Learning how to start a coaching business is becoming increasingly popular, particularly as a digital profession; however, many aspiring coaches struggle with the associated costs. From qualifications to website builders and marketing, expenses can add up quickly, leaving little left over once all is said and done.
The good news is that there are cost-effective options out there to get you started. Platforms like Nas.io offer low-cost solutions for launching and scaling coaching businesses, with AI tools and instant monetization making the process less of a drain on your savings.
This help guide will provide you with some information on the rise of coaching as a business and the importance of budgeting, plus a 5-step guide to growing a coaching community and launching your own coaching start-up.
The Rise of Coaching as a Business & The Importance of Budgeting
As of 2020, the coaching industry was worth $2.85 billion. There is a huge demand for coaches as the sector continues to grow, with life, business, and wellness coaching being particularly prominent.
All-in-one platforms like Nas.io are helping make professional coaching more accessible, in an already competitive space, allowing people to set up communities, deliver coaching sessions, and monetize instantly without heavy upfront costs.
Keeping costs low (especially at the start) will set you up for unexpected expenses in the future, and will give you more scope for your money rather than seeing it wasted before you’ve really got started.
Let’s get into our 5-step guide to starting a coaching business, where we’ll explain how to define your own niche, some affordable coaching certification programs you should consider, how to set up your business structure, marketing, and acquiring clients.
Defining Your Coaching Niche
The first step to building a coaching business is really understanding who your target audience is and the niche you want to focus on. Your niche should be informed by your skills and experience, and your target audience will be people interested in and engaging with those working in this niche.
Explore Different Niches
The main niches associated with coaching are as follows:
- Life Coaching: This involves helping clients improve confidence, mindset, and personal/professional relationships.
- Business Coaching: Looks to guide entrepreneurs towards growth and positive decision-making.
- Health & Wellness Coaching: Supports clients in achieving positive well-being and work-life balance.
- Career Coaching: Helps to empower professionals to advance up the ladder in their careers or make positive changes.
Aligning Skills & Passions
Your niche should be informed by your existing skills and passions – what you’re good at and enjoy will shine through when coaching others, so your current interests and values must align with your expertise.
On Nas.io, many coaches start with micro-communities to validate niche ideas before investing big. This can help to gather feedback before putting your everything into a niche, and hopefully validate the direction you should be taking.
Affordable Coaching Certification Programs
There are various coaching certification programs available that don’t break the bank. Online learning has helped make earning certifications far more accessible than they ever have been, with there even being a range of free qualifications you can take to gain credibility without the financial strain.
Identifying Cost-Effective Options
Check out reputable programs that offer payment plans, scholarships, or free trials. Here are a few platforms worth looking at if you’re looking for certification options with low-cost entry:
- Coach Training EDU (CTEDU): Life coach certification with a starter package of $4,950 that can be spread over 12 payments.
- ExpertRating: Entry-level coaching certificate, low cost at $99.99 for a self-paced certificate.
- ILifeCoachTraining: $195 for a 1-day course, which has a combination of video modules and live sessions.
- Professional Coaching Skills – ICF-Accredited Level 1: Fully online course that is more expensive than others, but comes with strong credentials – EUR 4,200 for the full course.
- Higher Ed Coaches: Provides foundation coaching courses with a basic plan starting from $4,139.
Online vs. In-Person Certifications
While in-person programs are great for visual learning and building connections, there’s no doubt that online certifications offer flexibility and are usually more cost-effective.
Nas.io has the ability to host online learning communities, where new coaches can test content or offer pilot courses while training. This is a really practical way to learn, teach, and grow your coaching business at the same time.
Setting Up Your Business Structure
Once you’ve settled on your niche and explored some certifications, it’s time to set up your business structure in a way that works best for you.
It should be legal, scalable, and cost-efficient to ensure it’s sustainable for now and years to come.
Choosing the Right Business Model
Popular business models for coaches include:
- One-on-One Coaching: Personalized, premium service, useful for getting to know your clients on a deeper level and charging per hour/session.
- Group Coaching: Involves less time per person, but a higher volume of people. Tends to be a more scalable option.
- Memberships / Subscription Coaching: Provides monthly recurring revenue and is good for stability.
- Hybrid Models: You could mix one-on-one coaching, group, and membership offers to make your offering more flexible for your customers. E.g., a membership could feed into a one-on-one program, or you could upsell group coaching to private sessions.
Nas.io supports all of the above models, offering cohort-based programs to memberships with recurring payments, and even community access. You can manage recurring billing, automated content, and host your community all within the Nas.io platform, regardless of the business structure you choose to go with.
Legal & Registration Considerations
There are a few steps you need to take with registering your coaching business affordably – we’ve included these below to ensure you don’t get tripped up on the legal/registration side of things:
- Business Registration: In the US, most coaches start by forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC), helping to protect their personal assets and offering tax flexibility. Do some research on your state’s LLC filing fees – this usually varies between $50 – $30,0, depending on the state.
- EIN and Tax Set-Up: You’ll need to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS to ensure you’re set up to pay tax and make social security contributions.
- Contracts and Agreements: Make sure you draft simple, clear coaching agreements that outline your services, payment terms, cancellation policy, and any other important information. You can find templates online for this, but we’d recommend having your contracts reviewed by a legal professional before signing to ensure they’re legally correct.
Cost-Effective Setup Tips
There are various free tools available to help you get started without spending a lot initially.
Google Workspace, Canva, and Trello are highly recommended in the coaching industry for managing workload, creating social graphics, and tracking clients/outstanding work.
Nas.io’s built-in client management and payment tools help keep all aspects of your coaching business in one place, reducing costs for multiple SaaS tools that quickly add up.
If you need a website, you could also consider embedding a Nas.io coaching page instead of paying for external hosting/landing pages. All of your coaching content, plus your community, can be hosted on Nas.io, making things structured together and more affordable.
Marketing Your Coaching Services
Once you’ve set up your coaching business, you can start promoting it. Marketing can be expensive, but here are some tips for attracting clients without putting too much of a strain on your budget.
Leveraging Online Coaching Platforms
Various online coaching tools can combine marketing, community, and payments in one dashboard, reducing the cost of multiple platform fees.
Nas.io can simplify your marketing by keeping everything in one place, helping you to share valuable content with your on-platform community, without paying for multiple marketing tools. They also offer customizable landing pages you can market and referral programs for incentivizing existing clients to recommend a friend.
Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies
There are plenty of cost-effective marketing strategies out there, such as social media, content marketing, and referral programs.
Start by building a social presence that reflects your niche, and offer high-value content such as tips, challenges, or mini-workshops that demonstrate your expertise. Coaches on Nas.io often attract clients organically through free workshops or short AI-assisted challenges, so this is a good place to start for an affordable strategy.
Building a Website on a Budget
In 2025, you don’t need an expensive web developer to build a coaching website.
Check out no-code builders like Notion or Cardd, or host your coaching page on Nas.io, where you can keep your community and content in one place – no expensive website needed.
Acquiring Clients Without Overspending
The last step in the process is to win clients without wasting your budget.
If you balance strategy and authenticity, you can grow your client base organically without needing to spend thousands on ads or high-pressure marketing.
Networking on a Budget
Networking is 100% possible on a budget. Research social media groups in your niche on Facebook and LinkedIn – you to find where your audience is spending time and start integrating with them.
Offer insights, collaboration opportunities, and free webinars to share your expertise and get noticed. Many coaches launch a free community on Nas.io to attract followers and convert them into paying clients once they’ve built trust and nurtured the relationship.
Offering Free Workshops or Sessions
Hosting short, value-driven workshops can be super effective in giving potential clients a taster of your coaching style.
Check out Nas.io’s automated event and email tools to make scheduling workshops and following up on events seamless.
Retaining Clients Long-Term
Retention is much cheaper than acquisition. If you can keep a client for the long haul, you know that they’ll not only continue to use your services, but they’ll also recommend your business to other people who may be interested.
Keep your clients engaged by consistently delivering high-value content and services, and look after your community by keeping in touch and regularly posting on your community channels. Nas.io’s subscription-based model can be useful in improving retention rates by offering clients ongoing memberships or ‘members-only’ spaces to keep people feeling valued.
Conclusion
Starting your coaching business is possible without needing a huge budget to throw at it.
Having the right structure, a sensible budgeting system, and powerful, but affordable, digital tools can allow you to launch your business confidently and without being too much of a financial burden.
Nas.io can help you to launch and monetize your coaching community faster than traditional methods by giving you everything you need to manage your clients, automate your workflows, and monetize your community from one intuitive AI-powered coaching platform.
Ready to launch your coaching business without breaking the bank? Start making money in minutes with Nas.io for coaches — no tech skills required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the cheapest way to start a coaching business?
A: The cheapest way to start a coaching business is to launch your brand online with affordable tools. Platforms like Nas.io allow you to nurture clients, host coaching sessions, and manage payments from one platform – no other platform fees required.
Q: Do I need certification to start coaching?
A: You don’t legally need a coaching certification to get started, but it helps to build trust and credibility with your clients. There are plenty of budget-friendly options out there, such as ExpertRating or Coach Training EDU, that can help you get certified without spending too much.
Q: How can I market my coaching business for free?
A: You can market your coaching business for free by setting up social media channels for your brand, offering free webinars, and accessing platforms like Nas.io to share your content and attract new clients.
Q: Can I run my coaching business entirely online?
Yes, you can run your coaching business entirely online, and many online coaches are testament to this. Nas.io offers client management, payments, and content delivery from one dashboard, negating the need to set up an in-person premises.
Q: How does Nas.io help new coaches make money quickly?
A: Nas.io helps new people make money coaching online by offering built-in tools like subscriptions, paid communities, and automated workshops that offer monetization opportunities instantly.
This can help you earn money as an online coach immediately, without lots of additional setup costs.
