Okay, let’s talk about building this thing, what some folks might call a ‘coach empire’. It sounds grand, but really, it was just a lot of small steps, one after the other, and plenty of figuring things out along the way.
Getting Started – Just Helping Out
It didn’t start with some big vision of an empire, honestly. I was just doing my thing, working my regular job, but I found myself often giving advice or coaching people on the side – friends, colleagues, people in my network. It was stuff I knew, things I’d learned the hard way. People kept saying I was good at it and should charge. For a while, I brushed it off. Who pays for advice, right? But the idea stuck.
So, I decided to dip my toes in. I didn’t quit my job or anything drastic. I just thought, okay, let’s see if someone would actually pay. I put up a very basic profile on a freelance site, listed what I could help with. Didn’t even have a proper website then. Just a description and a price I pulled out of thin air, really.
First Few Clients and the ‘Oh Crap’ Moment
Surprisingly, a couple of people bit. They weren’t paying a fortune, but they paid! That was a buzz. I did the coaching calls, usually evenings or weekends. It was exciting, but also draining, juggling it with my day job. The first ‘oh crap’ moment came when I realized I was spending all my free time doing this, but the money wasn’t enough to make a real difference. And I had no system. Every client was different, lots of manual scheduling, emailing back and forth. It was messy.
I knew if I wanted this to be more than a side hustle that exhausted me, something had to change. I needed to get more serious. That meant figuring out who exactly I wanted to help (my niche, I guess) and what specific problem I could solve for them. It took some trial and error, working with different types of people, before I really nailed that down.
Building Blocks: Website, Packages, and Content
Next up, I put together a proper, simple website. Nothing fancy, just a place to explain what I do, who I help, and how they could work with me. I stopped doing one-off sessions mostly and created packages – like a 3-month program. This helped with predictable income and allowed me to go deeper with clients.
Then came content. I started writing blog posts and sharing stuff on social media – LinkedIn mostly, for me. Just practical tips, stories, things I’d learned. Didn’t go viral or anything, but it slowly built trust and people started finding me through that. It was slow going, though. Some weeks, crickets. Other weeks, a few inquiries. It wasn’t consistent yet.
- Figured out my ideal client.
- Built a basic website.
- Created coaching packages instead of single sessions.
- Started sharing content regularly.
Scaling Up – Groups and Courses
Trading time for money one-on-one was hitting its limit. I couldn’t physically coach more people. The next logical step seemed to be group coaching. I was nervous about this – would people get the same value? Would they even sign up? I launched a small pilot group program at a lower price. It filled up! And people loved the community aspect.
That gave me confidence. I also started thinking about creating a digital course. Something people could do on their own time, covering the foundational stuff I taught over and over again. This took AGES to create. Way longer than I expected. Recording videos, making worksheets, setting up the platform. It was a huge project. But once launched, it created a new income stream that wasn’t directly tied to my time.
This was a game changer. Having group programs and courses meant I could help more people and wasn’t solely reliant on 1-on-1 clients.
Bringing in Help – The Hardest Part?
With more clients, group programs, and a course, the admin work piled up. Emails, scheduling, payments, website updates… I was drowning in it. I knew I needed help, but letting go was hard. I hired a virtual assistant (VA) part-time. First one wasn’t a great fit. Second one was much better. Handing off tasks felt weird initially, like losing control, but it freed up so much mental space and time for me to focus on coaching and creating.
Later, as things grew even more, I even brought on another coach to help deliver some of the programs. That felt like a big step towards becoming a real ‘business’ rather than just ‘me’.
The ‘Empire’ Reality
So, now? Yeah, it looks a bit like an ’empire’ from the outside, maybe. There are different programs, a small team, consistent income. But honestly, it’s still constant work. There are systems now, sure. Things run smoother. But there’s always something – marketing changes, tech issues, managing the team, planning the next thing. It’s not passive income where you sit on a beach all day, not for me anyway.
It was built piece by piece, decision by decision, often learning by messing up first. There wasn’t a magic blueprint. It was about trying things, seeing what worked, doing more of that, and getting help when I needed it. It’s satisfying, for sure, but the ’empire’ is really just the result of showing up, doing the work, and sticking with it even when it felt slow or difficult.
