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In my five years as a health coach, I created and successfully launched five different group programs! And in my experience doing this and also from the fact that I also launched a few failures, I have learned there is an optimal timeline that’s really important for you to stick with if you want to successfully launch and monetize a group program with your health coaching clients. And trust me, you do want to make money when you launch your group program because they are a ton of work.
When it comes to group coaching programs, I see a lot of health coaches jumping the gun, meaning that they are creating and launching a group program before they are ready and before they have actually validated it. This results in limited sales that leads to frustration, poverty, and even something I call “launch trauma”. In order for you to be successful launching a group program, you need to make sure you are in the right place in your business journey or there is a very likely chance that this isn’t going to be successful for you at all.
In order for you to determine if you’re in the right place to even start considering launching a group program, let’s sit down and answer the following questions. 1) are you working with private clients? 2) have you been working with clients for at least a year? 3) have you generated at least 10 testimonials from clients who have seen results in your signature coaching program? 4) are you generating at least 4 to $5,000 per month with coaching clients? 5) are you actively working on building your email list? If the answer is no to any of these questions, that tells me that you’re probably not ready to launch a group program, even if some other expert has told you otherwise.
If you haven’t worked with any private clients and you don’t have experience, that means you haven’t gotten a result for anyone. That also means you don’t actually know the questions that your ideal client is asking. You don’t know what areas they need the most help in and the areas that they are challenged with more than others. I know there are so many different online experts out there that just rave about the financial gains of doing a group program. But if you don’t have the experience, if you don’t really know your ideal client and the questions and concerns that they have, then you don’t really have a leg to stand on. In the journey to launching an online group program successfully, you need to start working with private clients. You need to validate your method. You need to get them results. You need to tweak your program and make it the absolute best before you even consider launching a group program.
I truly believe you need to be working with clients privately for at least a year before considering launching a group program. Because not only does it give you the time to get experience, to increase your confidence, to learn the things about your client, but also it gives your clients enough time to actually experience the result. Because as you know with health, it can be complex. There can be a lot of trial and error. There are people you’re going to work with who are going to get results slower. And if you don’t work with people for long enough, then you don’t really know all the trials and tribulations that can come up as you try to work with someone to optimize their health. So I would say a year is enough time to see the deficiencies in your method, and there’s always going to be some, none of us start out perfect, so that you can tweak them, make it better, and ultimately create a better method that you can actually sell as a group program.
Next we’re going to discuss testimonials. Testimonials are so important. Think of the last time you bought something off Amazon. You probably scrolled down to the reviews and you looked in and saw what other people were saying. And if you saw a higher amount of bad reviews versus good reviews, then there’s a good chance that you decided not to buy that product and you started looking for something different, right? The same goes for your signature coaching program. You need to prove to the buyer that you can actually get someone a result. And when it comes to testimonials, the more the better. But I think at least 10 is the minimum you need to have before considering launching a group program.
Now if you’re totally confused what I mean when I keep saying signature coaching program, don’t worry. I have a YouTube video on this. It’s called How to Create a Signature Coaching Program for Your Health and Wellness Business, and we will link to that below this video.
All right, so my next point had to do with generating at least 4 to $5,000 a month with your coaching clients. And in order to be successful launching a group program, you do want to have some level of financial stability. Why is this? Well, it takes the exact same amount of your energy and time to sell something that is $300 versus something that is $3,000. So if you don’t have financial stability and you’re struggling to pay your bills, a group coaching program is not the right way to go because it’s going to take you so much more work and so much more effort to actually generate enough money to feel financially comfortable. But if you focus on working with higher-ticket coaching clients, then it’s way, way easier to hit the amount of money that you need to pay your bills, have a little bit extra, and to feel comfortable with your financial status.
My fifth point was having an active email lists or actively working on building one. This is incredibly important. When we sell a group coaching program, because it is a lower priced program, it’s always going to be less than your private coaching program. So what that means is that you do need some level of volume. You’re going to need to sell that program to more people. So I’m not saying that you need thousands and thousands of people on your email list. That’s not true. You don’t need to have a massive list to be successful selling a group program. My first group program, I think I only had 500 or 600 people on my email list, and I made a few thousand dollars, which is awesome. But you do need to have a list. You do need to have people to sell to. But the success of you launching a group program and then future group programs is directly correlated with the size and the health of your email list.
So if you don’t have a list or you’re not actively out there trying to build your list, then I would say this is not a great time to launch a group program. I would continue to work with private clients and focus your efforts on building that very, very important email list. And if you’re interested in growing an email list but you don’t know where to start, you can check out my video called How to Grow an Email List Fast as a Health Coach. I will link to that video below this video.
Okay, guys. So let’s break this down. In order to be successful launching a group program, number one, you need to start with working with private clients for at least one year. Number two, you want to have at least 10 testimonials that prove your method and show your perspective clients that you can get someone a result. Number three, you want to be generating somewhere around 4 to $5,000 a month with your coaching services. Number four, you want to have an email list and be taking steps to actively grow it.
So the truth is there is no exact timeline formula when it comes to launching a group program. Me personally, I think it took me about two years before I launched my first group program. So it’s going to be a little bit different for everyone, and that’s okay. But if you follow this timeline, you will be on track and you’re way more likely to have success when it comes the time for you to launch a group program.
So guys, if you feel like you’re ready to launch a group program, or maybe you feel almost ready to launch a group program, make sure to grab my free Launch Your Group Program Checklist, which you can grab a below the video by clicking the link. And if you like this video, make sure to let me know by liking it, subscribing to my channel, and, don’t be shy, share it with all your business besties. And if you found this video super helpful, you can let me know by commenting win in the comments below. And that lets me know that I’ll make more videos just like this one. All right, good luck to you. Now you know the steps you want to have in place before launching a group program. So take what you learned in this video and go take action.
