A coach's
first 30 days.

Most marketing plans start with content and ads. For a coach, that sends strangers to a site they can't check yet. The order here follows how people buy coaching: they hear about you, look you up, decide whether you're legitimate, book a call, then decide on the call. Fix the steps closest to the money first.

The plan assumes about three hours a week. Each task stands on its own, so if a week slips, carry it over rather than skipping ahead to ads.

Pick the kind of coaching you do. The list changes to fit, and your ticks are saved in this browser only.

Start with the credential. If you hold one, name the issuer and level and link to the public lookup. The ICF also publishes the hours each level takes, which helps a buyer see what ACC or PCC actually means. If you don't hold one, say what training you've done, in plain words. Both are fine. Vague is the problem.

Then check your words. 'Psychologist' is a protected title, and loose therapy language invites the wrong comparison. Health and wellness coaches in NSW should read the NSW Code of Conduct for unregistered health practitioners, which applies to people providing health services who aren't registered with Ahpra. Several other states have similar codes. Last, reread every result claim as a sceptic would: under consumer law, a claim about future results needs reasonable grounds behind it.

Pick the situation you coach most often and are best at: 'new managers in their first year', 'tradies moving off the tools to run a team', 'people going back to work after parental leave'. Write one page for it, using the words clients used on their first call. Say who it suits, how a program runs, how long it takes, what it costs or what drives the cost, and the next step.

Then put the same description on LinkedIn and every directory you're listed in. People, and the AI tools that summarise you, piece together who you are from all of them. The AI search page has a builder that writes the description for you.

Most coaching sales happen on the fit call, so tidy it before sending anyone more. Send a confirmation that says what the call covers and how long it takes, and a reminder the day before. The discovery calls page has a calculator for what no-shows cost you.

Then ask for referrals properly. Pick one moment, usually a few sessions in when a client has had a win, and write the ask once. If you collect reviews, ask everyone the same way: the ACCC warns that suppressing negative reviews can mislead, and incentives must apply whatever the rating. Follow-up emails need consent and an unsubscribe, and ACMA sets out the rules in a page.

Write down four numbers for the month: fit calls booked, calls that went ahead, calls that became clients, and where each booking came from. Ask every new client how they found you and record their answer, not your guess. Referrals often start somewhere else first: a podcast, a post, a search.

Only then decide on paid ads. If most clients came from referrals and LinkedIn, more of that may beat ads for now. If you do test ads, work out first what a client is worth on the coaching budget page, and read the Facebook ads for coaches page before writing one: Meta rejects a lot of coaching hooks.