Are you ready for the next top 5 controversial reasons you should NOT start a coaching business?

If you haven’t read Part One, click here to read reason # 1-5 first

The reason I want to share these reasons with you is to share with you what it REALLY takes to start a coaching business so that you can determine for yourself if it’s worth it for you.

The bottom line is that everything worthwhile takes work to accomplish.


I recently heard someone on the Joe Rogan show follow this up by saying, “But not everything that takes work is valuable.”

We must begin by saying that these reasons will help you determine for yourself if doing this work is valuable and worth it to YOU.

Reason #6 why you should NOT start a coaching business is: Your ONLY reason to do it is to make money.

Let me be clear: you CAN and WILL make money from your coaching business. It wouldn’t be a very good business model if you weren’t able to profit from it financially!! However, if your primary motivation is to just “make money”… well you’re better off finding a different coach.

I spoke with a woman a few weeks ago who was searching online for businesses to buy. She thought that starting a coaching business could be a lucrative endeavor and wanted my help. I felt something was off and was intuitively guided to ask her a question. I said, “I hear you that you want to start this business. But I’m curious, because it sounds like you’re just wanting to make money… is this your calling? Do you feel you have a greater message inside to share with people that you want to use to create a positive impact in the world?”

She hesitated and said, “well sure I want to help people…” and then her voice trailed off as I could see she was deep in thought.

Her primary motivation was to just make money. For her, it wasn’t about sharing any type of message or serving people to help them improve their lives.

Let me be clear: there is NOTHING wrong with wanting to own businesses for that reason. This woman was simply not a good fit for my programs because in my community, it IS about owning your voice, monetizing your art, and helping others to transform their lives in a powerful way.

The way I’ve been successful in my coaching business is that I’ve always put these things FIRST.

When I prioritize my message, helping, serving and leading others — the money follows. An ABUNDANCE of money, blessings, fulfillment, deep relationships, and connection beyond my wildest dreams follows on as a natural result.

If you are starting from a place of just wanting to make money — then your goals would most likely look different. Not wrong or bad, but the women who come to me with help starting their coaching business want to build a business and a brand based on being YOU.

If you prioritize that FIRST, you will be rewarded.

Of course you have to learn the skills of running the business — operations, sales, marketing, systems, etc — which will help accelerate the amount of abundance you ultimately receive. But at the end of the day, we learn these skills because the driver and primary motivation is NOT money. It’s the art, the service, the craft and LOVE of coaching itself.

This leads us into reason #7 which is: You DON’T feel like this is your calling or purpose

This reason is SO similar to the reason above. I have found in my experience that the people who are successful in starting and growing their coaching businesses truly feel as if this is their CALLING and PURPOSE.

It doesn’t have to be the ONLY purpose in your life. I believe we have many callings and purposes throughout our lifetime.

For me, I was called to be a mother and find great joy and purpose in raising my two children. Even after closing my coaching business Healing For Eating Disorders, I still feel called to help support women in eating disorder recovery. This calling is why I continue to offer recovery coaching services behind the scenes and also do speaking engagements at treatment centers.

There are many things you might feel called to do. Your coaching business and transforming your wisdom, knowledge and experience into products and programs for others is a strong calling that you MUST listen to and follow!

When I closed Healing for Eating Disorders down, I felt so lost and as if I had lost my purpose. I had also relapsed in my eating disorder at that point, so I felt out of integrity with continuing to offer that type of coaching. I made a promise to myself that I would come back to coaching IF and ONLY IF I felt that strong calling again and ONLY WHEN I was solid, healthy, and thriving.

Those years were some of the hardest of my life. I still continued to offer coaching and consulting in other capacities but I wasn’t sharing my message. I wasn’t sharing my truth. I wasn’t being honest with my audience. I felt out of alignment.

What I noticed though was that the CALLING kept CALLING me!! Over and over and over again. It whispered to me, it kept chirping in my ear and would NOT go away!! NO matter how hard I tried to be happy and fulfilled doing other things. Even though I was still successful and very good at what I was doing… it was just NOT the same.

My SOUL WAS CRAVING EXPRESSION!!

MY SOUL NEEDED TO BE SEEN!

I felt as if I had let myself down because I wasn’t doing what I KNEW DEEP DOWN I was meant to be doing.

Finally, I listened!! I began sharing my message again. Of course everything came rushing back and clients began flowing in again — and most importantly, I feel SO good!! I can’t describe to you the feelings of true fulfillment, the joy, the way that coaching fills me up and gives me energy.

I truly believe this is my calling and my purpose. I was BORN for this.

This is what I mean when I say, if you DON’T feel as if you want to start a powerful movement in the world, if you DON’T feel as if this is your calling and your purpose, it’s probably better in the long term to NOT pursue this.

A better solution would be to tap in, listen deeply within, and follow the unique desires, calling and purpose in your heart.

Reason # 8 you should NOT start a coaching business is that you are NOT willing to do hard things and persist through obstacles.

I have said this before and I will say this again: Starting a coaching business is NOT for the faint of heart.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that all you have to do is make some social media posts and put up some sales pages and people will start flowing in. This is RARELY the case.

Building a coaching business from scratch WILL take time. I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. It took me 6 months before I ever got a PAYING client. It took me years of grinding before I started hitting 5 figure months and went viral on a few YouTube videos.

If you’re only looking for the external results and you’re not willing to stick it out in the long term, it’s better to not start at all.

Think about fitness, for example. In order to get in shape and have a toned body, you must be committed to the process. You go to the gym 3-4 times per week, you follow some type of program or system that is proven to get results. But over the first few weeks and months, you might not even barely see results. As long as you continue to stay consistent and do the work, the results WILL come.

It’s the same with a coaching business. Just the same as you wouldn’t expect to work out ONCE and have a ripped and toned body, you can’t expect to put in work on your coaching business here and there and get amazing results.

There will be obstacles. It will get hard. You WILL want to quit and throw in the towel. I am telling you this ahead of time so when this happens to you, you will understand that this is NORMAL.

The only reason I’m still here is that I saw those obstacles I faced as opportunities to grow. I asked myself, what don’t I know here? What would have to happen in order for me to move past this? What might I have to sacrifice here in order to get the results that I want?

The journey of entrepreneurship is a spiritual and personal path of development. It will cause all of your undeveloped parts to come to the surface to be healed and requires other new skills and muscles to be developed.

It’s important to stay committed in the long term and persist despite the obstacles that show themselves and challenge yourself to GROW through them all.

Reason #9 why you should NOT start a coaching business is that you are NOT willing to share your story in an empowering way to help others still struggling

Sharing your story is NOT REQUIRED; however from my experience the most famous and talented coaches all have a powerful story.

Think about it— Tony Robbins has a powerful backstory that propelled him into the world of personal growth. Grant Cardone shares in his books and content that he used to be a raging drug addict and poured himself into the business of training others. There are too many coaches — known and unknown— that have powerful stories that help their audience CONNECT and RELATE to them in a personal way.

When I started out, all I did was share my story!

I shared how much I struggled with bulimia, anorexia, PSTD, depression and anxiety. I shared what it was like then, how I got through it, and what it is like today. The true hero’s journey of breakdown to breakthrough.

If you want to truly touch people’s lives, you must be willing to open yourself up and share those parts of you that you may not want to.

I remember how vulnerable I felt when I first started sharing my story. I was afraid of judgment and what other people would think of me.

But at the end of the day I realized that this was only my ego getting in the way. I learned to set my ego aside, and allow myself to share my story in order to help others.

This does NOT mean you share the MESS. You don’t share it from a VICTIM perspective.

You must share in an empowering way so that you are using your story to teach and lead others.

What I’ve found is that the most successful coaches DO monetize their story and it becomes a powerful part of their brand and why people hire them.

Again, it is not NECESSARY, but I believe if you feel called to being a coach, it’s probably because you’ve overcome something in your life that you want to lead and guide others through.

So why WOULDN’T you share your story??

The last #10 reason NOT to start a coaching business is that you’re NOT in a place to step into your leadership and lead by example.

This builds on the previous reason. Coaching is about leadership. It’s about owning all parts of you — the good, the bad, the ugly.

It’s NOT about being perfect. It’s about continuing to do the work on yourself and share those lessons with others while you help guide them through it.

If you are in a place in your life where you’re mentally or emotionally unstable, or you are majorly out of integrity in some area of your life — I would NOT advise you to start a coaching business.

Wait until you have done the work on yourself to get to a place where you feel aligned, happy and empowered, at least in the big areas where you want to help people.

Like I shared earlier, when I felt disempowered in my bulimia relapse — I was in NO place to lead by example. I stepped down from my position of leadership in that area.

I was still more than capable of providing guidance and support in other areas while I built my physical and mental health back up again.

This is not about being perfect, it’s more about owning where you are and sharing your journey to help others through it.

You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to be a few steps ahead of the people who you want to coach and serve.

In that way, you don’t tell people what to do, you lead by example by simply sharing with people how you did it, and how you’ve helped other people to do the same using your personal philosophies, systems, frameworks, tools, and techniques.

I hope that all makes sense to you! I wanted to be very clear on all the reasons you would NOT be a good fit to start a coaching business, so you can be CRYSTAL CLEAR on all the reasons why it IS a good fit for you!

I’d love to hear in the comments which reasons resonated most with you and what you’ve learned through reading this article.

Remember — this is the way to break free and create a business and life you LOVE!

In love & success,

xo Lauren