If you’re a coach who’s already attracting clients but you’re still not hitting your income goals, I want you to know something first: you’re not doing it wrong. You’re probably not lazy, you’re probably not “playing small”, and you probably don’t need yet another marketing tactic.

It might be that your business model just isn’t working for you anymore.

In my experience of working with hundreds of health and life coaches over the years, the answer is rarely as simple as “just get more 1:1 clients”. So in this post (and in this week’s episode of The Wholehearted Business Show), I’m breaking down what a business model for a coaching business actually is, how to tell whether it’s the reason you’re not hitting your income goals, and how to build one that’s profitable and genuinely enjoyable to deliver.

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

When “more 1:1 clients” stops being the answer

When most of us start our coaching businesses, the focus is naturally on getting 1:1 clients. And at the start, that makes total sense.

But the further you get into your business, the less 1:1 tends to work in the same way it used to. The thing that gets us going at the start isn’t always the thing that’s going to sustain us when we’re one, two, three, five plus years in. Something usually needs to change.

What I see happen a lot is this: a coach has an income goal and assumes they just need to attract more 1:1 clients. But for some reason, they never quite get the number of clients through the door to meet that goal. And if they’re really honest, when they look at the time they actually have available, filling that many 1:1 spots wouldn’t fit the lifestyle they want anyway.

And let’s get real for a sec. If you’re reading this, you probably have a relatively modest income goal. That is completely okay. The business coaching world loves to tell us we should be going for the biggest numbers possible, but I don’t think that’s what most of us genuinely want. Still, even a modest goal won’t necessarily be solved by “how do I get more 1:1 clients?” There might be something a little more layered going on.

Why you need a business model for your coaching business

This is where I get to geek out on one of my favourite topics (I say that about everything, I know, but this one really is).

Business models can feel a bit old fashioned. Hardly anyone talks about them in the online business world. I first learned about them in my pre-coaching career working with charities and voluntary organisations, because those organisations run like businesses too. And understanding business models in a really simple way has made such a big difference to my own business.

Here’s my simple definition: a business model is what you’re selling, and the numbers that make it make sense.

In other words: what are you selling, at what price, at what volume? And how does that fit your lifestyle, your niche and the type of work you do?

If you’re already getting some 1:1 clients but something isn’t adding up, looking at your business model is one of the most useful things you can do. And if you have any offers that aren’t 1:1, you need to be thinking about this, because that’s ultimately how everything connects and becomes profitable.

If you’d like to go deeper, I’ve got a business plan and business model training you can check out. And in my brand new free private podcast, I break down my exact business model, alongside a whole load of behind-the-scenes stuff about how I run my business. Your business will be different to mine, but there’s so much you can learn from seeing what’s going on under the hood of someone else’s.

What kind of business models are popular for coaches?

1:1 only. This can absolutely work. Yes, you’re trading time for money, and the online business world tends to look down on that, but there’s nothing wrong with it if it works for you.

1:1 plus a group option. Adding a group programme starts to uncouple your income from your direct time. It can be a lovely next step if you’ve got momentum with 1:1 but can’t quite get enough 1:1 clients to hit your goal.

Memberships. These usually need a much bigger audience to be profitable. It’s easy to think “surely I can get 100 people paying me £10 a month”, but trust me, I’ve been there more than once, and it’s trickier than it looks. You’ve also got member drop-off to contend with. Totally viable, but go in with your eyes open.

Courses, programmes and smaller offers. Chunkier courses, low-ticket offers, one-off calls… how you put these together can be really unique to you. (I go through lots of different options in 15 ways to make money as a coach beyond 1:1 coaching.)

It’s like a beautiful jigsaw puzzle: what works for your niche, what you’ll enjoy delivering and what works for your people.

What my business model looks like

My main profit centre is Wholehearted Business®, my 12-month group programme, which you can upgrade to include 1:1 time with me. It’s what I call a group programme membership hybrid, and I launch it twice a year in March and September.

Then there’s my 1:1 Mentoring, which is being restructured as the way I want to deliver 1:1 has shifted. Alongside that I have courses of all different sizes, from small ones up to bigger programmes like The Searchable Show Method. And going forward, I’m running live rounds throughout the year, because I love launching and they fit strategically with everything else.

I’m also tidying up my website and retiring a lot of things that don’t need to be permanently for sale, putting more of that value inside Wholehearted Business instead.

If you want to see the actual numbers, including how it all adds up to my income goal and my delivery hours, it’s all in the private podcast.

Your next steps

If you’re thinking “yes, I’m attracting clients, but I’m not hitting my income goal and I’ve never really sat down and done the maths”, then it’s time to look at your business model. Which offers, at which price points, are right for your niche and your life? My business plan and business model training is a great place to start.

It’s not the sexiest topic in business. But in my experience, these less shiny, more holistic pieces are the real game changers.

And if you’d like someone to look at it with you, this is exactly what I help coaches with in 1:1 Mentoring. Especially now, I think having a real person’s wisdom and lived experience to work out what makes sense for your niche is so valuable.

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