The Business of Coaching: How to Pick the Best Business Model for You

Emily Merrell and Lexie Smith touch on the various types of coaching business models and programs on the market: masterminds, group coaching, one on one coaching, and beyond. They share their own experiences with different programs and provide advice and tips on how to pick the best business model for you and your business. 

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• Variations on types of programs for coaches out there
• How do you go about selecting what is the right structure for you and your business
• Their advice on when someone is ready to start group coaching
• Tips for how to go about starting a group coaching program
• About starting with one on one coaching, and why it’s typically best
• Tips on when to do masterminds vs group programs 
• Advice on what types of programs are the best fit for your client at a given stage of business or life
• And More!

Follow Em & Lex on Instagram at @readysetcoachprogram

Learn more about the Ready Set Coach Program at Readysetcoachprogram.com

Learn more about Six Degrees Society and THEPRBAR inc.

Transcript

The Business of Coaching: How to Pick the Best Business Model for You - Podcast Transcript

Lexie Smith 

Why hello, my friend,

Emily Merrell 

my friend, how are you?

Lexie Smith 

Good. I'm going to dive right in with a question. What would people not be able to learn on Google about you?

Emily Merrell 

What would people not be able to learn on Google about being blacks? I may have to mention this in one of our shows. But I was born with four extra adult teeth.

Lexie Smith 

That's right, because I have four missing adult teeth. Yes, yes. Clearly we were meant to be they were

Emily Merrell 

meant to be we fill in the holes for each other literally. I think another fun fact is I went to the Oscars and it gets We'll do that one.

Lexie Smith 

We'll see it. Can you find this on Google Now? Because we post the transcriptions. Emily, you got to dig deeper?

Emily Merrell 

No, I don't think you can find it on Google. I wasn't in the Oscars. I was at the Oscars. I I used to knit more often. I just found my knitting stuff back home. I needed what I made a curl. I just don't know how to get it off the knitting thing. So if you know how to knit or like

Lexie Smith 

what's bent when did you at work? Ashlyn is joining us today, by the way, guys just calling that out at what phase in your life did you knit?

Emily Merrell 

It was in my babysitting at night phase. So I was not an entrepreneur. Maybe I think I had six degrees. Is it as a side hustle? Potentially, maybe? And oh, I don't know if this is a fun fact. Six Degrees society started off as a supper club.

Lexie Smith 

Soccer Club. Okay. I see all these are all great facts, guys. You're learning so much. Yeah, this one's hard because my fun facts are on my website. So it dwindles. Okay, what can't you learn? I was the Women's Sports Director for as the ASB in high school. I was on Student Government in college should I guess you could probably find that on Google. Okay, I gotta dig deeper. Um, I was probably analog. So you probably couldn't find this on Google. I was big into musical theater growing up and I was Oliver Twist and Oliver Twist for worse Grove Community Theater. And yeah,

Emily Merrell 

I was in musical theater at one point and I was Cinderella's fairy godmothers helpers. Helper.

Lexie Smith 

Okay, so like a mice, a mouse? Yeah, they

Emily Merrell 

like basically had too many people and too few parts. So as a helpers, helper,

Lexie Smith 

helpers, helpers, I mean, basically what I'm learning is how multifaceted we are.

Emily Merrell 

We're, we're so wild. I mean, I think you also know I love making friendship bracelets. And like, I worked in a bead store. Doing wire wrapping. Do you know what wire wrapping is? What wire wrapping jewelry?

Lexie Smith 

Um, I can imagine like, I feel like I've seen it.

Emily Merrell 

Like with the metal and the tools I should have. Oh, my God, I forgot to bring the tools back from Connecticut. Anyways, yeah, I would, I would make all this story. And in fifth grade, my older sister taught me and I was obsessed. And I think I might have like a tinge of an addictive personality. Because when I get into something like I get into it pretty deep. So for example, a book I will literally like, let life pass me by to finish a book.

Lexie Smith 

Um, you also I feel like this is something you do to my husband does this is you, you filter through like you have seasons of hobbies, like you are consistently taking on new hobbies. My husband, for example, to paint color, they're like was really, really into biking at one point. And then really, really into gardening. And then yes, he was he's throughlines is very into like working out but he has these like random hobbies that he'll take on and become super into. I feel like you have seasons of that too.

Emily Merrell 

Maybe. Yeah, I think it's like seasons of need of self development. I need to always keep growing like I think my biggest and greatest fear in life is just to be boring, and to just be like status quo.

Lexie Smith 

I feel that so hard, speaking seasons of life There's my there's probably going to be seasons of your coaching business, Emily. And today we're talking about the different types of coaching program on the market. And when they make sense for your given season of business, oh,

Emily Merrell 

all lacs, I'll kick us off because I feel like you've got your hands full literally.

Lexie Smith 

It's in your naptime. Bear with us. And I just want

Emily Merrell 

to say it's been very fun just watching She literally has this child. She's saying something she's like, she's like, good parenting 101. I think our kids are going to be little moguls, they're going to be little tech moguls. A lot of people know about one on one coaching, right? So one on one coaching can look like a one off coaching call could look like and a power session, that's like 90 minutes, it could look like a VIP day. It could be like a four month program that's ongoing. There's so many different ways to work one on one. Another type of coaching program is a group program and group programs have many different facets to them. So there's masterminds, which is a little bit usually less structured. There's structured group programs, there are hybrid group programs that have a combination of both one on one and group learning. There's module group programs, basically, I bet we could list like at least 20 different variations of group style program.

Lexie Smith 

I think one that's really common that I think is helpful to break down before we get into figuring out which one is best for you because obviously there's a lot of options. What's the difference? Emily, between a mastermind and a group program?

Emily Merrell 

What a wonderful question, Lexi. So a mastermind is when each individual typically they're also bigger masterminds. Each individual has a chance to bring a challenge to the group and have it solved by their group or habit masterminded by the grip. Where group coaching or group live group coaching is usually led by one or two coaches, who leads and answers the questions that are being asked of them. So mastermind is more held by each other, where group coaching is held by one on one individual,

Lexie Smith 

beautiful, I love that I also sometimes think of masterminding as being dating a little bit in the pace of it all. You only have a certain amount of time per individual. Right? So like maybe 10 minutes on the hot seat per person, where in group coaching, you might not even have hot seats in a live group group course. So there are some some nuances for you guys to consider. How do you go about selecting what is the right type for you and your business? What would you advise?

Emily Merrell 

What excellent questions Lex. I'm sorry, I'm feeling I'm feeling a little punchy today? Well, I think first and foremost, one of the things to consider is are you ready for group coaching. And we see a lot of individuals who are helping to start group coaching right out of the gate. And I think one thing to keep in mind is do you have the audience? Do you have the God of the audience to fill a group? And do you have the the context to fill a group fill in a group is definitely a lot more challenging than filling one on one. So in my opinion, I always urge to start one on one. And I think starting one on one is a great place to really hone your coaching expertise to practice holding space for other people for guiding for creating transformations. And then once you've really kind of mastered that, that's when I would structure a group. In my experience, I was really anxious to start group because I didn't I hold my clients one on one where they're at. So a group and narrowing down like an idea of where to lead someone in a group or a group of individuals really intimidated me. So my next immediate step was creating a mastermind. So again, we could meet the people where they're at. And then it wasn't until I met the lovely Lexie Smith and we were able to put our brains together and come up with Ready Set coach where we were able to niche down on a very particular audience. So that's my experience in terms of one on one to mastermind to group.

Lexie Smith 

If you're an ambitious professional, consultant, or business owner, who is feeling called to do more, be more or make more, we'd like to invite you to learn more about Ready Set coach.

Emily Merrell 

Do you feel called to create change help others do something outside of your day to day that generates true impact.

Lexie Smith 

While you may or may not be content with your day job or existing business, do you feel called to dip your toes into something more? Whether it's tapping into another zone of genius or the side hustle is calling your name? Are you ready to explore what being more would look like?

Emily Merrell 

Do you feel like your business or career is leaving money on the table or your look? to launch a new revenue stream or side hustle,

Lexie Smith 

turning your expertise into a coaching revenue stream or side hustle is rewarding, impactful, and a great business model. It's the triple threat, multibillion dollar industry that Perhaps you've been looking for this full time.

Emily Merrell 

If you want to explore more on how to add a coaching revenue stream into your life, we invite you to explore our website ReadySet coach program.com

Lexie Smith 

applications are now open for our 2023 cohort.

Emily Merrell 

Lakhs I want to hear about you like what are your feelings on one on one versus group? And even in terms of energy?

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, so first, I have to give a shout out to a former client of ours and mutual friend Emily McDonald, because I was having a conversation with her. And we kind of came to a revelation together on the phone recently, and group programs not masterminds group programs tend to be really, really effective for a beginning stage of a topic. So launching a new business or learning a new task where there's foundationally, the same things that you can coach to a group. Now, if you want to do a group program, or a volume program, rather, but it's not really for new stage businesses, then I think a mastermind is really phenomenal thing to consider a mastermind can work for new businesses as well. But I whereas a group program might not be able to service a more advanced business owner, I think a mastermind can. So what this is bringing up is a topic about also what's best for your client. And this kind of is backing me into my answer for you. I think for ReadySet coach, the format we have which is hybrid group with one on one and community is exactly what is needed for these women in their stage of business as they're launching and growing, the beginning stages of a coaching business, for the PR bar. However, the people I work with are at a different stage. They have businesses, they have that stuff figured out, they're really ready now to go to that next level and elevate their thought leadership and their visibility. And that becomes really beneficial to work through one on one. So I do all one on one programs at the PR bar to my clients benefit. It also allows me personally as a coach to give ample time and consideration to to a customized strategy that I have a very niche expertise in. Yeah,

Emily Merrell 

I think that's a good. There's different moments in your career that you'll want group and there's different. There's different moments when you'll want that one on one support. So I think that knowing where you are, as an individual who's seeking out a coach of some sort is an important inventory to take. And then secondly, as a coach to is how do you want to hold space for people? I remember with one of the coaches that I hired, She only did group and I was so resistant to doing group and I think we've talked about this before lacs about doing groups and being like, no, no, I don't want to be in a group and then finding the benefits of being in a group. I turns out, I'm a really competitive person. And I really love showing up to calls and being able to, to have that accountability and have that opportunity to kind of brag about what I was doing to a community that supported me and truly did me

Lexie Smith 

on and then kind of flipside to that I noticed the first coaching program I ever invested in was was a group program and caveat, there are some group programs that are done really, really well and some are not done very well. But I didn't feel like I got enough attention in the group format. So when I invested in my second coach, I selected to go one on one because from my personality type and my stage of business and my knowledge level, I felt like I really wanted 100% of the attention. So again, there's two sides of the coin, because I've been someone who really enjoyed being one on one coach. I also thought at least for the PR bar, it made sense for me to stick one on one. I will say though, I feel like I've said that five times this podcast, our format of ReadySet coach has proved more beneficial to our ladies. And I think we could even initially ever imagine the collaborations that have been involved the coaching that happens with each other, I think because we have a community of coaches specifically. They're the type of people who want to, to teach and to better themselves. So yeah, it's I've had my mind changed a lot through our company about the power of group. Yeah, amazing.

Emily Merrell 

And it's nice to have a have these. How do I say it basically like these teammates, especially in an industry that's very solo driven, where you're doing things alone, you're you're working alone a lot, having that collaboration, having that accountability, having that opportunity for first self development, self reflection and and growth is is phenomenal. So going back to you, going back to like where you are in your own personal coaching journey, you may be someone that's just starting out and you're like, Ah, I love the idea of group, it's only once a week and I can make more money quickly. And I want you to hold that in the back of your your mind. But as a coach and as someone coaching you, I want you to think, how can you start one on one? And how can you really like fine tune your coaching skills before you launch this group program.

Lexie Smith 

That's such an important note, The Benefit Guys to starting one on one is you're going to start to see themes emerge commonalities of things that are coming up within your one on one clients that can inspire the development of a group program. Through that time to you're giving yourself the grace to build a community that when you do launch a group program, you have an audience that's a little more a little bit more warm to launch to, because while it's great and dandy to serve as a group, you know, 10 to 20 people in one call, that also means you have to sell in 10 to 20 people, which is a lot harder than selling one person. So there's kind of, you know, pros and cons to think about there for sure.

Emily Merrell 

Something that we would be remiss not to talk about is also courses. And that's self paced courses or downloadable courses. And oftentimes, I feel like we hear this so much Lex where people are like, I just want to create a course I just want passive income, I don't even want to, I don't even want to coach I want them to do it on their own time. And I'm very pro quo course I love courses. I do want to note that it can be really hard to fill a course or it can be hard to sell a course. So something to be super strategic about before you launch it. Second.

Lexie Smith 

I don't know if this has happened to you lakhs but you've bought a course and you forget to do it, or you don't finish it. Yeah, you know, it's really interesting. We just hosted an event last night and someone actually brought up she thought that there's more value in the online course because you know, that content lives with them for life. And we kind of highlighted that point that you just brought up. So many people buy courses and don't finish them. One of the advantages to a program over a course is the accountability. So of course, this can be great for passive income, if you have a audience or community to sell them to or if you're someone who really wants to play in the advertising space, and you have, you know, a funnel that runs without you. Sure, great and dandy don't we all have to wake up to money in our bank account. But if impact is weighing on your heart, definitely do see more impacts happening and programs because there is that live accountability and coaching component 100%. So, in saying all of this, to recap, we want you to take inventory of what you're working on, and if it is the right time for you to create a group. But if you're just getting started, we recommend starting with one on one, before you launch anything beyond that do one on one really well before venturing into group hybrid mastermind, etc. So x, what is the homework gonna be this week. So your homework for this week is to make a list of the things that you want out of your coaching program can't that's one list. And then I want you to make a second list of the resources available to you. So what I mean for an example, maybe out of coaching you want routine, regular recurring income, or you really want to impact as many people as you possibly can. Or maybe that sounds overwhelming, and you only want to work with one person at a time. So that's your want list on the resources available. What do you have? Do you have time? Do you have capital? Do you own are you doing this as a side hustle. So you can only do this in evenings. And I want you to look at that list those two lists and see what is matching up and what is clashing? Because it's a combination of those two lists that can point you towards the format that makes

Emily Merrell 

sense. I think that's great. So with that, we are going to wrap up this episode, and we will see you the next time on the ReadySet. Coach podcast. If you're enjoying the ReadySet coach podcast please leave a review wherever you are listening. For more information about Ready Set, coach, Visit Ready Set coach program.com