Build in Public #2: Launching a Financial Coaching Practice

One year ago, I thought I wanted to do a certain thing. It didn’t take me long to realize that was absolutely NOT what I wanted to do.

Ever since I retired in 2022, the conundrum of what next has plagued me. More specifically, whether I wanted to work on a B2B project or a B2C project has been the real question. As I learned a few months ago when I attended FinCon, the answer has been staring me in the face this whole time, but I just wasn’t ready to see it.

But now it’s clear as day, and I’ve been taking action on it. Over the past two weeks, here’s what I’ve accomplished:

1. Rented a venue for the next three months for hosting weekly financial literacy classes in my local community. Cost: $360 ($30 per evening meeting).

2. Started a Meetup group to handle registrations for the above classes. Cost: $300.

3. Announced the classes within two local dance circles that I’m part of.

4. Posted one flyer on the bulletin board at the post office for these classes.

5. Sent a direct mail postcard to all 1,429 deliverable addresses within the ZIP code where my financial literacy classes will be held. Cost: $800.

6. Contracted with a local videographer and social media marketer to handle online promotion via Facebook and Instagram. Cost: $7,835

7. Started outreach efforts with two more local non-profits about bringing financial literacy programming to their audiences.

8. Joined a curated panel of personal finance experts for a major website, which I’ll soon start writing for.

As a result of this promotional activity, even before the first class, I’ve also booked initial consultations with two brand new financial coaching clients.

A casual reader passing by this post might think it’s no big deal to bring on two new clients for a free service. But that is far from true. Any professional service provider that’s been in business for more than a week will actually tell you that giving away professional services for free is just as difficult as charging for it. In fact, it may be more difficult, because it raises suspicion in many people that there must be some sort of “gotcha” on the other side of the free part.

Since I’m doing all this local stuff for free, how exactly does this become a profitable business? In reality, my goal is for this community-based project to simply reach breakeven by the end of 2025. That’s it. Just breakeven by year’s end. But that still implies some sort of revenue model. Here’s the current three-prong business model:

1. Local community: Free classes, free financial planning services. Perhaps this expands into customized classes presented to organizations that are willing to pay me to present. There could also be a small amount of affiliate commission revenue here, such as from budget apps (looking at you, Lunch Money).

2. Online presence: Building a social media brand around Heartfelt Finance. Perhaps this leads into a paid subscription newsletter built here on Substack, perhaps some low-cost digital courses accessible to everybody outside my local area, perhaps some paid writing gigs or another book or ten.

3. Financial coaching community and mastermind group: If you’re a tax professional reading this, this is going to sound very, very familiar. I met quite a few financial coaches and advisors at FinCon, and there is demand for a mastermind group. We did one Zoom meeting back in November, and it’s basically up to me to keep it going. I’ve created a Heartbeat community for this, and will get that formally going next week. This is where I circle back around to the B2B space, and help other financial coaches build their practices. While my local financial coaching is a passion project through and through, this side of things is where the mission amplification occurs and the bigger monetization opportunity exists.

All of these plans are still fluid. As you can see above, I’m spending real money to get this project off the ground. If that cost trend continues, plus budgeting for:

• Earning the AFC and ChFC credentials, plus renewing my EA license

• Attending at least three conferences this year

• Investing in financial and tax planning software

• Even more social media advertising spend

…then I estimate this to be about a $40,000 to $50,000 per year venture in terms of overhead. Right now, I’m going to float that out of pocket, because offering financial literacy classes and pro bono financial counseling is the most important part of this to me. That said, though, I could see earning $10k-$20k per year from freelance writing, speaking, and book royalties, without significant effort on my part. That’s more than enough to make the local stuff break even, which again is the stated goal.

From digital courses, Substack subscriptions, sponsorships and brand deals, I could see the second part of the business pretty easily being a $100k to $200k per year venture. The last part, supporting other financial coaches, could be a seven figure business if that’s what I wanted to do (it’s not, at least not right now — ask me again in six months).

So that’s what I’m doing, and that’s where I’m at. In the comments below, share where you’re at with your business venture. What are your recent wins, aha moments, and action plans to start the year?