Build the first real version of your online coaching business and start turning your expertise into your first paying clients.
Led by Dr SaraLou. Former GP. 6-Figure Burnout coach. Business coach for coaches.
Let’s BUILD
If you’re an experienced professional who wants to build a profitable, sustainable online coaching business this is the place to start.
In BUILD you will learn to create a business that honours all your expertise and lived experience and through it create impact and help others in the way you always knew was possible.
Whilst giving you autonomy over your schedule and space to enjoy your life…if that sounds good read on.
From an idea to making it real…
You've spent years building a career and have made it to the “top of the game” in your industry.
Maybe you’ve decided that you want to leave (or portfolio) your career but you know you have something valuable to offer…
You want to make the impact that you always wanted but in your career your hands were tied behind your back. You want to truly help people and help them change their lives for the good, which creates ripple effects in their lives and communities; and changes your life with it.
Perhaps you're looking into completing a coaching qualification or have one already.
And you’ve started to run through all the hurdles that feel in your path…
…how do I actually make it into a business? How do I decide what to sell?
How do I find clients? And communicate how I help them so they can say YES?
What even is a niche and do I want one?!
And for so many professionals… how do I sell without feeling totally icky?!
This is where a lot of brilliant new coaches get stuck.
Because you know how to help people, you’ve done it for years…
But no one ever showed you how to go from an idea to a real business with real clients.
Because learning to coach is one thing… running a coaching business is another.
But the good news, these are all learnable business skills.
And what we want is to get your amazing idea out of your head (and the millions of post it notes) and into the real world.
Because that is when you can actually start to help people!
It doesn’t need to be perfect (I say that as a recovered perfectionist medic who has built a 6 Figure Burnout Business!)
And so if you’re ready to stop wondering whether you could build a coaching business and start seeing evidence that you are building one…BUILD is the place for you.
You don’t need a perfected niche, another qualification or to have it all figured out before you begin…
“In my first year I was fully booked out 121, serving clients I loved. I left medicine altogether.
Within 2 years it was a 6 Fig Biz, with nearly 600 clients through the “doors”, some for 121 and high touch groups and intimate retreats, others paid live experiences and courses.
And this all happened, with me taking 10-12 weeks off a year, getting to all the last minute events at school, only seeing clients within school hours a few days a week and choosing who I want to work with…this was all possible because of how I built my business…”
The goal of BUILD isn't perfection…it’s about creating something real.
This is the space for professionals who are getting started out in the online space as coaches.
Where you arrive with an idea, a vision and a hope of what’s possible and are given the knowledge, skills and community support to create a business that exists in the real world.
Over the programme, you'll build a clear offer, translate it so the right people understand why it’s for them, learn how to generate interest and ultimately sell it! So that you get to work with amazing people.
And through this, you get proof:
That you can turn what you know into an offer.
That you can talk about your work clearly.
That strangers can discover you and become interested in what you do.
That you can have a sales conversation that feels good.
That you can deliver excellent work and learn what people want to buy.
Because once you have that, you're no longer standing at the edge of starting a business and wondering if it’s for you.
You’ll have a business and confidence as a coach and business owner!
And have something very real to strengthen and grow.
What BUILD will give you:
By the end of BUILD, you will:
Create a clear first offer built around a problem people genuinely want help solving.
Have defined your ideal client and how you’ll help them
Translate your professional expertise, experience and perspective into something they will see and think “this is the person for me”.
Have set up simple visibility and client-acquisition approaches that feel a good fit for you.
Create a straightforward sales process, from first conversation through to invitation, decision and payment.
Have the essential systems for enquiries, calls, payment and delivery without building unnecessary infrastructure and feel confident in your tech skills.
And, most importantly… You'll start gathering real market evidence from:
Real conversations.
Real feedback.
Real objections.
Real clients.
That is what gives you the information to build something that can grow.
Why learn this from me?
I started my business 3 years ago because I knew there was more for me. I had a passion and sense of purpose to help others in a way that I had felt held back with in Medicine. And so, over time I built my exit out of the NHS, after being in it 15+ years, and into my business.
I had no idea what I was doing at the start, I didn’t know anyone who had made the jump and came from a family of dedicated NHS and education workers.
But I did know that I loved coaching, had experienced the power of it in my life and wanted to build something real online. I built that first version of my business with one day a week, a daughter in nursery and working in GP, Med Ed and urgent care.
I built it alongside my coaching diploma and had my first paying client before I was “qualified”.
Very early on in my business I learnt that I loved running a business, yes the coaching is amazing and I love serving my clients; but the business, turns out I loved it and what it could do for my life…
But this didn’t happen through luck, I learnt early on in business that you make your own luck and I got really serious about what actually makes an online coaching business work.
Because I was not there to hope on the algorithm and pray someone would say yes. I am passionate about helping my perfect client and so I built systems and strategies that let them find me without me being online 24/7…so that not only was my business giving them incredible results but it was sustainable and profitable too.
And this matters because, I have a very full and busy life, I love to travel and go out for dinner, spend time with my daughter and feel like me; and so through my successes (and misses) I learnt what makes a Biz tick.
And that created an impact I could only have dreamt of…
In my first year I was fully booked out 121, serving clients I loved. I left medicine altogether.
Within 2 years it was a 6 Fig Biz, with nearly 600 clients through the “doors”, some for 121 and high touch groups and intimate retreats, others paid live experiences and courses.
And this all happened, with me taking 10-12 weeks off a year, getting to all the last minute events at school, only seeing clients within school hours a few days a week and choosing who I want to work with.
And everything I’ve learnt, from buyer psychology and how to write copy so the perfect people find you and choose you, to the money mindset work that allows you to charge what your work is truly worth, to providing coaching services that deliver the transformation people are looking for…
I can now teach you too! So that they can create impactful, sustainable and profitable businesses that the world truly needs right now! And through that the ripples stretch even further.
And I cannot not mention the team…aka “Tech guy, Ad guy”...aka My husband Matt. Matt has always championed me in the business but is also the tech wiz! Matt helped me collapse time by building the tech infrastructure and paid traffic (ads) systems that let the magic flow in the business.
We decided to keep these systems “in house”, which meant we learnt how to run them efficiently and sustainably, keeping profits high (instead of them going to an agency). And now he can teach you too, because we believe in empowering and equipping business owners with the tools they need in their biz and not gate keep them.
SaraLou and the “Tech guy” x
The methodology behind the work: Strategy. Sales. Systems.
This is at the heart of what we do here…and it creates impactful, profitable and sustainable businesses.
These are not three separate boxes you work through once and never return to.
They are the three pillars we keep coming back to as you build, test, learn and strengthen your business.
Because an online coaching business needs all three…
STRATEGY
Strategy makes sure there is something clear and valuable to sell - and a reason the right person would choose it.
This is where we work on things like:
Your audience.
Your positioning and offer.
Your methodology.
Your pricing and value of your work.
Your messaging and how buyer psychology works.
So that the right people see your work and see themselves in it and the offer is what they want to buy.
Without you needing to be online 24/7.
SALES
Sales makes sure the right people actually encounter your work, understand why it matters and have a clear route to becoming a client.
You'll learn how to create and capture demand, communicate your work, start conversations and confidently move somebody from interested stranger to paying client.
Without relying on endless posting or becoming an influencer.
Without using high-pressure sales tactics that feel completely at odds with who you are.
SYSTEMS
Finally, we build the simple infrastructure that makes the business real and the magic flow without you doing it all manually.
The things that allow somebody to go from:
“I've just discovered you.”
to
“I've paid. I'm in. Let's start.”
So you can go about your life and take time out without everything grinding to a halt when you do.
And as you test your offer in the real world, we keep coming back to these three pillars.
You build. You test. You learn. You strengthen.
And that is how an idea starts becoming a real business.
and that’s how I created a business that people adore…
and some more from the high touch burnout groups I run…
BUILD is for you if…
You're serious about creating an online coaching business.
You have professional expertise, lived experience or a perspective that you believe could genuinely help other people.
You may already be coaching, training as a coach or getting ready to begin.
You don't need to know your forever niche or have your entire future mapped out or have quit your job.
If you want to learn from a Coach who has built what you want, a community of like-minded people and the accountability to join ideas into momentum.
You want to build the thing.
This is not another course just to consume
BUILD is designed around implementation.
There will be things to learn, of course.
But the work happens by applying them to your business.
Building your offer.
Testing your messaging.
Talking to potential clients.
Making invitations.
Setting up the systems you actually need.
Looking at what happens…being curious and open to the process.
Because I don't want you to finish BUILD with a beautifully organised folder of notes about how to start a coaching business…
I want you to have taken the steps to start one.
and so BUILD isn't for you if...
You're not sure what coaching is and have no experience of it.
You're looking primarily for career coaching to work out what comes next.
You want someone else to build the business for you.
You're looking for a passive course you can watch.
You need your new business to replace a substantial professional salary immediately (it’s all possible later on).
Or if you already have a validated offer, semi- regular clients and some revenue and your main challenge is building a more consistent acquisition engine and scaling what already works through Ads…BUILD is not for you, but GROW is (the space we turn on the volume in your biz…more on that later).
How BUILD works
BUILD is a group business-building programme designed to give you enough structure, support and momentum to actually implement what you're learning.
Twice-monthly live group coaching calls
Practical coaching, strategy, troubleshooting and hot seats focused on the businesses you're actually building.
All calls with SaraLou.
We use what is happening in the real world — your offer, messaging, conversations, sales and results — to decide what needs attention next.
Weekly WhatsApp ‘office hours’
A dedicated day each week when you can bring the questions that inevitably appear once you start implementing.
Because sometimes you don't need another 60-minute coaching session.
You need to know:
Does this offer make sense?
Which headline is clearer?
What do I say to this person?
Like minded community
Build alongside other people doing the same thing.
This is where you share wins, questions, experiments and the “please go like my IG post” moments!
And have the accountability to turn ideas into action.
Practical BUILD resources
You'll have access to a concise, action-led online portal containing the practical guidance you need as you build in between the calls.
No enormous content library you're expected to “get through”.
The resources exist to help you implement, not keep you stuck in learning mode.
A Library of templates to make your own
On the portal, you’ll have access to the templates and frameworks I use in my own online businesses so that you can create your own sales pages, booking forms with ease and your own personal touch.
I have created these assets over years of learning and implementing and they fast track you.
Tech set up & support
We'll cover the simple technology you need to operate professionally — things like scheduling, payments, calls, client onboarding and your basic online presence.
You are not building an enormous tech stack.
You're building what the business needs at this stage.
BUILD is a 3 month programme-
your investment options.
-
Early bird Founding BUILD cohort
£797 paid in full
or
£200 per month
payable over 4 months (to honour the Xmas break whilst allowing full 3 months in the container)
Sign up by 30th Sept for this option.
-
Founding member
£997 Pay in full
or
£250pcm per month payable over 4 months (to honour the Xmas break whilst allowing full 3 months in the container).
10 founding member spaces available (inc early bird).
Future cohorts £1500.
As a founding member, you'll receive the complete BUILD experience at the founding price while I work closely with the group, gather feedback and refine the programme for future cohorts.
You get closer access to its evolution — and a lower investment than future rounds.
You do not need to feel completely ready.
and there’s no perfect time…
There will always be another qualification you could take, another post you could write, another version of your niche you could refine, another month you could spend thinking about it.
But at some point, the only way to find out what this business could become is to start building it.
Not perfectly.
Not with every answer.
But with support, structure and a willingness to put your ideas into the real world.
If you know you want to build a coaching business…
If you know you have something valuable to offer…
And if you are ready to stop circling around the idea and start creating evidence that this could genuinely work…
BUILD is your place to begin.
You do not need to know exactly where it will lead.
You just need to decide that it is time to start.
and then you can have the impact you know you can have too…
FAQs
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No. You need to have an expertise from your career that is a credible basis for the work you want to do and be at the point where you're genuinely ready to begin building the business around it.
For some people that will mean they're already qualified.
For others, they'll be training while they build…Remember I built whilst I trained and started getting clients then too.
BUILD is not designed to teach you how to coach. It teaches you how to turn your expertise and coaching into a business.
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No.
You need some sense of direction/an idea, but you do not need to arrive with the perfect niche statement.
Part of BUILD is taking what you know, who you want to help and the problems you're well placed to solve and turning that into clear positioning.
And importantly, we'll test it against the market rather than trying to decide everything theoretically.
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Good.
Creating the first strong version of your offer is part of BUILD.
You do not need to arrive with your packages, pricing and methodology already worked out, we do that inside BUILD.
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That doesn't necessarily mean you've outgrown BUILD.
If most of your clients have come through friends, referrals, reduced-rate work or happenstance and you still don't feel you have a clear offer and how to communicate and sell it, then BUILD could still be exactly the right stage.
If the offer is already validated and you're consistently selling it (even at low prices), you're probably closer to GROW.
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The coaching group sessions are on Thursdays, usually lunchtime with a few exceptions. Typically 60-90mins.
All of these sessions are hosted by SaraLou, recorded and updated on the Portal and so if you are not able to attend occasionally you can submit questions to me in advance and I will speak to them in the call.
This founding cohort will start 15th October. All calls avoid school holidays and are within school hours.
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We use really simple Tech inside BUILD and GROW. Calls are on Google Meet, the portal is hosted on Thrivecart Learn and the community chat is on Whatsapp (inc Office hours where you submit ques to the team).
These are all tried and tested within my other coaching spaces and accessible without adding Tech overwhelm.
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With this first founding cohort the first teachings will be live on the portal when you start in October. They will then be updated in advance of the stage we are at in the calls. This allows these teachings to be impactful and responsive to the needs of the group, which is a real plus of being in the founding cohort.
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No.
And I do not want you spending the first two months building one instead of speaking to potential clients.
We'll work out what you actually need to look credible and make it easy for someone to take the next step.
For many early businesses, that can be remarkably simple.
I have a fantastic website designer contact for when its the right time.
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Absolutely not.
BUILD is not based on the assumption that you need to become an influencer before you can have clients.
We'll look at how the right people can discover you, how you create demand and how you move from visibility into actual conversations and sales.
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Not necessarily.
The right acquisition approach depends on your audience, strengths, network and business.
The principle matters more than the platform:
How are the right strangers going to become aware of you, understand what you do and have an opportunity to buy?
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Yes — payment plans are available. See the investment section above.
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Not as a primary BUILD strategy.
Paid traffic becomes much more useful once we have enough evidence that your offer, positioning and sales process work.
BUILD is about getting those foundations into the market first.
Inside GROW we optimise and strengthen what is already working and then turn on the volume with Ads.
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BUILD is specifically designed with people building alongside an existing professional life in mind.
You will need genuine implementation time.
But you don't need to quit your job.
But you do need enough protected space each week to take action rather than simply attend the calls.
I built my business initially on one day a week.
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BUILD gives you the strategy, feedback, sales skills, systems and support to take your offer into the market, but no ethical business programme can guarantee that another person will buy from you within a particular timeframe.
What we can do is stop relying on guesswork and follow strategies that have been tried and tested many times within both of SaraLou’s businesses.
We'll be able to look at whether enough people are seeing the offer, what they're responding to, where conversations are stopping, what objections you're hearing and what needs to change.
That's how real businesses are built…we use all information as data and the respond to it based on strategy.
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No. BUILD is for experienced professionals and emerging coaches who resonate with this approach and are ready to build. My existing coaching work has serves women, but BUILD itself is not a women-only programme.
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You may decide to continue building independently with everything you've created.
Or, when your offer is working and the challenge becomes generating clients more consistently, improving your acquisition engine and strengthening the business around what the market has already validated, you'll be entering the territory of GROW.
But that's not the job right now.
Right now, the job is much simpler.
Build something real.