7 ways to make money as an online health coach actually extends far beyond the health coach.

Most of the ideas can, in fact, apply to anyone and everyone who has any sort of online business.

E-commerce sales are predicted to hit $6.5 trillion by 2023.

There is room for everyone to gain a slice of the pie. Yes, even you as a Certified Holistic Health Coach.

Are you currently a health coach and/or considering becoming a health coach? Or do you have an online business in general?

Then this post is for you!

Today I am mainly focusing on the online health coaching business.

According to Chris Kresser, Health Coaches are a critical component for the future of “healthcare.” He states,

My argument is that in many cases these people could be very well served by a health coach or nutritionist with good training. And possibly seeing a Functional Medicine provider once or twice a year, or something like that.

He also cites,

And then they hired an army of coaches and basically these coaches work with people to change their diet and lifestyle, and they really hardly see the doctors at all, just a few times in the year to get the necessary testing and talk about the test results. But their primary relationship is with health coaches. And that program has been fantastically successful and they’ve made a far bigger impact in treating and addressing diabetes than the conventional approach of prescribing drugs like metformin and newer blood sugar drugs.

Thousands of people out there are just like you and me – wanting to help people get healthier through diet and lifestyle vs. needing to rely solely on drugs and medications.

I know this because my post, “How to Start an Online Health Coaching Business” has been pinned over 4K times!

Since publishing that post (about a year and a half ago), my online health coaching business has exponentially grown, but here’s the kicker – I haven’t done an exponential amount of additional work to see this growth.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Here is what I’ve learned over the past several years. Ready for the rocket science? There are only so many hours in the day (duh, right?!)

It took me a long time to figure this out, though. As the owner of my own business, 100% of which is run online, I had to get strategic about only doing the things during the day that made the most amount.

Then, I had to figure out what else could be added to the business without taking more time away from me daily.

If you’re a health coach, you can do this, too. Start by making sure you know the answer to the following question,

Who is my target audience?

If you don’t know, then you need to figure it out ASAP. I wasted years and money not understanding this.

BTW, because of it, I created a 7-Day Niche Defined Health Coaching Refined E-Course. Grab it to save you hundreds of hours chasing your tail.

Once You Know Your Audience

Now, make a list of all the ways you could help support that audience.

For example:

food to recommend
workouts to do
supplements to take (if you are not a doctor or RD, you should NOT give supplement prescriptions, but rather general thoughts and ideas, with the caveat to always ask their doctor)
skin care products
body care products
ways to reduce stress
other lifestyle items
recipes to make

Once you have your list, then you think about who and how to align with on those various pieces to help both the client and your business grow.

For example, when I got serious about skin and body care, I aligned with Beautycounter and it has made a huge impact on my business (see below).

For the above 8 ways, there are probably hundreds of ideas for ways you could make money within your own business. In fact, I urge you to make somewhat of a flowchart to sort through ideas. (I keep mine in a regular, old notebook meshed with Trello, by the way.)

But today I want to share 7 specific things I’ve done to increase my online health coaching business.

7 Ways to Make Money as an Online Health Coach

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Beautycounter

Of all 7 ways to make money as an online health coach, this has been (by far) my best addition! Why? Because if you are a health coach, you should be concerned not only with giving your clients the best in food recommendations, but you should also be concerned with overall lifestyle. Skin and body care is absolutely, 100% part of this equation. Joining the Beautycounter team was a great personal and professional addition.

I am now able to align with a company I can wholeheartedly recommend to clients for all skin and body care needs while getting an extra check every single month (= product rocks and you make 25-35% for each product sold). You can learn more about joining the team HERE.
Physical Product

I finally created my own physical product that people could purchase from this website then receive in their mailbox.

I’m only mentioning one because it’s the one I created and produced all on my own, Healing Blooms from Within (the 90-day gut healing journal). I also have a book, The Leaky Gut Meal Plan, but a publisher reached out to me on that one so I don’t want to make it sound like that’s “easy.” But anyone can create your own product. The journal has made a huge, positive impact on my business.
E-Courses

I have turned a lot of my information and acquired knowledge over the past decade and turned it into e-courses that anyone can take at any time. I have one that accompanies the 28-day Leaky Gut Meal Plan and of course the niche health coaching e-course, which I mentioned above.

You produce these courses once, then let them sell daily. I do update my courses, but there is no daily work involved with them.
Affiliate Partnerships

If you are regularly blogging and recommending products, I would strongly recommend you sign up for an Amazon Affiliate account. If you’re constantly recommending certain products like the Instant Pot and various books to your clients, this is an easy way to make additional income.

You can also join individual affiliate networks with your favorite brands and products. Even my journal has an affiliate program for those who want to make money by sharing it with clients. You just have to make sure you have a full disclosure page for it.
Improve Pinterest graphics

This one doesn’t translate into ‘create a Pinterest graphic, earn money,’ but indirectly, it will. I have spent the last year updating old blog posts and (most recently) honing in a very specific look and feel for branding. Why? Because the proof is in the pudding. Pinterest drives business.

When people are Googling, their searches often take them to Pinterest. And people on Pinterest buy. If you have an online business, you should absolutely consider dialing in the pins for Pinterest. (I could write an entire post on this alone).
E-books

There are many e-books on my website; some paid and some free, but each time I add a paid one, income goes up and daily time spent doesn’t (I only “spend” time creating the product). E-books have been critical for my growth.
Targeted brand partnerships

I am highly focused on working only with women who have IBS and/or IBD. Because of this, I am able to form brand partnerships who tend to focus on the same. There are online businesses who will promote anything and everything if the price is right. I won’t.

I’ve been staunch on this, and it has made all the difference for growing my business. You would never see me partner with Pillsbury or Cheerios. Why? Because they don’t fall in line with the ways I want to help my clients or the business model I have set.