Make Money As A Nurse Coach – The Truth Behind Our First $25,000 Week

One year ago, I could have told you that I would be writing this article.

Heather and I intended to make our business succeed by learning how to make money as a nurse coach, and we’ve turned that intention into a reality.

But the truth is, running your own business as an Nurse Entrepreneur can be incredibly challenging. Yes, you have all of these skills to be able to help your clients transform their lives.

But without a solid income stream, let’s face the facts:

You have a really expensive hobby.

Now, while learning to make money as a Nurse Coach can be a daunting task at first, I’ve broken down some of the essential steps that went into the creation of our first $25,000 week as Transformative Nurse Coaches.

Spoiler alert!! It’s not all kittens and rainbows. There is no shortage of moments where I’ve doubted my own self-worth and wondered why the @$^& I ever decided to start my own business. Yes, all of that is true.

But the growth and learning that has occurred over the last year has been nothing short of exponential, and I wanted to put it into words with the hope that you can learn this simple truth:

You can make money as a Nurse Coach!

Alrighty, enough with the formalities and into the good stuff. Let’s go over some of the most important things you need to know to start your path towards success as a Nurse Coach.

You Are Enough

As anyone who has studied coaching methodologies will tell you, it begins with you.

So, I want you to repeat after me:

“I am enough.”

If you have your degree in nursing, some experience under your belt, and your advanced training in Nurse Coaching, in this moment you have everything you need to serve your clients powerfully, help them transform their lives, and charge what you’re worth.

You don’t need more letters after your name, and you don’t need an MBA. By learning some business basics, you have everything you need to succeed inside of you.

So, get a posterboard and put this in giant print on your wall. Write it backwards on your forehead so you see it every single time you look in a mirror. And say it out loud until you believe it:

“I am enough.”

 

Be An Nurse Entrepreneur First

We’re in the healing profession, so we want to help everyone. I get it. But if you want to make money as a Nurse Coach, you need to start here:

Don’t be a coach. Don’t be a nurse.

If you are starting a business, think like a business person first.

This doesn’t mean that you sacrifice your values or change who you are. No. Just the opposite.

In fact, you should get super-duper clear on who you are, what you believe in, and what you most want to create.

So, get a handle on where your money is going, how much you are making, and what your business model is (this doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, a napkin-sized business model is usually enough to get you started).

But don’t be a pro-bono bonehead.

Have I given away tons of free coaching when I was learning to become a Nurse Coach? You bet your bottom dollar I did.

BUT there are tons of ways to get make money as a Nurse Coach that don’t involve actual money. Testimonials, referrals (you have to actually ask for them, by the way), exchanging professional services, etc.

I once coached a lawyer friend of mind in exchange for some legal work. Considering how expensive lawyers are, I saved (and thus earned) plenty of money in that professional exchange.

On top of that, I got some much needed practice as a Nurse Coach, while also working with another professional who needed my services.

That’s what I call a win-win. 

Now, as Heather and I have more revenue coming into our business, we can give choose to give away our services to a few select clients who can’t afford them. However, we usually try to drastically reduce our price point (we always try to have them pay something, because they then become much more invested in the process).

However, as you’re starting out, you’ve got to make money as a Nurse Coach, so make sure you’re always getting paid in some fashion.

Which brings me to my next point…

 

Coach Your Butt Off

One of my mentors, Rich Litvin, has a saying:

“Stop marketing and start serving.”

If you are new to the realm of Nurse Coaching and want to become a successful Nurse Entrepreneur by learning to make money as a Nurse Coach, then this is your mission:

Get out there and coach. Plain and simple.

Coach 50 people ASAP.

Before I finished my Nurse Coach training program, I had coached more than double the required number of hours necessary to sit for the board certification exam, and what I learned was invaluable.

I was able to try new techniques and modalities, overcome many of my own fears and limitations as a Nurse Coach, and gain invaluable referrals from my “practice” clients (again, referrals = income).

Oh, and speaking of fear…

 

Be Fearless And Try Everything

If anyone tells you that they have a magic formula for how to fill up your client list overnight, they’re probably full of it. Remember the old adage:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?

Well, same sentiment applies here. So try everything.

For example, when Heather and I were first starting out as Nurse Coaches, we would go to Meetups just to practice saying what we do.

We would agree on a few different ways to talk about what a Nurse Coach is and the ever-dreaded, “So, what do you do?”

Then we would walk into a room full of strangers and try ’em out. See how people reacted, how we felt saying it, and if it got us any potential client leads.

At the beginning, more often than not, people called us out on using too many buzzwords or having zero idea about what we did. But Heather and I would laugh, take whatever learning we could from the experience, (and as is often the case with these Meetups, a free dinner!) and move forward.

No need to feel bad about yourself because you have no idea how to talk about what you do when you are brand spankin’ new to being an Nurse Entrepreneur. Instead, having the guts to try something on for size is far more important if you want to make money as a Nurse Coach. Be fearless.

Anytime that you hear about something and think, “Hmmm, maybe I could try that someday…”

Stop it. Stop it right now. Sop thinking and just do it.

If it’s not going to cost a ton of money, and you’re not going to hurt anyone or practice outside of your professional scope, then do it.

Don’t bother wasting all of the energy coming up with the multitude of reasons as to why you believe something couldn’t work. Believe me, it is nothing more than that – a waste of energy.

Because the truth is, you don’t know if it will work unless you try it.

Now, there are definite rules of thumb to follow here. For example, if you want to kill it on enrollment calls and get more comfortable with sales, learn from some of the best in the industry. Since most coaches give an enrollment call away for free, get on the phone with a dozen of the most badass coaches you can find and have them enroll you.

Take notes on their tactics, their best lines, and how they run their calls. Read their books, their scripts (although you should never memorize an actual sales script), study the research and how to evoke pain points without being icky and salesy.

Then, take everything you learn and try it out for yourself. The sooner you try something, the sooner you can decide if it will actually work for you or not.

And the faster you move from idea to action, the faster you will make money as a Nurse Coach.

Now, while I could list 300 things that definitely don’t work for me, many of those things may actually bring you success.

So experiment. Move quickly from idea to action. Get out of your head, forget the naysayers, and try everything.

 

Stop With The Ideal Client Bull^$#@

Ugh. The dreaded ideal client. I spent months revising this fictitious individual, and I eventually landed on this truth:

It’s me. My ideal client is someone who is like me, but a few steps behind (at least in some respects).

This has nothing to do with age, gender, socioeconomic status, location, etc. It’s not about the demographics, it’s about the psychographics.

Their values, work ethic, mission, what holds them back, etc.

I can’t tell you how much this hunt for the ideal client held me back. With every “expert” out there telling me I needed to know who my ideal client was before I could make any money, no wonder I fell down that rabbit hole.

You see, there is a massive problem with this process:

I hadn’t had one single paying client yet!!

In my hunt for who my ideal client is and looking all over for them, I missed out on dozens of opportunities to simply get curious about people’s lives, and offer my services if I felt as though I could help.

So here’s my pro tip:

If you believe you can help someone by serving them as a Nurse Coach, and they are willing to pay you, do it.

And after your contract ends, you’ll gain invaluable feedback. You’ll either think, “Wow, I never want to work with someone like that again.” Or you’ll say to yourself, “Well that was incredible. I need more clients like that!”

And remember, there is no failure, only feedback.

Find One Community, and Serve Them. 

Remember how you were going to try everything? Well, that will help you succeed here as well.

If you want to make money as a Nurse Coach, you need to find out where the people you want to work with (and who have the money to hire you) are hanging out.

While this could mean online arenas, in the beginning I’d recommend finding them in-person.

Why?

Well, people are a little weary of the online world. Anyone can put up some nice pictures and web copy, but it is hard to trust them quickly.

But in-person, things are different. You can use your nursing skills and quickly drop into rapport with that person. They will trust you.

And if you serve them powerfully, they will want to know more.

And if you can demonstrate your capacity to bring them results during your initial meeting, they will be asking you, “So, when can we start working together!?

This was one of my most effective strategies to make money as a Nurse Coaching my first as an Nurse Entrepreneur.

We searched for events where our potential clients hung out. Places where people are actively seeking change in their life. For us, one of those events at was World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon (which happens to be our hometown).

But we didn’t just go there and spectate.

We went there and served.

We hosted 3 workshops that weekend for attendees of the event, which gave us the opportunity to bring nearly 80 people into our professional world.

We hosted the events at our house and at a nearby yoga studio. We set the context for life-changing experiences to happen. We fed them plant-based food. We connected. We served.

Many of the participants were brought to tears since they had never experienced that type of deep inner work before.

Then, at the end of the workshop (which was free), we invited anyone who was interested to have a one-on-one coaching conversation with us, no-strings attached.

And guess what?

Tons of people signed up for those one-on-one consultations, which gave us an opportunity to more deeply serve the World Domination Summit community, and, if appropriate, to offer those individuals the gift of investing in themselves.

This was one strategy that worked for us, and brought in tons of revenue. Doesn’t mean it will work for you, but if you want to make money as a nurse coach, get out there and serve one community. 

 

Start with sales, then move on to marketing.

Sales is far more simple. It’s a conversation.

You, your lead, pain points, numbers, can you help, do they want your help, do you want to help them, how will it work, contract, done. Signed. Coach and Client relationship established.

On the other side is marketing.

Marketing is sales, but in a different way. It is a way to start the conversation with a person before you actually have a real conversation with them. Your web copy, ads, email campaigns, articles, etc. are all extensions of yourself.

However, marketing is a whole cluster#$%^ of interrelated systems that can take months to setup, and months more until you fine-tweak them enough to actually start brining in qualified leads. And if you don’t know how to make money as a Nurse Coach, this is probably not the best place to begin.

A typical marketing campaign might look something like this:

Get a website. Then, make sure you have killer copy and professional headshots. Oh, but then you need to make an email list with Mailchimp. But before you do that, better make sure to have a delicious piece of opt-in bait so people want to sign up for your newsletter (but don’t call it a newsletter, call it something more catchy, like NurseLetter).

Oh but wait, before you can launch that, you need to have an actual mailing list, and you can only get that from Facebook ads? Okay, so make a Facebook page, a group, and… Oh! #$%# I forgot about LinkedIn! Now I need to set up my profile there so it’s all nice and pretty… but wait, wasn’t I supposed to be making an email opt-in? But how do I even send people to my website?

What the crap, yo. If you want to learn all that stuff, do it. I did, but only after I learned how to make money as a Nurse Coach by getting curious about people and serving them powerfully.

So make it simple on yourself. Just like when you graduated as a nurse, you didn’t jump straight into running a Trauma ED. Nope, they gave you one or two patients, told you to take your time and learn everything you could before you upleveled.

Same thing applies here. Start with sales.

Then when you have money rolling in, move on to the more complex marketing systems

 

Get Over Yourself, and Think Of Selling Like This. 

Let me fill you in on a little secret:

Everyone is in sales. From an interview to a first date, we are all selling who we are in exchange for what we want.

But sales doesn’t have to be icky, or feel weird.

In fact, learning to love selling is the difference between learning to make money as a Nurse Coach, and going broke.

So I’ll invite you to instead think of sales like this:

You’re offering someone a gift to change their life. By asking them to invest in their health and wellbeing, you are gifting them the opportunity to stop living a life of mediocrity, and start living into their potential.

By inviting someone to pay money for your services, you are challenge them to take a hard look at who they are, and who they want to be.

And if you believe that you can take them to that place, and you believe they are willing to put in the work to achieve those results, you would be doing them a disservice by withholding that invitation to invest in themselves.

So stop being selfish, and serve. Don’t withhold the gift of living an intentional life from someone because you are too afraid to ask for money.

And speaking of asking for money…

 

Practice Your Numbers!

“It costs xxxx dollars to work with me for xxxx many months.”

Say them in the mirror. Say them to your kids. Say them to your sedated patients while you moonlight until your business gets off the ground.

Because when the time comes to make your first big proposal, you’re probably going to black out. I know I did. I have no recollection of the first few times I asked for money.

But if you have practiced your numbers a hundred times that day, it will just roll off of your tongue, even if you have mentally left the building.

 

Decide What You’re Worth, Then Ask For It

If you believe you are worth $500/month, great. If you think your services are worth $4,000/month, perfect.

It you want to make money as a Nurse Coach, decide on a number right now, and start making proposals based on that. The more consistently you can help your clients create results, the more you will begin to believe your worth.

As a side note, running your own business can be expensive! Monthly bills range from our own personal health insurance to the app we use for seamless client scheduling.

But with that being said…

 

Don’t Be Afraid To Get Creative

If you make a proposal to a client, and they truly can’t afford it but you know you want to work with them (and that you can help them), then get creative.

Offer them something outside of your normal services. Perhaps you only meet twice a month instead of four times. Or maybe you don’t spend that extra hour after each session sending a follow-up email.

Whatever it is, get creative with your proposals. Because the truth is, you can always come down off of a high number.

And, you have no idea what people can afford. So start high, then negotiate only if you want to.

But remember, if you’re not willing to budge and get creative, you’ll go broke. And the whole point of this article is to help you learn to make money as a Nurse Coach.

 

Do What Scares You. 

You’ll never grow and build your capacity to earn more if you are up to the same old tricks all the time.

So, what is the one thing you could do today that terrifies you? Is it connecting with that person you have been wanting to coach? Is it making a bigger proposal? Is it taking a day off?

Learning how to make money as a nurse coach isn’t always a straightforward path.

 

Finally, Get a Job

This was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten. If you are desperate to sign clients, the people you encounter will sense that.

And nobody likes desperation.

Instead, inviting someone to sign up for a coaching program with you should feel like you are inviting them to your birthday party:

It’s going to be awesome either way, but I’d love for you to be there with me!

There are plenty of employee positions out there where you can hone your Nurse Coaching skills while getting a weekly paycheck.  From tele-health companies to employee health to corporate wellness programs.

If you are desperate to pay the rent and buy food, then you don’t need a client, you need a job.

 

In summary, you can make an impact everywhere that you work, and you can do it in a way that you love. But if you’re not ready to make the leap and become a full-blown Nurse Entrepreneur, then you can still make money as a Nurse Coach.

Get creative. Be fearless.

Ask what no one else has dared to ask, and go for what you want.

Let me know your thoughts and what’s worked for you!