Starting a new business is a scary concept; most people will have doubts, fears, and concerns about whether or not they’re making the right decisions. And sometimes to block out that fear, people will simply keep pushing forward without stopping to think.

I’m here to tell you that it’s a mistake to do that, sometimes you have to face the scary things in order to succeed. So today I’d like to talk about five scary questions you need to face and answer early on in your coaching business journey.

1 – What Type Of Coaching Business Would You Like To Start?

This particular question is scary because once you answer it, you have to stick with it. This can lead to decision paralysis very easily, but it doesn’t have to! At the end of the day, you want to start your coaching business for a reason. By exploring that reason, you’ll probably find the answer to this question quite easily.

For instance, if you want to start a coaching business because you want to earn a lot of money so you can live comfortably and pass on that income to future generations then you’ll probably want to choose a coaching niche that allows that to happen.

You’d want to create a passive business that allows you to generate funds while working on other money-making projects. And you might want to choose something like life coaching over career coaching, because life coaches make more on average.

But if you had a different priority, such as sharing your passion with the world. Then you’d want to choose a business model and niche based around your passion.

The Answer – Figure out what your motivation for starting the business is, and go from there.

2 – What Are Your Qualifications For The Subject You’re Coaching?

This question is scary for a different reason than the last; and it’s frightening to think about because it requires us to evaluate ourselves and our skills. But you need to know the answer in order to know where to go from there. And to be more specific, there are actually two questions in this section…

• How much do you know about the subject?
• How well known are you in relation to the subject?

When I’m talking about qualifications, I’m referring to not only what you’re literally qualified to teach but also what people believe you are qualified to teach. But let’s just tackle the first question first.

How well do you know the subject? If you’ve chosen a coaching niche that you’re passionate about, then you’re probably very experienced in it. But if you’ve chosen a coaching niche based on some other factor then you may not know much at all. If that’s the case, then you need to identify it, and work towards learning more before you officially start offering your services. Because the student before you become the master!

How well known are you in relation to the subject? This second question is important because ultimately many coaching business’s successes are all about credibility. The more well known you are, the more attention you’ll get; and if you’re known to be good at the thing you’re coaching about, the more people will trust that they’ll get the result they’re looking for.

But if you aren’t well known at this point, don’t worry! Credibility will come with time, you just need to be aware of where you’re at right now because it will affect how much advertising you need to do, price points, etc.

3 – Do You Want A 1:1 Coaching Program?

This decision is likely one of the least scary to make, because you can always adjust the model of your coaching business slightly as you grow and expand. Although it’s undoubtedly more simple if you can choose your preferred model from the beginning.

But before you ever start your coaching business journey, you need to figure out if your coaching style is best suited for one-on-one sessions or for other types of business models. For instance, some people do group coaching, seminars, or online courses instead of the more personal approach.

Personally, I always advocate for online courses and coaching opportunities because it allows you to spread your message further and your growth won’t be capped by the limitations of time, since that’s a common issue for scaling as a one-on-one coach.

But it all depends on your style, how you think you can best get your message across, and your vision for your business.

4 – Do You Know Enough About Your Ideal Client?

This one is another question in which you’ll need to take an honest look at yourself in order to get to the answer. And you really need the answer if you want to be able to create an optimized business strategy, because knowing your target demographic is a big part of that.

If, after some self reflection, you realize that you don’t have a clear enough picture of your ideal customer then you can always begin to develop one. In fact, we even discuss how to do market research for your coaching business in this article if you want to check it out!

Once you’ve done enough research and have developed a good understanding of who you’re marketing towards, you can ask yourself the final question of this post…

5 – What Transformation Will My Clients Go Through During My Service?

Now you can see why knowing your ideal client actually affects the answer to this question! Because this inquiry is all about figuring out what you’re offering future clients and what you want their end result to be after they work with you. But you have to have a basic understanding of the clients you’re looking for before you can determine these things.

So with your ideal customer in mind, you need to figure out what problem of theirs that you’re looking to solve with your coaching business. And also decide what you want their result to be; do you want to fix their problem yourself, do you simply want to give them the tools to fix their problem, etc.

Just like you need a full picture of who your client is, you need a full picture of what you hope your business will provide them with too!

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And those are the five scary questions I think you need to explore before diving into your coaching business! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope this post has been a help you!