Are you dreaming of making a living doing what you love? And, is that all about coaching endurance athletes? Are you thinking of starting a coaching practice from the comfort of your home? Well, there is no better time than now, to take the leap. Whether you want to do it part-time — or just on a low budget — until it’s financially viable, the good news is that building your endurance coaching business at home is not rocket science, at all!
In this article, we’ll walk you through the most important steps of the process, to start a small business with huge potential.
Let’s get started.
The pros of starting an endurance coaching business at home
To get right to the point, starting an online endurance coaching practice at home offers several perks. Some of which include:
- Low costs: No office or workspaces to rent, no extra bills.
- Personal freedom: You can work on your own time, at your own pace, making money for yourself, entirely.
- Low barrier to entry: There’s not much you need to get started. You only need a way to organize your training plans and ensure the quality of your service.
- Fast go-to-market strategy: There is actually no product you need to build. Your knowledge, as an endurance coach, is all you need. And, it’s all you need to promote.
The cons of starting an endurance coaching business at home
Be that as it may, it has some downsides, too:
- Potentially unstable revenue: Not all months are the same; heck, not all seasons are the same either. If you’re depending on local races to produce your revenues, it may be quite unstable.
- Too much alone time: Until you can make enough money to hire assistant coaches, you’ll be working alone. You best like your alone time; it’s the best way to pull through.
- One man show: Working alone means you’ll be doing everything by yourself. Business development, marketing, sales, coaching, the whole package.
Coaching is certainly not for everyone, but the pros here outweigh the cons; at least, if you’re serious about getting started with a home-based endurance coaching business. So, how are you going to do this on a tight budget? Keep reading, fellow coach, to learn everything you need to succeed!
11+1 steps to get your endurance coaching business started from home
Now that we’ve filled you in on the advantages and disadvantages of starting an online endurance coaching business at home, let’s go over the 11 — plus one 😁 — steps you need to take, to make it happen.
1. Get your certification
Getting a certification, in your niche, is crucial if you want to start a successful endurance coaching business. Why is that? Because it’s the only way to prove that you have the necessary skills to help athletes — who never worked with you before — improve their performance and achieve their goals.
Thankfully, there are many credible organizations that offer several courses, workshops, and certificates for coaches and coaches-to-be. Some of them are the:
- American Sport and Fitness Association (ASFA)
- United Endurance Sport Coaching Academy (UESCA)
- American Council on Exercise (ACE)
- USA Triathlon
- Slowtwitch
- REVO₂LUTION RUNNING (you can get a 20% discount by using the coupon Endogusto )
2. Select your target clientele (a niche, even)
Now, you might be asking, ‘Target clientele? What is that?’. To clarify, your target clientele are the ideal customers for your endurance coaching business; the people who could benefit the most from your services. These are the athletes you’d actually want to coach.
How do you select your ideal customers? First and foremost, you need to dedicate some time to think about these ideal customers — or clients, rather. Find out who they are, the challenges they face, what they need. Then, you need to write down a detailed description of them — that’s how you create your buyer personas. Doing so, will help you understand what services to offer; which, in turn will help you pick the right niche for you.
3. Your knowledge is your product
This is simple enough to understand. The knowledge you’ve acquired — from education and your experiences, as a coach and an athlete — is the ‘fuel’ of your business endeavors. This means that your services must be based on your knowledge and coaching philosophy.
4. Design your strategy
When you’re in the process of starting an endurance coaching business at home, it’s good to get started with a solid strategy. That’s the only way to ensure that your newly-found practice is on the right track. Where do you start with your strategy? Consider the following:
5. Set up your workspace at home
Setting up a workspace at home — specially dedicated to your endurance coaching practice — is crucial to remain focused and productive. For this reason, find a room or space that is quiet — no, not your bedroom 🤨 — and organize it in such a way, that it will instantly put you in your ‘coaching zone’.
6. Select a business structure
Once you’ve set up your workspace at home, you need to start thinking about the optimal business structure for you. If you don’t know how to do this, consult with a professional to regulate your business structure correctly. This includes business registration, your tax burden, and liability protection, among other things.
7. Name and brand your business
Choosing a name for your business is one of the most significant decisions you’ll have to make — at least, marketing-wise. To be honest, the name of your business will affect the development of your brand — in more ways than you can think of. That’s not a reason to get all stressed out about it, though. Just keep in mind that a good business name:
- Identifies and naturally communicates what you do; i.e. the essence of your business
- It’s distinctive, unique and stands out from your competition
- It’s simple and memorable; people can easily interpret it, say it, spell it — or Google it, for that matter
- Evokes a positive mental and emotional reaction
After finding the perfect name for your endurance coaching business, the next task in line is branding it. And, how are you going to do that? Well, besides identifying your target audience — which, ideally, you’ve already done in step no 2 — this includes:
- Creating your unique value proposition
- Defining your core values and mission statement
- Creating the personality and voice of your brand
- Choosing the elements that will make your business immediately recognisable
- Integrating all the above points across your marketing channels
8. Start a bank account
Every business needs a bank account, that’s a no-brainer. Apart from the fact that it’s legally required — at least for most business structures — you need one, because:
- It’s easier for your clients to pay you for your services; especially since you run your endurance coaching business at home (that is, remotely/online)
- It helps with other business transactions
- It simplifies the tax-filing process
- And, simply because it’s professional (duh!)
9. Go through liabilities and insurance
As you’re going to be coaching athletes, it’s critical that you understand the liability risks your business runs. And, of course, mitigate those risks where possible. To that end, find the right liability insurance for your business, along with the proper waiver (release) documents to send to your athletes. At this point, it may be wise to hire professionals to assist you with these liability forms.
10. Get an accountant AND a lawyer
And, that’s when we get to the accountant and lawyer part. 😉
It’s obvious, by now, that you’re going to need legal and accounting support for your home-based endurance coaching practice. These professionals will not only save you time from procedural affairs, but also help you avoid mistakes that might otherwise prove to be very costly, in the long run.
Aside from important ad-hoc advice that these professionals can offer you, they can bring so much more to the table. Your lawyer, for instance, will help you examine various agreements, according to legal requirements. And, your accountant will help you prepare and file your taxes properly.
11. Get started creating your online presence
OK, you got yourself an accountant and a lawyer, what’s next? The next step is to start creating an online presence for your business. Having an online presence is a great way to share your content with a wider audience and connect with potential clients.
To help you get started, take the following elements into consideration:
- Website & blog: Start with a simple website to include your offering; then work on producing blog content for your existing and prospective clients.
- Marketing actions: You need to allocate some of your budget to Ads and promotional actions. If you don’t, you’re probably ‘donating’ your paid online presence to another coach.
- Lead generation: Build and nurture your list of contacts. That’s where most of your prospects will come from, in the long run.
- Social media: Use them. Your clients are already using them all day long.
12. Set up communication channels and keep them motivated
Communication channels are the most effective means of connecting with your target audience, where you can provide relevant — and, most of all, useful — content. Through these channels, you’ll be able to attract your target audience’s attention by writing about topics they’re interested in. Creating content that is both relevant and useful, will allow you to engage your prospective clients more easily. But it’s not just that, once they become your clients, it will be easier to keep them motivated, too. And, that’s how you retain your clients.
TL;DR
There’s a host of things to consider when starting an endurance coaching business at home. No wonder that, at some point, it may start to feel like a struggle. But if you ask any seasoned coach, they’ll tell you that they, too, had their fair share of difficulties at the beginning of their career. That said, don’t let the growing pains of your fledgling business bring you down. That’s the beauty of it!
Luckily, with good planning, methodical execution, and a little help from technology, you can do wonders — even on a budget. When we say technology, we mean an online, value-for-money endurance coaching platform, like Endogusto.
What’s great about Endogusto is that — although it works great with experienced coaches — it can help new coaches bring ‘their A-game’ about, by allowing them to create top-notch, tailored training plans for their athletes, in virtually no time.
Don’t hesitate to give it a go, today. Start your endurance coaching business today, from the comfort of your home, with Endogusto by your side!