Create, market, sell, coach: the business model

If you want to build a coaching business that actually grows, you need to understand the coaching business model and its four functions: create, market, sell, and coach. This framework matters because most entrepreneurs try to do everything alone, and that is exactly what keeps them small. It is relevant for anyone launching a service based business, not just coaches.

Think of it like a little song you cannot forget: create, market, sell, and coach. Each function carries the same weight. One is as important as the next one, and skipping any of them leaves your business unbalanced.

What are the four functions of a coaching business?

Every solid business, anywhere in the world, runs on these four functions. And here is the interesting part: they all need to get done, but you are not meant to do all of them yourself [00:30].

• Create: this is the creation of product and material. Your content gets standardized, protected by law and intellectual property, and renewed and maintained regularly. For a coach, this is your coaching material.
• Market: people need to know what you offer. You team up with communication experts who turn your content into a product and even tell you how much to charge.
• Sell: this covers administration and selling. You need strong sellers who make projections, budgets, collect payments, and pay vendors.
• Coach: the product itself. You may be the one who coaches, operates the business, trains other coaches, and replicates the product.

That last piece is the operation of the business, and it is often where coaches feel most at home.

Why can't one person run all four functions? Because days are limited and time is limited. You may have the ability to do everything, but being able to do it does not mean you should. Specializing frees you to focus on what you do best.

Why should entrepreneurs team up instead of doing everything?

Here is the challenge many entrepreneurs face: they refuse to team up and insist on handling every task themselves [01:30]. The problem is not talent. It is capacity. There are only so many hours in a day.

When your business is small, you can probably pull everything together because you are talented enough to do it. But every entrepreneur eventually reaches a point where they hire people or partner with someone who complements their strengths.

So pause and ask yourself which function you do best. Hopefully coaching, but maybe it is selling or creating. If you know a great coach and you happen to be great at selling, team up with that person. That is how businesses scale.

What does it mean to team up in business? It means partnering with people who specialize in the functions you are weaker at, so every part of the business, create, market, sell, and coach, gets handled by the right person.

What can we learn from Miguel's coaching company experience?

Miguel shares his own story from starting a company in Honduras, in Central America, some years ago [04:00]. It began as a small coaching company offering services to banks and other companies. At first, he did everything: creating material, coaching, communicating, and collecting payments.

And his honest verdict? It is exhausting.

The turning point came with a hard question: are you a manager, a coach, or a content creator? What are you? The decision was difficult because he wanted to be everything. After serious introspection, he realized he loved coaching and creating content the most.

Today, at his company:

• He does not handle the selling.
• He does not handle the marketing.
• Coaching is done both by him and by other trained coaches.

He does not regret the mistakes because each one taught him something. As he puts it, you will fail sometimes, but you will learn and come back stronger, just like the phoenix. Teaming up is always a good idea.

How do you apply the four functions to any business?

Think of this four functions model as a framework. It fits a coaching business, but it works for almost any business [06:30]. If you have friends who are entrepreneurs, share it with them so they can see that beyond coaching, there is product creation and the operation of the business to consider.

Now it is challenge time. Miguel asks you to make two decisions [07:30]:

1. If you opened your coaching business, who would your partners be? Do you know someone you trust enough to run a business together?
2. How much would you charge for a coaching session with you or one of your coaches?

Think it through, then share your ideas with the community. What functions do you feel strongest in, and who would you team up with? Drop your answers below and let us see what happens.