide her. And so I see the type of passive products that I could create that she actually needs. And, it all came from coaching. Then the other really beautiful piece about this is, for those of you that are just starting out your six months or less in your new business, coaching is a way you can make money right away.

(24:56):
There’s no overhead. It’s your brain. You don’t have to create something fancy and try to get the content out of your brain on paper or into a course. It’s just you talking and teaching what you already know. So to me, as a new entrepreneur offering some type of coaching or strategy session would be a no brainer.

(25:20):
It’s extremely profitable. You can do it with a tiny audience. Actually it’s preferred because of all the things I said, okay, it’s just a plus. It’s a pro in every sense, like there are so many pros to it and I don’t see any cons. Here’s the con I see: your coaching business explodes and you’re exchanging too much time for money.

(25:42):
I’m raising my hand. Okay. Oh, I’m raising my hand because that’s what’s happened to me. Hello? What a flipping great problem to have, because then you can raise your prices.

(25:55):
You know, you can say, I don’t like coaching. I’m gonna convert to a fully passive model, but now you have the audience to do so. Or you can say, I love coaching, but I don’t have so much time to coach. I only wanna take two people a week. Great, so triple your price.

(26:10):
If you’re that full. If your business is booming that much, it will filter out the people that aren’t willing to invest in themselves at that level. So really there’s no downfall to it.

(26:21):
So I hope that inspired you if you’re a newish entrepreneur and you’re looking for ways to make money immediately, but serve, solve, hone your craft, get better, get the content and the solutions that you would need to create a really great course. Start here. I gave you every tool that you need. I just told you exactly how to coach.

(26:42):
Exactly. So if that is not a pot of gold, that I’ve just gifted you, I literally have no idea what is. So, if you guys are doing me a favor right now, please, as a thank you for this free coaching session I just gave you on coaching, please head over to Instagram and screenshot this episode and share it in stories. Please do that for me.

(27:04):
That is the number one way you can thank me. It’s how I can grow the show, get visibility and get ranked. And this is my business, you guys. Serving you, helping you grow, helping you have the breakthrough, helping you make money, helping you live the life of your dreams but in return, I need you to share this message with someone.

(27:24):
It’s so extremely important to me. I thank you so much. I appreciate you with all my heart, and I’m grateful for you. So, I pray over you that you take the leap. Try it. See if you love it. I pray that God gives you courage.

(27:37):
I pray that you lean into and get quiet enough to hear the Holy Spirit whisper what you need to hear to help you move in the direction that you were meant to move in. I’m also praying for happiness in your soul today. I pray for peace, peace in your heart and whatever you’re facing.

(27:54):
And knowing that God’s got this, you can rest. You can rest easy knowing that He’s got the money ready for you. The clients waiting for you. The provision is there. He has everything prepared if you would be willing to walk in faith with Him. I love you. I’ll see you soon. As always, love and light, Stef.