What’s The Best Business Model To Scale Up From 1:1 Coaching?

You’re probably heard me say this before — the absolute BEST way to make money online fastest, is to offer 1:1 services.

Working 1:1 with your clients is low tech, low hassle, and doesn’t require a ton of systems in place to market your programs or for delivery of your programs.

So if you’re reading this and you’re brand new to biz, stop right here — 1:1 is going to be the BEST way for you to get that money coming in and get to a place where your business is sustaining your income!

Buuutt…. If you have been at this for a while, and you’re killing it serving your one-to-one clients, getting amazing results and you’re craving the energy of something new, of being able to serve MORE people with the work you do… keep reading!

 

First of all — congrats. Amazing work!

But now you’re probably hearing all sorts of competing advice about how to scale your income and impact and it’s hella confusing. I’ve found that most coaches and online biz owners don’t really think about this strategically. It’s way too easy to get distracted by the latest trend or shiny business coach instead of thinking about boring old business models (not at all boring actually, but that’s often the perception)

Having the right business model for *your* version of uncaged freedom is what this really comes down to. How do you want to spend your time in your business? What is your revenue model? How will you scale?

Basically: Your business model matters! So let’s break it down reeeeeaaaal slow.

 

BUSINESS MODEL OPTIONS

What are the options for how to scale?

• ONLINE COURSES: There’s a lot of noise online about online courses being the ticket to freedom and passive income. This is where you sell a high volume of online courses through the year and rely on funnels and paid advertising to get the volume you need.
• HIGH TICKET/VIP DAYS: Or have you heard the hype about the way to wealth as a coach is to sell high-ticket VIP days, 1:1 coaching and suuuper expensive masterminds?
• MEMBERSHIPS: Or there’s the temptation of a membership model where a high number of people pay a small amount each month. So easy! So quick! So fun! (they say…)
• GROUP PROGRAMS: My business model here at Uncaged is a group program model combined with a course model – selling the same program twice a year with a big launch, and then selling my course as a self-study program the rest of the time.

ANY of these is a workable business model. People make lots of money with all of them.

BUT (and it’s a big old but)… when you’re just starting to consider moving from one-on-one to many, a lot of those options just aren’t appropriate:

• Maybe your audience isn’t big enough to sell enough “passive” courses. And let’s talk about that word “passive” too while we are at it. Total an absolute myth. You need to become a marketing MACHINE in order to get enough leads into your funnels to sell online courses in any substantial way. And they are totally NOT worth the effort (and the cost of the tech systems you need) if you only plan to sell “a few from your website, to supplement your income”
• Or maybe your niche doesn’t work well for a super expensive VIP mastermind. How many people can really fork over $20k for a coaching program?
• And memberships? I won’t even touch those with a 10 foot pole. It has to be THE hardest business model I have seen and I’ve only seen it work well for people who are already crushing it and have a large audience already.

In my experience, there is a WAY easier, more profitable way to scale your business that will minimize your stress and maximize your freedom:

Enter: Group Programs!

If you want to put more money in your bank account and more free time on your calendar, a signature group program that you can run online and repeat over and over is the best way to do it. Period.

My definition of “group program”:

• A live experience (ie. not just a downloadable online course) that you run online with anywhere from 5-100+ people.
• There is a start date and an end date
• And a focus for what results they can expect to get.

There are many ways this can work (live calls, worksheets, some one on one time – the possibilities are many!), but the gist is that you are teaching/coaching multiple people at once on the same topic and there is interaction with you, it’s not just a DIY course. It’s also not a membership site that never ends. A group program has a defined start and end date, which means you have the freedom to live your uncaged life when it ends!

 

The big old benefits of launching a group program

You’ve probably noticed that many of the online business owners out there who are killing it are selling the same signature group program again and again. Heck, I’m one of them! Did it happen overnight? No it did not. But now selling a group program just twice a year brings in 80-90% of my income.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that THE best way to scale your biz and make the income you desire and have the time to actually enjoy LIFE, is to create a program that you can run again and again, like clockwork, that becomes your THING.

 

If you’re still on the fence about whether a group is the right next step for your business, allow me to tell you about the crazy “side-effects” of launching a group program:

The launch can actually help you build your 1:1 client roster.
If you’re not full now, you soon will be. How does that work? In the launch process, you become more visible than ever. You expand your reach, people see you who never noticed you before. And they’ll want to work with you. Maybe not in your group, maybe 1:1, but you will be in more demand, period.

The launch can help you build your list, because you’re putting yourself and your content out there more than ever before.
You are speaking up, showing up, and making sure people can hear you! Maybe they’re not ready to work with you right now, but they want to hear what you have to say next. So they join your list. It’s not uncommon to see your list double after a well-planned launch.

You’ll build your reputation and get referrals. Because of all of the above.
So even if you don’t completely book out your first group program (but we will do everything we can to make sure you do!) these side benefits are actually core benefits that can strengthen your business in the long term, so you’ll be ready to rock your group programs and start making money from the one-to-many model that much faster.

 

Pretty great, huh? Now let’s look at how a group could fit into your current business model!

First of all, let’s get clear on where you see this going so you can maximize your efforts.

Questions to consider:

• What do you want your biz to look like in the future?
• Where do you see your business in three to five years?
• Do you want to phase out your one on one work completely? Is that the goal of this group?
• Or do you want to be running the group as a next level program after you have one on one clients, or vice versa?

Maybe the group is your intro program, and then one-on-one is a high(er) ticket coaching program. Or maybe your group replaces your one-on-one entirely.

There are lots of different ways that could work. It’s ok if you don’t know now, but the point of a group program is to help you scale, right? So we really want to make sure that we’re helping you do that. And we’re not just adding another program, and more marketing and more things to your plate without taking something else away.

So I want you to think about what your desired business model is in the future. How you want to be spending your time, how many clients you want to be working with?

A well-designed group program that’s streamlined, simple, and gets results is your ticket to uncaged biz freedom!

I’ll bet if you’re still reading you have a bajillion ideas for an amazing group and now you just need the next steps to take.

Good news: If you know you’re ready to scale with a group program and don’t want to waste a bunch of time and energy trying to figure it out yourself, Your First Group Program is for you.

This is my online self-study course for coaches and biz owners who are starting to feel the limits of your capacity as a one-person show. It’s fluff-free, in-depth training on all aspects of group programs, from simple curriculum design, to pricing, launching and list-building.

If you KNOW you want to create group programs and are ready to learn how, check out Your First Group Program here!  ***Join before November 12, 2021, and save $200, PLUS get 2 coaching calls with Becca!!**