When working with career coaches, the question I am most often asked is how I get clients.
So, how do you do it? I’m passionate about helping people figure out how to become coaches. Getting high-paying clients can take time, but there are many ways to do it. Here’s how.
Table of Contents
What Is a Career Coach?
A career coach is a person giving specific advice and guidance to someone needing extra support in their career.
What Do You Need to Learn to Become a Great Career Coach?
There are no set qualifications you need to become a career coach (but I’ll go into that more in the next section). You do, however, need a specific set of skills, which include:
- Active listening skills. Active listening is one of many vital interpersonal skills you will need. You need to listen and observe small things about what your client is saying or doing: you can pick up on their body language, for instance, if you’re talking over Zoom or face-to-face. You will also need to respond in a way that shows your client you are listening intently.
- Goal setting. The ability to be able to set detailed, achievable, and specific career goals is an absolute must when defining your client’s career path.
- A motivational attitude. People go to coaches for support, understanding, and positivity. You need to be able to motivate your clients to push themselves to climb the career ladder.
- Networking skills. Networking isn’t just important for your own business – it’s important for your clients, too. The more connections you have in your field, the more you’ll be able to help your clients to meet the right people.
- Attention to detail. You need to be able to pick up on subtle cues from your client so you can help them with their professional development.
- Resume building. An obvious must, you need to know how to build an impressive, job-landing resume for your clients that reflects their current careers.
- Business skills. You’ll also need general skills as a business owner such as marketing, sales and admin.
Experience is key for building a coaching business, too. If you worked in tech for ten years, for example, a person looking for tech-specific career advice is more likely to pick you than someone with less experience.
You’ll also need to keep your knowledge up to date. Things change rapidly, so staying informed is key when you’re thinking about becoming a career coach.
Should You Get Certified as a Career Coach?
There’s a lot of debate about whether you should go for a career coaching certification program or not. Certifications, like the ACC (Associate Certified Coach), or CCMC (Certified Career Management Coach), take time and money to complete.
Pros
Career coach training will give you the following:
- New skills
- Guidance and a jumping-off point to get started
- Credibility – your clients may be more likely to pick you if you have a certification to back up your skills
- An understanding of current trends and career goals
Cons
On the other hand, career coach certification training programs have a few cons:
- It costs you time and money.
- The current trends may not last, so you’ll still have to keep your skills up.
- You need to do your research and make sure the certification and training you choose is legit.
I’d say it’s worth seeking career coach training at some point if you can for your professional development. Career coaching has a mixed reputation when it comes to quality. So, anything you can do to make yourself stand out as a high-end, reputable coach is going to be key to your success.
How to Land High-Paying Career Coaching Clients
So you’ve decided to start looking for coaching clients: how exactly do you do it?
I’ve found a few ways that seem to work well when it comes to landing high-paying clients. It takes time and consistency, but you will get there, and the more clients you get, the easier it becomes, and before you know it, you’ll be helping your clients reach their career goals.
1. Host virtual workshops and webinars
So, we’ve hosted a lot of virtual workshops and webinars at Entrepreneurs HQ. I’ve had a ton of success with them, which is why I’m so enthusiastic about them.
The pros of workshops and webinars are that they create both a source of income and a source of leads for new clients. The con is that it can take a little time to create.
Janine Bolon
Take the example of this client of mine, Janine Bolon:
Janine offers workshops within her niche. This is a fantastic way to showcase her skills and expertise and can be the best first step in a high-ticket sales funnel.
Key Takeaway: Workshops allow your participants to interact with you and get to know you. It will also show your participants that you are an expert in your field. If you’re a new coach, this could be a great way to generate a bunch of new leads: all you have to do is follow up with them after the workshop or webinar to offer your career coaching services.
2. Host a virtual summit
Virtual summits are another passion of mine, and they work in a similar way. Summits attract people looking for advice and expertise on a particular subject, and you can bring in outside experts to ease the burden of creating content for it.
The pros of virtual summits are that they show off your knowledge, and they allow you to network with more people. The downside is that it does take some time to create them.
Carl Cincinnato
One of my clients, Carl Cincinnato, is in a different coaching niche, but has had some excellent success with summits: he gained over 100,000 email subscribers by working with us to create his Migraine World Summit.
Key Takeaway: Virtual summits require a lot of work to set up, but once you’ve got them, you can sell them as an evergreen product, creating another source of income for you. Plus, you can follow up with viewers in the same way as workshops and webinars – they’ll be more likely to trust your expertise after joining your summit.
3. Host a podcast
Podcasts are another great way to showcase your expertise and potential coaching skills, and build trust with your potential clients. I’ve seen people have great success with this over at Talks.co, which links podcast hosts and guests.
The pros of hosting a podcast are that you can create a thriving online community, and those people are perfect for approaching with an offer of career coaching. The cons are that it takes time, and there are a lot of podcasts out there – it may take some time to get noticed by your ideal clients.
Redefine Your Career Journey Podcast:
Take the example of the Redefine Your Career podcast on Talks.co:
This podcast focuses on topics relevant to career coaching clients, such as career transition, building resumes, and interviewing well.
Key Takeaway: Podcasts offer many opportunities to showcase your knowledge, and being a regular on many podcasts in your niche keeps you on the radar of many potential leads.
4. Post on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the most lucrative sources of potential clients. When people go through any kind of career change, often their first step is often to check in with LinkedIn. So,creating content on LinkedIn is the best way to advertise career counseling.
The good thing about investing time in LinkedIn is that you can create new connections – it’s designed for networking, after all. The downside is that it’s a busy platform, so getting noticed can be tough.
Gillian Kelly
Take the example of coach Gillian Kelly:
Gillian posts content that genuinely engages people – polls, useful advice, and useful opportunities. This creates a thriving community of people, some of whom may go on to become coaching clients.
Key Takeaway: Posting regularly on LinkedIn takes a bit of practice but once you get into a good rhythm with it, it’s not too hard – just make sure you post regularly, even if it’s resharing other people’s content that you think will resonate with your target audience.
5. In-person events
In-person events are a great way to network and meet people, and the perfect way to find clients without using social media. As much as your time and budget allow, you should attend events within your niche.
The good thing about in-person events is that people are more likely to remember you if they meet you in person – real-life connections are powerful. The downside is that it does take effort and money to attend.
Tech Summit
For example, if you work within the tech niche as a career coach, you could attend something like the Tech Summit:
Key Takeaway: The key is to get into the habit of following up with those new connections when you get home to help build a successful career coaching business.
6. Create an email newsletter
An email newsletter is a great way to provide free content for your potential new clients. This is the perfect time to drill down into your knowledge and create bite-sized, info-packed emails. They really don’t have to be long, but they should show your expertise and your personality.
Email newsletters are great because they give you a long-term platform to allow your readers to get to know you.
The Assist
One great example of a good career newsletter is The Assist, a career newsletter aimed at women:
While this is a larger-scale operation than most coaches can manage alone, you get the idea here: this is a short, useful, appealing newsletter for women trying to climb the ladder.
Key Takeaway: You could create a newsletter within your specific niche, and you will eventually build trust with your audience.
7. Free coaching
While this one might sound a bit controversial, stick with me. Many people offering advice on how to become a career coach think you should never offer your services for free, but I think sometimes you may need to do it to gain crucial coaching experience.
You can offer free coaching to family members or friends, and that will give you both experience and some excellent testimonials you can use to attract paying clients.
The good thing about free coaching is that you’ll probably grab a bunch of people right away, and it gives you vital experience if you’re brand new to coaching. The downside is, of course, that you won’t be paid for it.
Danielle Noble
If you don’t know anyone looking for coaching in real life, you can create a post on LinkedIn, like career coach Danielle Noble:
Key Takeaway: People are often looking for free opportunities like this, so it’s a good way to throw yourself in the deep end and take on some new clients. If you’re really struggling to find your first clients, this will get the ball rolling, and your first clients can provide testimonials that will help to build your credibility and land those high-paying clients later on.
8. Speaking gigs
You can take on some IRL or virtual speaking gigs to expand your audience. This can be nerve-wracking but rewarding.
The good thing about speaking gigs is that it takes a few hours of your time (for prep and the talk itself), but you can record it and use it as ‘proof’ of your expertise for years to come. The downside is that public speaking can be tricky.
Casey Brown
Take the example of Casey Brown, a consultant helping people to reach their true earning potential:
This is an informative talk, and it opens up Casey’s audience to such an extent that she can find some high-paying clients who trust her based on the knowledge and expertise displayed in the talk.
Key Takeaway: While most of us can’t hop onto a TED Talk right away, there are other speaking opportunities available: create your speaker profile on Talks, look at your local area, check out upcoming events, and see if you can arrange to hop on board.
9. Reddit, Quora, and online communities
This is a slow burn, but it’s worth investigating. You can use online communities and social media platforms like Reddit and Quora to find new clients, but you’ll need to invest some time into these platforms rather than just dropping some ads and running.
The good thing about investing time here is that it’s completely free, and you’ll gain some crucial intel. The downside is that you won’t get immediate financial reward for it.
R/Career Guidance
A good subreddit to join is r/careerguidance, which is a thriving community:
Investing time here can do two things. Firstly, it will give you an inside look into what people are specifically struggling with, common issues people come across, and the challenges people working within your niche are facing now. It’s a good way to keep your finger on the pulse.
Secondly, it will link you to people looking for career coaching. You need to be careful with how often you advertise, and you should look at adding value for free: for example, you could do an AMA (Ask Me Anything), which allows people to reach out to you without it feeling spammy.
Key Takeaway: The good thing about this tactic is that it’s free. The downside is that it takes more time and effort. But I’d recommend joining some kind of online community to keep yourself up-to-date with your industry.
10. Post on YouTube
The good thing about YouTube is that it’s free to use, and it gives you a space to provide free, useful content for potential clients. The downside is that it takes some time to film and edit the videos, and learning how to stand out on YouTube can take a while.
Kara Ronin
Take this example from Kara Ronin:
Kara is a business coach, and she creates videos on topics from effective leadership habits to assertiveness to tips on speaking with clarity and confidence. Her videos are around 10 minutes long, so they are not that much of a time investment for her or her viewers, and she’s clearly showing her expertise, offering value while linking back to her coaching website.
Key Takeaway: This is a powerful way to build a connection with potential new clients. It involves time investment and money spent on a decent camera and microphone, but you can get a larger audience by offering free content like this.
11. Post on TikTok
If you don’t have time for YouTube, TikTok could be the way forward. Recording short videos doesn’t require special equipment other than your phone (and perhaps a microphone), and you can build up a good audience given that TikTok has 1 billion active monthly users.
It’s worth posting on TikTok if you’re looking for younger clients – it can give you an advantage if you’re trying to catch the eye of Gen Z or entry-level workers looking to start their careers, as they are the main demographic spending time on the platform.
The good thing about TikTok is that it’s instant – you can literally film a video anywhere, at home, at the office, in your car, while you’re walking your dog. The downside is that it’s a saturated platform, so standing out takes a fair amount of work and time to gain momentum.
Shadé Zahrai
Take the example of Shadé Zahrai, a performance consultant working with some impressive clients:
She creates TikTok videos with short, snappy titles: ‘Stop Living in the Past,’ ‘Top 5 Soft Skills’, and ‘No More Imposter Syndrome,’ for example. Super easy to do, but it builds a good rapport with potential new clients.
You can also film reels for Instagram, which work in a similar way (in fact, you could film the same video for both platforms).
Key Takeaway: Short-form content can be rewarding if you’re aiming to reach a certain demographic, especially younger Gen-Z workers looking to enter the workplace. Standing out can take time and effort, but it’s a thriving platform, and well worth considering.
12. Use Pinterest
Pinterest is another good option – with 518 million active monthly users, there’s a lot of traction there to find people looking for career development. It may not be the most obvious choice for career coaches as it’s a very aesthetic-focused platform, but there are people out there looking for advice on how to increase their confidence, stay organized, or pivot to a new career journey. People look for infographics and short, bite-sized career advice on Pinterest.
The key is to curate other people’s content as well as create your own. This will help you build your followers and gain momentum. Then, you can start creating content like listicles or short videos.
The good thing about Pinterest is that it’s free and easy to use. The downside is that you will need to post on there regularly to gain momentum.
Ana McRae
Take the example of Ana McRae, a business coach:
She’s created boards packed with tips on every aspect of career growth, from focus and motivation to business growth and social media marketing. This is a great way to attract new clients and showcase your expertise.
Key Takeaway: Pinterest can be surprisingly lucrative – just remember to curate other people’s content as well as creating your own.
If you’re learning how to become a career coach, I hope this has helped kick-start some ideas. Finding high-paying clients in the field of career coaching can be tricky, but once you’ve got the ball rolling, it does get easier. You might need to try a few different tactics, but eventually, you’ll figure out ways of marketing yourself that feel natural and right to you.
While you’re here, make sure you watch our free training on how to get coaching clients for even more tips and tricks.