Time Management for Coaches: Balancing Clients and Business Growth

As a coach, your time is your most valuable asset. Managing your time helps you serve your clients, achieve your business goals, and have more time for what’s important to you.

Yet it’s easy for coaches to get caught in the trap of taking on as many clients as possible, which can backfire when it comes to your business. You can burn out, the service you provide to clients can suffer, making your bottom line suffer as a result.

In this post, I’ll share with you time management tips for coaches to help you manage your business, as well as your time and energy. 

Time Management Strategies to Manage your Coaching Business

The below time management tips can help ensure that you’re dedicating the right amount of time to your clients, as well as to your business development activities, so that your business – and you – stay healthy.

Time Management Tip #1: Know Your Priorities

To focus on what’s important, you need to know what’s important. Start by identifying your 3 most important goals for the week, the month, and the quarter. What’s most important to you at this time? Is it finding more clients, getting your business off the ground, or launching a group program? By focusing on your top priorities, you ensure that you’re investing your time and energy where it matters most.

Time Management Tip #2: Serve Your Existing Clients Well

While it’s crucial to attract new clients, don’t overlook the importance of nurturing and serving your existing paying clients. Prioritize your paying clients first! Make sure your focus is on delivering exceptional coaching and providing outstanding support to your existing clients. Happy clients will become your best advocates, bringing in referrals and contributing to the growth of your practice. They might even choose to work with you on a longer term basis, reducing the need to find new clients.

Time Management Tip #3: Track Your Coaching Time

Each new client will require time in your schedule. It’s up to you to identify how much time each new client requires. And it’s not just the coaching hours! You’ll want to consider the time it takes to prepare for a coaching session, the time after the coaching session to send notes or recordings, and the time in between sessions if you offer email or Voxer support. If each new client requires 5 hours a month, and you have 25 hours of available coaching time per month, then you will need to plan accordingly.

A note on coaching hours:

Not all your working hours will be “coaching” hours. You’ll need to spend time on administrative tasks, such as replying to emails. You’ll need to spend time on marketing activities, such as networking, posting on social media, or pitching yourself to podcasts. You’ll also need time to create new coaching offerings. Create a weekly schedule and define how much time you need for each activity, as well as how many hours you want to work overall. You may have less hours for coaching than you think! 

Time Management Tip #4: Don’t Let Marketing Fall by the Wayside

While serving your current clients is vital, it’s equally important to dedicate time to proactive marketing strategies. Otherwise, once your current clients finish working with you, you’ll be left with no clients in the pipeline! Consistent marketing helps you attract a consistent stream of new clients and a consistent stream of income. Make sure you allocate time each week for your marketing activities and connecting with potential clients. If you’re wondering where to start with marketing, download my Free Guide: 21 Ways to Market Your Business. 

Quarterly Time Management Strategies for Coaches

I recommend all coaches do quarterly planning so they can focus on their quarterly goals and how to reach them. This allows you to plan at a high level and then drill down to monthly and weekly tasks. This allows you to plan strategically and work towards the big goals in your business. Here are some quarterly time management tips:

Plan Your Quarters in Advance

Take time to plan your upcoming quarters in advance. Reflect on your long-term vision and break it down into 90-day goals. These goals should align with your overall objectives and guide your actions for the next three months.

Define Your 90-Day Goals

Choose 3-5 quarterly goals. For each goal, break it down into actionable tasks with deadlines. By working in focused, 90-day increments, you can make significant progress and maintain momentum towards your long-term vision.

Make it Measurable

You want to define specific goals, such as book 5 discovery calls in the month of May, or grow your email list by 100 this quarter, or pitch 3 podcasts this month. Be as specific as possible and track your progress for best results.

Monthly Time Management Strategies for Coaches

After you plan your quarter, you’ll also want to plan the month ahead. Here are some strategies for managing your coaching business on a monthly basis:

Create Monthly Goals

Use your quarterly goals to set clear goals and objectives for the next 30 days. Define what you want to achieve in that specific month. Break these goals down into actionable steps that you can work on throughout the month.

Account for Time Off and Events

Consider any upcoming events, holidays, or personal commitments that affect your schedule. Plan your time off in advance, blocking your calendar accordingly. If you have any program launches, give yourself enough time to prepare in advance.

Client Capacity Planning

As a coach, it’s important to know how many clients you can effectively serve at once while maintaining the quality of your coaching. Assess your capacity and determine the maximum number of clients you can accommodate comfortably. Then set a goal for the number of discovery calls you might need to sign that number of clients.

Weekly Time Management Tips for Coaches

Weekly time management can help you stay on track and make progress each week. Here’s what you want to do:

Define Your Weekly Priorities

At the start of each week, identify your top priorities. (Put 3 priorities on a Post-It and look at daily!) The key is making sure these priorities are doable within the week. So often we pack our schedule and expect ourselves to do more than is humanly possible, so you might need to narrow it down and focus on what’s actually manageable for you.

Time Block Your Weekly Schedule

Create a weekly schedule that outlines your time blocks for different activities. In addition to blocking the time slots for client sessions, make sure you block time before and after the calls, time for admin and marketing, and time for breaks and meals. 

Weekly Template Example

To give you a practical example, here’s a weekly template you can adapt to your coaching practice:

Mondays:

  – Morning: Weekly planning and administrative tasks 

  – Afternoon: Marketing and lead generation activities

Tuesdays:

  – Morning: Client sessions

  – Afternoon: Client sessions

Wednesdays:

  – Morning: Client sessions

  – Afternoon: Professional development (webinars, courses, reading)

Thursdays:

  – Morning: Client sessions

  – Afternoon: Client sessions

Fridays:

  – Morning: Marketing follow-ups and networking

  – Afternoon: Review and planning for the following week

TIP: The best thing to do is to customize your own schedule according to your energy levels, habits, and preferences. 

Daily Time Management Tips for Coaches

To effectively manage your day-to-day schedule as a coach, consider implementing the following time management tips:

Define the One Most Important Thing

Start each day by identifying the most important task that must be accomplished. This one thing should align with your priorities and move you closer to your overarching objectives. By focusing on a single priority, you reduce overwhelm and increase your chances of completing essential tasks.

Check Your Calendar

Each day, check your calendar in advance so you can prepare for the day ahead and not be caught off guard. Is there anything you need to do to prepare for your day? Be sure to build in that time.

Don’t Forget to Take Breaks

Taking breaks can improve focus and productivity. Consider incorporating the “90-minute rule,” where you work in intervals of 90 minutes, followed by short breaks. Alternatively, you can use the Pomodoro Technique, which involves working for 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. Experiment and find the rhythm that works best for you.

Watch Out For These Common Time Wasters

Be mindful of time-consuming distractions that can eat away at your productivity. Email, social media, and communication platforms like Voxer or Slack can be major time sinks if not managed effectively. Set business boundaries and establish designated times for checking and responding to emails and messages to avoid constant interruptions.

Time Management Tools for Coaches 

By now, you’ve realized that time management is key to running a coaching business! And you don’t have to do it all on your own. You can utilize these tools to support you:

• Toggl: Use Toggl or a similar time-tracking tool to monitor how you allocate your time. This helps you gain insights into your productivity and identify areas where you can make improvements.
• Google Calendar: Use Google Calendar or another calendar app that integrates across your devices and offers time-blocking features to schedule your activities. Color-code different types of tasks to easily distinguish them and stay organized.
• Asana: Asana or other project management tools can help you stay on top of your tasks and deadlines. Create projects for different areas of your coaching business, assign due dates, and collaborate with team members or virtual assistants if applicable.
• A Coach: Consider hiring a business coach to support you not only with time management, but in your business journey. The right business coach can help you grow your coaching business faster.

Ready to master your time management so you can spend more time coaching clients?

Effective time management is an important business skill, and one that can support you in life overall. By implementing these time management tips, you’ll prioritize your activities, serve your clients efficiently, and make time for yourself. 

When you effectively manage your time, you’ll have the power to create a thriving coaching business while maintaining a balanced and fulfilling life. 

Are you ready to take your coaching business to the next level? I’d love to help you optimize your time and energy while achieving your goals. You can sign up for a consultation here.