This sample life coach business plan contains a detailed operating and marketing plan for starting and growing a successful life coaching business.
This sample life coach business plan contains a detailed operating and marketing plan for a life coaching business, including life coaching services, target market, marketing strategies, competition, and financial projections.
It is a downloadable coaching business plan example that is available as a Google Doc, which can be used in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages or as a PDF.
Table of Contents
Each section this sample life coach business plan contains two parts:
Since most coaching businesses are started by individuals working as sole practitioners, I’ll focus on one-person businesses in this sample life coaching business plan. You can easily modify this plan if you have partners or are part of a management team. Just replace “I” with “we” and other plural forms.
I’ve also included an overview of financial projections in this coaching business plan example to help you chart a path to starting a coaching business.
The hardest part of starting a coaching business is getting clients.
The free life coach marketing plan that I created as part of this sample coaching business plan shows you the fastest path to building your brand identity and awareness to get clients. It includes SEO for Life Coaches and a List of Life Coaching Keywords. I strongly recommend reading that or listening to the audio version (it’s all free):
Let’s start with the sections that make up your life coaching business plan. I include sample text below the description of what to focus on within the section.
The first in your business plan introduction to frame your coaching practice.
While there are many different elements that can be included in a coaching business plan, the Executive Summary is one of the most important. This section should provide a brief overview of your coaching business, including your life coaching services and target market.
Additionally, the executive summary should highlight your key differentiators and explain why your coaching business will be successful.
Most Executive Summaries are at most one or two pages. As a sole practitioner for a life coaching business, your summary can be as brief as a few paragraphs.
As a life coach, I am excited to offer my coaching services to help people reach their personal and professional goals. My coaching business plan includes a variety of services that are tailored to each client’s individual needs.
I offer one-on-one coaching, group coaching, and corporate coaching services. I also provide coaching resources, such as books, audio programs, and online courses.
My coaching business is based on the belief that everyone has the potential to achieve their dreams. I am committed to helping my clients reach their full potential through my life coaching services.
Coaching is a very personalized business. Clients need to have a strong rapport with their life coach in order to realize their goals. They also need to trust their coach. To build and maintain that trust, I will build my brand identity and create awareness of my coaching services using content marketing.
This includes SEO keyword research to identify the ideal keyword terms that my target market searches for. I will optimize my local SEO presence on Google and use these keywords as the foundation to launch a social media campaign.
Since I am a sole practitioner, using outside resources will allow me to make the best use of my time. I will take advantage of pre-written content designed for coaches, which I can tweak to include my personal notes and experiences.
Doing so will enable me to go to market faster and maintain my online presence without sacrificing the time I need to provide actual life coaching services to my clients.
The Company Description section of your life coaching business plan should provide an overview of your coaching business, including your coaching services, target market, and business structure.
This section can also include information on the history of your coaching business and any significant milestones that you have reached.
It is okay to repeat a little bit of what you included in your executive summary in this section. Here you’ll have the opportunity to describe your company in greater detail.
Life Coaching is a process that helps people identify and achieve their personal and professional goals. As a life coach, I help my clients get clear on what they want to achieve and create a plan to make it happen.
I specialize in working with entrepreneurs, business professionals, and business students who are seeking clarity and direction in their lives to achieve professional satisfaction. My coaching services are tailored to each client’s individual needs and include one-on-one coaching, group coaching, and corporate coaching.
My life coaching business is based on the belief that everyone has the potential to achieve their dreams. The key to my success is my ability to ask poignant questions that elicit deep thinking in my clients’ minds. I want them to see what life can be like out of their comfort zone while being in a safe space with our conversations.
By using before/after scenarios as one of my techniques, I can help clients remove self-inflicted limits they impose on themselves. Most of the time, it is these limitations that prevent individuals from growing and creating meaningful experiences that result in greater happiness.
The next section of your coaching business plan should describe the services you offer in more detail. What type of coaching do you provide? What are the differentiators that make your coaching services unique? If you have a website for your coaching business, this is also a good place to include the URL.
The Services Offered section of your life coach business plan should provide an overview of the coaching services that you offer. This can include information on the types of coaching services you offer, such as one-on-one coaching, group coaching, or corporate coaching.
You should also include information on the format of your coaching services, such as in-person sessions, phone calls, video calls, or online courses. In this section, you’ll have the opportunity to describe your coaching services in greater detail and explain how they will benefit your clients.
I offer a variety of life coaching services that are tailored to each client’s individual needs. My coaching services include one-on-one coaching, group coaching, and corporate coaching. I also provide coaching resources, such as books, audio programs, and online courses.
My one-on-one life coaching services are designed to help my clients achieve their personal and professional goals. We will work together to identify your goals and create a plan to make them happen. My goal is to help you gain clarity and confidence so that you can live the life you want.
My group life coaching services are designed for people who want to achieve their goals with the support of others. Group life coaching is a great way to get accountability and feedback from others who are striving to reach their goals. My group life coaching programs are available both in-person and online.
My corporate life coaching services are designed to help businesses achieve their goals. I offer a variety of corporate life coaching services, such as team building, goal setting, and conflict resolution. I also provide life coaching resources, such as books, audio programs, and online courses, to help businesses reach their full potential.
For those clients who prefer a self-paced approach, I provide coaching resources, such as books, audio programs, and online courses. These serve as stepping stones to acquire one-on-one or group coaching customers.
The Target Market section of your life coach business plan should provide an overview of the people you want to work with as a life coach. This can include information on the demographics of your target market, such as their age, gender, location, or income level. You should also include information on the needs of your target market and how your life coaching services can help them.
It is important to focus on a niche rather than offering generic services.
Life coaching as an industry is booming so prospects may not be able to determine who is the best life coach for them. When you focus, your marketing efforts can be customized to the niche you specialize in.
Think of it this way: if you were to build a patio for your house, would you hire a general contractor or a patio specialist? A general contractor remodels kitchens and bathrooms and will likely not be as familiar with the latest trends on patios. A patio specialist, however, will be versed in the best materials, designs and considerations for patios.
You would pick the patio specialist no doubt.
Similarly, your life coaching business plan should focus on a specific target group so that you become known as a specialist for your niche.
Given my strong background in corporate and executive leadership, I specialize in working with entrepreneurs, business professionals, and business students who are seeking clarity and direction in their lives.
The career paths of my clients typically hold a special place as part of their holistic identity. I focus on helping them see a vision of themselves that feels true and help them break limiting habits and beliefs. My goal is to assist clients in creating unbounded opportunities and new habits that foster growth.
My life coaching services are designed to help my clients achieve their professional goals and gain fulfillment in their personal lives.
The Pricing Strategy section of your life coach business plan should provide an overview of how you will price your life coaching services. This can include information on the rates you charge for your services, as well as any discounts or packages you offer. You should also include information on how you determine your pricing, such as by the hour, by the session, or by the project.
I charge $150 per hour for my life coaching services with a 2 hours per month commitment for a minimum of 3 months.
If prospects prefer a shorter term or have a lower budget, I refer them to my online coaching program. This is a self-paced video series that offers tips and insights for individuals to help themselves. While these online resources are “hands off” and not as effective for individuals looking for real transformational change in themselves, they provide an opportunity for me to build my brand.
They also provide prospects with an opportunity to experience what it could be like working directly with me without making a larger financial commitment. My online courses are priced at $297 and $497, respectively, for a 3-month or 6-month self-paced course.
I offer group coaching at the rate of $200 per month per individual. This includes a two-hour session each month in a group of no more than 8 people. I also maintain the same 3-month commitment.
This way, group members can hold each other accountable for commitments they make in prior monthly meetings. This added bond increases the likelihood that new clients will become long term clients.
For corporate clients, I charge $2000 per month per group of up to 6 members. This allows an organization to experience group coaching tailored to improving employee productivity and satisfaction. This is the fastest growing segment of my coaching business because employers are struggling to retain top performing employees due to “The Great Resignation” which is affecting company output.
In a post-COVID world, I offer my life coaching services both in-person as well as virtually. Groups will meet either virtually or in-person for consistency, but not both. For example, an individual may not choose to attend an in-person meeting virtually because that breaks the rapport-building process that is integrated into my group coaching sessions.
As a life coach, it is important to have a marketing strategy in place to get clients. The Promotion and Marketing Strategy section of your life coach business plan should provide an overview of how you will promote your life coaching business. This can include information on the marketing channels you will use, such as online advertising, social media, or public relations. You should also include information on your branding strategy and how you will position yourself in the life coaching market.
Here are 10 marketing ideas to help you get started. Use these as fodder to create your detailed life coach marketing plan, which is the true heart of your business strategy.
This life coaching marketing plan will not focus on paid advertising, which is a flooded market. Instead, it will leverage the untapped and insatiable market for educational content to help people achieve their personal and professional goals.
The tactics presented below, when done in unison, will generate a steady flow of qualified leads into my lead generation pipeline.
The marketing strategy tactics listed in this life coaching business plan may seem like quite a bit for an individual practitioner to tackle. However, most involve an initial investment of time to set up and then run via automations.
By leveraging PLR coaching content published through the lens of long-tail SEO keywords, I will be able to quickly gain exposure to the market I intend to reach. This will build my sales faster than other coaches competing for similar clients.
The Financials section of your life coach business plan should provide an overview of your business finances, including your income, expenses, and profits. This can include information on your pricing strategy, as well as the costs of running your life coaching business. You should also include information on your financial goals and how you plan to achieve them.
In the next 12 months as I ramp up my coaching business, I expect to generate $100,000 in revenue. My expenses will total $20,000, resulting in a profit of $80,000.
Revenue will come from the following sources:
As I build my reputation as a life coach, I will add new courses and focus more on corporate and group coaching. These two revenue streams generate a higher profit margin than individual coaching clients.
The conclusion of your life coach business plan should summarize the key points of your business plan and explain why you believe your life coaching business will be successful. This can include information on your target market, your unique selling proposition, and your plans for promoting and marketing your life coaching business.
I believe my life coaching business will be successful because I am passionate about helping people achieve their goals and have laid out an achievable marketing strategy.
My plan incorporates my strengths and capitalizes on using outside resources, such as private label content and SEO training for myself to increase my footprint quickly. I have a strong understanding of the life coaching market and I am confident in my ability to promote and sell my services. I have realistic financial goals and I am committed to making my life coaching business a success.
This comprehensive life coach business plan provides a solid foundation for you to create your own plan. As you know, getting clients for your coaching business will likely be your most challenging startup task.
Use the specific life coach marketing tactics presented here to create awareness and attract qualified prospects. Don’t follow the beaten path: Facebook advertising. Instead, make sure you tap the underutilized strategy of SEO keyword research.
The MoreBusiness.com SEO Coaching program can provide you with the exact steps and research to get your business up and running fast.
Author: Raj Khera is an Executive Business Coach, a former 3x CEO, and publisher of MoreBusiness.com
