Owning your own business as an endurance coach comes with great benefits, but mistakes are easy to make when first starting out. UESCA Coaching Mentors share the biggest mistakes they made and what they would have done differently.
Starting your own business as an endurance coach is a big decision! Working for yourself offers great benefits, such as managing your own schedule and having full control over your pricing and services. But it also comes with challenges:
Where do I set my pricing as a new coach?
How available should I be to my athletes?
How much time should I spend on the different parts of my business?
It’s easy to over-commit your time, undervalue yourself or worry about what others will think when building your business as a new coach. But learning from others who have developed successful endurance coaching businesses can help you acquire the knowledge to begin your new business with confidence.
Below, six UESCA Coaching Mentors share the mistakes they made when first starting out and what they would have done differently.
Not Setting Boundaries or Blocking My Time
One mistake I made when I first started my coaching business was not setting boundaries around my time. I’ve found that setting time blocks and hours throughout the day where I reply to athletes has helped me work more efficiently, saving time for myself and other work and life tasks, while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Additionally, having systems in place to track emails, handle billing and manage coaching calls has taken six to eight hours weekly off my plate to focus on other things—even simple things like sleeping an extra hour here and there.
Starting out, I would’ve set up time blocks first and foremost to protect my safe space, and some of these for creating the systems I now have, so that when my coaching business was fully up and running, I had a better schedule with boundaries to stick to.
Coach Alli Felsenthal, owner of RunWithAlli Coaching
Pricing My Services Too Low
One of the biggest mistakes I made when launching my coaching business was my pricing. I did the market research to see where everyone else landed, but instead of using that to set my prices appropriately, I saw it as a chance to undercut everyone else and fill my roster. That plan backfired. While I did fill my roster, it wasn’t full of the athletes I wanted to coach. I also realized that I had undervalued myself and would have to figure out how to get pricing in line with what I was worth.
While I was able to successfully do that without losing any athletes, I don’t recommend that route! Instead, I would have used my market research to price myself appropriately, based on the services I am providing and what the market will bear.
Coach Faith Raymond Strafach
Focusing Too Much on My Athlete’s Results
The biggest mistake I made when I started my coaching business was caring more about the athlete’s success than some of the athletes did. I think all coaches want their athletes to perform well. But for many athletes, the journey is more important than the destination. Many don’t care at all about their time or place. They just want to have fun, be healthy and/or get to a finish line. And that is perfectly OK!
If I could go back to the beginning, I would stress much less about when athletes missed a session or skipped an interval and focus more on the communication aspect of the job for those athletes who were looking to simply get to the finish line.
Coach Matt Hanson, owner of MHRacing
Being Too Available to My Athletes
When I first started my coaching business, I was too available. I wanted to help anyone and everyone and be available 24/7. This inevitably led to burnout in both my coaching practice and my personal fitness.
If I had to go back and do it differently, I would establish who I worked with, when I was available for office hours and expectations for both the coach and the athlete. This would have helped me create a clear and defined service and reduced the risk of burnout.
Coach Katharine Moustakes, owner of Kathletics
Not Adjusting My Pricing Based on My Full Scope of Services
One mistake I made early on was setting my coaching prices before I understood how much time went into supporting each athlete outside of writing their plan.
Starting at a lower rate helped me build experience and relationships, so I wouldn’t necessarily change that. What I would do differently is define what’s included in each coaching option from the beginning and revisit my pricing regularly as the business grew. That would have helped me protect my time while still giving athletes the support I promised them.
Coach Rachel Laymon, owner of Run Well Be Well
Fearing What Others Thought
One mistake I made when I first started my coaching business was fearing what others would think of me calling myself a coach! I was an accountant and a new mom at the time, so I used social media to promote my new business. I worried that my boss, coworkers, old classmates and even family members would judge me for what I was sharing. I also compared myself to coaches who were more experienced than me. That held me back from truly speaking to the runners who did need me.
I wish I’d had more confidence in myself. But the truth is, that confidence is built over time. You must work through the fear of judgment—someone will judge no matter what—and trust that your skills and confidence as a coach will grow over time. But you have to start somewhere.
Coach Nicole Dobransky, owner of Runner Rising
