Entrepreneur

Yeah get a job and keep running this on the side until you can grow it more

What's the coaching business about?

What's your current marketing strategies?

What's working and whats not working for you?

What's working well for your competitors?

There's a lot of question to ask before i can give some advice

Growth Archive has a lot of b2b growth examples that you could test out.

If you want a peace of mind, then get a job and carry on growing this coaching business on the side.

Is there something you’re not currently doing or seeing that can allow you to grow this business? Possibly running ads of some sort, getting more exposure in some way, receiving help from a coach that is more successful, outsourcing simple tasks so that you have more time to spend on doing the things that actually bring in clients, etc.? I’m sure you already know what to do as you’ve been doing this for the last 2.5 years, but just some initial thoughts.

Depends. A few quick questions to help:

1. What's been the biggest challenge in getting new coaching clients?
2. How did the previous clients find you when you were making 6k/mo?
3. What's been the biggest reason for client churn (i.e. why did so many of your clients stop working with you?)

1. There are jobs all over. I can’t remember the last time I went out in the world and didn’t see a now hiring sign?
2. What is online coaching? Is it like teaching elderly people how to use the internet?

I look at it like this. Every time as a business owner you get to that point and keep going it’s a point someone else gave up and there’s one less competitor.

The ways I see it is customers are communicating to you by not continuing your services. Do some self reflection and see what you might need to bring to the table to create word of mouth referrals. That might mean talking to previous clients about what was helpful and not helpful

no

Get a real job imo

Don't close it down. Just do it on top of the job. I have a coaching business. I got a job last year because it's a grind paying my workers and myself. I decided to get a job so I could keep my workers. As soon as I got a job, I raised my prices by 40-80%. Since I didn't need the money to survive, I was much more comfortable asking for higher prices. I got the same amount of business (about $10K monthly). I just stacked the money in the business to build a cushion.

It's tough doing everything. Just make sure to have an ATS (applicant tracking system) friendly resume that is optimized for the jobs you want. If it's possible, try to avoid highlighting that you were the owner of the business. I gave myself an organic title when I was going for interviews.

Also whenever you price coaching, always price in future help. That was what hurt me. I priced enough to cover myself. I didn't price it enough to cover my 2 workers and all the freakin SaaS tools that add up.

I got fired from both jobs (I am a shitty employee lol) but that gave me enough savings and bought me enough time to invest in some things. I am back at it full time.

Bro you need a coach, get a job

What sort of customer feedback do you get after you provide your service? Are your clients 10x happier after your service? Are they leaving a review afterwards, perhaps a quick video with their happy faces? How much do you charge them and have you tried raising prices in those 2.5 years at all - what was the response? Is the service B2B or B2C? How many clicks does your site get in a month? What's your SEO ranking, are you building backlings? Who is your main competition and what are they doing differently form you? You're asking us to help you but have literally provided 0 data. Business is a game of data and analysis my friend, you can't just magically expect the world to give you that number one place. Sounds like all this time you are trying to work harder, but maybe it's just about working smarter.

What even is “online coaching”?

Do you have an email list? I wouldn’t shut it down but if you gotta get a job, get one. Then focus on building a list and marketing to it.

[insert Hormozi video]

IMO Not being able to find new customers indicates you are not dialed in on your marketing or business ops.

Successful business are good at Data and using that data to pivot and dial in the business operations. Things change with time so if you’ve been using an old system that used to work and your strategies are falling flat that means it’s time to update the strategy.

Collect data about everything use this data to improve your product so consumers get what they are actually looking for

Collect data on your marketing strategy and efforts. What channel brings in the most inquiries? What is your conversion rate? How many touch points does it take you to close a client? How are you locating the customer who is problem aware, ready and waiting for your solution?

In your business ops: Are you tracking KPIs? do you have a Critical Number you using as a benchmark for success? Is there a systemized process for capturing clients into your funnel? How many customers are captured in the funnel? How many of the customers captured are converted? Is there something you can change in the funnel to improve conversion? Is there another offer you can make to increase sales at the lower end of the funnel, without compromising the value you give your high ticket customers?

What are your customers finding most valuable, how can you deliver even more value?

Can you tap into old customers and build a new offering that brings them even more value?

Tap in to the customers who don’t sign up for your service. Ask them what’s missing? What’s the pain point that you aren’t addressing. They might not tell you during the consult but see if you can’t get feedback after. A lot of this will be listening closely and reading between the lines. Customer tell you what they want by what they do and do not say.

This economy is a pressure cooker and you’ve got to get dialed in to the nuts and bolts of your business. Winging it, or going with the flow or using old tactics isn’t gonna work. Your going to need to build your recipe for success over and over throughout your entire career.

The great thing is that you are never starting from scratch. You’ve already got the recipe started you’ve just got to start adding the details. Adding the details comes by asking the right questions about what ingredients are needed for the recipe to be great.

Buisness isn’t easy and it ebbs and flows for everyone. It’s a tough game we are in as entrepreneurs but if you’ve been in the game and built up you business so far then you are an A player, but you need to get off the bench with your mindset and start asking the right questions.

I have to agree with man-o-light. I've been an entrepreneur for 27 years and have had B2B and B2C businesses. I am thinking of getting into business coaching because of this economy. Between people losing their jobs due to AI and businesses just doing badly, I feel that the only option for people is to start their own business. Plus, the primary reason for all of my businesses is to help people. So, business coaching is the right thing for me to do.

I'm not sure what type of coaching you're doing, but that really isn't the important thing. The main thing you need to think about is your mindset. I've been in your shoes a hundred times and felt like throwing the towel in many, many times, but I kept going. I don't envy the position you're in. It creates nothing but an extremely overwhelming feeling along with extreme anxiety.

Anything you choose to do is going to be a difficult task, and you're getting a lot of different answers on what you should do. Either save your business or get a job or both. You need to look into yourself and decide what it is that YOU want out of life. You're not going to find a straight answer on reddit. What's important to you? And why? You're a very young business, 2.5 years in business is nothing. You haven't even passed the threshold of business securment yet, and I'm not saying that negatively. I'm saying that a business will evolve with its owners' emotions. And sometimes its easy to entangle what your customers really want versus what you think they want. Your customers might seem happy with your services, but are they truly fulfilled? You have to put yourself in their shoes. I can go on writing pages about this because there is so much to cover. This is only the tippy top of the iceberg. I am willing to help you, at no charge, if you want it. If not, that's OK too. Either way, I wish you the very best with your endeavor.

If your online coaching business still shows potential, consider keeping it as a side hustle while you look for a job. This way, you can have a steady income and still work on your business. If the business is consistently underperforming with little hope for improvement, it might be better to close it. Getting a job after 2.5 years away might be challenging, but your entrepreneurial skills are valuable. Highlight these skills in job applications and use your network to find opportunities. I highly encourage you to give this article a read. Best of luck! https://www.cuppa.so/post/on-a-financial-perspective-handling-entrepreneurial-leap

Why'd you quit in the first place????

It's understandable to feel discouraged when your business isn't generating enough money to support you. However, it's important you take some time to reflect on your situation and consider some salient facts below.

There is a clear reason why your business is not making enough money. It could be due to poor marketing, pricing issues or an inefficient business model. Figure out the root cause and then start to develop a plan to address it.

The truth is, you have to give your business enough time to succeed. Most businesses take time to mature and become profitable. Don't get discouraged if you haven't achieved your financial goals.

Be prepared to make the necessary changes to turn your business around. You have to make strategic change in the area of marketing, customer service and product quality. Struggling business can thrive if you employ effective marketing strategies especially SEO and Social Media Marketing.

Taking on a part-time job to supplement your income while you work on growing your business is a good advice but you should not quit your business because you are not much today. Obviously, there things you need to address to make the business work. You need to answer this salient question “Why is it that the same coaching business that generated $6k is barely generating $2k? Some issues have to be addressed to make your business profitable again and even surpass the best results you have ever got.

I've been a freelance artist since 2017 and this year was also absolute shit. I could barely afford food. And where I used to make 2k a month, I ended up with 500-700 Euro almost every month this year.

Don't give up. Continue doing it if you enjoy it. I know it can be hard af and demotivating. But this year has been difficult for many companies. No idea what kind of planetary constellation or whatever caused it.

You can continue doing the coaching and maybe work a few hours somewhere everyday. Not e full time job but something that puts food on the table, just as long as needed.

On another note, if people here told you, yes give up and you actually feel like you don't want to, you'd already have your answer.

What's the difference between the $2k and $6k months? Can you put more work into sales?

If you enjoy coaching, I'd get a job and do it on the side.

What sort of coaching do you do and how much do you charge?

Share a link to your site brah. I’ll tell you why you’re not making much.

What field are you coaching?

I would get a part-time job just to get that extra cash in so it gives you the time to think about what to do next

Put the coaching on back burner until you get a job. Be successful enough to be admired by many people. Then coach people on how to do that.

What would you tell me if I was in that situation? I might be looking for a coach

I won't ask about new customers, strategies, whatever, I have just closed my business after 1.5 years and it wasn't at all about that.

- Do you enjoy coaching people?
- In a sales meeting you feel like you're trying to seel somethting really valuable to them?
- How do you feel wen you land a new customer, besides the fact the money will come in?
- How often do you wish a particular customer would cancel their plan because you hate working with them?
- Do you feel comfortable knowing that a time based biz like this means you're going to do this with no scaling opportunities for the next 10 years?
- How knowing that prolly you can make more (consistent) money working for someone else make you feel? Do you feel valued in what you do right now?

I think that besides marketing strategies and stuff, this is the important stuff. Otherwise it's just adjusting and pivoting, whatever.

Hire an online coach to help you. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yeah. work a job on the side, and look at your business through a MVP perspective, i.e. what are the basic and most essential things which are needed to keep it running, enough to get back feedback (on top of the data gathered in these past years of operation) and grow it.

Since, you'll be working a job, your time and mental space, both will be limited. So focus on these pillars of business, how they can be handled on side and then moving on to how it can be automated (hiring an intern or part timer or a freelancer- working a job will ease this burden, as well) and slowly building up your business with time.

you need cash flow. get it from a job, investing, etc...

Have you listed yourself on platforms like Springhealth? Not only do they do Mental Health matching, but they also match personal coaches to patients. Can be career, life, physical health, etc. I've used as a patient since my company fully pays for 12 sessions for me.

There information for everything out there. There is most likely a definitive reason why you aren’t doing well. And there’s definitely been someone in your exact same spot who posted about it online, hard part is finding that information and applying it appropriately to your business. Giving up is always an option, don’t let it be THE option.