When To Take The Leap To Become A Full Time Health Coach

If you’re an aspiring health coach, or are already one but working a day job, you’ve probably dreamt about making the leap to full time. But the question is, when?

How I Took The Leap

Nine years ago I took a chance, trusted my gut, and followed my heart. I left my finance career to study nutrition and cooking, and eventually set up my own health coaching business, teaching others how to use food as medicine.

Teaching cooking classes, writing books, speaking on stages across the globe, just blows my mind.

I had no one to model this path for me, but I forged ahead on my own. I tried and failed and tried again. I invested in every training I could. I relentlessly took action, no matter how small. And eventually, I carved out my own path.

I’ve always been a risk taker and while it has led to some of the most uncomfortable and scary periods in my life, it’s always brought me to the happiest and most proud points in my life, too.

Entrepreneurship and all that comes with it is as exciting to me as vegetables and the poop (if you don't know me well, those are actually 2 of my favorite subjects!)

Now that I have almost a decade of experience under my belt, I love mentoring other health coaches who are just starting out or struggling to grow. I love talking strategy, tech, copy, and SEO as much as organics, water filters, and SIBO.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like had I stayed in my windowless cubicle with my head down, too afraid to go after what my heart was telling me to do.

How To Know When You Should Make The Leap To Full Time

You Know You Enjoy Being a Health Coach

Before you quit your day job to become a full-time health coach, it’s important to be clear this is truly what you’re passionate about and love to do.

Build your health coaching business part-time on the side while you’re still at your full-time job. This is what I did. (To be honest, I put in enough hours/work that it was closer to having two full-time jobs - all weekend, nights, and even early mornings!)

Building a business from scratch is hard work and takes patience, persistence, and sacrifice, so you have to make sure you truly love health coaching (including the marketing and business part of it) and are willing to put in the effort before you quit your steady paycheck.

You’re Gaining Traction

You should already have a steady stream of clients and positive testimonials from them. You might be getting decent traffic on your site or building a great following on social media. In other words, you’re getting feedback that this could work.

You Have Finances In Place

While you can get a health coach business up and running with minimal expenses, you still need to have your finances in place. Make sure you have some runway to live comfortably for at least 12 months while you build your business. So even if you didn’t make any money, you’d still be able to eat.

You may also want to secure some contracts - for example with corporate clients, brands, or even new clients before you say goodbye to a steady paycheck.

For tips on how to minimize expenses and maximize your return on investment, check out my recent blog post, How Much It Costs To Start A Health Coaching Business

You’ve Got A Business Strategy

One of the most important things to have in place before taking the leap to become a full-time health coach is a business strategy. You should be clear on your niche, target market, services, and marketing strategies including blogging, social media, and PR (aka how to get featured on TV and in magazines).

In my Health Coaching Business Bootcamp, I walk students through the most comprehensive business and marketing training available for health coaches.⁣

It’ll help you get over your fears, find your niche, develop your brand, create your signature program, optimize your website, create and implement a social media and web marketing strategy, work with brands, and just about everything else you need to do to turn health coaching into a full-time business.⁣

This is why it’s also important to health coach on the side while you’re still working full time - so you can experiment and try things, figure out the niche you truly want to focus on, and develop a strategy before you quit.

Once you’ve got all your ducks in a row, and you feel it in your gut that now is the time….well, then that is the time to make the leap :)