The biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my coaching business (that I’m still trying to undo)

At the beginning of 2023, I needed to do something to turn my coaching business around.

The year 2022 had been really frustrating for me (you can watch a video on YouTube here). Where things had gone easily before, suddenly nothing seemed to be working in my business, and my income dropped precipitously.

So when 2023 began, I knew that what I really wanted was monthly recurring revenue so that I didn’t have to launch a new program essentially each month. While launching like that had been absolutely fine in the past, I needed a change.

I also wanted to support my community — coaches just starting their businesses — in a way that was more affordable to them.

I had tried offering memberships a couple of times in the past and they hadn’t worked as well as I’d hoped, but I liked that way of working with people, so I decided to try again.

That’s when I came across a business model that, at the time, looked perfect for me: a super low-cost membership with two tiers. The lower tier was just $7/month, the upper tier just $37/month.

The person teaching the course on how to set this up and run it was — is — absolutely amazing, so I was excited to learn from her.

My heart was in the right place:

• I wanted monthly recurring revenue of several thousand dollars
• I wanted to offer new coaches an affordable option for support
• I wanted a simpler business model where I could put all of my energy and time into one offer

I was eager to start and eager to learn.

Well, I definitely learned a lot — just not in the way I had hoped.

Before I continue, I need to say that the 60+ members I have in my $5K Coach Club are WONDERFUL people. I love each and every one of them more than I could ever express.

Which is why what I’m about to say next truly breaks my heart and reflects the biggest mistake I ever made in my business.

The way I set up this membership doesn’t work well for anyone: the members or me.

My biggest regret is that I feel as though I have failed the members.

So …

I’ve decided to change the setup, hoping against hope that it isn’t too late.

Here are the mistakes I made:

1. The membership itself, called The $5K Coach Club, is on a topic that takes more than 30 days to complete: reaching $5K per month in a coaching business. Realistically, that goal can be reached in 3–6 months at at minimum (more likely 9–12 months). With a monthly membership, if people don’t reach the goal in 30 days, the entire premise of the membership is broken. Maybe I missed it in the training I purchased and followed, but this concept is a BIGGIE.
2. Charging so little sets up an unrealistic situation for me and for the members: Business requires significant investment of time and money, both. The small price tag for the membership has not been good for my own business, and it also indicates to the members that they don’t need to make significant investments of time and money in order to get their business off the ground. This is been a major error on my part and a disservice to the members.
3. I spent money on FB ads that, in the end, didn’t generate much new business: Yes, I added people to my email list, but many of them left immediately or have left over the past few months. A small number joined my membership, but they then canceled.

You want to know the most frustrating part? The premise of the $5K Coach Club and the teaching are both excellent.

Aaaarggggh! So irritating to have a great idea that you just … break.

Here is what I should have done:

1. I should have charged a minimum of $2,000 upfront for people to join, or put that into, say, 4 monthly payments: That amount could have covered 1 year of membership, which includes amazing training plus group support and even some 1:1 support through weekly Voxer office hours.
2. After 3 months offering the Club at that price, I should have raised it to $3,000 per year. I could have given people the opportunity to jump in at the $2,000 founding rate for a brief time before raising the price.
3. I should have opened/closed the doors every 6 weeks or so. This would have been an incentive for people to join.

The question is, what do I do now?

I have just over 60 amazing members. Some are still paying $7/month, others $37/month (they receive more support than the lower tier).

I still believe in what I’m teaching people in the Club because it absolutely works. The training has worked for ALL of my 1:1 clients over the past several years.

In fact, I just worked with one Club member 1:1 for 6 weeks, and she was finally able to get her first clients.

→ Side note: Working with this club member showed me the value of 1:1 coaching, once again. I am in the middle of offering my coaching to Club members at an incredible savings: $997 for a month of unlimited 1:1 support. So far, no takers. I believe it’s because I set up this unrealistically low investment in the membership, and now, anything higher than $37 looks extraordinarily expensive to most of the members. My fault.

The thing is, I really like the membership setup.

I enjoy supporting people through the online training, the monthly group Zoom call and the monthly FB Live in our group. I offer 1:1 Voxer office hours once a week (for the $37/month members), and I love those, too.

I have enjoyed the monthly recurring revenue despite it being lower than I had hoped.

So …

In an attempt to keep the Club alive and ultimately thriving, here is what I’ve done:

1. I changed the price to one payment of $2,000 for lifetime access to the online training and one year of support. They also receive a personalized $5K roadmap and 30 days of 1:1 coaching using the Voxer app as a jumpstart.
2. I made the Club by application only. People have to complete a brief form and actually talk to me on Zoom. I did this because I only want a certain type of person to join the club: someone who gets that this is a business and needs to be taken seriously.
3. I recently offered all Club members the opportunity to upgrade for $1,400. For that, they received lifetime access to all of the online training plus at least one year of support. I had one taker.

Note that so far, I have not made this new $2,000, application-only offer known to my audience (my email list is about 1,400).

As I’m typing this article, however, I’m about to invite people to apply to the Club through what I’m calling a “quiet relaunch”:

1. I invited my Club members to create a short audio for a Member Spotlight private podcast. Eight people participated, so I’ve set it up on (this is my affiliate link) HelloAudio.
2. I’m creating my own mini audio training to go along with theirs. I’ll be adding that shortly (finishing it today/tomorrow). The topic: How to create and sell audios.
3. I will share the Member Spotlight podcast with my wider audience and use it as this “quiet relaunch” — inviting people to apply for the $5K Coach Club. I’ll share it on Sept. 8, 2023, with email list and social media following.
4. I’ll also give the signup page to each of the members who submitted audios so that they can share it with their audience.

I haven’t decided how long to run this quiet relaunch, but perhaps 2 weeks.

What will I do if this doesn’t work?

I have 3 ideas and am working on all of them:

• I’m in the process of changing my business model to selling online courses on other marketplaces, like Udemy and Insight Timer.

This will take me 18–24 months (perhaps less) to get to a good monthly recurring revenue amount. I plan to continue way past that timeframe, however. This business model make things SO MUCH EASIER for me and has unlimited income potential.

• I will keep the $5K Coach Club going for at least another year and will host more launch events. I’d love to get 2 or 3 members per month who are really dedicated to building their coaching businesses.
• I may change the focus of the Club — and my coaching, overall — to helping people create/sell their own online courses, audios and ebooks.

I’ve been successful with this strategy over the years — created and sold dozens of courses and audio programs from my own website, plus books on Amazon — and have been in online education for a really (really) long time. I already have training materials and have taught people how to do this from time to time.

For several years, my online courses plus coaching were bringing in $100,000+ per year as a solopreneur.

Anyway …

What did I learn?

The inexpensive membership model works for some people, but it didn’t work for me or for my members.

The one thing that HAS worked, however, is bringing me in closer proximity with so many incredible and inspiring coaches.

I just want to do better — MUCH better — for them and for me.

Onward and upward …

Current passive income marketplace tally:

• Udemy: 1 paid course, 1 free course, a second paid course will be submitted for review Sept. 3; students: 396 (390 of those in my free course); earnings: $47.40 (no change yet)
• Insight Timer: 2 paid courses, 3 free audios, 1 live event done (had 84 live attendees), with another live event Sept. 4; submitted 2 more audios for review — on Aug. 27 and Aug. 31 (not yet approved); followers: 49; students: 573 in one course, 174 in the other. I don’t have income figures yet because Insight Timer’s stats are about 2 months behind.
• I realized I haven’t included Amazon on here, so despite my embarrassment, I’m sharing my earnings of about $30 in August 2023. I want to do better because my books are GOOD, darn it! I used to earn several hundred dollars per month on Amazon with even fewer books. I don’t like the fact that Amazon has become a “pay to play” marketplace, and I’m not about to start running ads on there.

Thank you so much for reading this story.

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