There are plenty of ways to make money as a financial coach.

As my financial coaching business has grown and diversified over the years, I’ve found more revenue streams than had I stuck to only one-to-one coaching. Some of these additional revenue streams I’ve kept. Some I have abandoned. Some worked. Some no longer did based on my evolving financial coaching business or the kinds of clients I and my team wanted to serve. Here are some ways you can make money as a financial coach and how we’ve incorporated them into our business – or seen them incorporated into other financial coaching businesses – over the years.

One-on-One Coaching

This is the most obvious and most common form of financial coaching. It involves meeting with clients on an individual basis and creating custom budgeting and financial goals particular to the person being served. Depending on your niche, these clients can be business owners, couples, newly divorced women, teachers, or six-figure life and fitness coaches, you name it. There are a million different financial coaching niches. One-to-one coaching can include an initial discovery session, long-term coaching, and/or periodic coaching all of which can be offered at different price points or as part of a larger package. It all depends on how you structure your business model and price your financial coach programs and packages. 

Group Coaching and/or Membership Sites

Group financial coaching is more about quantity than individual coaching but can definitely offer the same quality. With group coaching, you can offer your expertise and services at less of a premium than you do with one-to-one coaching but still provide much of the same benefits and services. Plus, those involved get a community aspect to coaching that they don’t get in a one-to-one financial coaching session. 

Group coaching can be through a membership site or conducted via a free Facebook group. It can also be positioned as a front-end group program (for those just beginning with coaching) or it can be positioned on the back-end of your private coaching program. It can be live and dynamic or delivered through recordings or a combination of the two. I have always positioned my team’s group programming on the back end with great success. It also allows us to implement a hybrid approach which includes group coaching as well as some one-on-one time.

Online Mini-Courses and Downloadable Guides

Online mini-courses and downloadable guides can offer a passive revenue stream from your clients and prospects. But creating an online course, an e-book, or workbook available to anyone at a lower price point, you can serve clients with basic concepts and fundamentals without the time commitment that it takes to do one-to-one coaching. These offerings also serve as a low price offering to then get someone into your marketing funnel with the hope of eventually buying your signature offering. 

To have the most successful mini-course or downloadable guide, you need to keep your niche in mind. If your target market is 20-somethings you probably don’t want to create a mini-course about teaching kids about money. That is usually not a top concern on a 20-something’s mind. However, 20-somethings might be interested in a course on how to save up to buy a house. 

Group Challenges

This revenue stream depends on your ability to build and nurture a community. That community can reside anywhere – Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, your local BNI or Chamber of Commerce group. But you’ll need a group of people you can pitch this too. 

Group challenges are all about friendly competition and creating a fun and interactive way for a group of people to work together or in tandem on one aspect of their financial progress. We’ve seen a lot of growth in our client community (and our coaching community) by running a 21-Day Challenge twice a year. It’s a short term motivator with big results that our clients now look forward to every year.

Paid Speaking Gigs

Paid speaking gigs may be harder to come by if you haven’t built up a strong network of contacts or can demonstrate your expertise as a financial coach through experience or results. That’s not to say it can’t happen though. 

There are plenty of conferences for every industry or interest imaginable. If one of those happens to correspond with your niche, your presence could command a speaking fee. That being said, I most often do not charge a speaking fee because the opportunity to get in front of a larger audience or a new audience was payment enough thanks to the free marketing it provided. But that’s not to say you cannot have paid speaking gigs be another way you can make money as a financial coach.

Employee Wellness Programs

Many corporations and companies today see the importance of providing a more holistic approach to employee wellness than annual flu shots and a visit from the local financial advisor. They know that finances and wellness are linked together. 

Opportunity abounds to pitch to local companies about your expertise in budgeting and financial coaching. You can offer your services as a lunch-time training session or a day-long or recurring workshop. This option is especially good if your target market or ideal client is a working professional. 

Events, Retreats, and Paid Workshops

If you’re the type that loves planning events and bringing people together, you could find additional revenue in hosting events, retreats, or paid workshops. Because you’re not at the whim of a company’s needs or a conference’s agenda, you can design this to be whatever you want it to be. Providing events, retreats or paid workshops can be especially good if you’re a coach who has a unique or signature way of financial coaching. 

Third-Party Relationships

I do not get paid by any affiliates or third parties. Back when I started in this industry, financial coaches weren’t a thing. Everyone assumed I was a financial advisor who received commissions. I found the best way to set myself apart was to do the exact opposite and make this distinction clear as day: No commissions, no third party kickbacks, no referral fees, etc. 

If you don’t plan to adopt that philosophy, then it certainly opens up the field for you. You can pursue affiliate commissions, referral fees on websites, hosting google ads on your website, or promoting brands and services through your online presence. It’s important to remember, having a strong online presence or network is key to creating revenue with third-party relationships.

How Do You Make Money Financial Coaching?

Those are most of the ways I have either seen people make money as a financial coach. Most I have even tried myself over the years. Let me know in the comments if you’ve found success any of these ways, or if you have a profitable revenue stream I didn’t touch on here. I’d love to know.