Author Topic: Financial Coaching - Marketing/Sales and Scaling?  (Read 1848 times)

SteadyDoinIt

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Financial Coaching - Marketing/Sales and Scaling?
« on: December 04, 2018, 12:28:21 PM »
Hey all,

It's no secret that millions of people around the country have a negative cash flow, barely (if any) plan for how to make ends meet, or anything beyond an abstract idea of their future goals. Tons of people just feel like a money failure, and when I look around at some friends, colleagues, and family, this fact is only confirmed. Still more people want to invest but have zero assets to reach their goals.

With that in mind, I'm exploring the idea of a service organization revolving around helping people understand their short and long-term financial goals, budgeting, creating positive cash flows, consolidating debts, changing (and sometimes creating) better habits, reinforcing positive self-talk, etc. This will start as a side business with one or two case studies to prove the concept as well as fine-tune my process.

I believe that I can be successful in this space for a few reasons. First, our story: my wife and I spent the better part of two years climbing out of my own debts totaling over $30k, so we understand the peaks, valleys, and self-discipline that leads to wonderful confidence and self-worth on the other side. Second, enjoyment: I find enjoyment in taking a look at the big picture and creating goals with our money that best serve us. I have tracked our spending to the penny for nearly three years and have refined our budgets considerably over time. Third, service: I find distinct pleasure in identifying problems with/for others and helping brainstorm, incorporate, and solve those problems.

This business will be monetized by focusing on 25-40 year old single people and families that make healthy incomes but have clear spending and accountability issues. I will demonstrate on the front end what they are missing/what we can work towards, and the cost for the services will be rendered valuable. Additionally, it's my goal to incorporate weekly or bi-weekly blog posts around hacks and/or food for thought that may one day produce some revenue and at least possibly generate a sales pipeline.

If you've made it this far, thank you for continuing. I have two questions, but feel free to comment with any other thoughts on the subject. I would genuinely appreciate any insight.

1) I have a pseudo-plan to partner with one (or a few) advisors that I'm familiar with to create a two-way partnership. They send me referrals that have no assets but are committed to saving, and I "graduate" those referrals back to that advisor. I have relationships with a few advisors from a past life that I would feel comfortable approaching with this idea. Does this seem feasible? What other avenues (besides the obvious: word of mouth, fb, etc, etc) would you consider in order to keep a healthy pipeline?
2) Maybe it will always stay a side hustle, but is this an idea that seems like it can scale? My thoughts are two-fold. I know that there are tons of people that need help - the list can be almost endless, but how many of them want it, right? On the other hand, am I, as a 31 year old married man with no kids, just in the perfect demographic right now? I mean, as I age, will more of my friends/colleagues/family/network just "figure it out" thus rendering my services useless?

Anyway, I know that's a long post, and may be somewhat rambling. I appreciate any thoughts as I steer towards testing viability.

civil4life

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Re: Financial Coaching - Marketing/Sales and Scaling?
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2019, 04:34:47 PM »
Question 1:  I like the idea.  I would wait until you have a case study complete.  A before and after.

Question 2:  I have been looking into various side hustle options.  The number one thing recommended to sell is knowledge.  It takes a lot of upfront work, but once it is rolling it works on its own.  I could see starting with some short eBooks on the various topics, workbook, spreadsheets.  Over time you could build a huge array of educational material to sell.  Video tutorials etc.

I have been wanting to do the same thing.  I think one of my stumbling blocks is these people cannot afford things already, but now I am asking them to spend money they do not have.

One thing I have considered is going to my homeowners association and offer to give a presentation on personal finance and gain customers that way.  Other places to consider is churches, PTA, and local high schools.  Maybe expand from a 30 min to hour presentation to a one day course.  While also advertising your coaching at additional cost.


Rosy

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Re: Financial Coaching - Marketing/Sales and Scaling?
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2019, 05:00:04 PM »
Question 1:  I like the idea.  I would wait until you have a case study complete.  A before and after.

Question 2:  I have been looking into various side hustle options.  The number one thing recommended to sell is knowledge.  It takes a lot of upfront work, but once it is rolling it works on its own.  I could see starting with some short eBooks on the various topics, workbook, spreadsheets.  Over time you could build a huge array of educational material to sell.  Video tutorials etc.

I have been wanting to do the same thing.  I think one of my stumbling blocks is these people cannot afford things already, but now I am asking them to spend money they do not have.

One thing I have considered is going to my homeowners association and offer to give a presentation on personal finance and gain customers that way.  Other places to consider is churches, PTA, and local high schools.  Maybe expand from a 30 min to hour presentation to a one day course.  While also advertising your coaching at additional cost.
@civil4life
I do love your approach about how to best set this up as I've been contemplating the same questions. I'm leaning toward a series of e-books and starting with 30-minute presentations here and there, then building up to a one-hour presentation.
It seems us mustachians just want to carry the message and the torch for financial freedom:)

My plan is to write one e-book and then take about three chapters each and turn them into a presentation.
I'm not sure about my target audience - yet, as ultimately the same principles apply, no matter who you are or where you find yourself.

I've been on fire since I came across an opportunity to talk about budgets/household finances to a group of abused women who are in the process of restructuring their lives.
I can't stop thinking about it because it speaks to my heart. I know exactly how frightening it is to start over.

It would not be a paid venture, but I also don't really need a book of my own to start. In fact, it would be an incentive to do a book outline and write say the first three chapters, create a long list of resources, information, calculators, blogs etc. to have them at hand as I give my first few 30 minute presentations, turning them into 3 part classes which eventually become a book after say 12 chapters max.

These presentations would be part of a life skill series with separate classes on food shopping on a budget, another chapter in my upcoming e-book. Then perhaps continue to write a total of three books.
So not exactly a full-fledged business idea - yet. For now, I'd just like to make a difference for someone in financial trouble and show them the way out. My "reward" will be that I would be one step closer to writing that book I've been thinking about for a while.

I know the financial pitfalls and how easy it is to lose everything with just a few dumb moves. I've been to the abyss and returned a changed person.
Fear will keep you poor and lost, it leads to ever increasing poor decisions until one day you are simply stuck.
Facing financial realities and developing a plan with laser focus will get you to the other side, financial freedom - choices, security.
I've had it all and lost it all (twice) so yeah, been there - done that.

@civil4life
Quote
I have been wanting to do the same thing.  I think one of my stumbling blocks is these people cannot afford things already, but now I am asking them to spend money they do not have.

I hear ya, but I don't tend to see it as a stumbling block. For one thing, people often do not attach the same value to "free" as they do to something they had to make an effort to get a hold of.
Second, if you have something worthwhile to offer then there is no shame in asking for payment.
One thought of mine was to perhaps end with a short financial quiz and award a free book to the best and one to the worst. That way I've covered my bases, I gave an interested person a gift they will enjoy and I'm giving the least advanced person a second opportunity:).

I'll need a website and ugh, this part sounds like work:). I'm not a CFP nor do I intend to become one, but I have plenty of good life skills to share.
I just need to find a good way to spread the joy of getting your life back on track and promote my book at the same time.

Metalcat

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Re: Financial Coaching - Marketing/Sales and Scaling?
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2019, 05:59:17 PM »
You are definitely not the first person here to look into this as a business, there are a few threads that have discussed it if you want to dig around and check it out.

Otherwise, maybe take a look at what other financial coaches are doing and see if any of their models works for you, as that's the most direct model I've seen for monetizing personal finance advice without wading into investing advice territory.

One thing that is very very clear from my research into this subject is that you really do need to have a hook and your history of 30K of debt isn't likely to be compelling enough to have much of a sticky factor.

If you are looking to do more one on one coaching, then training in coaching is pretty essential, as it takes a lot more skill than just having good ideas for people to follow. However, coaching is nearly impossible to scale. You get to a level where people are only going to pay you so much for your advice and you can only coach so many clients at one time.

I've seen some very highly paid career coaches because they have a proven track record of helping people generate tens, to hundreds of thousands more per year in income. It's harder to charge $1500 per month per client for frugality advice though...kind of contradictory.

If you are looking at writing a book and giving presentations, then that is a crowded space filled with serious heavy hitters, all generally saying essentially the same thing. This is a space where the personalities are big and the personal stories are even bigger. You would be competing with juggernauts like Dave Ramsey, Frugalwoods, and Pete himself. You will need an angle for sure.

There's definitely room for more people to dole out personal finance wisdom, but the more creatively you approach it and the more outside the box you can be with your model and your personal branding, the more chance you have to actually turn your knowledge into a business.

Lastly, being networked with FAs can be valuable, but if you are targeting a more average type of client then how will you resolve the fact that most personal finance advice always involves considering passive investing?

An FA would be insane to refer clients to you if they know that you will be advocating passive investing, but you really can't get away with advising people to go only with a fully managed portfolio.

Now, if you were handling mostly high net worth clients with money in corporations, which makes investing FAAAAR more complicated, then I could see a beneficial reciprocal relationship with FAs with corporate investing experience. However, do *you* have the relevant knowledge to be of value to those types of clients?

Overall, identify your target audience, examine what they are willing to pay for, solidify your brand, and experiment with different methods of monetizing what you have to offer, and try to think of ways that others with identical knowledge won't automatically jump to when they decide to compete with you...because we will.

The biggest question you should ask yourself: if this forum is FILLED with people with incredible and valuable knowledge, and MANY are trying to generate side hustles, why doesn't every Mustachian monetize their knowledge?