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February 5, 2023

How to Scale a 1:1 Coaching Offer – FitBizU Episode 252

Listen to the full episode HERE!

[Transcript starts at 1:00]

What is up y’all? Welcome to another episode of FitBizU. I’m your host, Jill Coleman, and today we are gonna talk about how to scale. A one-on-one coaching offer. Now this is very, sort of timely for me and very top of mind for me. I’m enrolling, uh, I’ve actually just started with my mastermind group. So my mastermind is my highest tier container and it’s called Strategy and Scale, s n s.

And we usually cap it at about 12 people. So it is 12 businesses. We spend a lot of time together. We do three live events every year. We meet every month. We talk a lot in our chat, uh, and we work up close and personal together for the full year and a. People, I would say a lot, maybe half of the people who come into that container want to scale a one-on-one coaching offer.

Now, we’ve talked about this a little bit, and I sort of hate this like “10 K months.” You have to be at 10 K months. I think like I think sort of marketers have sort of ruined this. I’ve actually had whole clients be like, it’s the 28th of the month, and they’re like, I need to make 3000 more dollars to make my 10 k month.

Here’s the deal, is 10 K months, yes, it’s nice and of course like we wanna work towards something like that, but that’s not the only benchmark. At Jillfit, we don’t even really look at monthly revenue. We look at quarterly revenue because some months, you know, we have a massive launch. We make like $300,000 in that one month, and the other months we’re just bringing in like 40, 50 grand, which is great by the way.

But those are months that we don’t launch. Those are just like general sort of month receivables. But for me, especially if you guys are trying to scale, don’t look at it from like a monthly perspective cuz I really think that you’ll abs, you’ll drive yourself absolutely batty if you’re like, I need to make 10.

The nature of our business, especially if you are doing launches, is you’re not always gonna have that, and you’re gonna have ebbs and flows. Maybe it’s the holidays, maybe it’s a summer, people quit, people join. It’s like it’s always just ebbing and flowing. So try to get the, like, I need to make 10 K a month out of my head.

Instead, think to yourself. Okay, how can I take this one-on-one coaching container that I’ve proven, by the way, so I’m speaking to you. If you have a one-on-one coaching container that has proven, and maybe you’re at the point where you’re doing fairly well, you’re bringing in five, maybe a thousand a month, maybe 10,000 a month, and you are consistently showing up and you consistently have clients.

Great. And so from there we start to think about how can we leverage this thing, right? Because again, it’s still time for money. Even though you’re doing it online, you have more autonomy, you have more flexibility in your schedule. You can do it on your own time, which is great.

That’s why I say it’s always a first step out of the gym, but it’s still time for money. You still have to do calls, you have to program, you still have to, you know, vox or message back and forth. And by the way, you guys, I still do a little bit of one-on-one. I have two, one-on-one clients right now, so it’s…

This is like, you know, bad. It’s just that it’s still time for money. So if you’re thinking about it, the only time that you’ll be able to really leverage that is if you, number one, increase your prices. Because we think about the term scale, right? I’m gonna scale this offer. I wanna make more money for either the same amount of time or less time.

That’s really what scaling is. Scaling isn’t just making more money because here’s the deal, you guys could. And start just taking on more clients right now, working more that’s not scaling. This is the same thing as being in the gym and just break taking on more clients to make more money. There’s still always gonna be a ceiling because your time is a ceiling.

So when I think of scaling, it’s more money for less time, or same amount of money for less time. Or it’s more money for a same amount of time, right? So again, there’s this idea that we’re making more money for the time we’re putting in, and our time is being leveraged even more. So number one way to leverage or to scale a one-on-one coaching offer is to, number one, either increase your prices so you’re getting paid more for the time you’re putting in, or my personal favorite.

Removing access, removing something from it so it’s taking less of your time. Or you could do those, you could do both of those things. Right. So one of the things that I did when I was transitioning out of the gym was, and I induced both at the same time, but I did both of these within the same year. I cut back my 60 minute sessions to 30 minute sessions and you know, at first my clients were like, am I gonna get the same amount of workout y’all?

I actually got people better results in less time, and there was less cancellation. Because they weren’t dreading being in there for an hour. They’re like, okay, 30 minutes I can do it. So I had like barely any cancellations and people got a great result. They just came and they warmed up on their own.

And then we got started and I did 30 minutes, so I cut down on my time. Second thing I did was double my prices. So when I initially went from 60 minute sessions to 30 minute sessions, I didn’t cut the price in half. I wasn’t like, okay, now instead of a hundred dollars, now it’s 50. I went instead of a hundred dollars for the hour.

Now it’s 65. So they still got a deal, right? They still paid less money, but I got my time back, so it wasn’t like a one to one. The second thing I did was I increased the prices. So at, so by the time I finished, I was charging $50 for 30 minutes and for me in a small town, well not a small town, but like in a sort of, you know, suburban town in North Carolina, that was pretty good.

And so if you think about it, can you, take away some of your time or access and or increase your prices. That’s the first one. That’s the basic one. That’s the one you should probably start with. The second thing you can do to scale your one-on coaching offer is to bring in a co-coach, have someone, bring someone on board who can take some of these clients off your plate.

Now here’s the thing with this, if you’re gonna do that, You have to ask yourself, what am I gonna do with the time I get back to leverage the business? Right? What am I gonna do with the time I get back to build the business? Now again, it’s fine if you’re just like, cool, now that person’s doing the coaching, but your, your income might take a transient dip.

Why? Because instead of you taking on the client and getting all the. The coach is taking on the client, and maybe you’re only getting half of the money or 60% of the money, right? So there might be a transient dip in your revenue, but what happens? You get so much more time back, and time is more valuable than money because now you don’t have to be doing that.

You have all this time to create product services, to run the business, to create other things that are gonna generate revenue. That you don’t have to be front and center for you to be physically there for. And so remember, yes, coaching may be your zone of genius. Hey Jill. I’m the best coach. I don’t wanna give that away.

Totally don’t have to. You can still keep some of your come some of your clients yourself. But not only are you the coach, but you’re the business owner. You’re the digital c e o, which means that your rate should go. If you bring on a co-coach, your personal coaching rate should also increase. The co-coach is, doesn’t have to, right?

They can stay at the old rate. That’s fine. Let’s just say you’re charging $500 a month, and so the co-coach, that’s what you’ll still charge, so you’re gonna, you’re the business owner, you’re still in charge of marketing, but the co-coach, it’s $500 to coach with them. And then maybe let’s say you take, I don’t know, maybe you take 250 or 300 of that, right?

So instead of making 500 yourself, you’re now making 300, and your co-coach is taking 200. And so you’re keeping that, you get your time back. But here’s the deal. If you take on a one-on-one coaching client, You have to charge more than 500. And the reason why is not because necessarily you’re a better coach or like the other coach is bad.

I think sometimes that’s what we’re scared of. The client’s gonna be like, oh, well I can’t coach with you. Well, am I getting like a consolation prize? I gotta, I gotta just coach with this scrubby trainer. That’s not it. The reason why your rate needs to go up is because your time really is in more demand than if you were just a coach.

If you’re just a coach, great coaching is a great skillset, but now you’re a coach. Now you’re a business owner. Now you’re a marketer. Now you’re a social media content creator. Now you’re a lead generator, right? You’re doing all of the things in the business, so as your time. Becomes more in demand. The rate has to go up, your hourly rate has to increase as a result of that, which means if someone wants to coach with you, great, but they’re gonna have to pay a premium.

And if they don’t want to, they’re still gonna get a great result. But they’re working with someone whose time is not as in demand as yours. And so if you want an excuse to increase your rates, bring on a co-coach. You can keep the rate the same for that person, but maybe your rates go up as well. So that would be the second is to hire a co-coach.

Number three is can you graduate people from a one-on-one container into some, a one to many container. So instead of a one-on-one container, can you graduate people to a one to many container? Now a couple options. You can do a small group coaching pod. So maybe they go through an initial 12 weeks or even six months with you and a one-on-one capacity.

And then as people are graduating, you put together and really curate. A group of people who are in a similar spot. So maybe you have like 3, 4, 5 clients who are all graduating in the same month, right? They’re all graduating. They’re all finishing up in the same month, and you propose that they go into a small group coaching pod because they’re all similar right now.

They know macros or intuitive eating or whatever is that you’re teaching, right? They’re all at a level of proficiency. Maybe their intermediate or advanced. And they’re kind of the same. They don’t need as much FaceTime with you. And maybe they just want accountability. Maybe they want the camaraderie of other people who are in a similar place.

Maybe they want that support, that cheerleading that the group can provide and you can actually decrease the rate for them. So instead of paying the one-on-one premium price, you can actually decrease and make it more affordable for them to stay there, to still get support from you. But now you’re leverage the container instead of one-on-one.

It is now one to many. So a group coaching pod is usually three, five, maybe max, like eight people, right? Where they’re all similar goals, all similar levels, all similar sort of starting places or struggles, but they just don’t need that like high FaceTime anymore. The second thing is you could graduate them to a membership.

So this is where we talk a little bit about the Ascension model. We’ve done whole episodes on the ascension model or customer journey. So if they go through a one-on-one container with you for three months or six, What’s next, right? Maybe they graduate and it’s like, good to go. Good job, right? It’s fine.

Have a nice life. Or it’s, now I want you to go into this membership, which is again, a little bit more affordable than one-on-one, but it still gives you access to the coaching that you need. But in a group container, so a membership continuity membership, you can incentivize them to stay on for six months or a year by giving them a paid and full option where they save a little bit.

You can graduate them to a mentorship or a mastermind. Remember, as their proficiency increases, as they become a different person, maybe there’s a next level container for them. So you think about this, we actually have had this, a lot of jilled is we have a lot of people who come in and they’re maybe just gen, pop, general, public fitness and nutrition, sort of, you know, enthusiasts.

They come in, they do some of the fitness programs and they’re like, maybe I could. Maybe I could start a business, maybe I could get certified. A lot of people start with our fitness and nutrition programs or something like Moderation 365, and then they become passionate about helping other people make that transformation.

And so maybe they go and get certified and maybe they come in and they do FBA. And so for me, that’s a great pipeline because we have a lot of people who are that more like intermediate to advanced level of fitness almost, that they could be a profess. They go and get certified, go and get a credential, and then they wanna build their business.

And to me it’s great because if they got a a result with me when it comes to fitness and nutrition, they’re gonna wanna stay with me and get a result when it comes to business. So do you have a next level for people based on where they wanna go? Right? What’s their next aspirational step? Is it into mentorship or a mastermind?

What’s the next skill that they have to master? Ask yourself that or ask them, by the way, what do you feel you wanna do for them? And now that you’ve mastered this, what’s the next thing for you? And then create that container. You can graduate your one-on-ones into a one too many container. The last way to scale your one-on-one coaching.

And this is gonna be, I think this is really in its infancy, and I think we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of this the next few years, which is creating a certification and or licensing your methods. So not everyone. To do a certification, but in my experience, we have a certification in the Moderation 365 cert.

I’ve helped a number of clients create certifications. The idea here is that you have an ip, you have intellectual property, you have a curriculum or an education that is uniquely yours. It’s a blueprint or a framework or a methodology. And you’ve had a lot of people go through it as individuals. So for example, we launched the Moderation 365 certification in 2020, but we, we launched the gen pop version of it in 2014.

So for six years we had over 10,000 people go through the base curriculum. To the point where we’re like, okay, we’ve perfected these methods, let’s make it a certification. So I don’t think you need to wait six years, but you certainly need to get enough people through the method to know that it works, to then teach other people, other professionals, how to do what you do.

So if you feel like you have something special, if you feel like you, the way you do something is different. Then be the one out in front creating the certification, be that level two expert that other people, other professionals are now learning from. So whether it’s a certification or a licensing of your methods or whatever.

So one of my earliest, uh, like fitness, I guess. In internet business. My fitness experience was with a company called Metabolic Effect. It was with my ex-husband’s company, and that’s what we did. We licensed a specific workout. It was a 30 minute workout, it was cardio and weights, and we went to different gyms and we certified teachers, and then the gyms licensed.

This workout and they were able to keep the license and we got a recurring sort of like, you know, uh, continuing ed sort of fee or whatever. Same thing with moderation 365. The certification lasts two years and then after that, people have to maintain their cert by doing CEUs. It’s not, not a ton of money, but it’s enough that like we do have some revenue coming in because people wanna keep their shirts and wanna keep using the methods and the templates and the worksheets and all that kind of stuff.

And they wanna be promoted on our website and all the things that we do for our certified pros. Think to yourself, am I at a position, maybe not right now, but maybe in the future, do I have something that I feel like is unique enough that I haven’t seen in the space that is different enough that I could actually create a certification And now, and what we did at Mod 365 s, of course we now have shit, I think we probably have over 200 people certified.

They’re paying for their CEUs, so they pay for the cert. Then after two years they pay for the ceu, which I said is not really expensive, but it’s great for us to have and great for them. And then we took three people who we feel like, who are certified pros, who we felt like were great, and we brought them onto the Jill Fit team.

So we said, Hey, we want you to coach for us. And so it’s a combination of like that second like co-coach scenario, but now I know they’ve gone through my certification, so I know that the quality control is there. And so that’s another thing to think to yourself is how can I leverage my own IP so that I’m not necessarily doing the coaching all the time?

But the money is coming in, or I’m generating revenue, I’m generating impact. Like to me, when I get messages from Moderation 365 coaches who are coaching their own clients, their own cohorts of group programs with my, you know, curriculum. I mean, like thinking about it makes you wanna almost like tear up because you.

Can’t even quantify the ripple effect of something like that. And so for me, that has been obviously very fulfilling on a professional level. But then to go out and see not only professionals teaching the methods, but however they get to teach with that impacts their life as well. And we’re literally giving people their lives back.

So those are four ways to think about. Scaling your one-on-one coaching. Now again, I don’t want you just taking on more clients if you are not, if you’re already at like maxed out roster, don’t take on more clients. We gotta figure this out. And it can’t just be working harder. It can’t just be working more.

It can’t just be more clients. It has to be leverage in a way that we’re looking at the time consideration too. Because if you really wanna scale the other parts of your. You have to get your time back somehow. You really do. So going into 2023, out of those four things, what do you think might be a viable solution for you?

And think about when can you, might, maybe, could you implement that and how could you implement that? Hopefully self for you guys. We are coming up on the next launch of f. So if you are here and you and I have never worked together, if you work together, you’re amazing. Thank you. You’re the best. Uh, thank you for being in my ecosystem.

But if you’re a newer listener, maybe you have not joined FBA quite yet, that is totally fine. But we are gonna be enrolling for FBA here in April. The next cohort is starting, and FBA stands for Fitness Business Accelerator. It is my beginner two business course. It’s a six month course, and I teach you everything a.

About internet business and how to launch your very first digital product. Fill your one-on-one coaching roster, do social media, all the things. So if you were interested in just getting on the wait list, there’s no obligation to be on the wait list. Go ahead and go to jillfit.com/fba-waitlist.

That’s jillfit.com/fba-waitlist. You’ll get all the details earlier before anyone else, and you will also get an exclusive discount to join us. So if you have any questions about that, I’m happy to, my dms are open. You can always email me info@jill.com. That’s it for you guys, and I will see you on the next episode.

Bye guys.

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