How to create a business plan for your coaching business

Want to know how to create a business plan for your coaching business?

Whether you are planning on starting a new coaching business or you an experienced coach it is vital to have a business plan.

Historically business plans used to take forever to create,  be hundreds of pages, and normally once they were written they would end up in a drawer and never be referred to again.

I’m not suggesting you make that type of business plan. However, if you want to maximise your chance of survival and your rate of growth then business planning is essential.

This page includes affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.

 

As mentioned earlier, there is no need for your business plan to be pages and pages, however, it should include all of the following areas in as much detail as you feel is necessary.

 

Your Vision

What is your ultimate vision for your business? Whilst you might not be at that point right now, or able to reach it in the next year, by including your vision at the beginning it helps you to keep an eye on your ultimate business dream and ensure that this year is helping you to move closer towards that.

 

Your Timeframe

A business plan should be set for a specific amount of time. Some businesses have 3, 5 and even 10-year business plans. However, for most coaching business I recommend creating a business plan for the year ahead.

 

Want to create your 2024 business plan? In my 2024 Strategy Day, I’ll be walking you through my 5-step process to create an actionable plan that will help you to have your best year in business to date. Find out more and apply for a 2024 Strategy Day here.

 

Your Goals

Having stated the timeframe for the plan it is now time to write down what your main goals are. Your goals should make it obvi

Some examples of goals could be:

Financial
You are running a business, which means you have to ensure you reach profitability as soon as possible and continue to grow.

• Increase sales by X%
• Raise prices by X%
• Passive income products account for 20% of overall revenue

 

Services/Products
Do you have aspirations to add or remove services and / or products? You can create goals around that

• Create a passive income stream
• Open a membership group by X

 

Operational
For the majority of coaches I work with, they created a coaching business to give them a certain lifestyle. This means you need to set operational goals that allow you to have the lifestyle you dream of.

• Business runs on a 4-day week
• CEO is able to take a month-long holiday in August

 

Impact
Some coaches like to set goals around impact. For example, if you have a goal to help 100,000 people by 2025 then you might set the goal of helping 15,000 people in the year ahead.

 

Your Current Situation

Your set out what your goals for your business plan are. This now means you have a clear idea of the end goal, but where are you starting from. In this section, you should provide information about your financial, your services, your resources and the companies biggest achievements or accolades.

If you are writing your business plan for a new coaching business then you can write a little bit about yourself, the skills/experience you have already acquired and any financial investment you’ll be bringing to the business.

 

Your Products & Services

What will you be offering over the duration of the business plan and what are the associated price? Knowing exactly what you are going to offer and for how much has a direct impact on who your competition is, who your target market is and your financial forecasting.

 

Your Competition

In the coaching industry, lots of people talk about the power of personal branding and if you have a strong personal brand then no one is your competition as no one else is you. Whilst I agree with the sentiment for the purpose of creating your business plan you need to think about your competition.

Ask yourself the following question: “What else could a potential client purchase in order to solve their problem?”

Now the likelihood is they could buy lots of alternatives and they can be categorised as direct competition and indirect competition.

Direct competition – a business selling a product or service that is very similar to you.

Indirect competition – a business selling a product or service that isn’t similar to yours, but which would solve the problem of your potential client.

Once you’ve identified your competition it is up to you how many competitors you decide to specifically focus on, but as a minimum, you should have 3 competitors that you analyse deeper.

 

Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Having looked at your competition you should now be well-versed in who they are and what they offer. Now it is time to identify how you are different to them and this is commonly described as your unique selling proposition (USP). Essentially, what is the unique thing that you offer that your competitions can’t (or currently don’t)? For most coaching businesses your USP will be tied closely to your personal brand. However, just saying I’m different therefore my business isn’t different isn’t enough. How are you different? Is it your values? Your approach? Or even a number of elements combined?

 

Your Target Market

In this section, you are going to go into detail about your target market. Who has the problem your business wants to solve?

Ideally, you should be able to go into considerable detail about your target market. The more you really know your target market the easier it will be for creating your marketing and sales plan

If you haven’t already defined your target market then read this – How to choose the right target market for your service-based business.

 

Your Marketing and Sales Plan

You know what you are selling and you know who your target market is. Your marketing and sales plan is where you outline how you are going to attract, nurture and convert your ideal clients

Your marketing plan should outline what marketing channels you are going to use, such as email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, Facebook Ads etc.

It should also outline how you are going to attract, nurture and convert clients.

 

Your Resources

To run your business, you are going to need access to a range of resources. Now a coaching business is likely to be leaner than most businesses, but you still need resources. Taking the time to properly identify what resources you need now and also what resources you’ll need to ensure the business can create and manage growth is key.

Whilst it may seem unnecessary, I recommend you trying to get as detailed as possible about the people, technology, software and money you need to run your business.

 

Your Financials

If there is one part of the business plan that most people want to skip it is the financials, but remember you want to run a profitable and successful business and that means you need to get to grip with your numbers.

1. Sales Forecast – Here you have to estimate what you expect to sell over the year above. This should be broken down by each product or service you offer
2. A Profit and Loss Forecast – This is an overview of the income and expenditure you expect in your business for the year ahead. You should be able to fill in the income section easily, based on the figures you included in your sales forecast. With expenditure, you’ll need to think about your variable costs (costs directly associated with sales) and fixed costs (your ongoing costs that stay the same regardless of your sales).
3. Cash Flow Statement – Cash is what will keep your business alive and whilst you might complete your profit and loss forecast and think all is well you can still end up in a sticky situation if you haven’t done a cash flow statement. Your cash flow statement will show you when you expect money to come in and when you expect money to come out and allow you to identify if there are any points in the future where you might need to spend more than you have available.

 

 

There you have it! You now know how to create a business plan for your coaching business.

I really hope this blog post has inspired you to create a business plan for your coaching business. Having a business plan isn’t essential, but I truly believe that having a business plan will help you to survive and maximise your business growth. By taking the time to create your business plan you will have done the necessary research you made business decisions from an informed place, whilst also ensuring you are clear on what your current focus for your business is.

 

Want help to create a business plan for your coaching business? Book a 2024 Strategy Day.

A 2024 Strategy Day is designed for coaches and consultants who are ready to have their best year in business by doing the necessary strategic planning.

I’ll guide you through my 5-step process and ensure by the end of the day you have clarity over what your 2024 goals and are confident about how to achieve those goals.

If a 2024 Strategy Day sounds good – book your own right here.

Prefer ongoing support instead? You can check out how we can work together here.