Online coaches can feel overwhelmed by having too much to do when growing an online coaching business. Overcome overwhelm fast with these simple tips for online coaches and entrepreneurs. Get coaching clients faster and easier and beat overwhelm.

3 No Brainer Tips for Online Coaches to Overcome Overwhelm

Does this sound familiar?

You feel overwhelmed when building and growing your online coaching business and react in a (very) common way:

You overthink and overcomplicate it, diving deeply into research and copying what others are saying you “should” do (rather than trusting your own instincts).
You avoid it completely, putting it off until you are more “ready” to take it on (leaving you stuck).

Both reactions are totally understandable, but neither will help move you forward. As a result, your confidence falters. You hesitate and delay taking action.

Overwhelm takes over.
Your business doesn’t GROW.

Let’s face it, setting up and running your own business is tough. There is so much to learn, so much to take on yourself, so many pieces to put in place to reach your potential clients.

So it makes perfect sense why you feel overwhelmed or stuck when facing various aspects of building and growing your online coaching business.

Here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be this hard.
You shouldn’t be feeling constantly overwhelmed in your coaching business.

That’s why we (Sherri & Jessie) are here to take on a topic that we notice from our clients and from ourselves that we need to continuously remind ourselves and you about.

And that is the idea of Simplicity.
Getting past the overthinking, avoidance, and overwhelm.

When you're stuck in doubt or overwhelm, get back to simplicity.
Keep It Super Simple.

Now this is an interesting topic for us, especially on the heels of our recent virtual summit. We just gave a whole presentation on innovation. (you can watch the replay here) And we know that sometimes innovating means backing up and going back to basics.

Overwhelm itself is a constant that we notice happening both to our clients and within our own team. For us, we always try to lead by example, so we remind our clients and ourselves that there is ALWAYS a way to simplify.

Let’s dive in to 3 AREAS of your business where you can (and should) keep it super simple to overcome overwhelm.

AREA #1: Your Messaging
Be clear rather than clever.

I (Sherri) love this one. This one rings true for me because I tend to want to use impressive words like loquacious. I mean it’s a great word, but who says that? How many people know what it means? (don’t judge, I’m a weird word nerd…)

Think about it: the whole reason you’re in business is because you want to help people. In order to help people, you absolutely need to be able to clearly communicate with them, especially when they’re coming in cold (they are meeting you and your business for the first time).

If you aren’t super clear on who you are and what you offer, you won’t be able to reach your people. And let’s face it: being clever doesn't pay the bills ...

So we continuously check in with ourselves to see if we're making something too complicated. Because when something is simple in our minds, then it's easy to talk about. And then also it's easy for our audience to receive.

A good guideline is to keep your terminology simple and free of industry jargon and vague terminology that doesn’t translate well to the average layperson.

For example, when we were brainstorming for the Make Your Business Real Summit, we went through a crazy number of titles for our presentation! The list kept growing and going as we went round in circles until we stopped ourselves and decided to make it SIMPLE (for ourselves and our audience!). We stopped, thought about what key point we really wanted to make, and gave it a simple title. “Are you imitating or innovating?” BOOM. Done. Simplicity achieved.

Here are some key places to focus on being CLEAR in your messaging:

Mission statement
Homepage copy
Service descriptions
Sales/Landing page copy
Bio/About Me page
Presentation/Interviews
Email content

Now don’t worry, we're not suggesting that you can never ever be clever or creative with your content!

Rather we recommend being strategic with your creativity. Use it in your casual social media posts, to interact with your fans and develop deeper relationships with them there. You can also insert a bit of personality and flair in your regular content, but in very small increments. (Less is more!)

So if you've been struggling with your messaging, overcome that overwhelm by just focusing on simple clarity. Easy peasy.

Still with us?

Great, because we have two more areas of your coaching business to simplify.

AREA #2: Your Coaching and Courses
Don’t overwhelm your audience

In your niche, you are a pro. You have so many qualifications, certifications, experience, and information to share. That’s why you’re so qualified to be an online coach!

But if you flood your people with too many steps, too much information, or too many “to do’s” all at once, they get overwhelmed, intimidated, and discouraged by all the work they have to take on.

We get it. You’re excited to help and share your wealth of knowledge to move your clients forward. But it’s crucial to always look at things from their point of view.

Try this: think about your customer’s journey and consider where they are right now. Then meet them there.

Take it slow, and keep your steps simple and easy to implement for a steady stream of achievements. Use your knowledge and experience to guide their journey and learning.

Here are some great questions to ask yourself when putting together your coaching programs, online courses, and coaching session materials:

What do my ideal clients actually need to hear right now?
What is the outcome I am trying to create for my ideal client?
What are the basic pieces that need to be in place in order for my ideal client to get to their desired outcome?
How do I best use my knowledge and experience to empower, educate, and inspire my ideal client?

In our experience coaching clients one-on-one and in group sessions, we make sure our clients never feel like they're trying to catch up and keep up with an overflow of information or steps. Instead, we set them up for lots of easy wins using simple action steps that keep them constantly and confidently moving forward

When the steps and pieces are simple, we have seen our clients achieve faster and greater results and feel way more empowered along the way.

And in the process, you overcome your own overwhelm by trying to teach all the things at once!

Let's move on to the final area of your business to simplify: growth.

AREA 3: Growing Your Coaching Business
Don’t try to do it all (at the same time)

I (Jessie) call this “shiny object syndrome,” where I get distracted (and overwhelmed!) by every new idea, program, platform, and certification that comes my way.

Hear us when we say: you can do it all. Just not all RIGHT NOW.

An easy way to stay on course and not get distracted by shiny objects is to ask yourself a simple question: “Is this a now or a later thing?”

Again, as entrepreneurs we know the many, many things that we need to get done. So we tend to add everything onto our “to do” list until its less of a list and more like a novella . . .

But if you try to do everything at once, guess what? You're actually going to end up doing less. Or doing things in a rushed or incomplete way that is far less effective than you hoped.

So simplify! Your day, your week, your list, and make it manageable for yourself.

Decide on and commit to tasks and projects that are a priority for where you and your business are at right now. Tasks that you can actually accomplish to move your coaching business forward toward clients and success.

Our team’s project management system is Trello. We have a list that's called “brainstorming parking lot.” It has everything that crosses our minds, every exciting idea or bit of inspiration so it stays on our radar.

Your ideas and inspirations are important and shouldn’t be pushed away! Get all of those “shiny object” ideas out of your brain and into one place: a spreadsheet, a folder on your desktop, a journal, whatever keeps you organized.

Every day, you get to choose to focus your attention and efforts on certain areas of building your coaching business. So choose the ones that are going to have the most impact for your business (and your clients) right now.

Stay focused, get traction, stay grooving in whatever lane you choose.

And then when there's a space open in your schedule or mind, open up your shiny object list and pick something new. Evaluate that list and decide “Is this a now thing? Or is this a later thing?”

You truly can do all the things you ever wanted to do in your coaching business.

Dare to dream, dare to think big, to set those lofty goals and start working toward them every day. Just not all at the same moment.

Along the journey of building and growing a coaching business, simplicity matters. Simplicity works.

Keeping It Super Simple helps you overcome overwhelm and in stay constant forward motion. Then you can grow your coaching business faster, easier, and in a more manageable way.

Which of these areas are you most excited to work on in your coaching business?
Do you have any additional tips to keep things simple in your business?

Join our free online coaching community and let us know!