How to build an online coaching business (that gets new clients while you sleep)

If you’ve got a good following on social media or expertise in a specific niche, building a coaching business can be a great way to make money – and fast! 

Thousands of people use Podia to sell coaching, and many start seeing meaningful sales within the first month of offering a coaching product. 

Setting up a simple coaching product with Podia’s free trial and sharing the link with a couple of people interested in working with you can earn you a good amount right away. (We’ll show you how you can do this today below).

But after you’ve sold to the people who have already asked you for coaching, how do you get more clients – without cold calling, pitching strangers, or going door-to-door? 

You build a flywheel that will get you clients for your coaching business so you can make money while you sleep. 

In this article, we’ll share: 

1. The key reason that coaching businesses fail

2. How to set up a simple coaching business today

3. How to build a system that gets you coaching clients on autopilot 

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to build a coaching business online – but you’ll also learn the simple automated system has helped coaching entrepreneurs make a living on Podia. 

Let’s be real. Starting a coaching business is tough. 

You’ve got heaps of experience and insights that make you an excellent resource for potential clients, but time and time again we see coaching businesses fail because it’s hard to convince strangers on the internet to see the value in what you offer. 

You know you’re great. We know you’re great. But does a stranger on Instagram know that? 

To build a coaching business, you need people to:

• Know you

• Like you

• Trust you

They have to believe you’re an expert before spending money with you. But sharing your perspective and getting heard so you find your people is hard with so much noise and competition online. 

And it’s even tougher when you consider that it takes time to get fully booked with clients. 

During that time, you still need to keep the lights on. You want to get to that milestone of a full calendar of dream clients, but you need to make money while your business is growing to that point. 

A lot of guides show small business owners how to set up a coaching product, but they stop there. Sure, that works for getting your first clients, but you also need a system for finding high-quality customers today, tomorrow, and every day moving forward. 

So after we cover how to start up a simple coaching business in Podia, we’ll show you how to build your coaching flywheel – an automated system you can use to bring in new clients, make more sales, and earn a living right now, even while you’re still in the growing stages.  

Set up your coaching business on Podia (and start making sales) in 30 minutes

Before you start finding hordes of new clients, you need to set up a basic coaching business in Podia. You can do this in about half an hour, and if you already have some people interested, even start making sales. 

First, Add your coaching product by clicking on the “New Product” tab in the top menu. Select “Coaching” from the list of product types. 

Give your offer a name and paste your calendar link from a platform like Calendly, SavvyCal, Acuity, or YouCanBookMe to open your availability. 

This is where you’ll update your coaching schedule, but you’ll use Podia to process payments and manage your clients. 

Then you can customize your pricing with one-time payments or payment plans, add your product description, and set seat limits. 

Next, head to the Podia website builder to customize your sales page. Podia automatically generates a sales page for each product you make, so scroll down until you see the name of your coaching product in the sidebar. 

Click on the page, and click on the plus sign to add page elements like text, images, videos, grids, FAQs, testimonials, and any other details. Podia has dozens of section templates built in so you don’t have to design from scratch. 

Press publish, and your coaching offer is ready to go. Now people can book a session with you and Podia will handle all the payment processing. You’ll also be able to email and stay in touch with your coaching clients through Podia. 

How to make money while your coaching business grows

Now you’ve got your foundation set up, but I’m guessing you still want to make money while you grow your clientele. We’ve seen countless Podia coaches use this 4-step system to build successful businesses right out the gate, even before they’re fully booked.

Step 1: Create a lead magnet related to the pain points your target coaching client wants to solve 

To catch the eyes of prospective clients, give away a free lead magnet that shows how you can solve their problems. You can keep this simple – printables, checklists, reflection questions, ebooks, training videos, mini-courses, webinars, or exclusive podcasts/blog posts all make great freebies.  

Then add your lead magnet to your website, socials, and blog posts. Your resource helps new visitors start to know, like, and trust you, and it doubles as a way to grow your list! 

Natalie Wynn from Inspire Life 365 offers a free training about how to create your dream life with a "Manifestation Morning Routine" at the bottom of every blog post. This ties in perfectly with her 1:1 life coaching services and gives ideal clients a way to see her coaching style in action.

And Andi Sigsbey from The Compass Wild has a page on her website with free courses and downloads that tie into her intuitive art coaching business. She has a free parent-child therapeutic art course, a weekly intuitive art video, and a digital download starter kit for people who want to try intuitive art for the first time. 

 These are exactly the types of programs her target market would enjoy.

When you share something free and useful, you’re showing newcomers how you can help. You’re not going in for the hard sell yet – the lead magnet is all about building a connection with your potential customers and getting them excited to work with you. 

Step 2: When someone signs up for the lead magnet, redirect them to a thank you landing page where they can get to know you 

Coaching is very personal, so you want to connect with new subscribers fast. Two ways we see coaches have success with this is through introductory one-on-one coaching calls or videos. 

As soon as someone downloads your lead magnet, Podia has an option to redirect them to another page like a thank you page. 

Use this thank you page to give people a way to book an introduction call with you, or to share a video about what you do. You can embed links from Calendly or other calendar software, or create a free discovery call coaching product. 

For example, composer Robert Rodriguez has a lead magnet that redirects you to a page with an embedded calendar to book your 20-minute call. Subscribers are also added to his email newsletter, so he can stay in touch with potential coaching products in the future. 

He says, “Linking the blog to my weekly newsletter has increased much more traffic to my site. It’s a way to share previous newsletter topics and ideas with those who might have missed them!” 

Alternatively, you can add a video of yourself sharing your coaching philosophy or guiding the visitor toward a desired outcome on your redirect thank you page so customers can get to know your style. 

This is the strategy career coach Angee Linsey from Dare to be Deliberate uses on her coaching website. When you sign up for her career vision exercise, you get redirected to a thank you page with a video of Angee sharing advice for creating your career vision. This is a great opportunity to show your coaching skills and make a good first impression. 

Step 3: Build an automated campaign that welcomes your customers, shares resources, and promotes your coaching programs 

Next, use an automated email sequence to make sure your target audience members feel welcome without manually sending messages all day. In Podia, you can set this up in the “Email” tab under “Campaigns.” 

Create a new campaign, and set the entrance condition to “Gains access to [Your Lead Magnet]”. Now, these emails will automatically run any time someone grabs your freebie. 

Some ideas for things to include in your emails: 

• Tell potential customers about your coaching niche and philosophy

• Share free resources and more value

• Give subscribers a step-by-step tutorial on how to do something they’re interested in

• Send out introductory coaching session booking reminders

• Create exclusive coupons for your programs and courses 

• Encourage them to follow you on social media platforms, YouTube, and LinkedIn

Now when someone signs you can automatically send several days or weeks of messages, all on autopilot.

Step 4: Add more products to your lineup 

Coaching may be the ultimate goal, but there are more opportunities to earn with other product types as you build your client list.

While coaching is probably the bread and butter of your business, courses, digital downloads, webinars, and other offers might appeal to people who aren’t ready to sign up for your coaching services just yet. 

These extra products are also a way to sell more products to your existing customers, increasing the amount you make per client. 

For example, Kayla Countryman from Authentically Kay started offering a self-paced entrepreneurship course in addition to her 12-week group coaching program. She said, 

“I launched my signature 12-week group program… and when I first launched this program, I taught the curriculum on a weekly basis, live. After running the program in this way for a full cycle, I realized that (1) I was constricting myself to only 12 topics and (2) my clients were all at different places in their business, so learning one topic every week wasn't the ideal pace for everyone. As a solution, I moved Align to Attract Academy to Podia! I took the original 12 topics and expanded them into over 35 training videos. By hosting these videos as a course in Podia, my clients can explore the topics at their own pace throughout the duration of the program.”

And the result? Kayla says, “In my first ever launch of Align to Attract Academy, I made $4,000. In my second launch (when I moved to Podia), I made $15,000. In my third launch, I made $13,000. Podia has completely transformed my business and my program.”

And Kayla’s not the only one who grew her coaching business with additional product types. 

Dr. Nicky Priaulx from Graduate Coaching Pro offers 1:1 coaching for postgraduates as well as 90-minute masterclass sessions. These masterclasses are designed to give students a self-paced, self-study alternative to traditional coaching. 

Meryl from Just Feel It Fitness does 1:1 personal training and fitness coaching, but also offers virtual workouts and workout guides for customers who want different types of coaching. She also uses Podia’s waitlist feature to build a list of interested clients for future offers. 

Lane Rado Creative has 90-minute, 30-minute, and VIP creativity coaching sessions, and she also offers courses, downloads, and workshops about Canva, creativity, and design-based marketing strategies.

And Matt and Leslie from LMNTL even offer in-person retreats in addition to their coaching practice. These retreats let people connect with others with similar goals, and provide an option for those who prefer in-person settings over online coaching.  

When you add additional products, you can promote them on your website and the email automation you set up earlier. This means there are more chances for clients to buy from you and more potential entry points for newcomers to your business. 

After all, someone who might not be ready for a full-fledged 1:1 coaching package could be very interested in a lower-priced online course. 

Now whenever someone visits your website, they can enter this system and learn about you, your coaching style, and what you offer. The more you publish and the more products you make, the more opportunities you have to connect with new clients. 

And because a lot of it is automated, you can earn money even while you’re building your client list and working toward being fully booked. 

Build your coaching business with Podia

Coaching is a great way to make money sharing your expertise, and we’ve seen creators just like you build successful businesses fast with Podia. 

To build your own coaching business, start by setting up a basic coaching offer and sales page in Podia. Send this out to your early prospects, and then follow these steps to earn money as your business grows. 

• Add a lead magnet to your website, blog posts, and anywhere else your audience spends time online to attract visitors to your email list

• When someone signs up for your lead magnet, redirect them to a thank you page where they can book a free call or watch a video introduction.

• Run an email automation that tells new subscribers about your work and promotes your coaching offers. This builds trust and familiarity, which could help them become paying clients in the future. 

• Add new products like courses, downloads, and webinars, and promote them on your website and in your email communications. 

This business flywheel lets you find new customers on autopilot and earn money even while you’re growing toward full-time coaching. Best of all, you can build everything including your website, blog, landing pages, email list, coaching offers, and other products in Podia. Try Podia free for 30 days!