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.

We live in an eCommerce-dominated world. According to Small Business Trends, “The total number of online shoppers in the US is expected to exceed 206 million in 2015 … and 215 million by 2018.” 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.

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 (spoiler alert: for me this was expanding my professional background as a Content Creator and Digital Storyteller in the natural foods industry) and then figuring 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?

And then, make a list of all the ways you could help support that audience. For example:

1. food to recommend
2. workouts to do
3. 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)
4. skin care products
5. body care products
6. ways to reduce stress
7. other lifestyle items
8. 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 do mine in Evernote, by the way.) 

But today I want to share 7 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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1. 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.
2. Once per year online group program. I used to run my online group programs a few times a year. I stopped doing that. Now, I only run them once per year. Why? Because then they fill and I am spending less time all year long prepping and preparing for them. Many of the participants also end up converting to 1-on-1 clients which brings me to….
3. Limited 1-on-1 spots. Some people love doing 1-on-1 work with clients. I do, too, and when I first started my business it’s solely how I worked with people. But 1-on-1 means the entire day is taken up just helping a few people. For me, my business would never have grown the way it did if I would have stayed in that place. Instead of taking as many 1-on-1 clients as I could, I changed the structure to have it on a limited basis. You can see that I’m on a waitlist currently (I should have new spots open in late January/February). Supply and demand. It’s basic business.
4. Amazon Affiliate. If you are regularly blogging and recommending products, I would strongly recommend you sign up for an Amazon Affiliate account. Recommending full-fat coconut milk? Or an Instant Pot? Or how about books? With an Amazon Affiliate account, you can make money (though it’s not much) when you’re sleeping, literally. Just make sure you have a full disclosure page for it.
5. 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).
6. E-books. I released yet another e-book this last year, “The A Loving Spoon Nut Butter Original Recipes.” 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.
7. 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. I work with brands like Made in Nature who are easy to Certify Gutsy. And I work with brands like Vital Proteins because they have the best collagen and gelatin which I am constantly talking about for gut healing. I also partner with Experience Life Magazine because they are the one true magazine built around holistic health – articles I want my clients reading and devouring. You would never see me partner with Pillsbury, Cheerios, or a magazine like Shape (even though I do read it from time-to-time). Why? Because they don’t fall in line with the ways I want to help my clients or the business model I have set.

So there you have it…..7 ways to make money as an online health coach. If you want more ways, definitely check out How to Start an Online Health Coaching Business.

Questions? I keep no secrets. Comment below or contact me HERE. And by the way, part of growing your business is growing your email list. I use (and SWEAR BY) ConvertKit. Click HERE to get 3 Steps to a Successful Online Business.

Xox,
SKH