A friend of mine who’s been working as a trainer in a top MNC for a fairly long time once told me she wanted to start her own coaching business. Her reasons were obvious. She was looking for self-employment options now, and was looking for a career that could be both rewarding, as well as stable for the rest of her life. And what better option than training.
As a second-innings career, training is one of the most well-paying, honorable, and rewarding field. And that’s why, it is becoming the most preferred business option for most professionals once they’ve gained an extensive knowledge in a niche. The good thing about the training industry is that it not only offers professionals with hundreds of job opportunities, but it also helps people to explore several self-employment opportunities.
Rising demand for higher education and skill sets, and the increased development in e-learning systems has led to the growth of the training market phenomenally. Though the US and China are the two largest training markets in the world, the rate of expenditure and engagement in the training and coaching sector has increased manifold in the past few years. Globally, most of the key niche training is offered by government institutions. However, millions of private companies in coaching and training services industry have come up.
India too is seeing a massive explosion in the training market. There are so many new trainers and coaches coming up in the last few years.
Industries like image consulting that were mostly popular with the aviation market are now becoming popular with CEOs and other business owners.
In this article, let’s look at some great self-employment opportunities in the coaching business.
Freelance Training – A freelance trainer is a professional trainer who extends training sessions and workshops to people on a freelance basis. Basically, he does not train people on a regular basis, but delivers valuable training as and when an opportunity comes by. You can become a freelance trainer in one or multiple fields. This type of training is a great option for people who are already employed somewhere, and want to begin training as a side income.
Personal Coaching – A personal coach is a trainer who works in close association with one client at a time, and helps them realize their visions, goals, and desires. People are always interested in one-to-one, personalized sessions with experts who can help them achieve their personal goals.
There are a lot of areas where people seek personal advice/training, like life skills coaching, gym training, language training, health and wellness coaching, weight loss training, and many more. So, if there’s some area you’re an expert at, and it has a good scope for personal coaching, you can become a personal trainer.
In fact, many executives and CEOs are realizing the importance of hiring an executive coach to hold them accountable and keep them on top of their game.
Online Coaching – As I mentioned before, the e-learning market is growing remarkably, and I suggest you should explore it, even if you deliver trainings offline. The reason for this is that people are always looking for getting things done online, and you can always reach a larger audience and capture bigger markets. However, before getting into the online niche, you will have to do some rigorous marketing and ensure its feasibility.
Consultancy Services – When you’re an expert in your field, instead of becoming a trainer, you can also become a personal advisor, and start offering consultancy services. As a consultant, you will provide personal or professional expert advice in a particular field to individuals or business organizations. Starting up a consultancy services firm is a great idea to get into the training industry. Consultants not only earn a good revenue, but are also always in demand for their expertise.
Community of Trainers – Another option could be to gather a bunch of trainers from different fields of expertise and start a community of trainers. This way, you are building a group of proficient trainers, who could conduct trainings on various subjects and attract audience from many different areas of interests. A community of this kind will help capture markets easily and bring recognition to you and your fellow trainers in a very less time.
Sometimes professional life becomes a little mechanical and monotonous. Many a times, people look for a change in career, where they can do what they love while being their own masters. Training others is a great way to do this. It not only helps you retain the knowledge you have, share it with so many other people, but also enables you to become an independent, self-employed professional.
To learn more about self-employment opportunities in the coaching and training business, please visit http://www.trainerhangout.com/
About the Author
Shweta Sarma is a staff writer at CEO Hangout and Trainer Hangout.
