REAL TALK WITH ACA COACH ACADEMIES

COST OF COACHING EDUCATION AND STARTING A BUSINESS

 We have spoken with and trained hundreds of coaches from all over the world. One main concern I hear is the cost of training. Let’s address this.

Starting a Business and worried about the cost? Let’s talk

Education, learning new skills, and enhancing current skills do require some investment, and so does starting a business or a new career. When you add these two things together, you face a dilemma. You need funds to develop the new skills you want and funds to help you start a business. You may air on the side of thinking that you need training and education before you go any further, or you may stick with building the coaching business without the leading industry skills and going it alone. I ask you to think about that for a moment. Which one do you think will make a more prosperous and impactful coach?

When you decide to invest in your business, you typically first decide what training you want, and you look at pricing. You asked, “A program that is 144 hours long and $7,995.00 is where I am supposed to start?” There are other options, including a Level 1 shorter program, but that is still $3,995.00.

Real Talk Time

Starting a business in America and many other countries begins with a $10,000 - $20,000 initial investment. These costs for a coach starting a business would look like this:

• $10,000 in training and development plus credentialing in less than a year. 1/4 the time it takes to finish a full educational degree.

• An additional $5,000 to $10,000 to invest in a great website, social media developers, and the support you need to get started in this arena.

• Sales knowledge. Coaching is a low sales process where you leverage your connection with another person to ask for the sale privately after they have gone through a coaching example. Pitching to an organization for your services does require higher-tuned coaching skills. There are sales training programs, but many “coach” focused sales training programs are predatory. Do your homework before enrolling in one. Udemy offers many courses on building sales skills and even SEO on your website at an affordable rate.

The real talk is partly that you do not need to do this all at once

Start with training

Let me break down the training expenditure

• Suppose you enroll in a program that has 144 hours of training. Remember that a bachelor’s degree in the US is only 120 credit hours. So you invest $7,995, which is, on average, $39.00 per hour of work your coach training institution is getting paid. The average college degree in the U.S. is $47,400 for only 120 hours of education.

• This training now qualifies you for an internationally recognized coaching credential with the International Coaching Federation. Credentialing is taking over training and education. This coaching education provides tangible skills immediately applicable to what you want to do.

Next Steps for a Life Coach, Professional Coach, or Academic Coach

So, now you invest in a website and some social media marketing. Most of the cost here is the time you invest in your business. Social media is free or low cost, and many website servicers are offering an all-in-solution at a low price.

At this point, what you decide to invest in your business depends on you. As long as you have a vision, you can coach anyone. Coaching will support your business development and even scaling your business. Nothing fancy is genuinely needed to start a coaching business, and anything you “add” will only help your business grow faster than relying on organic marketing. Use your current networks and get going. There are a few organizations hiring coaches that offer services to organizations, but most are riddled with low pay and inconsistent work availability.

Check Your Expectations

Your coach training program will support your personal development as a coach and your skill development to be a successful coach and to have successful client outcomes. There will be mentoring, and some business development, but an accredited training program will primarily focus on your skills. A necessary part of what you are going to do. Not knowing how to do it will be detrimental to success.