You're listening to Cubicle to CEO episode 253. A lot of expert based online businesses and coaches start with one on one client services myself included. But what happens when you've reached your capacity and want to transition from a one to one to one to many business model instead? Dani Marenburg of mine did my macros successfully restructured her one on one service into a scalable offer suite that to extra revenue in just one year.
In today's case study, we go through Danny's process of shifting her individual client work into scalable programs, which have her working hours from 60 to 30 hours a week.
Welcome to Cubicle to CEO, the podcast where we ask successful founders and CEOs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host, Ellen Yin. Every Monday go behind the business and a case study style interview with the leading entrepreneur who shares one specific growth strategy they've tested in their own business, exactly how they implemented it, and what the results and revenue were. You'll also hear financially transparent insights from my own journey bootstrapping our media company from a $300 freelance project into millions in revenue.
Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show. Today, I have Dani Marenburg, here with me. And this is going to be a great conversation. If you are struggling right now with hitting your capacity for one on one client services. And you want to build a more scalable offer suite. So making this shift from one to one services to a one to many model. And especially if you still want to keep some element of one on one which Dani does in her business, then you'll really love today's case study. So I'm not going to give too much away right now.
But Dani, first, I would just love for you to share your Cubicle to CEO story. What was that catalyst that finally led you to leaping full time into entrepreneurship?
Yeah, well, first off, thank you so much for having me, Ellen, I'm so excited to be here and share my story. Because I think my story, it was one that to be honest, I didn't even know as possible. I thought, you know, I had my corporate job, I worked my way up to a director position and corporate and never in a million years did I think that I could have my own business. And truthfully, I didn't really know what that business would be. It wasn't until it really fell into my lap and these passions that I had just developed into my business.
So to give you a little bit of background, I worked my way up corporate side of things for about eight years after college, that was kind of like, you know, I grew up just that was the status quo, you work your way up, that was what success looked like, didn't take risks, and very risk adverse, I will say that. So fast forward, I'm at my corporate job I actually was in so now I'm a nutritionist, and I focus on women's health, but my corporate job, I was in digital advertising and marketing, and so very, very different.
But I always had a passion for nutrition and movement and exercise. And I on the side was, you know, teaching yoga and yoga, sculpt and just finding these outlets. And I was like, This is what lights me up. But I feel like I'm supposed to be you know, working my way up in this corporate job. And I was doing a good job. We're way up in the corporate culture, but it was not fulfilling at each time I either got a promotion, or maybe I switched companies. I was like, Well, maybe it's this company, maybe I just need to align with this. And it never really left me feeling fulfilled. And it wasn't until I finally realized like, well, why don't I go back to school and invest in myself to actually learn more about what I'm passionate about, which is specifically nutrition, but really, like holistic lifestyle habits and healthy living and wellness.
And so I ended up going back, I was very fortunate that at the time, I worked for an education company that provided bachelor's and master's degrees. So simultaneously while I was working, I know it was very fortunate. I went back and I got a degree to now do what I do, which took a lot of you know, persistence, but never did. I still think at that point that I would be creating a business out of it. It was more of like this is just what I want to do to fulfill this urge that I had.
So fast forward. I got very into macro nutrition, which is like macronutrients very specific in nutrition. And I just started an Instagram account just for fun. didn't tell anybody about this. Not even my husband who was my boyfriend at the time. I want to know nobody to know about it. And it was more of like, I was taking photos of the recipes I was creating with putting the description and the the recipe in there. And it was really just for me, and all of a sudden it started growing and growing and growing.
And finally, it got to the point where people were reaching out to me asking if I would coach them, or if I took on clients, and I was like, Well, no, but this sounds really amazing. And like, this is very in line with what I want to do. And so I went and I got a certification and in actual coaching to just because I had never done that. And after that I started taking on one on one clients. And so my business really started out with primarily and simply just one on one, client coaching, and I would take on clients. And initially my goal was if I could get to the point of again, risk adverse girl here, if I could get to the point where I was making a comparable salary in one on one coaching to my corporate job, oh, I would 100% quit my job, leave do this full time. And so this was at the start of 2022. So about two and a half years ago now.
Well, January 2022, filed my LLC, I was like, Okay, I'm going to my goal is one year from now, I am going to quit my corporate job, and go all in on my business. And four months later, I quit my job right before my wedding, which, wow, that's a whole nother thing. Life changes. But it was the absolute best time. Like, I'd look back on that just so proud of myself. But I had been able to in those four months, build a business that would equate to my take home salary. And I was so happy until I realized it was not sustainable. And that was because I was taking on so many one on one clients, and I love one on one client work.
But there's only so much energy that you as a provider can really also put out there. So it was this evolution throughout the first really the first year of my business where I quickly realized, wow, okay, I, I feel very blessed that I have all these one on one clients, I don't have the capacity to keep going at this rate. So what do I do? You know, what do I how do I be able to sustain this and keep this a full time job, but not have to dedicate 60 hours a week and be on call and quite frankly, not have any boundaries with my clients, right from my own, you know, energy and peace of mind.
And so that first year was a lot of learning, I implemented some new programs, and some of them, you know, worked and some of them totally flopped, I had a membership. And you know, with memberships, you have to have enough people in the door to really make it a sustainable income source. And for me, I was, you know, I was so eager that first year to just like over deliver that it was more energy on my side, on top of the one on one coaching. But the return really wasn't there. So I learned really quickly there.
Okay, you know, we're going to put a pause on this, we're going to maybe revisit this in the future. And we kind of worked through we being me at that time, it was just me, what options were for me. And so it wasn't until the end of 2022. When I was like, I really want to put together an online course, because I can consolidate the information that I share with my clients day in and day out inside the one on one coaching program. For those who want to just do this on their own, they want to learn those foundations and take it and just have a self guided model.
And so I built out a course, that was number one. I did that towards the end of 2022. And it launched January of 2023. And the second thing I did was I really evaluated okay, I had some hesitancies with changing my one on one coaching program. But I knew that again, it needed to change. And so the second big catalyst in my business was that I changed my one on one coaching program to hire coaches under me and for it to be half community and then also that one on one coaching but removing myself a bit from it too.
So over that past, you know over that first year, it was a lot of learning. And then the second year was a lot of growth within those new developing areas in my business that has really led to a lot of success and freedom in my business, which is huge and a huge priority for me.
Well, I think it's so encouraging for our listeners to hear from an entrepreneur that maybe is more risk averse. I think many times when people think of entrepreneurs they think of people who really leaned into risk, who liked taking big leaps of faith. And I think we also need to hear the stories from people who are more methodical and how they plan out their exit from corporate life or from their day job to pursue their business dreams full time. So I'm really glad you share that piece of your story, Dani and I, I was smiling as you were sharing your story, because I feel like we almost did a switcheroo, like you came from advertising, worked your way up to a director, then now you work in health and fitness.
And I kind of came from the opposite, like my degree is in exercise science, you know, I worked in the health and wellness industry first, and then I switched. And now I'm in advertising and media full time in my business. So it's just kind of funny how life, you know, takes you in different directions. And I think I'm sure so much of your background in advertising helps you in being able to successfully promote and market your own business.
So I know anything we do in life, helps us build to that next chapter. And I'm glad you also kind of gave the backstory on you know how you started out in one on one coaching quickly burned out and then wanted to shift into more of that one to many model and kind of what that looks like. So let's get into this case study. Because so the two programs you mentioned, by the way, the signature course, the macro body method has generated about $175,000. So far in its lifetime. And then the group coaching program is the macro accelerator in that one has generated around $300,000. So for our listeners, today's case study, we're really looking at how Dani was able to make this strategic restructure to essentially to x her revenue in a single year's time, while also reducing her work hours and half, you know, used to be working 60 hours a week trying to fulfill on all of these clients.
And now about 30 hours a week, which I know I'm sure is a huge blessing to you as well, because you're about to become a mother or you are a mother, you're pregnant and about to expect your first baby. So cute transitions.
Let's talk about you already mentioned that your membership was something that you tried and it didn't quite work out. For you. What were the elements that you I guess eliminated from the membership aspect when you created your course and said what are some of the things that you kept?
Great question. So the membership itself, I went in, and I will say I went in with a mindset of like, I just need to create as much as I can right now. And it was kind of this like urgency mindset versus in retrospect, now with the the coaching program, I was much more methodical about it. So I will say that when I went into the membership, I just had this idea. And I was like, let's how I have this idea, I'm gonna run with it. And it was great, because I'll get into that membership too. It was great, because I learned a lot from that membership that then I applied.
So with the membership, it was a $49 a month membership that you had access to, you got discounts on so another product that I have is custom macro plan. So someone purchases if they just want to know what their nutritional needs are, I can put together a plan for them. And now I have coaches that that do that for me. So again, I've been outsourcing things, but at the time, it was me. And so when they signed up, they got discounts to a custom plan. They got monthly recipes, which at the first at the beginning, I was like, Oh, this is gonna light me up. Oh my gosh, I quickly burnt out because it was like, wow, this is so much work every single month to put together a new ebook every single month.
Yeah, and then live coaching calls twice a month in there. And I realized one I was definitely undervaluing my time. And the $49 value mark, again, out of like a fear mindset. I just want people to stay in this membership. I want to get as many people in this membership as possible. My mindset has completely changed since then. And that was what I was I was more focused on and it was again, just leading me to more burnout. So those things that worked within that membership were the there was also a community aspect.
So it was in a Kajabi community. And we had feeds in there, different types of circles so people could ask questions, the community element was great. And where people saw the most value and where I loved pouring value was the coaching inside there, which I felt like Okay, finally, I can get to a point where someone's asking a question I can answer everyone can see and everyone can learn from that. And then they have great features like you can search for questions. So I made it, you know, I built it out so people knew how to navigate the community to the best of their ability to gain this knowledge and information. But the things that weren't working were like creating 20 recipes or 10 recipes, whatever it was every single month for this and creating a new ebook and just the i over committed to the the amount of calls that I was doing on that as well.
But the calls, there were so much value in those calls. And that, again, the community aspect, the q&a is things like that. Those were the two things that I was like, Okay, I want to keep this, but I need to somehow evolve this into a much more functioning product. Right. And it was hard for me, it was a hard lesson of like shutting down a program, you know, I didn't really know how to communicate that to clients. And I'm like, Okay, I really need to think through does this make me a failure? And now I know absolutely not. We are, you know, always learning always evolving.
And it's really helped me in this program now. So what I took from that membership, and what I learned from it was, okay, people are really engaging in the support element and aspects. And people really like to participate on the calls, and maybe even, it's just showing up on the calls to learn. And so within my one on one coaching program, the macro accelerator, the pieces I took from that it was kind of a hybrid with my one on one coaching, and this membership. And so within my one on one coaching program within the macro accelerator, a client comes in, they have an onboarding call, they now work directly with one of my associate coaches. And I am there from more of an educational standpoint, and an onboarding and experience standpoint.
And so the aspects that personally I loved about the membership, and that other people were really loving to was, again, that community aspect. So I implemented slack inside the macro accelerator program. And that is where there's kind of a two prong approach there. One, there's a community aspect. So the women inside the program, there are different challenges in there, there are q&a channels in there, there are recipe channels, and there's everyone has the ability to share recipes connect with each other, participate in these accountability challenges, which has been great from like a motivational accountability communal aspect, which was very similar to the membership.
The other part of that is I host live monthly group coaching calls within the program. So this is another element of the one on one coaching, where we can hop on it is group format. So we can hop on these calls, everyone loves these calls, because it's another face to face touch points throughout the month. And it's an opportunity for them to connect with each other too. And sometimes women come to these calls, and they're like, I don't really have any questions to ask, I kind of just want to observe, and then you see their wheels start turning, and they start asking questions. And it's really this, you know, communal event, which I absolutely love, and my clients love to.
You know, I think that is a huge benefit of group coaching is that oftentimes, you don't know what you don't know. So if you're just starting your journey of counting macros, and you know, getting into a regular fitness routine, sometimes it does take a few times of listening in to what other people are experiencing for you to realize, oh, that's like something I wouldn't have even thought to ask, but you can still benefit from so I think that's such a crucial element of success to really any group program, you're kind of touching on some of the things that you know, I wanted to get a little bit more granular.
And so if you don't mind, I wanted to jump over to this idea, this concept before we get too far into the weeds of the accelerator program, trying to understand between the DIY course a self paced course the macro body method, and then the accelerator is the curriculum and the framework that you're teaching in those two programs, the same as the only difference that the accelerator obviously has the community aspect and the one on one support, or are the curriculum and frameworks themselves actually vastly different in the two programs?
Great question. They are the same framework. So what you get within the macro body method is what we teach you inside the macro accelerator through our coaching. But then also, I've added in the element of anyone who's in the macro accelerator also gets access to the course if they want that as a supplement to their program. So the curriculum, the knowledge, it is the same, it's just, I'm now providing two options for an individual whether or not they want the accountability of a coach, the support the community aspect, or, if hey, I just want to learn how to do this on my own. Teach me, here's the course. So there's two different outlets now.
Okay, that's super helpful. And the reason I wanted to pull that out for our listeners is because this was one of the things that really changed. Everything for me was understanding that even if you are running a coaching program, and and in your case, like you said you have associate coaches which I want to get into the structure of that because for some of our listeners, they may be wanting to implement something similar where they're not the only ones doing the client delivery side of the work, but something that really changed my mindset about programs is people can either pay access for you and your over time, like direct access to you and proximity to you, or they can be paying for access to what your brain creates.
And it was like, Oh, like that changed everything. For me in my early educator days of understanding what what different forms of value might look like. So I wanted to pull that out for our listeners and with the associate coaches. So like you said, you are there for the experience, you're there for the onboarding. So I'm assuming your face is really kind of like that front end marketing machine. And then when they're coming in, during the onboarding process, you're kind of, you know, your videos are walking them through that experience.
How do you if you were known right for as a one on one coach, and then you transition into a group coaching program, where you're no longer there one on one coach, that can be a little bit of a an adjustment for some people who are used to working with you or love you and only trust you? How did you work through that challenge? And how are you communicating to incoming clients for the accelerator program that while you know, the methodology is from your brain, and you're still very much in that program, that you are not the one actually doing their weekly check ins and coaching with them?
Yeah, I would say this was actually a big, I would say almost more so a mental shift. For me, it was something that I struggled with, because I was like, well, will people still want to join this program, if they're not working directly with me, because they're signing up for me. But know that it's to your point, it is the framework that I have built and then trained my coaches on, that is really what people are buying into. And so when I had my one on one clients, what I did was towards the end of their retainers, if I had any clients that were kind of, maybe between retainers, I would keep them on until their retainer was complete.
But if their retainer was coming to an end, and they wanted to renew, I was letting them know, Hey, we're actually transitioning to this new program. This is what it's going to look like, for a handful of clients, they who did want to continue, they were, I would say, about 60% of the clients who did want to continue and move into this new program, they were totally fine. With a new coach, what I did was have an onboarding call with the three of us. So it was a little bit of a transitional period. And this was about a month before the transition actually happened. So then there was actually a month where we were kind of tag teaming their check ins, we were both checking in with them. So they felt very supported throughout that transition period. I had maybe 40% of those clients who were like, No, I still want to work with you.
And I said, okay, I had the capacity at this point. I mean, I had, at one point, I had 41 on one clients, and it was just Yes, so at this point, it was like, oh, I can have five one on one clients, like I can totally do this.
Yeah.
And it was a great transition for me to to kind of like slowly transition out of the one on one coaching. So for that first couple months of the new the backrow accelerator, I did have about I think it was like five or six, one on one clients that I previously worked with. So I wasn't taking on any new clients. It was just those who were like I really want to work with you. And I also had a really good relationship with, and I wanted to continue to work with them on a one on capacity. So that's how the transition occurred from the current clients. And it went very smooth, I will say, I think I have just amazing clients that I get to work with, and that that made it a lot easier.
But for those who are new coming into the program, I tried to make it extremely clear on the sales page. I also when they apply. So to get into the program, you have to fill out an application, I'm reviewing all the applications. And then what happens is, if their application is approved, I have a 15 minute free discovery call with them. And this call, it's with me. I take them through the program, very detailed with it answer any questions that they have, make sure it's a mutual fit, because that's something I learned throughout my coaching experience too is, you know, not every client is going to be a fit for you.
So is a vetting process on both sides. And on that call, I'm very clear about the fact that I pair them with a really reputable coach, and that they're going to be the ones really navigating their one on one experience. But I am there throughout the entire time. I am there on Slack. I am there throughout the monthly coaching calls. If they ever need anything, they have direct access to me too in Slack. I will say surprisingly, I don't get a lot of direct messages in there outside of people who are like, Oh my gosh, look at my progress. And I'm like amazing. So it's great and I think I've done a really good job of setting those boundaries because I learned the hard way that I I was not setting any boundaries whatsoever.
So between the very clear language on the landing around the sales page before they apply, as well as all of their onboarding emails, all of their, when they sign up, they get immediate access into it set up as a Kajabi course, has all my onboarding videos in there, it's very clear that you know what the process will look like. But also in that discovery call, I'm very clear upfront about, you know, what they can expect from who's coaching, who perspective? So, I was a little weary that there'll be a lot of pushback, well, wait, I'm signing up to be working with you. And I'd say at the beginning, I maybe got a handful of people who were expecting that.
But to my surprise, a lot of people like what you mentioned, a lot of people were signing up for my methodology, not necessarily me. But it was very clear throughout the language that I was communicating, again, through the sales pages and emails, and in the intro call that it was this methodology that that works, and that I'm there for support as well.
And what a testament to your team of coaches that you very rarely get those one on one messages from clients, because clearly they're being well taken care of. You did mention boundary. So I wanted to ask you on that point, if someone listening is thinking about implementing a similar group coaching model in their business, if clients are reaching out to you one on one, let's say an asking a more specific question about their plan or their nutrition. How do you ensure that it doesn't turn into you know, one off questions are fine, but how do you ensure it doesn't turn into just like an ongoing conversation where they're reverting to you until it a falling back on their coach?
Yeah, yeah. So typically, and to be honest, I would say maybe this has happened two to three times. And I think it is, because I'm so clear, in all of the onboarding information, those boundaries, even with my coaches, so example of yeah, those boundaries look like in your email.
Yeah.
Absolutely. So in the email, there is an onboarding document they get, and there's an onboarding video that they'll watch. And so within those, some of the things that are the boundaries that we set, are the times in which the coaches will be responding to messages inside Slack. So Monday through Friday, during which hours, they are obviously able to send messages whenever they want, but there's a boundary in place that they don't expect, and nobody is expecting a coach to be responding on the weekends. Sometimes coaches will jump in there, and they will, but those boundaries are clearly set at the beginning.
And then in terms of like, who to contact we have if it's a question in terms of their enrollment or their program, they can reach out to support if there's a question that is pertaining to, you know, their specific plan, program, something coming up that week, they have their direct one on one coach. And then if there's a question that is maybe a little bit more broad, usually the coaches can answer those, but then there is the general Slack. So that general slack is there, there's a support channel in there as well. So somebody can post in there, very rarely do I have people reaching out to me directly. I feel very proud of this process, because most people will reach out to support if there is like a direct question in terms of their membership, which is really the only questions that I will get at this point. Everything else will funnel through the coaches.
And then if the coaches have anything to bring to me, they'll bring it to me. So it's a little bit of this hierarchy now, where things get funneled appropriately but really being clear in their onboarding information. I mean, first and foremost, in my experience, if you're not clear in that onboarding experience, then they can go rogue and it's really hard to reel them back in from there. So clarity, clarity, clarity over communicating is something that I've learned to just wherever I can put it and you know, in the Kajabi portal on the right hand column, like anywhere I can put it if you need anything from a support standpoint, contact support, if you need anything from your coach, you know, contact your coach. So over communication and just clarity from the get go with the onboarding experience is really what I think set it apart.
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Yeah, that chain of command for like, where to go for treat? It's like an internal triage. Right?
Yes.
Important that that's excellent. So great tip about putting it as many places as possible. And then also making sure to walk someone through that in the onboarding process for your commitment these days. So we referenced at the beginning of this case study that you cut your work hours drastically, almost in half, for your weekly work and the accelerator program, which is your more intensive one. You're only in there about four hours a week. So can you walk us through what your four hours in that program looks like now that you don't have your own one on one caseload?
Yeah, so I love technology. And I love that we can schedule things. So I will in Slack, one day a week, I will plan out messages for the Slack community. I like to prompt the community with things to keep them engaged there to keep them you know, active and hold them accountable. So Mondays are usually my day that I will kind of like prep out stuff for the week. So maybe that's if it's a new month, I have new monthly challenges every month.
Or maybe it's just a typical week, that's when I'll go in and I'll schedule out all my posts within Slack. So that is again, I will pop into Slack every single day. But it's about 20 minutes a day, and answer questions there engaged connect with the women inside the program. And that has worked very, very well for me and again, dropping that those hours down tremendously. And then once a month, I have an hour coaching call, sometimes I break it up depending on everyone's availability to 30 minute sessions a month.
And that's just something that's really worked for me. So throughout the week, working with my assistant coaches, we have a call once a month, just me and my coaches to kind of regroup and set expectations for the next month, the next quarter, things like that talk through any client cases that we might need to talk through. So that's what a typical week and month look like it's more time spent on really managing my coaches working with clients in a group format, and then the communication just popping in on a daily basis, Monday through Friday, but very, very minimal time on my side needed for that.
Absolutely. And the messages that are coming through the group Slack channel, so not the one on one DMS, obviously but the ones that are just populated in the general channels. Is that kind of a free for all in terms of who responds to that client? Like is it any of the coaches can step in even if it's not their client? You could step in if you're able to? Or maybe, you know, if the question is already answered by another coach, you don't need to respond to that one. Is it? Is that kind of how it's structured?
Yeah, exactly. And I actually really like this structure, because the different coaches, they have different perspectives on things. So for my business in particular, if somebody is like, Oh, I'm really struggling with, you know, protein at breakfast, one coach might be like, I'm really strong into meal prepping, while another is like I am not a meal prepper whatsoever. Here's two different perspectives and ways of doing things that can really work for people.
So yes, it's very much each coach, I kind of have responsibilities for the coaches as well. So each coach should be going in at least 30 minutes a day. And my coaches are contractors. So they're not nobody's full time on my business day in my business as well. But there's 30 minutes a day where they're going in there either checking in with clients, one on one, sending direct messages to them, or participating in the group element of the slack channel, whether that's responding to questions or prompting new questions, and engaging individuals, which I'm also doing throughout the week. But having more coaches in there, it really fosters this sense of community within the platform. Yes.
And then on the monthly calls, is that you directly with you know, any of the clients that choose to show up in kind of hot seat style micro coaching moments, or Are any of the assistant coaches leading co leading that call with you?
Yeah, so it is primarily me, that's my time that I get with those clients again, in the group format, I want to make sure for me it's a really great balance. I don't want to be completely removed from the one on one coaching because I do love it and truthfully I love the clients that I get to work with. I love the women that come through this program. So Those calls light me up, what I realized was, I am focusing on the things that are lighting me up in my business, like my podcast, the group coaching calls within the macro accelerator, those types of things, those fill my cup up. And so those are the types of things that I'm keeping on my schedule.
So primarily, it is me now, once in a while, and especially, you know, I'm about to have a baby here and like, gosh, too soon, like, it's like flying by. But I'm setting myself up for a maternity leave where my coaches will actually step in for those calls while I'm out. So there have been a couple times where I have had my coaches join, and we've kind of like tag team to those some of the monthly calls, I will bring a lesson. Sometimes I have a coach who is more of like a subject matter expert in that lesson.
And I'll invite them in to teach on that lesson. But I always leave plenty of time for that hot seat q&a, because that's what our clients really, really enjoy. And so those are primarily what the calls look like, they kind of depend month to month, but it is primarily me, that's my opportunity to kind of meet and connect and share knowledge with them. But definitely fluid in the point, you know, again, my example of maternity leave, the coaches will be stepping in for that. So it's really smooth, because if I do need somebody to cover those, there's, you know, four people right there who can who can jump in.
That's amazing. I love that you've built so much flexibility and such a collaborative environment on your team. I do want to talk about your team more, especially the process for training up assistant coaches, I know that was a huge concern for you like, can we make sure we keep that quality there for our clients? If they're not coming directly through me? I know the listeners who may be thinking of transitioning their own one on one services to a model similar to yours are probably also wondering the same thing.
So I'd love to know A, where did you source these assistant coaches from? How do you train them in your methodology? Is that like a multi month process? Is there shadowing involved? How do you get them to that level where you feel confident handing them off completely on their own to their own clients?
And then as a follow up to that, what is the maximum caseload that each of these assistant coaches can take on before they reach their own capacity within your program?
Yeah, so first, I went through the coaching program that I went through, before I started coaching, I had a lot of really great connections through that program. And I also became close with the founder of that program. Who that I mean, her business is to help specifically macro coaches create businesses. And yeah, and so I actually connected with her and I was like, hey, if you have any recent grads, or you know of anybody who might be interested in assistant coaching, I am looking for some assistant coaches.
So I kind of tapped into my network a little bit. My first assistant coach, who is now my lead coach, she is the one that helped me launch this program. So I built out the program and she really helped from like a an admin perspective, making sure that we're documenting everything, one thing that I really wanted to do was be very conscious about documenting processes, so that if and when we did need to hire more coaches, which we did, we had all those processes documented, and we could easily train new coaches.
So this individual, again, she started out as my assistant coach, my only assistant coach, and I met her through that program that I had gone through, and we had the same education. So I knew her very, very well. And it just so happened to really work out for me kind of tapping in again to that network to say, hey, let's just test this out. Let's see if it's a good mutual fit. And so I actually had her go through my course, obviously, she was very familiar with the methodology of you know, what I was teaching because she was doing the same thing within her business. And she also has her own one on one coaching business.
So that's a whole nother story to making sure that you know, you have contracts in place with your contractors, but she it was very well versed and because I personally knew her, I thought I immediately knew she would be an amazing person to have as an assistant coach. So I brought her on, she really helped me from a process standpoint, like I outlined my vision for this program. I outlined the processes that I saw, and then she kind of just like, you know, formulated it. And then from there, what we did is we worked for about two months on just how to communicate to clients like all of the nitty gritty of things, but again, I was very, I was very aware of her skill set and I knew she'd be a great like first plugin.
So from there, we've since hired three other coaches and throughout that process This, she has really been an integral part of helping me with the interview process with the onboarding process and training process. So it's initially was a tag team effort. And then I promoted her to lead coach. And she, as part of lead coach takes on all the onboarding of the new coaches. So I've actually removed myself a bit from that as well to focus on bigger areas in my business, and have her really focused on that. But all my coaches go through my online course, primarily, so that they can understand the information that's being communicated out to clients.
And if clients ever have a question, maybe they're going through the course and they're like, Hey, I saw this in the course, they know what they're talking about. Because they've gone through my course, we also have a separate Slack channel. So I have my macro accelerator, Slack channel, but I also have my own internal mind did my macros Slack channel, and there is a channel in there called Coach's Corner.
And all of our coaches, all of us are in there. And that is where if we have any specific questions on a specific client or a client case, or just a process in general, we're constantly communicating in there. So it's another place for the coaches to come. But all of my coaches, I've actually found through that one mentorship program, that's amazing. Yeah, so it's been really great just to like, tap into again, that that network that I've built through building, you know, going through my own education and coaching programs, and so tapping into that network, seeing if there are people who are interested in associate coaching, and then in terms of the capacity for those individuals, my lead coach, and one other coach on my team, they are able to like they kind of tell me how much availability they have.
And so two of them have much more availability than the other two who also are they have corporate full time jobs. So I am able to assess overall client quantity for them, based off of how many clients they currently have their time availability. So two of them can take on a lot more clients, the other two, they're about, you know, 50% of the full time or not the full time, but the other two coaches capacity.
So we're kind of just monitoring that over the course of time. And then more recently, I want to say it was November, December of this past year, we brought on our most recent coach just because those capacity limits were were being hit. So we on boarded a new coach, again, through the same process. Kayla, my my lead coach really took charge in that and we have a bunch of now we have a whole resource library of video onboarding for coaches, resources for coaches, everything like frequently asked questions that we get within the program, and they know exactly who to go to ask the questions where to go, all of that. So it's kind of like what we did within the macro accelerator, but for the coaches that they have a very clear Kajabi portal that they can get all of that information from.
Yeah, sounds like a very robust system. I love how methodical you are through the entire process, just like very, very meticulous with your details. And it sounds like feel free to correct me if I'm misunderstanding of this.
But it sounds like everyone who's coming to you, as a coach is already a subject matter expert in macronutrients and nutrition, they have the right credentials for that it's really training them on your unique way of sharing this information, teaching this information to your clients through your own methodology, making sure they're familiar with that and knowing how to communicate with clients in a way that lives up to your company's standards. Is that right?
That's correct. Yeah, I am looking for people who have the credentials already. Because I don't have the ability to, you know, provide credentials to anybody. So I am looking for those who already have both from a nutritional standpoint, but also from a coaching standpoint, I'm also looking for those who have experience with coaching to be a coach. So I'm not, you know, there was one coach that I did bring on who was just such a good fit.
And I was like, she doesn't have a lot of experience with clients. But she can shadow first, we didn't give her any clients yet. But she was really active in the slack group. And then it was slowly adding on clients. So there was a coach who was more, you know, green in terms of the coaching space, but had that knowledge there. But for the most part of the coaches, you know, they have their own coaching programs or practices, and they have that experience there too.
Okay, awesome. Thank you so much for clarifying that. This next piece I feel is helpful for our listeners to maybe hear just to kind of get a sense of what this looks like for them financially if they change their model from you know, being the sole provider to actually having a team of coaches under them. So I realized that I'm setting the caveat for our listeners to that obviously, anything you choose to share does not It's not like an apples to apples comparison, right?
But just for me reference, what margin? Do you build into your into your client fees to ensure that you can, you know, pay for each coach to be able to take on that client? And What model do you use to pay your coaches? Is it a retainer for, you know, hey, I'm gonna pay you X amount of money to have up to x amount of clients, whatever their capacity is? Or are they paid per new client that they are actually signed? Or are they pay per hourly check in? Or like, how does that work that pay?
Yeah, so I'll start with the coaches. So the coaches, they are hourly basis, so they are hourly, but I, for each individual coach, I have a kept hourly capacity for them just based off of what my business what I can accommodate for in my business. Over the course of time, some of those caps have increased with some of my coaches. So we have like a set hourly, a monthly hourly allotment for these coaches.
On top of that, I also really like to incentivize my coaches. So for anybody, any clients, when they sign up for the macro accelerator, it's a four month program, it's a four month commitment. However, towards the end of the four months, they then have the option to opt in for month to month coaching, if they want to continue. So if any clients then opt in for month to month coaching, I want to incentivize my coaches because they're doing such an amazing job. So on top of their hourly rate, I'm also for every client that they re enroll for every month, they re enrolled, they get an extra $100 on top of that.
So they are you know, incentivized to have clients continuing in the program, not to say that every client needs to continue, but it's great when they do and they're, they're incentivized for that. So how I'm looking at that is really I'm I'm looking at the total cost that it costs me to operate this program, the the coaches in terms of their hourly rates, I'm setting that based off of kind of industry standards, but also for that individual position. But then also taking into account the time it takes to, you know, do the admin behind the scenes with the clients and all of that. So I want to make sure that on top of what I'm paying the coach to manage, there's about a 70% margin in the, in the coaching program that we're profiting from.
Now, that changes a little bit with the when it moves to monthly when it moves to the month to month coaching, because they get that for a slightly reduced rate. It's about $50 less a month if they continue. But I'm taking all that into account with the the finances of it. And then if there is like maybe, of course, like q4, for me is a much slower month, because Hello holidays, nobody wants to like sign up for winter, which I have other things that I do to kind of supplement that during that time. But for like one on one coaching, it can tend to be a little bit slower of a time. So what then just happens is, I mean, it's kind of worked out where, because they're paid hourly, if they're working fewer hours, I'm spending less as well.
So it just works out that way in terms of you know, paying them by the amount of time that they're working, I'm also able to like actually see, okay, how many clients are coming in how many clients are renewing, so I can see what the expected revenue will be, and then kind of work backwards from there if we need to.
That is so great, I love that you're able to really build in the margins that you need, and then be able to scale up or down. How many hours the coaches are working based on your own actual client enrollment and capacity. Do you have to wrap up our case study? Is your vision to just infinitely like scale this program? And you know, just continue onboarding new coaches to meet that demand? Or is there a certain point that you would hit in this program where you're like, you know, I don't want to go over X amount of coins to keep it at a certain, I guess? Yeah, a certain enrollment capacity? I guess?
That's a really great question and something that I am actually actively thinking about. So within my business, there are other capacities that I'm kind of being drawn to as well. So the one on one coaching experience, I love, the intimacy of it. And also, it's almost like I would want to keep it more intimate. Because of that community aspect. Once it starts to get a little too big it kind of loses that element.
Yeah.
And that personalization inside the program where we actually like all know each other, it starts to get a little bit too big. So my vision right now is to keep that intimate and then if needed, like you know instead of inviting more people It's increasing the cost of that program. But I also see as I'm transitioning into this new phase of, you know, fatherhood and life, I'm really curious what the next year, year and a half will bring, because I feel like I'm on the cusp of something else. I just don't know what that is yet.
Okay.
And I'm like, I don't know what it is, but it's gonna be damn good. And I'm really excited for it. So I've thought about, you know, maybe potentially reintroducing another type of community element. I've done a couple group programs that that's a whole nother topic. But those have done so well for me this year. And it's kind of accommodating those individuals who do want a sense of support community, but also a little bit of coaching, but maybe don't want or can't invest in my full one on one coaching. That has been such a huge success, too. So that's something that I'm going to continue to do two to three times a year. They're a month long, and it's easily replicable. I almost can't say that word.
Its a hard one.
And when I have pregnancy brain, I'm like, Oh, gosh. So so those are another great like, thing that I've that's another great program that I've implemented this year in my business, that is a great revenue driver, but also kind of like, you know, itches that need for those who are kind of like falling in between things. So I could see that also growing and being a bigger part of my business as well.
So smart, okay, I want to leave our listeners with this end note of my takeaway from getting to observe how you've restructured your business and this, from one to one to one to many model, I am very impressed that you have developed one core framework or methodology, right, and been able to essentially disseminate this information in three different containers, a self paced course, a one on one coaching accelerator, and then also, like you're saying now bringing in live cohorts a couple times a year for a shorter intensive, like one month duration, but still the same framework, right being being taught to these clients, but just adjusting what that implementation accountability and support container looks like.
I think that's so wise, I just, I really think there's so many educators and experts out there that feel like every single new offer they create needs to be a totally different topic, curriculum, just all the things and I think that the way you've done it is so streamlined and so smart, and so much more infinitely scalable.
So, thank you so much, Dani for coming on to share of behind the scenes of of what that process looks like for you. Where can our listeners go and connect with you and find out more about your programs?
Yeah, well, again, thank you so much for having me. I love sharing my story and I just want to help as many people as possible, you know, have this freedom based business as well. But you can find me on Instagram at MindinMyMacros, that's mindin with no g or on my podcast at MindinMywellness podcast on wherever you're listening to your podcasts.
Amazing. We'll put both of those links below in the show notes. So make sure you check it out. Go subscribe to Dani's podcast. Dani, thank you so much again for joining me today.
Thank you Ellen.
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