8 Coaches Share Who Was The First Hire In Their Coaching Business

Your first few months of starting your coaching business are likely to be filled with wearing multiple hats and handling many tasks that extend beyond coaching. It’s so exciting when you put in the work to grow your coaching business and find that growth is really happening! 

Eventually, most coaches get to a point where they realize it’s time to work smarter and not harder and decide to start hiring out. But how do you decide who to hire first and when to do it? It can be an overwhelming choice when you know you need support in a lot of different departments.

In this blog post, we’ll talk to real coaches and get their advice on how they decided to make their first hire. They share real stories about what they were doing on their own before hiring help when they had the epiphany that it was time to hire, and what impact that created in their businesses.

Keep reading to learn more.

Table of Contents

• 8 Coaches Share Who Was Their First Hire
  • 1.  Someone to help with systems.
  • 2. Someone to help with content creation.
  • 3. Someone to help with business strategy.
  • 4. Someone to help with visibility.
  • 5. Someone to help with mindset.
  • 6. Someone to help strengthen your coaching skills.
  • 7. Someone to help you free up space for self-care.
  • 8. Someone to help you manage your money.
• Final Thoughts

8 Coaches Share Who Was Their First Hire

Here are our top picks for coaches who hired out and saw success in their coaching businesses.

1. Someone to help with systems.

“My first hire was a VA, virtual assistant. Four years into my work I needed help getting my systems refined and streamlined. Systems are key to managing time. The admin tasks were getting both time-consuming and overwhelming and honestly, learning all the tech stuff was a giant time suck and I didn’t want to bother to learn it.

For instance, I wanted someone to come in and set up my email campaign functions so I didn’t have to mess with understanding the mechanics of how to get that set up, freeing me up to write content! My VA came to me through a referral within my coaching network. She has a 6-page contract filled with privacy language and related issues, which is very important to me as a former banking official.”

–  Kristine Stevenson Seale, Advocate Financial Coaching

2. Someone to help with content creation.

“I did most things myself when I started my coaching business. The first work that I outsourced was graphic design for my logo and then for my book cover, using the 99designs crowdsourcing platform, as I knew I couldn’t do this to a professional standard. My first hire was a general freelancer role that involved scheduling blog posts, newsletters, and social media, expanding to include new channels, and later my podcast.

I went through four different hires until I found one who has stayed with me now for three years. The biggest insight? Start now! I was so embarrassed, even after that first ‘failed’ hire, as suddenly my calendar was empty. It turned out that I had been spending all my time doing admin and operations – no wonder I didn’t have a lot of clients as I hardly had any time to dedicate to content creation and business development.”

– Anna Lundberg, OneStepOutside

3. Someone to help with business strategy.

“My first hire out of the gate was a business coach. As a solopreneur navigating a new career path I found this first hire priceless.

We often treat our business like hobbies and push aside harder to manage topics, like finances and systems. Instead, we will put marketing efforts (ie. beautifying websites, increasing Instagram followers) at the top of the ladder. There are far more thoughtful and strategic moves to be made first, and more budget-friendly ways to manage the items we will eventually hire for, such as a social media or community manager.”

– Kristina Borseti, And Then, Be Well

4. Someone to help with visibility.

“The first hire for my coaching business was an assistant. She helped me build up a Yelp page in a strategic way and it put me top of the second page for life coaches in San Francisco, which led to more clients! ”

– Melissa Wiesner, Dance Daily Baby Coaching

5. Someone to help with mindset.

“The first person I hired was a coach! I was tired of trying to DIY the process, exhausted from tuning into HOURS of free masterclasses, podcasts, YouTube videos telling you the “perfect formula for success”, etc. none of it was working for me and I was burning myself out working 10-12 hours a day trying to learn and piece together random tidbits of info. So I finally decided I was going to accept help, and that I needed it. 

I hired a coach that specialized in teaching her clients to work in alignment with their unique Human Design rather than teaching some cookie-cutter strategy that doesn’t work for everyone. On top of helping master my unique marketing and sales plan in this way, she also showed me where I had energetic blocks, money stories, etc that we’re keeping me stuck and how to heal through them. It was such an amazing experience and I learned so much not just for my business but all aspects of my life that I apply daily!“

– Zalyssa Prather, Soul Codes Coaching

6. Someone to help strengthen your coaching skills.

“When I started my coaching practice over 8 years ago, the first person I hired was a coach! Game changer! After almost 2 decades in the corporate and a long time as a stay-at-home-mom, my launch as a founder and entrepreneur was an uncharted 3rd chapter transition. Having the expertise and guidance of a good coach literally saved me years of “learning at random” and kept me grounded, purposeful, and successful even before I had graduated from coaching school. 

Investing in a coach at the very beginning of my coaching journey gave me access to shortcuts, strategies, and a strong coaching role model. I was able to see what was possible and to navigate the unknown with someone who did know. Many coaches quit, or never really get started. Hiring a coach as a newbie was instrumental in my staying the course and becoming an expert coach.”

– Randi Levin, Randi Levin Coaching

7. Someone to help you free up space for self-care.

“I realized that I could not hold potent and transformative space for others if I was feeling empty.  So, I stretched into making my first hire, who happened to be my best friend.  She began as my Executive Assistant helping me to manage emails, my schedule, social media posts, invoicing, and other administrative tasks.  

Creating more space for myself for exquisite self-care made me realize that my energy is my business’s most precious and valuable resource. With the space that her role opened up for me, I was free to create, express, write, rest, and serve my clients with an overflowing cup.  The results were felt by both my clients and my balance sheet! 

Her role has grown as my business has evolved into a world-class coach training academy, and now she is not only my Executive Assitant but also the Director of Student Services.  With a team of 10 incredible humans supporting this business, she has been by my side since day 1 and we often say that she is the glue that holds us all together.  

Sometimes it can feel scary to ask for and hire support, but as I always say: your next best step should terrify your mind and stir your soul – that’s the sweet spot of stepping into the next expression and vision for your life.”

– Taryn Watts, Mind Rebel Academy

8. Someone to help you manage your money.

“The first person I hired in my coaching business was a financial bookkeeper. I needed support in keeping my books – both invoices and expenses. I had an ‘ah-ha’ after the first year, that keeping track of my balance sheet, income statement, and taxes was something I did not want to spend my time doing – it was simply not in my ‘wheelhouse’. It was the best decision I made. I learned to put my energy around my strengths – and to outsource those things that were better provided by others.”

–  Kristin Kaufman, Alignment Inc.

Final Thoughts

Now that you’ve heard from real coaches, you can choose any of the strategies above and try them yourself. You have everything you need to make an informed decision on your first hire! 

Making the decision to hire in your coaching business is an important step, and when you’re getting support where you need it, you’ll find yourself having more time and space to thrive. You will inevitably provide a better experience to clients when you hire others to help you run your business. 

If you try to be everything in addition to being a coach without hired support in your business, you can quickly burn out and diminish your client experience. We want you to make the best impact possible with your coaching business and hope that these stories inspire you.

But, before you get started, please make sure you leave a quick comment and let me know which tip was your favorite and who you hired first or plan to hire first in your coaching business!