All coaches go through a process of development. One key moment is breaking through the “just coaching friends and family” barrier. Sure, it’s fun to test out coaching, offering discounted “mate’s rates” or even offering family members your training advice free of charge, but inevitably, once you get a taste of coaching successful athletes, you’re going to start thinking about how you can grow.
但是，超越最初的一到五名运动员并不总是那么容易。一些最常见的问题包括无法找到新的线索，与高运动员失误挣扎或登上时间缓慢。这里有一些有关如何应对这些挑战并最终克服一到五个运动员障碍的技巧。
从基础开始
克服职业生涯中这一点的第一步是确定阻碍您退缩并设定具体目标的原因。作为教练，这听起来很明显，因为目标设定在我们的工作中是如此根深蒂固，但是如果没有现实的目标，业务增长将继续是一种愿望，而不是可实现的结果。您需要考虑一下可以实际添加到名册中的运动员，并为该增长轨迹清晰的时间表。您可以在下个月再参加另外两名运动员吗？六个月内的10个呢？一年中的100个呢？
It’s also important to ask yourself about your current limitations. If you can understand, clarify, and identify the answers to these questions, you will also be able to identify what specific problems you need to solve first.
Finding New Athletes
If you are struggling to find new athletes, you could spend loads of time and money on social media and google, or you can use cheaper methods of creating new leads!
- If you have a local club, let people know you are taking on some new athletes.
- 与您当前的运动员交谈，并要求他们推荐朋友或进行一些社交媒体标签以进行培训和图像。
- Look at coaching directories –训练有一个, as do most governing bodies—what can you do to get yourself into them?
- Speak to a local race and ask if they could post or share a link about delivering specific training sessions leading up to the event.
- Speak to local bike shops, ride groups, swim clubs, coffee shops etc.
These are just a few ideas of how to find new athletes. There are certainly more, and they may not all work, but this is where your local knowledge of your area counts. Think about where you want to go and where you could find athletes.
High Turnover
If you have done all the work to find a new athlete, the best thing to do is to keep them! A high turnover means you have a high time cost associated with each athlete and a short amount of time to make the lead profitable. It is easier to increase the number of athletes you coach to eight if you only need to find three more clients andmaintain those from the previous racing season，而不是找到六个生长，再代替那些掉落的人。您需要考虑他们为什么要离开（是您还是他们？），然后从那些待在很长一段时间内留下来的人理解。
One great way to assess this is by creating an end-of-season wrap-up form and an exit interview form. If you keep these brief and ask highly targeted questions, you should be able to glean invaluable information regarding your turnover. Use the info you learn to shape and adapt your coaching business as you grow.
Struggling with Time Management
This is probably one of the most significant limiters for most coaches. A new athlete requires a substantial onboarding investment and often coaches end up putting too much timeprocessing each new lead.一个经过的一项指标nced coach compared to a newer one is that they can efficiently and seamlessly integrate a new athlete, and then return to focusing on communication and building out training plans.
Often, new coaches lack the systems and the processes to be efficient with their time, and as a result, their bottom line suffers. This is especially true for a coach trying to break through the one to five athlete barrier. It’s helpful to examine exactly how you are spending each of your coaching hours and adjust your pricing accordingly. The process should look like this:
- Audit the time you are spending on your packages.
- Evaluate your hourly rate for coaching.
- Ask yourself, is this what you want to charge? Adjust the hours per package or the price to be in line with what it should be (in your mind.)
- Commit to that pricing structure.
这些要点将帮助您建立定价结构，以确保您为运动员提供一致且公平的服务。最重要的是，确保您的定价结构在增加运动员人数时可以盈利。
By going through these steps above, you are already evolving your business. You are beginning to understand what makes it work, what you and your clients want, and how you can grow it. Remember all coaching businesses ebb and flow with their athlete quantities. Don’t do anything too drastic—hold fast to your plans as you put them in place and stay true to your end goal. After all, we are coaches. We know that it’s all about the process!
