When I first began in business, I had classic ‘shiny object syndrome’ comparing all of the potential business models that I could use. This includes online courses, ebooks, and so much more. Every industry promises that you’ll “get rich quick” and build exposure on your way up. I tried all of these models: I got into an e-commerce scam and lost $10,000. Then, I started selling ebooks through my fitness business, but found that while I was making good money, it just wasn’t rewarding. By contrast, online coaching is incredibly rewarding every single day. I feel the impact that I’m making — and that matters more to me than the fact that it also helped me generate over a million dollars in revenue at age 23.
Online coaching is, in my opinion, the best business model for impact-driven entrepreneurs to get started. Expensive online courses are a great revenue model, but the problem is that almost everyone has a course now (I see the number 997 more than anything else, I swear!). The model is tapped out, and competition is extremely high. Furthermore, you may be making sales, but you don’t get the fulfillment from seeing firsthand how you’re really helping your clients. Drop shipping also swept the entrepreneurship world a few years ago, but there are too many players in that space, too. In my opinion, dropshipping is now dead.
High Ticket Online Coaching
That’s how I decided to begin high-ticket online coaching. If you’re a founder or you’ve learned how to do anything notable, you’ve developed extensive knowledge in your field. Remember that there are beginners out there looking to get to where you are. It’s impossible not to have an incredible amount of expertise and insight when you’ve built or learned to do something yourself. I’ve noticed that many of us have a tendency to invalidate our knowledge since it comes so easy to us. Don’t discount the many years of hard work and trials that got you to where you are today. You’ve overcome the problems that everyone will face in this field — so why should someone not invest in your coaching program? In this case, your experiences speak for themselves, and help you stand out from the noise.
Furthermore, charging high-ticket can help you get paid more, so you have fewer clients for the same income goals, and can therefore allocate more time and resources for delivering to them. Then, they get amazing results because of the application of your unique experience and this commitment to them. Oh… and it doesn’t require an upfront investment.
My First Online Coaching Program
The first business I ever started was a fitness coaching program, which was all about helping women lose weight and feel great and healthy in their own bodies. This was an area I had expertise in, as I had taught myself health and the best workouts for becoming strong both physically and mentally for years. So, I got my clients amazing results… and quickly. The more they get results, the more they tell others about the program and give you testimonials about how you help them. And the more the word is spread, the more clients you secure – and then they get results, too. Everybody wins. Furthermore, I was charging this program as a high ticket program, so I was making good money. This first experience showed me how well this format of coaching works, and why it’s superior to other business models.
I scaled that first program to beyond six figures before I started Impact School. And when I began Impact School, I founded it on the same principles that helped me succeed in my first course. I had learned tricks and tactics to make selling, marketing, and crafting an offer more effective just through my own trial and error.
Techniques That Helped Me Become a Millionaire By Age 23
These techniques are the exact same ones that I teach my students, now — and they are the ones that helped me break a million dollars in income by age 23 through online coaching.
- Permission Based Relationship Marketing. This is the mode of selling that I teach all of my students, and it’s rooted in direct messaging as opposed to cold sales calls or in-person presentations. The truth is that the modern day consumer has changed considerably. We communicate via direct message, now! This feels more casual, less ‘spammy,’ and less pushy.
I had found through my fitness program that just DM’ing with women about their fitness goals created a relationship that established trust. From there, it was far easier to tell them about my program and how I could help them reach their goals — once they confirmed that they did, indeed, need my help. Now, I use this same form of marketing in everything I sell. The word “permission” is in the name because this form of marketing has various ‘checkpoints’ of permission within the messages that indicate to you that you can move into the next phase of selling.
- Building out systems and teams. No one should be a one-woman or one-man-show. It’s fine if you think you can do it on your own, but if you have big income goals for yourself and you also want to scale to $1 Million and beyond in revenue, you need to build out teams and systems to help you.
I notice that a lot of coaches tend to alternate between selling their services and fulfilling on what they sold, because they don’t have teams that help them with both sides. That means that they’re missing out on potential sales and only giving their clients half of what they could be getting. Those amazing results are necessary for testimonials and general client morale… all of which contributes to your reputation and the reputation of your coaching business.