Build a Profitable Online Business From Your Living Room

Intro:

Starting an online business today gives you the freedom to work anywhere in the world! Many entrepreneurs find this idea exciting but they don’t know where to start. In order to build your own profitable virtual coaching business, you need to have the right strategy and skills. 

Whether you are looking to say goodbye to your 9-5 corporate job or just have an additional income coming from a side-hustle, the products and services you will offer your clients need to match your set of skills and purpose. More of this on the first tip I will give you to find your entrepreneurial online business idea.

Find below 7 steps you can take TODAY to start your very own scalable virtual business from your living room! Whether you are working on pajamas or a business casual attire, the skills and strategies will be the same, so let’s get to it:

1. Find your purpose

One of the main reasons people want to start their own business and leave their corporate jobs is because they feel saturated, they lack motivation and therefore they are burnt out. Working a 9-5 job that doesn’t fulfill you, drains you. Same goes for staying at home not being able to work on your projects.  This lack of motivation to continue growing and working hard, makes you unproductive. It can take hours of your day that are not adding value neither to you or your company, hence you end up in a vicious cycle that seems never-ending.

Don’t worry, I am here to guide you through the process and help you find your purpose. In order to make sure you are on the right path, you should choose something that is aligned with your skills, strengths, and passions. This will allow you to truly connect with your goals, therefore be motivated throughout the process and as a result, conquer your end-goal. The drive that you are probably lacking in this part of your life is the same one that will inspire you for your day-to-day tasks with ease, efficiency and productivity.

So you may be wondering… How can I start? Get a pencil and a paper and answer these journal prompts for productivity

• What comes naturally to me?
• My friends ask for advice on what?
• Is there something I could be doing for hours?
• How can this be a profitable industry? -Do research! Your business should always be scalable

2. Get the right credentials

Of course credentials are important to show people you are qualified enough to do the job you are offering and validate the price behind your products and services. But knowledge and experience are equally significant. There is plenty of information online that will help you find the courses and certifications you might want to have to start your practice.

When I decided to start this journey, I looked for ways to get certified so I could start my practice as soon as possible. I dedicated my time to do thorough research and here are three things that will truly help you optimize your certifications research, ensuring success.

1. Be board approved 
2. Count as continued-education
3. Have a well-rounded curriculum 

Bottom line, to take a step forward and dip your toes in the water, you need to choose the one you feel fits best with your skills and goals. As you do so, aim to not only study but to also put in practice what you are learning.. Additionally, most students will only focus on the certification itself, I highly recommend you go above and beyond. Find extra books and podcasts to learn from. Experience is key.…try to connect with other students and instructors, join groups, etc. 

Once you get your certification, you are going to feel more empowered. Then, consider starting your business having 3-5 practice clients. For them, it will be a great opportunity to try out your services and eventually become your customers. As for you, it will allow you to practice and learn what works and what needs to be changed. Talking from experience, it will give you a clearer idea of what your clients are looking for, so pay attention, be curious and creative. Also, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Remember: it is a learning curve and mistakes are one of your best mentors.

3. Build a business plan

Building a business plan with the right strategy is crucial to get your message across and grow an audience that is right for you and your business. The clients you will attract are as important as the service you are giving them.

Your strategy should focus not only on planning how to get your first clients but most importantly, on how you can manage to make your virtual business scalable! This kind of business allows you to grow like no other and it will be the key to success and how you will manage to grow. Part of finding the right strategy will include: brainstorming your marketing plan, mapping out attainable short and long term goals and finding your ideal customer profile!

A virtual online business allows you to grow in ways other businesses don’t. For instance, you can be selling personalized virtual classes on how to start a photography career. But that is not the only service you can provide. What about offering courses on how to edit the photographs? And maybe this time, you can organize your clients in groups and so on. Find a strategy that works for you, your business and offer value to your clients. Don’t work hard, work smart!

Ideally, your practice clients from tip #2, will become your first paying client! You are building relationships with people that hopefully will become your long-term consumers. In addition to this, focus on…. nurturing these relationships constantly and looking for ways to find new ones. Your strategy may change from time to time, but building a business plan and understanding your audience will always lead you to the right path.

4. Share your knowledge

Choosing to be a mentor will always be about generosity- as coaches we focus on sharing our knowledge and skills. Thankfully, we live in an era in which it is really easy to convey your message with people all over the world. This is actually one of the many reasons why you should start your virtual coaching business. Lucky for you, I wrote a whole blog post about it. You can find it here. 

It is also important to “think like a client” that is looking for your products and/or services. You can brainstorm questions like “what kind of questions does my ideal customer need me to answer?”, “How would they like to learn the information I have to share?”, “How can I get the word out?”, “What platforms work best for my kind of service?”. This is the best guideline for content creation! 

Social media is accessible for most of us 24/7 and is a free tool to start growing an audience and finding clients.  Remember, consistency is key in these platforms. It will help you build conscious relationships with your clients and help you build a community. In fact, this is one of my 5 step processes to position yourself as an expert on social media. We will cover this in the Virtual Coach Academy! You can sign up to the waitlist at the top of this post.

5. Create a brand identity

This is one of my favorite parts of the business strategy but entrepreneurs either go all in with it or don’t do it at all. Either way, while colors, fonts, logos, etc. are important, the most valuable part of a brand is the story behind it and how it will be showcased, A.K.A brand strategy.

In order to make this possible, your online wellness coaching business needs to have a “face and personality”. This, as a result, will guide you in maintaining and achieving your goals. Your products and services need to go hand in hand with your brand. This will give a sense of trust and professionalism to your customers and prospect clients. 

While it may seem overwhelming and not part of your expertise, experienced graphic designers and brand creators will ask you important questions about your business and what you have to offer, this too will give you a lot of clarity and save you a lot of time! Don’t stress if you don’t have a big amount of money to invest right now. You can always invest little to no money in platforms that allow you to create your own logo. Here are some examples:

1. Wix.com: It offers a range of tools to design your logo that reflects your brand’s vision
2. Fiverr.com: Includes a wide selection of designs and allows you to customize it to your brand’s needs
3. Brandcrowd.com: 100% customizable designs and easy to use!

6. Build a website

Just as brand identity, a website will aid increasing the trust of your clients. Nowadays, people use the internet to double check the brand’s trustworthiness. It also helps create brand awareness and show your products and/or services in a more organized manner. Additionally, it guides your audience in the process of getting to know your business as a whole.

Don’t panic, there is no need to spend crazy amounts of money building your website. I’ve gathered a list of platforms that allow you to build your website at very reasonable prices. It is crucial that your brand image looks clean and goes hand in hand to what you want to communicate to your audience. In time, with the right strategy as your business grows, you will be able to invest in your page to enhance it. All in all, I do recommend  starting your virtual coaching business with a website in place. You can explore and choose from these free platforms what works best for you. If you don’t do so, when you grow it is likely you will have to put all your business information on a website and you will have to start from scratch. Some platforms I would recommend are: 

1. Wix.com: It offers a series of layouts that you can choose from, user-friendly and easy to use! No tech skills required. 
2. GoDaddy.com: It offers marketing tools and customizable themes.
3. Squarespace.com: It gives you options to choose from depending on your type of business or service you are trying to sell and creates a layout for you. 

Additionally, a website will make your job “easier” by speeding up processes. Sure, choosing the right layout, designs and building the whole webpage will take time but ultimately it will simplify your to-do’s, like systematizing the way you sell your services, speeding up your customer service response time, facilitating online transactions, scheduling and so on. Plus, it can answer lots of questions that your possible clients might have.

7. Be smart about your profits

Once you are settled, a great first step is to divide your personal banking account from your business account. Depending on where you are located, do research as to which banks are good options.

I advise you to divide your earning into 4 categories: profit, your paycheck, taxes and operating expenses. The latter is important so you can build a profitable business. These expenses will be your fixed costs like services provided to you by other people helping you keep up with your accounts

Furthermore, I also highly recommend allocating a high percentage to reinvest in your company. This will benefit you in many ways like increasing your customer outreach and allocating money to personal development courses to offer new services.

Hence, I have created a list of books that I suggest reading regarding this topic. I recommend reading the following:

1. I will teach you to be rich
2. Think and grow rich
3. Profit first

These books really helped me when I was just starting my virtual coaching business. An interesting insight I can give you about the last book on my list “Profit first” is its methodology. It is basically a system that flips the notion we have commonly known as profit. This method explains how small businesses can benefit from this idea. The concept focuses on the owner taking a profit from each sale made instead of deducting expenses from sales. For business owners this can be an aid for building and planning their expenses on what’s left.

I hope this list guides you through your online wellness coaching adventures and helps smooth the process. If you have any questions, please reach out to me. I am hosting FREE 20 minute calls to ask you some questions and giving you the opportunity to ask me one question about habits, entrepreneurship or mind shifts, you can sign up here. And if you are ready to launch your very own profitable virtual coaching business, sign up for The Virtual Coach Academy waitlist.