How To Start Private Mindfulness Coaching
How To Start Private Mindfulness Coaching | Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash
Are you a certified professional coach or mindfulness meditation teacher? Have you been toying with the idea of starting your own private mindfulness coaching practice? If you’ve been thinking about taking the leap and starting a business of your own - there are few elements you’ll need to consider before setting up shop.
Mindfulness coaching has been around for years, but with the current global pandemic - the need for meditation, self care and strong mental health has become more pertinent than ever. With stress and anxiety levels at an all time high and the uncertainty of what’s to come next lingering in the air - it feels like we could all use a break, pause and reminder to breathe.
Private mindfulness coaching can be approached in various ways. And, it’s ultimately up to you, the coach, to decide how you want to walk your clients through their self reflective experience. Whether you focused on guided meditation, therapeutic dialogue or mind-body connection - your practice will ultimately be up to your personal mindfulness beliefs.
If you’re reading this, you’re most likely already familiar with mindfulness coaching and what it entails. Therefore, instead of explaining its purpose to you - I want to help you by focusing on the business aspect of starting your own private coaching company.
If you already possess the insight and knowledge of how to help individuals practice positive cognitive behaviors and reduce the stressors in their lives, then all you need is some guidance on what it takes to set up your practice and start working with clients.
Here’s my quick how-to guide on how to start your own private mindfulness coaching practice.
How To Start Private Mindfulness Coaching
Determine Your Intention & Purpose Behind Your Practice
Like any good business, your private mindfulness coaching practice should be set up with a distinct intention and purpose. As I mentioned above, you’ll need to first decide what area of mindfulness you want to focus on and offer. When you know exactly what your goal is for starting your practice, you’ll be able to craft a stronger story and connection that can be presented to your clients.
To determine your intention and purpose for mindfulness coaching - I’d recommend an exercise that requires a questioning of self. Consider this:
What impact do you hope to make in the lives of your clients?
What types of emotions do you hope to evoke in your practice?
What does your ideal session look like?
What outcomes do you hope to achieve by starting your practice?
If you could describe your technique in three words, what would they be?
By asking yourself a series of questions, you’ll be able to think deeply about the reason behind your practice. Which in turn, will allow you to apply these thoughts and ideas to the work you do with your clients.
The best way for your coaching practice to thrive and make a sustainable impact, is for it to be set with intention at the start. Starting a business should never be a rushed process. Take the time to sit, think and reflect on what you hope to accomplish by helping others with their mindfulness journey.
Craft A Business Plan
While intention acts as the backbone of your business, you’ll need some form of professional documentation to turn your ideas into a tangible reality. Enter your mindfulness coaching business plan.
A business plan is essential to get an idea off the ground. It’s also crucial in determining several aspects such as the services you will offer, your pricing, marketing strategy and growth projection. While these facts and figures aren’t quite “stress-free”, in fact it kind of goes against the whole idea of mindfulness and meditation, they are incredibly necessary if you want to succeed with your private practice.
If you want to focus more on the idea and less about the financial aspect of the practice - you can always hire someone to guide you through setting up your business correctly. For many artists, coaches and entrepreneurs - the idea of the company is what piques their interest, not the wheel of paperwork that comes opening up any type of professional service. So, if you find yourself falling into this category - it may be best to find an assistant or start up consultant that can get all of your details in line.
The biggest aspects of your business plan you should consider will be:
What services will you offer to your clients?
What type of sessions will you hold? Ex. individual, group, company retreats, small or large scale workshops?
What will be your pricing structure for each session? Ex. will you have individual session rates, a discount for clients who book several sessions at a time, monthly packages?
How will you market your practice? Will you aim for organic reach or invest some funds into digital advertising?
Once you have clients, how will you get them to return? How will you keep customers satisfied and interested in your practice over the competitors?
After answering all of these questions with intricate detail, you can put together your business plan for your practice. Ultimately, having these elements laid out before you start taking on clients will allow you to stay organized, be specific with your marketing efforts and grow and scale your business in the future.
Tips For Private Mindfulness Coaching | Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash
Market & Brand Yourself On Social Media
Social media and internet marketing is the glue that holds modern relationships together. If you’re an individual or business operating in 2020, I can’t imagine how you could truly grow and expand if you’re not actively participating online.
Start at the basics with a website of your own. List your services, your background and your intention for your practice. Write blog posts that share your thoughts on mindfulness coaching, the power of meditation and how helping others has impacted your own life. Be personal, be raw and develop relationships through your website that allow potential clients to feel connected to you and what you have to offer.
Once your website is up and running, you’ll need to brand and market yourself on social media as a leader in the private mindfulness coaching space. If you’re not already doing this, then there will be some adjustments you’ll need to make in order to let your followers know what you do and how you can personally connect and help them.
Instagram is a great place to start in order to brand yourself and market your business. Update your bio to reflect the type of practice you offer, start posting long form captions with your images that relate to your thoughts on the importance of mindfulness and utilize Instagram Stories to keep your audience engaged in real time.
If you want to take it a step further, you could start a Youtube channel dedicated to mindfulness, meditation, positive thinking and the mind-body connection. Make videos that allow people to learn and understand about the practice as a whole, while positioning and marketing yourself within this space. This is a great way to market what you do because you can share valuable information with your subscribers all while building an audience that can turn into personal clients.
Another form of content marketing you can utilize is podcasting. Whether you create auditory episodes that relate to mindfulness or craft guided meditations, a podcast is a great way to gain new attention for your practice. Mindfulness and meditation are popular podcast topics because they can be listened to anywhere, anytime. Whether that be while exercising, work, commuting or before going to bed - a podcast that focuses on positive thoughts, self care and better mental practices is a guaranteed way to grow interest in your practice.
Most importantly, remember to engage on social media platforms where you feel the most comfortable and are willing to discuss your coaching business. The more you’re able to talk about your services and self-promote in an organic, personable way - you’ll be generating clients and building a community that is deeply invested in you.
Set Up A Referral Program
Once you’ve started to land clients, either through your website or social media content, you’re going to want to ensure that you’ll have repeat customers. A simple way to do this is to set up a referral program. Essentially, a referral program operates by offering incentives to your existing clients if they help you bring in new customers.
With a mindfulness coaching program, you could offer your clients a discount on their next session if they bring in a friend or family member who is also interested in your services. For example, you could offer $10 off for every referral they bring in. This helps to keep your current clients happy (who doesn’t love a discount?) all while gaining new leads in an organic, personalized way.
In truth, increasing bookings and upping referrals will only work if what you’re offering is valuable. So, while you can push business tactics all you want, you need to realize that the one thing that truly matters is the experience you offer to your clients.
Focus on the intention, purpose and why you began your mindfulness coaching journey in the first place. Never lose sight of the impact you are making on the lives of others and how your guidance can help them achieve a better, more positive life. In the end, private mindfulness coaching is a business that is less about the sales, revenue or customer acquisition - and more about the deep, personal connection you create with your clients.
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Did you find this guide on how to start private mindfulness coaching helpful? Let me know your thoughts and if you’re considering starting your own practice in the comments below!
If you ever need any insight on how to start your business, you can shoot me an email at james@thehhub.com to chat.
Need some more inspiration, don’t miss How Creativity Helps Mental Health