If you’re a health or life coach trying to grow your coaching business while also working a full-time job, you’ll know the feeling. You sit down on a Wednesday evening, already tired from the day, and wonder how on earth you’re meant to fit everything in. How do you make real progress when your business only gets the leftover bits of your week?

I’ve been there. I started my business in 2012 while I was working full time, and my son arrived in 2014, so there was always something big taking up my time. That’s how so many of my clients start out too. It can feel like a lot, but it is figureoutable. You just need a slightly different approach to someone who has all day, every day to work on their business.

So here’s the step-by-step plan I’d suggest if you want your coaching business to keep growing alongside your full-time job.

Listen to this episode on The Wholehearted Business Show Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts / Listen on Spotify

Get clear on the end goal

The first thing to do is get really clear on what you actually want this to look like.

Is your goal to replace your full-time income and run your coaching business full time? Would you like to drop down to part-time hours and coach alongside? Is coaching more of a longer-term plan, maybe something for when you retire? I’ve worked with people in all of these situations, and each one needs a slightly different approach.

Some people don’t want to leave paid employment at all, and that’s completely valid. I’m actually a big fan of the multi-hyphenate approach where it’s the right fit (Emma Gannon’s book The Multi-Hyphen Method is a great read on this). When I first started out, I wasn’t only coaching. I ran workshops in the community and did paid work with brands too. My income streams were varied, and so was the work.

Once you know your goal, put some rough timescales around it. Generally speaking, giving yourself plenty of time to make the transition makes sense. And it’s okay if your goal changes along the way. That’s often part of the journey.

It’s also worth remembering that having a job while you grow your business comes with some real upsides. You don’t have the same financial pressure, and that can completely shift the energy you show up with. It can also make it easier to invest in the support and tools that will help your business grow. Financial stability is a gift, not a failure.

Find your time slots and stick with them

ext, carve out some regular time slots in your week that are your business hours. Maybe that’s Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings, or whatever works for your life.

This is where you have to be quite boundaried with yourself and with others. When you already work full time, those slots have a sneaky habit of disappearing. Life happens, people want to see you, other things creep in. Before you know it, you haven’t worked on your business for three weeks.

I’m not saying you have to be rigid about it. But block the slots out in your actual calendar (or at least your mental one) so you’re not booking other things over them.
What makes this easier is regularly reconnecting with your why. Growing a business alongside a job can feel like a sacrifice, because you’re giving it your precious free time. So remind yourself why starting and growing a coaching business matters so much to you. That’s what will keep you showing up for those slots when the sofa is calling.

You can grow a coaching business in less time!

Make a plan

Once you know your goal and when you’ll work on it, make a plan for how you’ll get there.

Here’s the thing. Often the problem isn’t capacity (although lots of us do struggle with that). The problem is that we finally sit down to work and have no bloody clue what we should be doing. Then that precious hour disappears into scrolling, tinkering or second-guessing.

So work out what needs to be done, what needs to happen first, and what comes after that. If you’re starting from scratch, the first few months usually involve some set-up projects: your website, your messaging, your email list. After that, it’s more about the ongoing marketing and visibility that brings clients in.

When you’re building your plan, make sure it includes strategies designed for sustainable growth. That means things that keep paying back your time and energy over the long term, rather than things you have to keep doing over and over just to stay visible. I’m assuming you want a coaching business that’s still here in five or ten years, and that’s the kind of foundation you’ll need.

Count in your client delivery time

This one catches a lot of people out.

You only have a limited amount of time, so everything you do falls into one of two buckets: delivering to clients, or growing your business. When you’re working full time, those two start competing much sooner.

Here’s what can happen. You attract some lovely clients, and your time goes into delivering for them. Your marketing quietly stops. Then those clients finish, you look up, and you’re back at zero with no one in the pipeline. It becomes a rollercoaster of clients and income, and it’s exhausting.

So think carefully about what your client delivery needs to look like to be sustainable. How many clients can you comfortably work with while still keeping your marketing ticking over?

I’d also keep your offer really simple to deliver to begin with. And yes, I’m still a big fan of 1:1 coaching here. I know some people will tell you to create a group programme or a digital product straight away. But when you’re working full time, those are unlikely to bring in enough income to get you to the next stage. 1:1 work takes more time, but it usually gets you to the income you need much more quickly.

Figure out what your tipping point is

Finally, if your goal is to go full time in your coaching business, work out what your tipping point is.

Lots of coaches get to a point where things are going really well. They’ve got clients and the business is growing, and then they hit a wall. They don’t have any more hours in the week to take on more clients or grow further, but they’re not yet earning enough to replace their full-time income.

Let’s get real for a sec: the tipping point usually comes way before the finances fully match your salary. At some point, you’ll need to take a bit of a leap.

So define it now. Maybe it’s “once I’m consistently earning £1,000 or £2,000 a month from coaching”. Then think about what the next step looks like. Could you reduce your hours first? Do you need a financial buffer in place to make the jump feel safer? Could you pick up another related income stream that isn’t coaching?

For me, it came when I was on maternity leave and my employer was going through redundancies. It felt like the universe was nudging me out of the door. I remember having a real panicked moment when I lost one of my other income streams. It turned out to be absolutely fine, but I won’t pretend it didn’t feel scary at the time. Whatever your version looks like, it’ll probably feel a bit outside your comfort zone. That’s normal.

Knowing your tipping point means you’re working towards something clear, rather than flitting about and never quite getting where you want to go.

A quick recap

If you want to grow your coaching business while working full time:

• Get clear on your end goal, whether that’s full time, part time, a multi-hyphenate mix or something for later in life
• Carve out regular time slots and protect them
• Make a plan so you always know what to work on
• Keep your offer simple and factor in your client delivery time
• Know your tipping point so you know when to make your move
• Focus on sustainable strategies that build assets for the future

Want some personal support?

If you’d love some individual help to work out your plan, I have a few Clarity Call slots available through October and into the first half of November, at a special rate for now. It’s an hour for you and me to dig into whatever you’re stuck on, and you’ll come away much clearer, with some solid next steps.

And if you’re in the first couple of years of your business and want support for the long haul, Wholehearted Business® is my 12-month group programme for building an aligned, sustainable marketing and client attraction strategy.

Are you growing your coaching business alongside a full-time job? I’d love to hear how it’s going. Come and say hi on Instagram.

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