Episode 86. How to Create Your First 5k or 10k Month (Even as a Side Hustler)

Today, we are going to talk about how to create your first 5k or 10k month by selling just 1:1 coaching.

Similar to the previous episode, where we talked about how to sign your first paying client for your 1:1 coaching program that’s priced between 1000 to 3000, we are specifically focusing on talking about how to create a 5k or 10k month by selling 1:1 coaching.

This is because this is a very, very common goal for a lot of our clients who are at a point in their business where this is the next result they want to create.

In This Episode:

The four most common scenarios that coaches at this stage of their business will struggle with
A summary of how you can work through these scenarios

The four most common scenarios that coaches at this stage of their business will struggle with

For clients who are at this stage of their business, it’s usually because they’ve either signed on several high ticket clients between 1k-3k and/or they’ve signed at least 1 or 2 high ticket clients every month for a few months in a row.

So they’ve been building up their belief that they can sign a client and they’re becoming more confident in their skills such as creating content and marketing that builds demand for their offers and helps them stand out in their niche. They’re feeling confident in being able to help their clients create results.

Today, I want to share some of the most common blocks that make it a lot harder for coaches who are in this stage of their business, and how to work around these scenarios, so you can, too, create your first 5k or 10k month from selling 1:1 coaching.

1. What you need to do to get to the next level

The most common thing I observe from our clients who are at the point in their business where they’ve signed a few high ticket clients, is that they first feel a lot of amazement and awe that someone wants to work with them in that capacity and at that level. And they’re so excited about these new clients and so excited to start working with them.

But, very, very soon after, they will come to me and say, “okay Cheryl, what do I need to do now to get to the next level?”

And that next level will vary from client to client. But every single time, that next level will entail a certain income goal.

For a lot of clients, creating their first 5k or 10k month is usually the arbitrary goal they set for their business as soon as they sign their first few clients.

When clients ask me, “Cheryl, what do I need to do now to reach that next level in my business?”

What I hear is, “Cheryl, what more do I need to do? What else can I do? What can I do so I can create even bigger, better, and faster results?”

Here’s what I’ve told each client, every single time.

Repeat exactly what you just did to sign your most recent client. Keep doing the same thing over and over again.

Also, think back to all the paying clients you’ve worked with so far and tell me your action plan and belief plan that got you there. What worked well, what didn’t work, and what you’d like to do differently.

The reason this is the type of coaching I tend to offer our clients who have signed several high ticket clients and now want to create a 5k month or 10k month, is because for most people at this stage, their own confidence and self belief in their ability to create results by signing high ticket clients over and over again, is low.

It’s still shaky. Which is exactly why they’re asking me, “Cheryl, what else can I do so I can sign more clients?”

They ask this question because they don’t believe that they can sign a client again so they need to change up their whole game plan.

That’s why for clients who are working towards creating their first 5k or 10k month, we coach so much on repeating their bare minimum plan over and over again, and focus on mastering their “basics” over and over again.

This is extremely important because we need you to build up your confidence in your ability to repeat the result, over and over again, and in your belief that what you’re doing is working. Otherwise, you’ll constantly and always be changing up your entire business.

The more you jump around from strategy to strategy, always doing something new, you’re not taking the time to improve on the skills you’ve already started on and you’re not doubling down on what you’re really good at.

Also, if you’re constantly questioning whether what you’re doing is enough or whether it’s working, how do you think you’re showing up to your people?

So when a client finds themselves in this sort of situation in their business, there’s two things we will do inside our coaching program.

First, we coach a lot on their identity. Specifically, their identity as a thought leader in their space, their identity as a coach who can help people, and their identity as an entrepreneur who makes money in their business.

Second, we will take time to fine tune and evaluate what’s working, what’s not working, and what we want to do differently moving forward so we can continue repeating the same results over and over again.

For example, we look at things like what content or messaging resonated with your clients, why specifically did they work with you, what is it about you that they can relate to, and so on.

Because we’re working on sharpening their skills in different areas such as their content, marketing, the way they communicate, how they can help people and make offers, and their ability to help clients create results, very naturally, they will repeat results even faster, and consequently, create their 5k or 10k in a one month timespan.

I also want you to consider the following:

If you want to take your business to the next level, being recognized as a thought leader in your space will be very important.

Building brand awareness for your signature offers will be very important.

Being known for your specific skills and how you specifically help your specific people, that will be very important.

In order to do all this, I would encourage you to lean into your strengths and lean into improving on what you’ve already been working on and what is already working, rather than trying to complicate things for yourself by starting something brand new like creating a live webinar or start sending out a weekly newsletter.

There could be a time and place for new strategies in your business, but for now, I do suggest keeping things as simple as possible, and keep mastering your basics and sharpening your skills so you can repeat the same results, even faster, and therefore create your first 5k or 10k month

Likewise, if you want to “take your coaching business to the next level”, we also need you to be a coach who has the social proof, client testimonials and client results to back that up.

That means, you need to be confident in helping people. You can only become more and more confident in your ability to help people by practicing your coaching skills and fine tuning your process and frameworks through working with more clients.

This is also a skill, the skill of helping clients create results and delivering on your program promise. This is also a skill that you cannot just gloss over and neglect.

Because what tends to happen is that coaches are so consumed with creating 10k months and are spending all of their time and energy focusing on marketing and selling to new people. And they’re not taking care of clients who already paid them and hence their clients’ experience in the program is just average.

If you want to create not just your first 5k and 10k month, but you want to create more and more 5k and 10k months in your business, this is an area of your business that I really hope you’ll put more time and energy into.

Always do better for clients who are already inside your program. By being a better coach and by being able to help clients create quality results, over and over again, that can only help your own business and also your amazing clients.

All that to say, we always have skills that we can work on and sharpen. There are always tools under our belt that we can sharpen even more in order to create results.

We don’t always have to change up everything or start something brand new just to create results. You can’t lose by improving on what’s already working.

One more thing before we move onto the next common situation that clients find themselves in when they’re on the cusp of creating their first 5k or 10k month.

You could sign more clients in that one month timeline, or you could raise your prices. Both are options you can consider.

But for both options, please do what you need to in order to

1) strengthen your belief and confidence that what you’re doing is working

2) keep doubling down on what’s working and keep repeating them, over and over again.

2. Looking at other coaches to try to find out what’s working for them

Now, another common scenario I tend to see is that now you are kind of on an emotional high from OMG I SIGNED ANOTHER CLIENT.

Besides thinking what else can you do or how you can do even more, another really common thing that comes up is that people start looking at others in their space and try to figure out what everyone else is doing. They want to see what is working for other people, so that they can do that In their own business as well.

This could look like, “Oh but they already hit six figures but they started at the same time as me” or “They have a full 5 part module course things client portal thing for their clients” or “They have multiple offers in their product suite” or “They have a podcast AND they’re on Instagram and LinkedIn and TikTok”

What then tends to happen when you start creeping on other people in your industry or people who seem more successful than you? You start to get caught up with comparisons.

You start feeling not good enough. You start questioning yourself and what you’re doing. You start doubting whether you can create a 5k or 10k month.

And because you’re spending so much time consuming content and marketing and messaging from other people, it becomes really easy to feel like you should say what they are saying too. “Maybe I should talk about that in that way too.”

What can unknowingly happen is you’ll start to look and sound like everyone else, which, by the way, is just going to lead your audience and ideal clients to see you as just another coach who’s doing the same thing as all the other coaches. And you’re all offering the same program and you talk about the same topics, so why wouldn’t clients just look for the person who offers the cheapest program?

This is exactly why for our clients who find themselves in this situation, we spend even more time on both their sense of identity and also double down on their own unique thought leadership.

I can think of a very recent client example where this was the situation.

One of our awesome clients recently signed three high ticket clients in one month, and then , as we started to enter a new month, not only did they ask me, “Okay, so what else can I do?”, but they also shared that they noticed themselves lurking other coaches in their niche.

Which, by the way, was not something that came up in our coaching previous to this. But for this particular client, as soon as she created new evidence for herself, “Oh maybe I can do this…” Because the belief was still in the developing stages, she found herself paying more attention to other people and that naturally created a lot of mind drama as we were entering a brand new month.

For this client in particular, what we discovered was very helpful for this client was to literally have her explore different parts of herself and parts of her life beyond the things she does in her coaching business.

Meaning, beyond content ideas and how to market her program. But literally, go live her life and enjoy life and do other things with her life.

Because not only did that help with her overall wellbeing, but also, that allowed this client the space and cognitive capacity to once again come up with ideas, concepts and opinions that are honest and genuine to her. She’s also able to offer perspectives that are very different from other coaches because she’s not consuming from other coaches.

Instead, she’s creating content and messaging and things that stem from her own brain and lived experiences. And this is also why this client feels so certain in herself as a thought leader in her niche and it’s why her people see her as a thought leader as well.

Spend less time looking at other people and spend more time actually working on yourself and working on your business and work on getting better at the skills you’ve already started working on and are seeing traction from.

What you’ve been doing so far, it’s not the best you can do.

For example your current “best” content or “best” marketing is not the best you’ll ever create. Your coaching skills and ability to teach your clients and help them create your results, it’s not the best you’ll ever be.

There’s always room for massive growth. Everything you are doing or creating right now, is the baseline.

Focus on creating a new standard or a new baseline every time, rather than jumping ship because you’re getting distracted with what everyone else is doing.

You’ve got work to do and you’ve got skills to sharpen. Stay focused.

One final thought on comparisons: When we look at someone else and think, “Oh they have an evergreen webinar funnel and they have a weekly email newsletter, so that’s probably why they are making six-figures in their business.” Or maybe, “Oh they have really beautiful brand photoshoots and they look like they have it all together. Maybe I need to work on my image too”

I just want to say. Just because someone else has a webinar funnel or they send emails, that’s not why people buy from them. Just because someone has amazing brand photos is not why people buy from them.

For the coaches at the level where they’re creating “consistent” 10k months, people want to work with them because they are a coach who is clear on who they are and what they bring to the table.

They know how to help people and they have the social proof to back it up. They have helped many clients create results, over and over again.

They know exactly what their values are. They have messages and stories that they’re known for.

Those are the things that they have continued to talk about, over and over again, and that’s why they now have such a strong brand.

People know what they’re all about. People know their story. People see that they also share the same values.

So, be mindful of the conclusions you’re making when you’re creeping around people in your industry.

3. When you start feeling bad about not being at the “5k to 10k month” level yet

To put it bluntly, many people will start feeling bad about not being at the “5k or 10k month” level yet. Even though literally just a week ago, they were so damn happy and grateful for the new client who just said yes to working with them.

I have a recent client example to share. This client isn’t a coach but she is a service-based entrepreneur.

She recently launched her first in-person workshop, and her goal was to have four people join.

In just the first few days, she had more than four people inquire so she ended up expanding the number of seats opened to eight people.

When we spoke a week after she first announced the workshop, she had 7 out of 8 seats filled already but she told me she was feeling a bit stressed about whether she’ll have eight people.

And I just stared at her and said BUT YOUR GOAL WAS FOUR! Just one week ago, we were coaching on your worries about whether even one person would join! Why are we stressing over eight people! And we laughed and continued coaching the client about this.

This example is super common for coaches who are at a point in their business where they want to hit a 5k or 10k month because they’ve seen some results in their business. It’s like in a blink of an eye, they lose sight of how grateful they were for the client who just said yes to them.

In just a span of days, they forgot how proud they were about hitting a new milestone in their business. All of a sudden, all of those things they were celebrating, just disappeared, because of how they moved their goal higher. And it’s like nothing they just did mattered anymore.

If you resonate with this scenario, I hope you can ground back to those feelings of gratitude or excitement and feeling so proud of yourself.

Stay in that frame of mind because honestly, it’s gonna feel a lot better to keep taking action on your business from that energy versus if you’re trying to take action but you feel shit about yourself and your business results.

You could take action and feel like “Ugh I’m so behind”, or you could take action and feel calm through it all. Both are options available to you, so why not choose the path that actually lets you feel better?

4. Feeling like you’re not doing “enough” and/or have a hard time being “consistent”

Finally, another very common “concern” that tends to come up is feeling like you’re not doing enough.

But you know what’s also a super common problem that tends to come up at the same time as you not feeling like you’re doing enough? More often than not, people will also feel like they’re having a hard time being “consistent” in their plan of action.

This looks like feeling like you’re having a hard time showing up consistently.

And it’s so interesting, because on one hand, you feel like you’re not doing enough, but on the other hand, many people also already find it difficult to stay consistent at what they’re already doing.

So how can you expect to do more or why would you even push yourself to add more to your plate?

The concept of “being consistent” in your business is put on a pedestal among the coaching industry.

One major thing I’ve learned during my three plus years as a side hustler is that consistency is not the end all be all. Now that I’m full-time in my business, it’s not consistency in my actions that drive results in my business.

I first want to acknowledge that there were definitely periods of time in my own business journey where I really held consistency in high regard, and I would pride myself as someone who was consistent in showing up for my business.

For example, in the second year of my business, I would be really proud of myself as someone who did video Instagram Stories “very consistently” despite being a side hustler.

But my views on consistency have changed a lot, and now I really value quality more over quantity, especially for those who are side hustlers or have other things going on.

Consistency, as much as it can be helpful, it may not make sense for the season of business or life that you’re in.

For example, for myself and our clients, our weekly calendars don’t look identical every single week. Even if we might have things that happen regularly each week, like your work hours for your job or maybe client calls, there will be things that are different every week.

Life can happen. Or you have to do overtime at work. Or you have other things to do like an unexpected errand. Or maybe you have a wedding to attend. Or you’re going on vacation. Or maybe you need rest because you’re drained this week.

Needless to say, it would theoretically be awesome if you can have a consistent working schedule for your business or if you can schedule your life in a way where you can take the same “consistent” action every week, that doesn’t need to be the goal or the golden standard in your business, even if all these business coaches are preaching about “being consistent” in their own marketing.

I want to share a personal example from my business which helped me understand that it is okay if I take breaks in my “consistent” showing up.

It is okay if some weeks, I don’t post as much or if I don’t post at all. Consistently showing up could definitely be a powerful tool for your business and it’s a great habit to have. Yes. But it may not be the right skill or habit depending on what’s going on in your life, outside of the business.

Very recently, a client who recently joined our 1:1 program, told me she enjoys my podcast, although she doesn’t follow me on Instagram which is the other platform that I’m active on.

Something very interesting happened on our sales call. She asked me how my PhD was going, even though I shared about my decisions to leave the PhD on several of my most recent episodes. And she made reference to my episode about the Money Making Theory.

So what is a plausible conclusion I could draw from this conversation? Even the old touch points you put down, those content pieces from months ago, can still impact someone and help someone today. They all count.

Every step counts. Even if it’s not consistent steps. Every touchpoint you put down, counts.

Not just for your current goal of your first 5k or 10k month, but also the longer term and bigger goals as well.

Like a six figure year or buying a house. Or paying off your parent’s loan. Or being able to quit your job so you can stay home with your kids or family.

Know that every time you create a touchpoint with your audience, like a piece of content or conversation or someone sharing about you, all of the touch points count and are working together. Even a touch point from months ago.

And you know what’s funny. Not too long before this client booked a sales call with me, there were four whole weeks where I didn’t make a new podcast episode.

And this client, from what I understand, only consumes my podcast content and doesn’t follow me anywhere else. That alone tells me that not being consistent isn’t going to break my business, as long as I keep going, keep improving my craft, and keep taking breaks when I need to.

Not only will this allow me to actually build a sustainable business that doesn’t make me crash and burn or take over my entire life and burn me out, but also, it actually lets me be there for other parts of my life that matter a lot to myself and the people around me.

A summary of how you can work through these scenarios

As we start to wrap up today’s conversation, let’s summarize everything we’ve talked about so far.

Here are four very common scenarios that people often experience when they are at the stage of their business where they’re trying to create their first 5k or 10k month from selling 1:1 coaching:

First, if you’re asking what more do I need to do? What else can I do? What can I do so I can create even bigger, better, and faster results?

Spend some time thinking about how you can repeat exactly what you just did to sign your most recent client. Keep doing the same thing over and over again. Get better at what worked first, before doing something different.

Second, if you’re looking at others in your space and are trying to see what everyone else is doing, I would encourage you to limit your time consuming stuff from your own industry.

Go explore yourself outside of your niche so you can offer perspectives, ideas and content that is not only honest and genuine to you, but is also extremely unique when it comes to your industry because you aren’t leaning on other people’s ideas to create your own.

Third, if you’re feeling bad about not being at the “5k or 10k month” level yet, even though literally just a week ago, you were so damn happy and grateful for the new client who just said yes to working with you.

I will come find you and shake you up and remind you to ground back into why you do what you do, celebrate what you’ve created so far and how you’ve helped people, and keep moving forward from the headspace that will let you create even more amazingness.

Because being salty about not being at 5k-10k months is not a fun state of mind to be in, in my opinion.

Fourth and finally, if you’re seeing that on one hand, you feel like you’re not doing enough, but on the other hand, many people also already find it difficult to stay consistent at what they’re already doing, I want to offer the reminder that doing more and /or being consistent isn’t necessarily the solution.

Keep going and sharpen the tools and skills you’ve already been working on which helped you get to where you are.

But also take breaks when you need and allow yourself to “not be consistent” when you need.

This is exactly what we coach on with our clients and it’s a part of the reason why we’ve had clients create their first 5k or 10k months.

If what we talk about in this episode resonates with you, come join us inside the 1:1 program.

Here, we will focus on helping you to

1) Stand out in your niche/industry and be seen as a thought leader in your space

2) Build a uniquely differentiated brand that is not just a genuine and honest reflection of you and what you want to be known for, but it’s also exactly what your people will deeply resonate with and hence decide to work with you inside your paid programs or services, and

3) Ultimately do the bare minimum number of things in your business , but do it really, really well. So you can spend less time on your business and make more time for other parts of your life. Whether it’s your family, career, health, travel , or anything else, my goal for you is to create a simple business so you can actually go live your life.

For all the details and to apply, you can head on over to cheryltheory.com/program. Or, if you know you’re in and you want to get started ASAP, send me a message on Instagram and we’ll get you onboarded ASAP.

Sounds good? Awesome. Let’s get to work.