10 of The Best Business Models To Build & Scale Your Coaching Business

Written by: Angela Lauria • March 31, 2023

Image Source: https://unsplash.com/@jennyueberberg

Are you thinking about starting an online business or growing your existing one? If so, one of the keys to success is picking the right business model for you…

Because with so many options and strategies out there, it can feel overwhelming to decide which path to take. In this article, we'll go over 10 common online business models…

and the benefits and drawbacks of each one! 

By the end, you'll have a better understanding of what type of online business model best suits your goals and skills—and how to stay focused and committed to it.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

First, let’s take a step back so we can make several big ones forward.

Because you may have noticed how there’s been an explosion of new entrepreneurs joining the ranks in recent times— of those of us who have been running small online businesses as coaches, consultants, and service providers for decades. 

When most of us “old-timers” arrived, the online space was new—and the various models were being invented and reinvented almost daily. 

(usually by Dean Jackson or someone he just had lunch with)

Today, the internet’s full of tactics and strategies to help new online business owners get their revenue flowing… but sometimes I do wonder if there’s just too much information.

It’s one of the biggest mistakes I see online business owners in particular make… trying to operate multiple business models all at once. 

Yes, they have too many offerings and none are very good, but the problem is more complicated than that because it’s their offers that actually create more work, cancel each other out, and most dangerous of all… cannibalize sales.

When I started as a book coach in 2010, I had a one-on-one coaching offer for $150 an hour and a low-cost membership called The Coaches Book Circle for $27 a month. 

The purpose of my 1:1 coaching was to help my clients get their books done. 

The purpose of my membership? To support coaches in writing or marketing their books. 

On the surface, it seems quite aligned. 

But in reality, operating a results-oriented coaching business (model #1) was in direct conflict with operating a community-oriented membership business (model #2).

I struggled to get 1:1 clients at my hourly rate, so I’d say “try out my $ 27-a-month offer.” 

Sometimes, prospects would join my membership, but a GOOD membership focuses on KEEPING members for as long as possible (not on getting results). 

Since they didn’t get results, why would they invest at the $150/hr rate? 

As a result, my membership ate my coaching offer as a snack!

I imagine you’ve noticed this situation yourself…

Think about a great Golf Club in your neighborhood… one where you pay a couple of grand to join, a couple hundred a month, and then have a minimum food spend that keeps you returning for the Club Sandwich at least once a week. 

If your Golf handicap goes up or down, it doesn’t REALLY matter to the Club; they just want you to keep coming and getting value for your membership. 

Results are a bonus; the membership model is about community. 

But imagine if you hired a Golf Coach for a couple of grand… now, you want to see your Golf Game improve. Having a good time is a bonus, but it isn’t what will keep you hiring your coach or referring them to your friends. 

Why? Because coaching is about getting results!

This is why it’s essential for online business owners to PICK AND STICK with one business model—especially for their first year or two (or three) in operations. 

This is why I wanted to write this article for you… 

It offers 10 different coaching business models. Not all of them will apply to you. In fact, most of them won’t. That’s the point. What you need to do is identify which one is right for you… 

and then commit to it!

1: One-on-one coaching or consulting: Personalized guidance and support to clients on a one-to-one basis

This is how most coaches get started, and while it is a high-burnout approach, it’s a great way to get to know what your core messages are and how to create positive client results. 

This is also the easiest way to generate revenue at the beginning. 

You don’t need a curriculum, worksheets, recorded classes, a student center, or anything other than an email address, a phone, and maybe a video conferencing account. 

It’s essential you charge but you can charge as little as $20 an hour (or as much as $1000), or even put coaching packages with multiple sessions together–as a personal trainer might. 

Since it’s an hourly-based model that requires your participation, you’re trading time for money; so it’s not a great long-term strategy for most people. 

But if you work full-time (40 hours a week) and are good at marketing, sales, and delivery, you can earn a low 6-figure living. 

This is an UNLEVERAGED business model but a great place to start.

Best for: Beginning Coaches up to $100K a year

2: Group coaching: Group coaching services with a teaching component on recorded video or live

Because 1:1 coaching is unleveraged, if you want to grow your business and stop trading time for money, you’ll need to move to group coaching. 

I teach (and use) a front-end/back-end coaching model where my first program is a short (up to 12 weeks) program that teaches a framework, while my second program (which is only sold to clients who complete the first program) lasts up to 18 months and is the implementation of that framework.

Group coaching allows you to accommodate people in bigger numbers (like 5-20), and in some cases even more if you can figure out the way to keep a good coach-to-client ratio. 

For more than 20 active clients I recommend you hire coaches and other team members to make sure the results your clients get are solid.

Best for: Coaches with at least a year of experience doing 1:1 coaching (for at least 10 clients).

3: Corporate Coaching

While the first two business models are direct-to-consumer models, this is a B2B (or business-to-business model). 

Instead of selling 1:1 or group services directly to individuals who pay you out of pocket/business budget, this model requires you to sign contracts with businesses that pay you to coach their clients or employees. 

To get these contracts you’ll need to build relationships with HR professionals who bring in contracts for executive coaching and outplacement, or healthcare executives who contract coaches to work with patients. 

One deal could easily be worth $100,000 or more so while these agreements can take months or years to close, they can be well worth it.

Best for: Introverts and people who are highly resistant to sales and marketing

4: Retainer-based services: Customized consulting or coaching services to clients on a retainer basis.

Once you’ve provided coaching or consulting, often clients will ask you to customize your training specifically for them. 

If you’re coaching an athlete, or even providing training on dating or relationships, you can’t actually DO what they need to do… but you can provide a more intense, personal experience. 

In these cases, you might want to develop a business model where you have a few clients that each pay you a monthly retainer to be on-call and available to them. 

They essentially reserve your time and perhaps have a set number of sessions with you. 

To get these retainer clients, you will most likely need a book of business to draw from. 

This is not a likely model for new coaches but if you’ve been in the game for a while and want to slow down and work with clients for the long term, this is a model that can work.

Best for: Retirees and those who don’t want to grow but have a steady income.

5: The Agency Model: Done-for-you services to clients on a retainer basis (typically over a fixed period of time).

In the business space, once you’ve provided coaching or consulting, clients will often ask you to DO the thing you are trying to help them do. 

Let’s say you’re a Facebook ads coach… perhaps you want to provide copywriting and media buying services, or script writing and editing services… 

These are called Done for You services.

Instead of hiring a contractor, the client hires you as an agency to do the work for them. This can be a leveraged model, if you have a formula you can teach to employees, and you can also develop systems so that certain tasks can take less time because you have multiple clients. 

Agency work is easier to sell because often businesses can see a return on investment that makes it worth it to pay you to get the job done.

Best for: Business Coaches

6: In-Person events: Training and education to a group of clients in a seminar or workshop format

While you might teach similar things in a group coaching program that you do for in-person events, this business model is completely and surprisingly different. 

When you sell events, you’re selling an experience, not just information!

So if a coaching program is about transformation and membership is about community… workshops/seminars are about experience. 

Everything matters from the lighting to the handouts, the music, and even the coffee.

Whether you’re doing retreats, masterminds, conferences, seminars, or workshops, you need a completely different type of team to acquire and deliver to clients. 

I ran my coaching business as an in-person events business for about five years. It was incredibly fun and profitable. However, it was also very intense. 

I was in events for about half the month and that made it hard to get errands done or spend time with family—when I wasn’t at events the personal tasks piled up so I led a very busy lifestyle.

Best for: Coaches without kids or other obligations that require their attention during the day.

7: e-commerce: Source or create and sell products in conjunction with guidance on a specific topic.

In many ways, e-comm is a historical legacy in coaching. Back in the early days, selling a workbook with cassettes or CD-Rom box sets was one of the main ways coaches made money. 

Now you can’t JUST sell information–you need to have information that requires a physical product like meal delivery or vitamins.

For instance, I have a client who has a book about inflammation that sells very well. She could do wellness coaching, but she values her time and doesn’t want to get tied down. 

So in her book, she has an optin to go to her website… take a quiz… and assess your risk for disease from inflammation. 

Instead of offering coaching, she has a package that includes a subscription to her custom turmeric blend of vitamins. 

She then has a fulfillment house pack and ships her vitamins as orders come in so there’s no extra work for her.

As a bonus, she includes a recorded class on managing inflammation that she recorded once—so when you buy her turmeric tablets, you get a subscription to her paid website with all those classes.

Best for: Wellness professionals who want to work short hours

8: Membership site: Create a membership site that provides ongoing support, resources, and community to clients in exchange for a recurring fee.

Membership sites for consultants and coaches require great content to attract clients… 

But they require a great community for people to STAY! 

Most membership programs don’t make any money from clients the first 2-3 months they’re in the membership. The revenue that comes in just about covers acquisition costs. 

So the money in the membership model comes from retention, and retention comes from the community, connection, and, ironically, focusing on a result can lead to churn (or loss of clients). 

If your goal is to help your clients lose 10 pounds and they join your membership and reach that goal, they have no reason to stay. 

Memberships have to be oriented, not to get results but rather to do something the client loves. 

(hopefully forever)

Best for: Extroverts

9: Affiliate marketing: Promote and sell other people's products or services, earning a commission on each sale.

As an affiliate, you don’t have to create or deliver ANYTHING! It’s a dream if you have an active and engaged audience and want to monetize it. 

As an affiliate, you promote other people’s content and sell it, making a commission each time.

You can make anything between 5-50% of the coaching or consulting program you sell with lower-priced, easier-to-sell products yielding more per sale. 

… higher-priced products yield more per sale.

You can promote offers by writing an article, sharing it on YouTube, Facebook, or even with your TikTok followers; but while the revenue comes from other people’s offers, the value of your company is in the engagement and focus of the audience you build. 

Best for: INFLUENCERS

10: Software/ SaaS Offering

A more recent trend for coaches is to work with a development team to create software that helps clients implement their coaching. 

Keep in mind that building software is ten times as expensive and takes ten times longer than you think. That’s just the nature of the beast. So if you want to make it in software, you can’t also be learning how to have a group coaching or in-person event business. 

You simply will not have the time!

And if you want to go the software route, you might need investment (or loans) as it takes a long time to give you a return on your investment. 

That said, it is a very leveraged model; much more leveraged than group coaching or events, so the payoff can be huge.

Best for: Burnt-out coaches looking to diversify revenue streams

Conclusions & Next Steps

As you can see, there are many business models to choose from.

And the one that’s right for you must match your personality, goals, and lifestyle. 

This list is by no means exhaustive and there is no one “right” model for everyone.

For example, if you want to someday sell your company, 1:1 coaching or affiliate marketing are terrible ideas … but these models can be great if you’re starting out or if you accidentally fell into a big audience with a viral video/post!

Whereas if your financial goals are stratospheric, building software or in-person events could be the way to go—but only if you’re ready for a couple of years of 100-hour weeks. 

But here’s the thing… the point I really hope you leave with today…

The biggest mistake you can make is to unconsciously mix models. 

That one oversight—not knowing your business model—could cost you your entire business. 

On the flip side, having a clear understanding of your business model (and setting boundaries around doing things outside of that model) could skyrocket you to the next level.

I hope this article has opened your eyes and got you excited for what’s to come.

If it has, and you’re interested in exploring the business models I find most effective for the experts and online business owners I help write and publish books, take a look at my own (free) book Make ‘Em Beg to Be Your Client ….

About the Author

You Might Also Like…