The 10k months you see all over social media from coaches and “business mentors” with screen shots stripe account is the new version of the meaningless bench of delivering 20 hours of personal training a week.
1. What are my fixed costs each month?
Believe me, these are some hard questions …
And finally let’s look at that 10k …
£10,000
For the most part it’s a pointless arbitrary number plucked out of the air because the influence of this being online and it being some sort of magical number that as soon as you hit it … “you’ve made it” and “we can be validated now” …
Obviously, we speak to hundreds of trainers each month. And there seems to be this magical measuring stick of success on the stripe account saying 10k …
but here is a little insight into this …
First of all I’m not saying don’t aim for this if this is what you want / need …but what I am saying is don’t have this influence how you feel about your business.
With making 10k per month …
There is obviously a fair amount of work that goes into it …
The first insight is there is a huge difference between earning 10k through Monthly Recurring Revenue (MMR) and having front end revenue from launches.
So here is where 10k months can be misleading …
More so for online services … trainers and coaches do time limited programs and launches.
I.E.
6, 8, 12-week programs / transformations
Where they will charge upfront costs for the whole program … obviously this inflating a month where all the revenue from this service comes in (this is the case a lot more than you think). And then for the next 2 / 3 months revenue drops down.
Unless they are doing launches every month … with this model by itself 10k months are a graft to achieve because as you see a lot of time and effort and cost goes into marketing.
And just to give you a breakdown of what kind of numbers you’re looking at anywhere between £99 - £200 … the number of sign-ups will be anywhere from 50-100 new client sign ups.
Now there are people out there doing this for sure …
Although in my experience your role as a coach starts to change quite a bit …
Just look at those numbers again … 50-100 clients!
Your time swing more on to the sales and marketing.
And there are not a lot of people who can COACH that volume of people effectively and efficiently … the program must become more generic.
And that’s cool if you don’t want to coach and move more into a sales and marketing role.
OR
You outsource those roles? Which then cuts into the profit (and we will get to this part).
So, the first thing I want to bring to life here is some of the reality.
The second is … £10,000 is not enough if you need £10,001!
And my point here is … unless there is serious meaning behind the financial goal ...
I CAN GUARANTEE … when and if you do get there IT WILL NOT BE AS YOU IMAGINED!
It’s like a client saying to you “I want to lose 5 kilos” it’s not the weight, it’s what losing the weight gives them!
And it was something we drilled down into at the recent Coach’s Conference on day 1 when planning out Q1 of next year.
What is important to you?
I mean what is Important to you?
Where do your values lie?
Where do your values lie?
START HERE! I promise you … whatever financial goal you set will have 100% more meaning.
After all … if you earning 10k means you are away from your family, don’t see your friends, haven’t got time to invest into things you enjoy, can’t take time off work because you’re so busy.
WHAT IS THE POINT?!
Here are some questions to ask yourself to help with this?
1. What are my fixed costs each month?
2. What are my additional fixed costs? (Pension, savings, investments, personal tax)
3. What is my FREEDOM number? (And this should be 50% more than your worst months for leavers).
4. How does this help me and the life I want to live later down the line?
5. What makes me happy?
Believe me, these are some hard questions …
But when you do … what things change!
And finally let’s look at that 10k …
£10,000
- Business expenses (FB ads, PT software, email software, accountant, coach, social media design, website upkeep)
- If you are limited company (say goodbye to 20% VAT)
- 37% corporation tax of profits.
- Then paying yourself, and as I said before your personal tax, fixed costs, investment, pension etc …
10K Is never 10k in your pocket!
Sorry, this might be a bit morbid and depressing … but I want to show you the reality that social media doesn’t show you.
Not for you to change your financial goals … but have a good understanding of where the money is going to go, and how to manage that money so it provides you with the lifestyle you want.
Aim for the stars … but just keep your eyes wide open!
And if you want to launches, great go for it … but have a good think model will and could impact what you love doing. There is always a way to balance models and services …
And for the record I am not saying upfront payments are bad …
I’m saying have a good variety between MRR and UPFRONT …. But make sure the MRR is giving you what you want. And the UPFRONT being the “bonus” revenue.
