OTs Gone Rogue

EPISODE 059 | Navigating the Startup Phase of a Coaching Business

April 17, 2023 Melissa LaPointe Episode 59
EPISODE 059 | Navigating the Startup Phase of a Coaching Business
OTs Gone Rogue
More Info
OTs Gone Rogue
EPISODE 059 | Navigating the Startup Phase of a Coaching Business
Apr 17, 2023 Episode 59
Melissa LaPointe

Welcome to the third episode in our Clinician to Coach Series! 

In this six-part series, I'm sharing resources and strategies to help you start and grow your coaching business to consistent $5K and even $10K months without overwhelm or burnout.

In today's episode, you're going to hear me talk about: 

  • The steps you need to take to actually start that coaching business
  • How to get clear on your numbers, including your baseline revenue and how to know what to pay yourself
  • Why validating your idea is one of the most important steps to starting a business
  • Questions to ask when talking to your prospective clients 
  • How to fine tune your elevator pitch
  • Resources to help support you on this journey

And remember, it's my mission to get this series into the ears of as many OTs as possible! Meaning if you enjoyed today's episode, please help me to spread the word. Better yet, take a screen shot, post it to Instagram or Facebook and tag our @otsgonerogue account.

If you want to connect with me directly, you can reach out via DM on Instagram @otsgonerogue or by email (simply hit reply to one of our weekly email newsletters).

You can also connect with me through our Facebook page  @otsgonerogue or by going to our contact form, https://www.otsgonerogue.com/podcast-contact.

For the latest show notes and full episodes, make sure you head over to otsgonerogue.com/podcast

If you don't want to miss any future episodes including the upcoming episodes in the series, make sure you're subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you listen to podcasts. And thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of the OTs Gone Rogue podcast! 

Show Notes Transcript

Welcome to the third episode in our Clinician to Coach Series! 

In this six-part series, I'm sharing resources and strategies to help you start and grow your coaching business to consistent $5K and even $10K months without overwhelm or burnout.

In today's episode, you're going to hear me talk about: 

  • The steps you need to take to actually start that coaching business
  • How to get clear on your numbers, including your baseline revenue and how to know what to pay yourself
  • Why validating your idea is one of the most important steps to starting a business
  • Questions to ask when talking to your prospective clients 
  • How to fine tune your elevator pitch
  • Resources to help support you on this journey

And remember, it's my mission to get this series into the ears of as many OTs as possible! Meaning if you enjoyed today's episode, please help me to spread the word. Better yet, take a screen shot, post it to Instagram or Facebook and tag our @otsgonerogue account.

If you want to connect with me directly, you can reach out via DM on Instagram @otsgonerogue or by email (simply hit reply to one of our weekly email newsletters).

You can also connect with me through our Facebook page  @otsgonerogue or by going to our contact form, https://www.otsgonerogue.com/podcast-contact.

For the latest show notes and full episodes, make sure you head over to otsgonerogue.com/podcast

If you don't want to miss any future episodes including the upcoming episodes in the series, make sure you're subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you listen to podcasts. And thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of the OTs Gone Rogue podcast! 

You're listening to the OTs Gone Rogue Podcast, where we inspire therapists to think outside the box and do things differently. I'm your host, Melissa LaPointe. My passion is in helping OT entrepreneurs have a bigger impact on the world while building a life they love and doing transformative work that lights them up. 

On each episode of the show, I'm going to share tools and tricks to help you flex your entrepreneurial muscles and grow your business from the inside out. I want to see more OTs step up as visionary leaders, change makers and influential CEOs. So let's get started.

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the OTs Gone Rogue Podcast. More specifically, welcome back to the clinician to coach series. I'm your host Melissa LaPointe. And this is the six part series where I am sharing my best strategies to help you start your coaching business and grow it to consistent 5k and even 10k months without overwhelm or burnout. So let's do a bit of a recap of what we've covered so far. 

We kicked things off with our first episode where we pulled back the curtain on the dark side of coaching. We touched on why healthcare professionals are burning out. We also talked about the trends and opportunities in the coaching industry. We talked about the concerns around industry regulation, or lack thereof. And you learned some of the potential issues with coaching certification programs. Last but not least, you learned that there's more to the conversation in terms of what we need to consider as health professionals who are navigating the coaching world. In the second episode of our series, we talked about what coaching is, and what coaching is not. More specifically, we unpackaged how coaching is different from therapy, and how consulting is different from coaching. 

My intention with that episode was to help you clearly differentiate what you're doing as a coach, or as a therapist, and how to keep things separate. I want you to leave that episode with a better understanding of how you can step up as a coach and how you can practice with confidence, but also in a way that's ethical, and in line with your morals and your values. On today's episode, I want to talk about the steps you need to take to actually start that coaching business. Because there has never been a better time to start a business that allows you to work on your own schedule, where you have the flexibility to work from wherever a business that can support a comfortable lifestyle for you and your family. 

A business where work doesn't feel like work because you're doing something you love, and you're making a meaningful difference in people's lives. And here's the thing with this type of business, you don't have to raise venture capital or take out 10s of 1000s of dollars in loans to get started. This type of business model is relatively low risk. You don't have to rent office space, you don't have to invest in equipment or assessment tools. You don't need an EMR system, you don't need billing or even admin support in the beginning stages. Technology is now more affordable and user friendly than ever. All you really need Well, we're gonna go through a checklist of what you need a but essentially a combination of social media and content marketing. And you can create some amazing resources to reach those first paying clients. 

Speaking of which, so how do you actually start a coaching business? And how do you get those paying clients? That's what we're going to be covering today. So this is another masterclass type episode where we are going to be covering quite a bit of information, and you have options, you can 100% take notes, if that is your preferred learning style. You can also check out the show notes so go to otsgonerogue.com/podcast. And you can go to another resource section that we've created for you. So any of the handouts, the checklist that I'm referencing, you can now find them at otsgonerogue.com/resources. All right, so Let's dive in. 

Now, before we get into my business checklist and the nitty gritty of starting a business, there are two important questions I want you to ask yourself. The first question is, how much time do you have available to work on your coaching business. When I first got started with coaching clients, I was still working in my brick and mortar therapy practice. Notice I said in not on, meaning I was still running around dealing with all the day to day tasks of having a therapy practice, I was still seeing clients, I was still doing paperwork, I was still doing the majority of my own billing and admin work, I was still cleaning the office space watering the flowers and the plants. I was doing it all. I had a shortened work day that revolved around my son's school schedule. 

So I was also doing, you know, getting ready for school in the morning, driving him to school doing school pickup, I was taking a lot of self-directed courses. And what I did in the evenings depended on my husband's work schedule. So I was still looking after the animals looking after the house, I had a lot of different things on the go. So I would say I had anywhere from 25 to 30 hours a week for work, sometimes more, sometimes less, but it was very unpredictable. And these hours were broken up. So my energy was being pulled in a million different directions. 

Meaning I didn't have a lot of time to invest in my coaching business, it was very much something that I was growing off the side of my plate slowly and gradually. Now other people can dive in with both feet, they're ready to go full time, bring it on, there is not a wrong or a right way. I want you to get clear on how much time you have to do this, so that you're not comparing yourself to others. And you're staying focused on your own journey. This is about putting those blinders on eyes straight ahead focus on your own road. 

The second question that I want you to ask yourself is around money. And this is actually a two part question. So the first part of this question is how much money do you have to fund your business? I'm going to assume you're not going out and getting a business loan right off the bat. I'm going to assume that the majority of you who are listening to this episode are bootstrappers, you are self funding this endeavor. So how much do you really need to invest to get your coaching business started? Well, your startup costs can be minimal. It's basically filing the paperwork to establish your business, opening a bank account, and a stripe or a PayPal account. 

Once you get your first few clients, you can slowly invest in a very simple website, I'm going to talk about that in a moment. You can commit to an online scheduler. So again, you can do this before you get those first few clients or after. But an online scheduler you can get a Calendly account for free. And again, your email marketing system. You don't have to do this right away. This can be in the early stages, again, can be before after those first few clients. When I started my coaching business, I had access to a $10,000 line of credit. 

I invested part of that into working with a coach. I invested part of that into training and professional development. And then I invested a large chunk of that on a fancy website with a fancy logo. If I were to start over knowing what I know now, I would spend 100 bucks on a simple drag and drop website Squarespace, for example. I would sign up for a free Calendly account. And I would focus most of my energy on getting on Discovery calls to book a few one to one clients before making any other big investments. 

All right before we go much further into the details of startup stage of business, because I know can be a little bit of playing in the weeds here. But I want to back up because I said that I had a two part question for you around money. So the first one how much money do you have to in invest in starting your coaching business. But the second part of that question is I want you to think about or ask yourself, how much and when do you need to get paid? That's a really big question to ask. Once you get your business up and running, what is the timeline for needing that business to become profitable enough to pay you? And how much does it need to pay you? 

Do you know your base line numbers. Now, your inclination might be to say, oh, my gosh, it has to pay me right away, I want money. That's why I'm doing this. I want to be paid tomorrow. But I want you to slow down. And I want you to be strategic about this. It costs money to run and grow a business, even when you keep your costs to a minimum. A big mistake that I see from a lot of OTs going into business, especially a business where, again, this concept of working from wherever building an online revenue stream, do, I dare say, you know, talk of passive revenue, which that's a whole episode and in and of itself, but I see a lot of OTs assuming that their salary goal is their revenue goal. 

So if I can build a coaching business and have 5k months, that means I'm going to pay myself 5k. That is not the case. Meaning if your business makes $1,000 a month, that doesn't mean your business can pay you $1,000 a month, again, I'm going to repeat, it takes money to start and grow a business, even a business that has relatively low overhead. When I first started my business, I was very fortunate, I fully admit I was coming from a place of privilege. 

Because first of all, we didn't have a lot of overhead, we had a relatively low cost of living and we didn't have a lot of debt. And we had planned on living off of my husband's salary for the first two years. So he had a pretty solid job, he had good benefits, he had a pension. And we were able to make ends meet without me needing to pay myself. That took a lot of pressure off of me in the beginning stages of my business and gave me a little bit of freedom and flexibility to figure out what the heck I was doing. And as I was generating revenue, I was able to invest it back into the business. 

Now that all changed when a few years into my business, we put max into both preschool and daycare. So he was in a preschool program. And then we had him in part time daycare. And at that point, expenses started to go up. So I had to make enough money to start covering the extra expenses. And the increased cost of living, there was extra pressure on me. Now once I had Max, I was also adamant that we fly across the country every single year to spend time with my extended family. Truth be told, this was a point of contention for my husband. 

So the first couple of years Max's flight, I didn't have to pay for an extra flight, he sat on my lap, which was a challenge. And another way, the child who never stopped moving and doesn't like things over his ears and is sensitive to noise and light and doesn't like to sleep. So lots of stories around travel. But you know, going back home every year for me spending time with my siblings, my auntie's, my uncle's, my cousins, my parents being on my island, and having Mac's experience that it was so important to me. And it was an it is a really big expense. flying across Canada is not cheap. 

But it was a non negotiable for me. So that was another priority for me in my business. I wanted to be profitable enough within the first couple of years, to pay for daycare to pay for preschool, and to pay for our flights and our trips back east each and every year. So that's a little bit about my story and where I was coming from in terms of knowing my baseline numbers, and knowing when and how much I wanted my business to be paying me. So with all that being said, How much do you want to make in your business in the next two years? 

What do you want your take home salary to be? And how does that take home salary translate into how much revenue you should be generating as a business. Because again, even a low overhead business has expenses. And when you don't have enough money, when you don't have a budget to run and grow your business, it's really easy to wind up not being able to pay yourself enough. The good news is that you can easily reverse engineer this number. So there is a great resource for figuring this out. It's a formula that he talks about in his book. 

So I'm referring to Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. In his book, in his overview of this formula, he explains that for businesses generating under 250k per year, the formula that you want to be looking at or utilizing is 50%, paying yourself as the owner 30% of your gross revenue goes towards operations 15% goes towards taxes, and 5% towards profit. Now, those are your milestones. Those are the benchmarks that you were aiming for. And that's a really straightforward explanation. 

So obviously, he goes into much more detail in his book gives you spreadsheets to work with solid breakdown, so that you can understand how to move this money around and what that might look like. And if you're brand new to business, you're most likely not going to be jumping in to all these different accounts that he suggests, and to a 5% profit margin, or even 30% operations in your first six months. Maybe when you start your business, you are doing a cash infusion into your business. 

So from personal line of credit or savings, you're doing a small cash infusion to get the wheels turning. And then when you start to generate a when you start to make money when you're generating revenue, maybe you're starting at 1% profit 39% operations 10% taxes, not giving tax advice. But generally in the first year, you have a lot of you have more overhead compared to revenue. So typically your first year, you're pretty healthy in terms of taxes, and 50% is the owner, or maybe in the beginning, you are only able to pay yourself 40% Of as the owner, start somewhere. And Mike talks you through this. 

So every quarter, you set a new What is your current allocated percentage, and what is your target allocated percentage. So each quarter, you set a new goal, you set new baselines that you're aiming for. Ultimately, with this formula, you can see that in order for you to achieve your salary goals, your revenue needs to be roughly double your desired salary. So this is really eye opening for a lot of people. All right, so we've talked about numbers, you have a better idea of how to approach your numbers, I've got some resources for you, in terms of one of them is knowing your baseline. 

And to get an idea of what it is you're actually looking at. I am all about leading with your heart. But we have to find balance between using our head, our heart and our gut in how we are growing and evolving as business owners. So now let's talk about what you need to do to actually start making money or to actually set up your business. When I'm mentoring or coaching other OTs, through the early stages of entrepreneurship, I always emphasize that there are three general stages of business. We have the startup phase, or the startup stage, then we have the growth phase. And then we have the scale phase. 

Now it's not this perfect little box. It's not Oh, I'm in startup and I've checked everything off, I'm going to go into growth, check everything off, and then I'm in scale. It's more this fluid movement where we're in the startup stage. If we can get like 80% of our checklists completed, we move into growth. But then if we make a pivot, or if we create a new offer, we may put one foot back into startup phase. And while we're in the growth phase, there may be some pieces to scaling that starts to catch our eye. 

So it's not that you're gonna go from one box or one category, you know, a clean cut on to the next. But still I like to have some type of linear progression so people can wrap their heads around what it is they're going to be focusing on in this moment. So for the purpose of today's episode, we're going to hone in on what hap wins during the startup stage.

So the startup stage is all about learning the basics and setting up a strong foundation for your business venture. It's hands down the most challenging stage of business, because there is a lot of unknown territory. And this is where you're going to fail the most. The startup phase is where you're likely to work the hardest and generate the least amount of revenue. This is where so your focus during this stage of business is to test your ideas, to research your potential clients and decide on the problem you're going to solve. 

You're going to figure out the problem you're going to solve at the right price point for the right people. Your ultimate goal in the startup stage is to fail, fail hard and fail fast. Which Yes, for my overachieving friends, my friends who may be a little bit on the perfectionist side that type A personality, I am radio with you it is mentally hard work. But you have to put yourself out there before you have a beautiful storefront before you have the perfect logo. Why? 

Because I don't want you to invest your valuable resources, your time, your money, your energy, into designing your brand colors into creating that perfect logo into creating that perfect website, or making these aesthetically pleasing handouts, these beautiful videos, I don't want you to do all that only to later learn that people don't actually want what you have to offer. Says the story of my first website people Oh, to go back in time, I would have made my life so much easier. 

But I have a lot of good stories to tell. All right. Now that you know that the name of the game in startup is to put yourself out there. So one of the goals is to get your program your service in front of as many people as quickly as possible. Sounds a bit scary, doesn't it? But don't worry, you are not alone. I am here to walk you through this. Alright, so the first thing you need to do is get clarity on the problem that you're going to be solving and who you're going to be working with. 

So some questions you can ask yourself, what skills do you have? What are you trained to do? What problems can you solve? Who needs that solution? And of all the people that need that solution? Who are you most attracted to work with? You want to do work that you love and serve people that you love. You want to get really clear on this? And are the people that you want to help? Are they actively looking for that solution? Are they coachable? Do they want to be coached? Are they in a position to pay money for that solution? These are all questions that we want to be asking ourselves. And then we want to think about how we provide that solution. So are we looking at one on one intensive? Are we doing more of a coaching consulting blend? What might that look like? 

Ultimately, do we want to bring it to more of a membership model? Are we going for a group coaching program, but I'm going to rein you in a little bit. We're not going to do a deep dive on that quite yet. We're going to talk about that here in a moment. Right. So asking yourself these questions, you're going to get more narrowed down. So you're gonna get more focused on a specific niche on a specific problem that you can solve. And all of this is going to help it's going to become so much easier to get your business off the ground. Alright, so a little bit more focused. 

Now comes the most important step of starting a business. It is all about validating your idea. You want to make sure that you have something that people actually want to buy before you invest a lot of time, energy and money into developing it. How do you validate that idea? You talk to people, yes, you can do market research. But I want you to expand your efforts beyond market research. I want you to have real conversations with real people. If you can't find 10 

People who are willing to talk with you who are willing to share their experience and their challenges and their struggles with this particular problem that you want to help them to solve. If you can't find 10 people, it's going to be really difficult to build a business around that idea. And until you've had these initial conversations, it's going to be really challenging to hone in on your messaging. And to get clear on the wording that you want to use in your marketing materials. 

This is where it all comes together, talking to your people, keeping in mind that when we're talking to our people, when we're having these initial conversations, the purpose of these conversations, it's not to pitch yourself. These initial conversations, I want you to go into it with the frame of mind that you are doing research on what your potential clients truly want, and what they'll pay for. In one of my lessons, so I have a mini course that covers a lot of this content. 

We've called it zero to 10, for good reason. And this is where I take people through the process of so how they can know their ideal avatar, but also informational, interviewing, so different ways that they can serve a people in their audience. Heard of with informational interviewing, so this is where you're sitting down. So it could be virtual, it could be in person. So sitting down with someone who meets the criteria of their ideal client avatar and having a conversation. This could be with a follower on social media, it could be with a friend of a friend, or a friend of a family member, or a customer of your business. 

The purpose of these conversations, so again, it's not to pitch yourself, it's to better understand that person's perspective and experience, so that you can create more compelling content with that in mind. And again, you're getting so many great ideas on the language that you're going to be using on what you want to bring forward into your marketing. So during an informational interview, I want you to be asking questions like what problems or pain points do they have? So what problems or pain points do they have that your product or that your service can solve for them? 

When it comes to these problems, these challenges these pain points, what solutions have they tried in the past? Were they satisfied? What worked? What didn't work? Were these solutions, things that they paid for? Or were they free? What price point are they looking for? Do they make decisions about purchasing? So products or services based solely on price? I'd love for you to ask questions around their core values, what's driving them? Why is solving this problem? This pain point a priority for them? What's it going to give them in their lives? What are some challenges or frustrations when it comes to trying to solve this problem? So these conversations, these questions that you can ask. 

Listening to the answers, this is going to help you to understand exactly what your dream clients want, and will happily pay for making it so much easier to promote and sell your offering. So once you've validated your idea, I want you to then make sure you can describe what you do. And this is where I cannot say this enough. Your elevator pitch will continue to evolve over time. Meaning get it to where it's good enough. And then the name of the game is practice, practice, practice. If you have ever struggled to describe what you do, trust me, you are not alone. 

Most of us struggle to describe our work in a way that gets people interested. But if you can't clearly articulate what you do, then your potential clients aren't going to understand how you can possibly help them. So let's play around with this little bit. We've already talked about who it is you're going to help. So you've gotten an idea of niching down how you can be more specific on who is going to be your avatar.

We've played around a little bit with what it is you're going to help them with. So what the problem the pain point is. So you can put this into a sentence so I help blank to do blank. So that and I love this so that so this is where with the so that that's where you're you have this opportunity to get clear on the results. So this is the The distinction this is what's going to set you apart. So who do you help? I help so and so to do what? What do you help them with? So I help blank to do blank. So that what's that distinction, get clear on the results. 

So for me, so I help OTs to find freedom and financial security outside of clinical work, so that they can transform what they know, into a sustainable lifestyle business that they love. I didn't start with that. To be clear, it's evolved over time. I've said it out loud. I've practiced. I've watched how people lean in, and I've watched how people's you know, their eyes have glazed over with an elevator pitch. So I'm going to encourage you to practice I'm going to encourage you to brainstorm and play around with this. 

Who exactly do you want to be working with? Are you helping them to overcome something or to experience something? What results? Do you want to help them achieve? What sets you apart? Get the ideas flowing? Write it out, say it out loud, play around with the wording, then can you get it into a sentence? That makes sense. So this is known as your value articulation statement? And then we're gonna try it out. I want you to go to a coffee shop, go to a networking event, walk up to someone and say, Excuse me, do you mind if I run something by you and try it out? See what they have to say? Do they understand what you're getting at? Do they lean in? Do they want to know more? Does it make sense? 

Sometimes, we may be using descriptors or words that makes sense to us, but not to others. 

So I want you to test it out, I want you to get feedback. This is where you're gonna put on that scientist hat, you're gathering data. On that note, you need to take the feedback you're getting with a grain of salt. Are you talking to people who fit your ideal avatar. So I have an elevator pitch. But I also have an elevator pitch to shut down the conversation. 

Meaning if I am at a dinner event with extended family, and these people are not my ideal client, I have learned to develop a thicker skin. And to be intentional with whose feedback I am inviting, and whose feedback I'm not interested in receiving. I have a lot of people in my life who don't understand what I do. And that's okay. I do not need their acceptance, I do not need their support. So I have an elevator pitch that essentially shuts down the conversation around my work. I am polite, I am professional. But I am not wanting my work to necessarily be the topic of a dinner conversation. 

So I have learned over time, how to read my audience, when I want to continue the conversation when I want to use that value articulation statement to go further with someone. But when I want to lean back and shut down my conversation, because I know this isn't where I want to invest my time, my energy, my resources. All right, I had to add that little piece because I know there are going to be people out there that may not support you on this journey. So you have to take it with a grain of salt in terms of how much effort how much of your time, your resources, you're going to invest in those conversations. 

All right, so now let's talk about how exactly you're going to help your people. And again, this evolves over time. You might already be thinking about creating passive income products or a group coaching programs. But in the beginning, the fastest pathway to generating revenue is working one on one. There is a reason why this is the third episode in the series. There is a reason why this episode and then next week's episode, which goes even further into working one on one. 

There is a reason why these come before the episode on signature programs. There is this hype in the online space that you have to move away from trading time for money and move towards leveraged products or leveraged offers as soon as possible. In order to be profitable, but for service based entrepreneurs, including coaches and cash base therapists, one on one services are the perfect foundation for creating a solid baseline revenue in your business. We're going to talk more about this next week. 

But there are so many benefits to starting off with one on one, it's much easier to fill your client docket, it's much easier to hit your revenue goals. You don't have to have a huge audience. So you can get private one on one clients by tapping into your existing network. You don't have to stress about website traffic or social media followings, or even building email lists. You don't need a complicated webinar or sales funnel, all you need to get started with one on one coaching clients is a conversation with a potential client. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you work on a per session or a per hour basis with your clients. If that's the approach you're going to be taking, you're always going to be hustling to get clients in your calendar. And because your clients aren't truly committed to the work, your revenue is going to be inconsistent. So there's a reason there is a reason why I suggest coaching packages or coaching programs. It better serves you as the business owner. 

And it also better serves your client. So let's be real for a moment. If you have a one off session with a client, as amazing as that session might be, it most likely is not going to make a massive impact for them long term. Now, I don't want to jump ahead on this. So this is where the last episode. So the sixth episode in this series, we are going to take a closer look, we're going to be breaking down what it is to create your signature program and how you can think in terms of packages. 

So we're going to be covering that content. But I want to continue working on building a strong foundation for your business. So for the rest of today's episode, I want to leave you with concrete steps to take in setting up your business. And maybe you're already well into your business, but you're realizing you skipped a few steps. So you may want to come back and again work on that infrastructure work on that foundation, before you jump too far ahead. So far, we've touched on knowing your numbers. We've talked about getting clear on what you have to invest in your business. So both in terms of money and time. 

And we've talked about validating your business idea. Now, when it comes to marketing and sales, when in the startup stage, I've insinuated this in a few different points, but it is all about selling one to one, it is all about high touch strategies. So notice that I haven't been talking about sales funnels or email marketing, or even websites, we're not there yet, you need to know your ideal clients, you need to know them better, you need to know the language that they're using. And you need to build a bigger audience before it's worth investing in more complicated marketing tools and strategies. So we'll get there. 

But we're going to take this baby steps doing this. Now I'm all about slow, gradual work being intentional. This is part of my whole approach to having a sustainable lifestyle business. If you want it to be sustainable, we want to make sure we have a strong foundation for growth. Now your revenue in this stage, so in startup, your revenue can be all over the board. This is where we often get into this feast or famine cycle. But I want you to stay focused on hitting that zero to 10 milestone, which is all about selling your program your product or your service to 10 clients with the least amount of overhead and the least complicated tech stack.

Your first year of business is the hardest year in business. And if you can stay focused on what I covered in today's episode, you are light years ahead of a lot of people. You have to slow down and build a solid foundation for this work if you want it to be sustainable. When you try to skip ahead, you're setting yourself up for a lot of frustration. There are no shortcuts. We all have to go through the startup stage of business before we can reach the next stage of business growth. And I encourage you to get out Help, I thought I had to figure this all out on my own and actually make money before investing in help. I wasted a lot of money and a lot of time by focusing on the wrong things at the wrong time. 

So if you're in the startup stage of a coaching business, and you don't have a mentor or an advisor or a business coach, I'm going to encourage you to not be shy. We have a number of different ways that we support OTs through this transition, I would love for you to reach out to me and I can share more about the different ways that we can support you. And as for a concrete, a checklist of things that you should be focusing on as you make your way through this stage, I want you to go and download the checklist that I created for you. I also have a naming guide. And I have a spreadsheet for figuring out your baseline numbers. 

These resources are free, and they are going to make your life so much easier. So you can find them by going to our website. So otsgonerogue.com/resources. Okay, so there you have it, my friends, I hope you enjoyed our third episode on the clinician to coach series. In next week's episode, we're going to talk more about the benefits of working one on one as a coach, and coaching skill mastery. 

In the fifth episode, we'll focus on marketing and how to actually get more of those paying clients. And last but not least, we're going to wrap this series up with our sixth episode, all about creating your signature coaching program. And as a reminder, I am on a mission to get this series into the ears of as many OTS as possible. 

If you're enjoying this content, take a screenshot and share it on social media. Or take a moment and personally recommend this series to an OT friend or colleague. Better yet, go to Apple podcasts and leave us a review. If you don't want to miss any future episodes, including the upcoming episodes in this series. Make sure you subscribe to the show on Apple podcasts on Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you listen to podcasts. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the OTs Gone Rogue Podcast and I'll see you next week.