We health professionals share a collective mission to help improve the health outcomes of our fellow humans. This is a mission greater than any one person or brand, and together we make a much greater impact. This article will get you thinking about the dozens of ways you can use strategic collaborations to grow your health coaching business and help more people.
Collaborate with Fellow Health Coaches
Our PHCI grads will often collaborate together to help grow their followings and program offers. Have you considered reaching out to coaches who are in alignment with you?
Ideas for collaborating with fellow coaches:
- Cross-promote each other’s services, products, or offers
- Co-host a virtual event
- Co-create a product for your niche audiences
- Start a business mastermind group
- Be each others’ accountability partner
- Share lead magnets to use as a “bonus” for your existing offers
- Share responsibilities to create business templates, swipe copy for emails, social posts, and business systems to help streamline your responsibilities
- Guest post on each others’ blogs or social accounts
- Co-host a YouTube/IG/FB Live show or a podcast
- Co-coach a group program
- Set up an affiliate sales agreement
- Use each other’s service or product as an “order bump” or bonus offer in your sales funnel.
Are you actively present in your industry?
One of the simplest strategies for attracting collaborative opportunities is to be present in your industry so that you remain top-of-mind when an opportunity arises.
Which engaging Facebook groups should you get more involved in? What about attending conferences and summits and then creating a summary of your experience to share on your social media? Another idea is to critique or expand upon trending Instagram posts to help catch the attention of your industry.
Have you claimed your niche?
Niching down is a critical step for new health coaches to take if they want to accelerate their growth and help more people. I can tell you from my personal experience that no other factor has helped my coaching business more than choosing a rock-solid niche.
Once I started niching my content and brand, everything got easier. I knew what to post on social media, I knew what to email my list about, I knew what to make the focus of my website, which topic to pitch myself for on interviews and collaborations, and what to learn more about in my free time.
Once you’ve claimed your niche, you are ready for strategic collaborations and clearly targeted marketing efforts that will take your business to the next level.
Become an expert on a niche-related topic
Similar to the reasons for claiming your niche, choosing a health-centered topic to prioritize helps you attract collaborative opportunities and potential clients. Although it may seem far-fetched to claim to be an expert, rest assured that you are needed at your end of the expert spectrum because there will always be people who are less knowledgeable on your chosen topic—and they will see you as an expert.
Ever since I decided to focus on I.F., the opportunities to collaborate come from all different directions. It’s exciting once you choose a topic you’re truly fueled by because soon you’re looking at podcast interviews, speaking opportunities, webinars, list-building, summits, guest blog posts, and even hiring a PR agent.
Are you discoverable via keyword searches?
Think about which search words someone would use to find a coach with your skillset. It’s tempting to make up a unique title for your niche, but instead of getting creative, describe it in the simplest terms possible because simple = searchable.
When I made the move to change my title to an Intermittent Fasting Coach I made sure that title was everywhere, like my website header and logo, services, social media bios, my LinkedIn profile, etc….I was eventually discovered by the team behind the LIFE Fasting Tracker mobile app. When I asked how they found me, they answered, “We were just searching on Google and Instagram for ‘intermittent fasting coach’ and your page came up.”
It’s been a year since that company found me and my business has grown because of it. I’ve had a two-month waiting list twice this year, and I’ve had some amazing opportunities that include professionally filmed content, fasting webinars, group coaching, and third-party collaborations.
What sorts of words, titles, or phrases would be used to search on Google if someone wanted to find you? And even if you’re not on every social media platform, get yourself an account on all of the big platforms, plaster that title and niche in your bio or heading, and add a call-to-action that sends them over to your preferred social platform so they can see the content you’re creating.
Choose one type of content and consistently crush it
If you make the commitment to post quality, consistent content on a single platform, you can bet your collaborative opportunities will multiply—and potential clients will start coming out of the woodwork.
The majority of new health coaches get caught up feeling they need to be everywhere all at once. It’s smart to start an account on all of the top platforms, but you only need to be active on one platform, really.
Coach Joe Condora, from the Primal Example podcast, credits his consistent podcasting efforts for much of his growth.
“I started my first podcast in 2015 and there were plenty of growing pains. At first, we had less than 100 listeners, which was extremely discouraging. There were countless times I thought about giving up. I, however, am a big believer in trusting the process. It wasn’t until about 30 episodes into the podcast that it began to gain traction. As the podcast gained traction, my motivation grew and I knew that my hard work was paying off.
I got my start working with athletes and entertainers after a popular rapper messaged me saying he was a fan of my podcast and that he wanted me to be his personal health coach to help him prepare for performances…After working together, it opened the door for me to work with more people in the music and athletic industries.”
Which complementary businesses align with yours?
Not only did Coach Joe grow his business through podcasting, but he sought out collaborations with local gyms, too, which wound up being the ultimate business model for him to grow with.
“The idea hit me to reach out to local gyms to see if they were looking for a part-time nutritionist for their clients. I knew that cold emails don’t have a high success rate, so I was very pessimistic about getting a positive response. I remember writing the email subject line with ‘Nutritionist (unpaid)’, in an attempt to at least get my email opened.
I framed the conversation as a ‘partnership’ instead of an employment opportunity, agreeing to share revenue with gym owners in exchange for access to their clients. To my surprise, gym owners were extremely receptive to the idea, viewing this as an opportunity for them to make extra money while also providing their clients with access to a nutritionist…
Before I knew it, I had access to more clients than I was able to manage.”
Note: Although Joe is a certified Primal Health Coach, he also has a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, and he lives in a “green state” which means he can freely practice individualized nutrition coaching using the title of “Nutritionist.” Learn more about state laws here.
Some of the most obvious collaborations can be more challenging to obtain, such as offering your health coaching services at a local doctors’ office or chiropractic center. Yet others can be so simple and creatively liberating. For example, I became a recipe developer for a local juice bar and soon wrote their social media posts and blog content. I also created an eCookbook for a personal trainer’s group weight-loss program, and I eventually became her co-coach.
Play the long game
Trust in the process and think of your journey on a 3-5 year scale. This way you can appreciate the time it takes to figure things out and create valuable, cohesive content on a consistent basis. Maybe you’ll build a killer YouTube channel or a podcast, and watch patiently as your efforts culminate into collaborations you’ve only dreamt of.
“Even if you don’t know what direction you are going, do not stop the momentum. What I learned from my experience over the past 7 years is that you can never predict how a situation may evolve. You never know which opportunity may be your big break, so give every opportunity 100% effort and dedication.” – Coach Joe Condora
How’s that for a pep talk? Start collaborating with new and aspiring coaches right now by joining our Health Coaching Success Facebook group—995 members and counting!
