3 Essentials You Need to Start Online Coaching

Everything you need to start online coaching:

Total time commitment ≈ 2 hours.

Here's everything you need to start online coaching today.

Don’t be the guy who spends 99.8% of their time fiddling with privacy policies and 0.2% talking to potential clients.

Here’s the fast route to cover your bases and start coaching.

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This all took a couple of minutes in our Speed Run.

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The key ingredients:

1. Insurance

2. Legal docs (T&Cs, Privacy Policy, PAR-Q)

3. Qualifications

4. Accounting

5. Payment processor

6. Paylink setup

7. Your shop window

8. Profile photo + bio

9. Social media

10. Brand or no brand?

11. Getting your first client

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It is best practice to have these. We are not legal professionals, and whether or not you choose to do this is down to you.We haven’t seen anyone face an insurance claim or GDPR complaint, but skipping these could put you at risk.

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1) Insurance ⚖️ (25 mins)

If you have in-person clients, your broker may be able to adapt your existing policy to include online coaching. Call your insurer and check whether it covers online coaching.

Online fitness coaching is usually covered under general business liability insurance, but a broker will take you through a set of questions and save you time + money.

Brokers are great. They are incentivised to get you coverage and the best deal, because they make their money through referral fees. Let them do the heavy lifting for you.

We recommend PolicyBee - best price and simple setup, with 10% off if you use this link - if you call them, mention “PropaneFitness” when speaking to their team to apply the discount.

The policy includes offering fitness and nutrition advice online to international clients, including legal expense cover. Price should range between £70-300 for the year depending on your turnover.

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Here’s the cleaned-up version without markdown:

Not sure if you need insurance in your country, or Policybee not a good fit? Speak to a broker. They are huge timesavers and will pair you up with the best deal.

Some brokers: Hiscox (https://www.hiscox.com/), Clear (https://www.clearbusiness.co.uk/business-insurance)

USA: Next insurance (https://www.nextinsurance.com/)

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2) Legal documents: T&C + GDPR Compliant Privacy Policy (15 minutes)

We build out an example template for you with terms & conditions, privacy policy, and PAR-Q built into your own software as part of our mentorship.

Alternatively, here’s the DIY approach:

• The ICO website has the full list of requirements.

• Their self-assessment checklist takes you through what is required: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/sme-web-hub/checklists/assessment-for-small-business-owners-and-sole-traders/

• Free template: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/sme-web-hub/make-your-own-privacy-notice/

• Host it in a Google Doc if you don’t have a website.

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Other options:

• Lawdepot (https://www.lawdepot.co.uk/contracts/website-privacy-policy/)

• Fiverr (https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=privacy%20policy)

• UK/USA: https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en

• Canada: https://www.lawdepot.ca/

• Termly: https://app.termly.io/ (paid)

PAR-Q (2 minutes)

You may already have one of these: https://www.google.com/search?q=parq+template

These are standard Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaires (PARQ) to include when onboarding a new client.

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Do you need qualifications?

There is no industry-wide qualification for online coaching.

Any qualifications your insurer might require are specific to the type of advice you give.

Work within your scope of practice.

More on this here

Further reading:

Suzanne Dibble: https://suzannedibble.com/

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In the UK, you can book a call for financial advice, accounting, bookkeeping, and tax planning with Flex Accountants here - mention Propane for the referral discount.

They can advise on your situation, e.g. sole trader vs limited company, and more.

Typical costs for an accountant:

• £150–200/year for self-assessment

• £300–600/year for a limited company

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Whichever you choose, keep good records.

Starling Bank offers quick setup + bookkeeping tools.

Payment processor

You need a way to collect payment if someone DMs you today to sign up.

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A good payment processor should:

• Accept all credit card types

• Be frictionless to use

• Be secure

• Handle failed payments (Dunning)

• Create payment links

• Support subscriptions

• Offer analytics for tax/bookkeeping

Our recommendation: Stripe

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How to set up a Stripe account:

Alternatives to stripe:

• Braintree

• Gocardless

• Paypal

• Zoho:

• Stripe Atlas

• Payoneer

• Wise

• EasypayDirect

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2 - Create your Paylink

We’ve created plug-and-play payment links in our mentorship programme so you can get paying clients now:

• 1-2-1

• Group programme + Members portal

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Not working with us? DIY option:

Once you’ve decided your package + price, create a paylink by clicking here.

- Guide

You can brand your link. Stripe supports Apple Pay.

Example link: https://buy.stripe.com/9AQdUH1uB5i49VKfYY

Pro tip: Save your paylink to Alfred snippets, Linktree, socials, website, etc.

You can connect Stripe to most coaching apps.

Our coaching app recommendation: Superset

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Your Shop Window

You need a way for people to find and contact you.

Don’t overthink it.

You don’t need a fancy website to start. Just one online profile/page.

Options:

• Instagram

• Twitter

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• YouTube

• TikTok

• Your Pulse website (we provide the template)

• Notion

• Carrd

If unsure, just pick one. You can switch later.

We cover websites later in the programme.

Profile picture

Use a clear portrait photo.

If you don’t have a photo, you can generate one in your desired style with chatGPT.

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Bio

Use your voice. General format:

“I help [PERSON] achieve [OUTCOME] in [TIMEFRAME]”

or

“I help [PERSON] achieve [OUTCOME] without [PAIN]”

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Don’t have time for social media?

Just create the 9 posts:

Example

Should you go for a business brand or personal brand?

You don’t need a ‘brand’ yet.

You need leads.

Working with people helps you refine your brand later.

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Putting it all together:

Here's the guided walkthrough to getting your first client in the next 48 hours: