OK you want to become a health coach! First step, yell hooray and jump up in the air a few times. Or, put on your favorite song and dance it out in celebration. Becoming a health coach is the most rewarding career, in my opinion. It has changed my life since the day I started coaching full-time. And maybe you only want a side-hustle coaching practice. That’s cool, too.

Whether you are side-hustling, or want a full-time practice, looking to enroll in school, are enrolled in school, or just graduated - you will need to create a website. SO WHERE DO YOU EVEN START? I am walking you through how to build a health coaching business website in 10 simple steps.

Health Coach Website Checklist - LET’S DIVE IN!

1.     Make an inspiration board for your website Go through Pinterest for ideas and start a board. Include other health coach websites, nutrition coach websites, and nutrition/food blogs that you love in an inspiration board for design ideas.

2.     Take photos! You don’t have to hire a professional photographer, have your friends take photos of you with an iphone or find a friend with a dslr camera. Take a few flat lay photos of food. I still use my iphone food photos on my current website. Taking photos will also give you inspiration for the design of your website.

3.     Write your navigation bar What will your links be? Check out my website and other health coach websites from your inspiration board. Write them down and start with at least these three below and add more if needed:
About Me
Services
Contact

4.     Pick a URL I used GoDaddy.com to check to see if the URL for my business name was available. You can purchase your URL through GoDaddy.com.

5.     Pick a host Check out SquareSpace, Wix, WordPress or any other host for your website. I chose SquareSpace because I love the layouts with a built-in blog. I also like how I didn’t have to hire a developer on the back end, and instead I make my own edits (with the help of a few YouTube tutorial videos at the beginning).

6.     Choose a template (Wix or Squarespace). Start with five favorite templates, and play around with these templates. Drop in a few of your photos from Step 2 to see which one looks best to you!

7.     Write out content! Start with writing content for what’s in your navigation bar.
About Me: this is where you tell your story and why you became a health coach
Services: more on how to choose the services you will offer in Module 5
Contact: Add a contact form or simply add your email and a photo of you!

8.     Add photos and written content to your website template. If you are working with a website developer this will be done by them! Again, I loved SquareSpace because of the drag and drop template but have never tried out Wix!

9.     Start your blog. If you are using SquareSpace, all templates have a build in blog page for you to use. Or have one built for you in Wordpress. Start blogging once a week to engage your audience!

10.  Add as you go. Now that you have the basics in place for your health coaching website by following the steps above, you can add as you go!

Maybe you add a link for Group Coaching or Corporate Wellness or your Ebooks. Remember your website doesn’t need to be PERFECT and include EVERYTHING at the beginning.

My website is still a work in progress and I am constantly making updates, which is why I chose SquareSpace and taught myself how to use it so I can add as I go! Do what works best for you and gives you space for creative freedom whether that is hiring a developer or learning the ropes as you go!

LOOKING FOR MORE DIRECTION ON SETTING UP YOUR WEBSITE AND BUSINESS?

My Online Course for Health Coaches on How to Build a Profitable Practice will set you up for success by laying the foundation and dishing all my secrets to growing a multi-stream income practice.

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This is a question I get asked a lot, and so I wanted to take the time to write out exactly how I got my first paying Health Coaching clients.

I have launched my Health Coach Masterclass on How to Build a Profitable Practice, which breaks down the exact steps you need to take to get your own first paying clients, and also consistent clients after this to build a successful practice. Although I feel that everyone’s journey to getting their first paying clients is different, there is a crucial step that you need to take before you start this journey, and that is to SHARE YOUR STORY.

 Yup, in order to get clients, you need to be comfortable sharing your story. People want to work with you because they relate to your story. If you aren’t currently sharing your story – on your blog, on Instagram, on Facebook, on your website, with friends, with new friends, with friends of friends, at events, at conferences – then you aren’t connecting with potential clients.  I share my story almost every day on Instagram, in my blog posts, and on my website.

HOW I GOT MY FIRST CLIENTS
My first five health coaching clients came to me through Instagram (when I had under 5,000 followers) and a partnership with a Pilates studio here in San Francisco. I had paying clients before I graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition as a certified Health Coach. In doing so I was able to pay off my tuition before I graduated.

But let’s go back in time.

I quit my banking job back in April of 2017. At this time, I was 5 months into my 12-month Health Coaching Certification program. That same month I got introduced by a friend of mine, who was a Pilates instructor, to the owner of MNT Studio who was looking for a Health Coach to offer nutrition services to their members. You know how that happened? Because I shared my story with her of how I was about to quit my job in Corporate Banking to become a Health Coach. Once she heard my story, she immediately said she needed to introduce me to the owner of the Pilates studio.

The introductions happened, then a formal interview and I got offered a partnership with MNT Studio. I would be offering my health coaching services to their clients and I could keep autonomy with my pricing and scheduling. I would do the client intake and would pay the studio a % every month.

I went on a month-long solo trip to Colombia in May 2017. I would explore during the day and work at night on my website and marketing materials. What was important for my website was to have my story on there. I wanted people at the studio who picked up my business card at the front desk, to go to my website and read my story. I was also on the Pilates studio’s website with my photo and my story as well. It wasn’t just about what I offered, but WHO I AM and my health journey. And this paid off. Because in June 2017 I came back and officially launched Balance by Molly. I dropped off my business cards at the studio and I started to come by weekly to work out and talk to members.

 Within a month I had two people reach out who wanted to work with me. And if I am being totally honest I was SO SURPRISED that they want to work with me. But I knew I was ready; despite my fear and self-doubt, I found my confidence from my knowledge and ability to do it and kick some health coaching ass.

I treated those first two clients of mine like they were gold. I showed up at their work, their home, or wherever was most convenient for them for our sessions. I bent over backwards for them and within another few weeks I had my third client. All in the month of June. They all said they connected with my story on my website and my blog of my gut health journey as they also were struggling with digestive issues.

In July, I changed I added my website link to my Instagram profile and started to post more personal stories about my journey and my relationship with food. By early August I had gained more followers and I had two people reach out to me via Instagram DM. I conducted phone consultations with both of them and immediately took them on as my fourth and fifth clients. One of these clients was Ali Bonar of @avokween who said I was relatable and connected with my story that I shared on Instagram.

HOW I KEEP GETTING CLIENTS
I continued to treat my first 5, then my first 10 clients like gold. I was taking Lyft across the city to new client’s homes and offices. I was working weekends, early mornings, whatever I had to do to make them happy. I knew that my first clients would become my sales force, and if I treated them well, then they would tell their friends, their family, their spouses, partners, co-workers and followers about me.

To this day, about 30-40% of my clients come from past client referrals, 50% come from Instagram and 10-20% come from corporate talks, my 10-Day Balanced Gut Reset, by finding my blog or website in search, Yelp, etc.  

And even though I have an office now where I see clients, and since have passed the torch on my Pilates studio partnership, I still treat all my clients like the rare and beautiful gems that they truly are. I learn so much from their stories that they share with me. It reminds me every day how important our stories are, and how we should never hold back from sharing or connecting.

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