How to Start a Weight Loss Coaching Business

Looking for resources to help you learn how to start a weight loss coaching business? You’ve landed in the right place. 

Starting your own weight loss coaching business can be an incredibly rewarding experience, both professionally and personally. Not only will you be helping others achieve their goals, but you’ll also be able to set your own hours and work from home, which can be a great way to balance work and family responsibilities. 

But before you can start coaching others on how to lose weight, there are a few things you need to do first. 

By the way, we’re Cass + Tee. We help coaches make an impact with their businesses online. As entrepreneurs with 20+ combined years of experience, we know a thing or two about getting a business off the ground!

In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps necessary to start your own successful weight loss coaching business. From business naming to creating offers, marketing online, and growing your coaching business — we cover it all!

So whether you’re just getting started or looking for ways to improve your existing business, keep reading to learn more.

What Is A Weight Loss Coach?

A weight loss coach, as you might guess from the name, is someone whose job is to help their clients lose weight and achieve goals relating to weight loss. Many weight loss coaches have gone through the journey themselves, although not all.

Weight loss coaches are usually there to help people who are particularly struggling to stay on target to reach their desired weight. Many people sign up for such a coach when they find that they aren’t having success working alone – so a coach often needs to be particularly sensitive, able to offer motivation, and good at getting results from their clients.

Often, there’s a high requirement for empathy, as your clients may have already formed difficult relationships with diet, exercise, and losing weight. This can lead to some emotional issues, as well as the physical challenges that are involved.

If you’re interested in helping people achieve sustainable weight loss through both exercise and a good diet, you might find you’d be a great weight loss coach, and that you have a lot to offer to your clients. If that’s the case, let’s take a look at how to start a weight loss coaching business!

How Much Do Weight Loss Coaches Make?

The salary of a weight loss coach could be quite varied, but many estimates fall at around $45,000 or $46,000. Some coaches might earn as little as $30,000, depending on location and experience, while others will make more – especially coaches that have developed an established client base and receive raving reviews.

The estimates for hourly wages are even more varied, with some sites quoting $23.44 and others quoting $14.52 – which is a significant difference. You will need to check out what coaches who are local to you earn and use this to get a more accurate assessment of what your likely salary range will be.

Once you’ve done this, it’s important to spend some time learning how to start a weight loss coaching business so you don’t miss any important steps. 

How to Start a Weight Loss Coaching Business

If you don’t get the setup right, you will run into problems once you start taking on clients, so let’s begin!

Step One: Become A Certified Weight Loss Coach

Anyone who wants to offer health advice – even in a fairly minor way – should have some form of certification to prove to their clients that they have the necessary training to offer that advice. If you want to be a great weight loss coach, you should consider getting some credentials first.

This Weight Loss Coach Certification is an excellent place to start; it will provide you with the credentials that you need to reassure your potential clients you can help them. It will also cover many of the fundamentals you will need in order to become a great coach.

For example, you will look at the importance and value of proper nutrition, so you can help clients create great, healthy diets that will aid their weight loss. You’ll also get some great opportunities to design weight loss plans, which you may go on to use with clients in the future.

Don’t underestimate the importance of getting this education and getting certified. It will prove to clients that you know what you’re doing, and ensure that you actually do know what you’re doing!

Step 2: Choose Your Weight Loss Coach Business Name

So, Step 2 of the how to start a weight loss coaching business plan is choosing a name for your new startup. Many people find this a surprisingly difficult step because it’s hard to encapsulate your business in just a word or two.

Your name needs to do quite a few things, including creating an immediate emotional response and relationship with your client if possible. One great way to come up with a name involves identifying the problem that the client is facing, and suggesting that you have the solution to that problem.

This is a great way to attract clients and encourage them to contact you because it immediately indicates that you understand them.

You should also think about things like the way the name sounds when it is spoken aloud and how it looks when it is written. Being happy with both of these things is important.

Some weight-loss coaches choose to use their own name or incorporate their name into the business name because this establishes a personal relationship with the client immediately. Think about whether this would work for you, or whether you’d rather use an unrelated coaching name.

➡️ Need more help with naming? Check out these resources:

• How To Choose A Coaching Business Name >>
• See how other successful coaches names their businesses >>

Step 3: Choose A Niche

Choosing a niche within the weight loss coaching world is as important as deciding that you want to be a weight loss coach, rather than just a coach. This step involves narrowing down your focus and working out what area you want to specialize in.

Some coaches hesitate to do this because they believe it will limit the clients that they have access to, but in general, choosing a niche is the best way to make your business organized and create clear goals. If you know exactly who you want to help and what you want to help them with, you’ll be better able to structure your approach.

Your niche might look something like this:

“I specialize in helping young professionals with sticking to an exercise regime so that they can start building muscle and feel more confident about their bodies.”

This niche gives you a lot of information about your business and how you need to approach all other aspects of it. It helps you identify the ideal client, the problem, the pain point, and the ultimate goal – and these things will ensure that you are well placed to help those clients from the word go.

➡️ Need more help? Check out these resources:

• Learn how to choose a niche for your coaching business >>
• Download our free Choosing Your Niche Workbook in our resource library >>
• Watch our video on How To Identify Your Dream Clients (And Choose A Niche) >>

Step 4: Create A Business Plan

The next aspect of how to start a weight loss coaching business is building a business plan. This might sound dull, but it’s going to help with many aspects of getting your business off the ground. It will help you to identify challenges, estimate what money you need, evaluate the competition, and understand your potential clients.

All of these things will set you up for success, so what does a great business plan cover? It should have the following:

• A mission statement (what do you do, how do you do it, who does it help, and what is its value?)
• An executive summary (what is this business and why do you do it?)
• Products/services (what do you offer to your clients?)
• Target audience (who is your ideal customer and how would you describe them?)
• Customer needs (what do they require from you?)
• Customer acquisition (how are you going to attract them?)
• Competitive advantage (what sets you apart from other weight loss coaches?)
• Owner passion (why are you passionate about the business and what are your 3 top strengths?)

Once you’ve got those bullet points covered, you’ve got a solid business plan.

➡️Need more help? Check out our in-depth guide: ‘How To Create A Simple Business Plan for Your Coaching Business’ >>

Step 5: Develop Your Unique Methods & Tools

With the above steps complete, it’s time to set your mind to the actual sessions and how you plan to handle these. In other words, how are you going to take your clients from A to B?

Often, the best option is to work out what B looks like and then reverse the process, walking backward until you get to A. What steps do you need? What challenges must your client overcome, and how are you going to help them do this?

Here are a few more questions to consider:

You may also want to look into some of the common coaching methodologies, such as CLEAR and GROW to see what feels like it would work well with your style. You should identify the tools and techniques that you think will be effective, and think about things like what homework you will set and which exercises you will encourage your clients to complete.

You can also create a portfolio of the tools you plan to use with your clients and determine whether there’s anything you will need for these (e.g. worksheets, more training for you, etc.).

Step 6: Create Offers And Pricing

The next element of how to start a weight loss coaching business is pricing yourself. Given that we’ve already seen how varied the salaries can be, you might be feeling anxious about this – how do you decide what you’re worth? It’s a challenge for a lot of people.

You might know exactly what you wish to earn per hour, and if so, this will make your life easier. However, if you don’t yet know this, think about what you want to offer to your clients, and build packages that you can then price according to the amount of work they will need.

For example, how much would you charge for a one-on-one session with a client, compared with a group workshop? If you want to do half-day or full-day workshops, how much do you need to charge per person?

Working from the product/service can make it much easier to determine what you will charge because you’ll already have a sense of the value you’re offering and some idea of how many hours it should take.

➡️  Need more help? Learn how to structure your coaching programs here >>

Step 7: Design Your Weight Loss Coach Logo

Next, have you thought about the coaching logo you want to add to your business? The logo is just as important as the business name – and in some cases, more important. It is the visual aspect of your business and it therefore needs to be memorable, eye-catching, and engaging.

See Alicia, one of our most popular logo templates for weight loss coaches below for visual inspiration:

A lot of weight loss coaches use color to draw attention to their logos, and for good reason. You want your business to feel fun. Few of the clients who seek you out will feel good about exercise or diets, and you want to create a positive sensation that makes them feel motivated and excited to work with you.

On the flip side, you also need to be cautious about using too much color, because your logo may end up looking confused and messy. 

Here are a few pro-tips to keep your weight loss coaching logo on point:

• Utilize a maximum of six colors, and refrain from adding any more.
• Check that fonts are easy to read. 
• See what your logo looks like when printed, when enlarged, and when shrunk down. 
• It’s also worth checking how it looks when it’s printed in black and white.

➡️ Need more help with your coaching logo? 

• Check out our Brand Clarity Guide >>
• View all of our coaching logo templates here >>

Step 8: Create Your Weight Loss Coach Website

For the next stage, it’s time to think about your website and how you are going to create this. It’s particularly important for weight loss coaches that rely on virtual clients, but you should have a great website even if you only do in-person appointments, because a badly designed site reflects poorly on you, and even your in-person clients can benefit from a truly great site.

You should think about how to organize your site so that it is easy to use and looks cohesive. Build your brand and ensure that you think about color, fonts, and layout. Prioritize ease of use over aesthetics, but don’t neglect the aesthetics!

Your site needs to cover some fundamentals, like pages where clients can view your services, book sessions, login, and check out your content. You might have videos that showcase some of your exercise routines or information about your own journey with losing weight.

Need a visual reference? Check out our website templates for weight loss coaches:

You may also want to think about tools that would help your clients, and consider building these into the site. For example, can you create a function that lets your clients/you design meal plans and record adherence and success levels?

➡️ Need more help? Check out these resources:

• The DIY Beginners Guide to Websites >>
• How to build your website quickly & effectively >>
• Read our guide on “How To Structure A Coaching Website” >>

Step 9: Go Legal

One of the most imperative parts of how to start a weight loss coaching business is attending to the legal side of things. There are quite a few aspects here, and you need to make sure you cover all of them.

One of the earliest will be registering your business name and selecting a structure for tax purposes. You will also need to look into whether you need licenses/permits to coach about weight loss in your area, and apply for these if you do.

Consider opening a business bank account too; this will make it very easy to keep your funds accounted for, select a tax year, and pay your taxes when the time comes.

Don’t neglect any of these steps, as they are all crucial elements of successfully getting your business off the ground.

➡️ Need more help? Download our ‘Legally Launch It’ freebie for a complete checklist to keep you on the right track >>

Step 10: Create Your Coaching Contract

This is an aspect of going legal, but it’s important enough to deserve its own heading – your coaching contract. Before you even start advertising your business and certainly before you take on your first client, you need to think about your coaching contract.

This is the legally binding contract that you and your clients will have that does the following:

• Outlines what services you will provide to the client
• Outlines payment requirements (with a late fee clause)
• Covers the confidentiality agreement
• Details who owns the intellectual property and how it can be used
• States the limit of liability to reduce the risk of a client suing/limit how much you could owe them
• Provides a disclaimer about realistic expectations and your limitations as a coach

You can purchase legal coaching contracts online or talk to a lawyer, but avoid using a free template. This may not be legally binding, and if you start amending it to suit your situation, it is even more likely that you will introduce contradictions that will void the contract.

➡️ Have more contract questions? Check this out:

• The Official Coaching Contract 101 Guide >>
• Invest in a coaching contract from The Contract Shop >>

Step 11: Get Your First Weight Loss Coaching Client

One of the final aspects of how to start a weight loss coaching business is getting your first client. If you’re ready to start taking on clients, you might be wondering how to do this. Where does the first one come from?

Start by identifying where your ideal coaching clients are likely to “be” (whether physically or virtually) and work out how you can tap into that space and get your name out there. 

This isn’t about throwing money at advertising. Instead, you might want to provide some small, free service that solves a problem for your potential clients. This could be writing a few blog posts or putting up short exercise videos or providing snippets of information about nutrition.

Many aspiring weight loss coaches offer to blog for established platforms about these things and draw clients to their own site through their writing or other media. You can also use SEO techniques to pull clients to your site, or gather a following on social media and start using this to attract clients. If you also offer some great deals on your site, you’ll soon have the first one!

➡️ Need more help? Check out these resources:

• Read our guide on how to get coaching clients online >>
• Learn how to get more coaching leads >> 
• Read ‘SEO for Coaches: The Ultimate Beginners Guide’ >>

Step 12: Grow Your Weight Loss Coaching Business

From there, all that’s left to do is to grow. This will involve creating a marketing strategy, and possibly paying for things like advertising. Make sure you measure what adverts are and are not working well, so you aren’t throwing money away.

Develop a sales strategy that works. This should include methods for tracking revenue, a formalized sales cycle, and a clear list of your goals and how to achieve them.

Remember too that growing may mean taking on a virtual assistant or paying for software that will let you automate certain tasks. This ensures that you are free to do what you do best and keep coaching clients so they can lose weight.

➡️Looking for more? Check out these guides:

• TrueCoach: The Best Online Health Coaching Platform? >>
• Is Your Online Coaching Business Growing? Here’s What to Track to Find Out >>
• 8 Coaches Share Their Favorite Tools for Success >>

Final Thoughts — Becoming A Weight Loss Coach

So, what are you waiting for? You have everything you need when it comes to learning how to start a weight loss coaching business. We dare you to dive right in. It can be a lot of work, but the payoff is worth it! 

Weight loss coaching is a great business to start. It’s rewarding, profitable, and helps people achieve their goals. If you have the passion and drive to help others lose weight and get in shape, then this may be the perfect business for you.

We’d love to hear about your journey in the comments below. Are you ready to change people’s lives by helping them lose weight and get healthy? Good luck — and let us know if we can help in any way along the way.