How Career Coaches Build a Full Practice Online

Salary Negotiation

Focused 1-2 session engagements where you help clients prepare for a specific negotiation. You review their offer, develop a counter-strategy, and role-play the conversation. The ROI is instant: help someone negotiate an extra $15,000 and your $250 session just returned 60x. Pricing: $150-400 per session.

Choosing Your Niche

You don't have to pick just one forever, but you need to lead with one. The tighter your niche, the easier it is to get referrals ("You should talk to Sarah, she specializes in tech interview prep"), charge premium rates, and build authority quickly. Start with the niche closest to your experience where you can articulate a clear, measurable outcome.

Step 2: Set Your Pricing

Career coaching rates typically fall between $100 and $400 per session, depending on your niche, experience, and client base.

The Package Strategy

Selling individual sessions works for resume reviews and salary negotiation. But for career transitions and executive coaching, packages are where the money is.

A well-structured package commits the client to enough sessions for real transformation, gives you predictable revenue, and increases total revenue per client even with a discount.

Example packages for a career transition coach charging $250/session:

Most clients will choose the middle option. The 4-session package feels too short for a real career change, and the 12-session package feels like a big commitment. The 8-session "Career Pivot" package hits the sweet spot.

Raise your rates when your calendar is consistently 75%+ booked, you have 5+ testimonials with specific outcomes, and you've been at your current rate for 6+ months. Bump by 15-25% at a time.

Step 3: Build Your Client Pipeline

The difference between a career coach with a waitlist and one with an empty calendar is almost never skill. It's marketing.

LinkedIn: Your Primary Channel

LinkedIn is where your clients already are. Professionals thinking about career moves, salary bumps, and leadership growth scroll LinkedIn every day.

What to post (3-5 times per week):

• Client wins (anonymized). "A client just accepted an offer at $145K after being stuck at $95K for three years. Here's what we changed." These posts build credibility and generate DMs.
• Tactical advice. One specific, actionable tip per post. "Three words to remove from your resume right now."
• Hot takes. Contrarian opinions get engagement. "Unpopular opinion: your resume doesn't matter as much as you think."
• Behind the scenes. What a coaching session looks like, patterns you're seeing in the job market.

Include your booking link in your LinkedIn featured section and bio. On Talkspresso, you get a clean profile page with all your services, pricing, and availability in one place. Drop that link in your LinkedIn bio so anyone can book in 60 seconds.

Content Marketing: Your Long Game

LinkedIn posts have a short shelf life. Blog posts, YouTube videos, and podcast episodes compound over time.

High-performing content ideas:

• "How to Answer 'Tell Me About Yourself' (With Examples)"
• "How to Negotiate a Raise When Your Company Says There's No Budget"
• "Career Change at 40: A Realistic Guide"
• "The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Executive Resumes"

Each piece should solve a specific problem and end with a clear call to action: book a session.

Referrals: Your Highest-Converting Channel

Referrals convert at 2-3x the rate of cold leads because they come with built-in trust.

How to build a referral engine:

1. Ask every satisfied client. "If you know anyone going through a career transition, I'd love an introduction."
2. Build relationships with adjacent professionals. Recruiters, HR consultants, and financial advisors all serve people who need career coaching.
3. Create a referral incentive. A free 30-minute session or a discount for every referral that converts.
4. Stay in touch with past clients. A quarterly check-in email keeps you top of mind.

Step 4: Structure Your Sessions for Results

Great session structure turns a one-time client into a package buyer and a package buyer into a referral source.

The First Session

Your first session should accomplish three things: understand their situation fully (current role, goals, timeline, obstacles), establish a clear direction (what does success look like?), and create momentum (one concrete action item before the next session).

Use a pre-session intake form to gather background before you meet. On Talkspresso, you can set up intake questions that clients answer when they book, so you walk into every session already up to speed.

Ongoing Session Framework

Opening (5 minutes): Check in on action items from last session.

Deep work (35-40 minutes): The core coaching, whether that's a mock interview, resume teardown, strategy session, or negotiation prep.

Closing (5-10 minutes): Summarize key insights, set 1-2 action items, preview next session.

The Session Recording Advantage

Here's something that separates good career coaches from great ones: session recordings.

Clients love getting recordings of their sessions. For interview prep, they can rewatch mock interviews and see exactly where to improve. For strategy sessions, they can revisit the action plan without relying on scribbled notes. For salary negotiation, they can replay the role-play and refine their delivery.

On Talkspresso, every session is automatically recorded, and clients get access along with AI-generated summaries and key takeaways. This turns a single session into a resource they reference for weeks. It also makes your coaching stickier: when clients rewatch and keep getting value, they're far more likely to rebook and refer others.

Step 5: Scale Beyond 1:1 Sessions

One-on-one coaching is the foundation, but it has a ceiling. You only have so many hours. The coaches who build six-figure practices add group offerings.

Group Workshops: The "Interview Bootcamp" Model

Group workshops let you deliver your expertise once to 10-30 people simultaneously.

The "Interview Bootcamp" example:

• Format: 90-minute live workshop via video call
• Capacity: 15-25 participants
• Price: $49-99 per person
• Revenue: $735-2,475 per session (vs. $250 for a single 1:1)
• Frequency: Monthly or bi-monthly

Structure: 30 minutes of instruction (frameworks, common mistakes), 30 minutes of live practice (hot-seat mock interviews), 30 minutes of Q&A.

More workshop ideas:

The beauty of workshops is the funnel effect. A percentage of attendees will want deeper support and book 1:1 sessions or packages. Your $69 workshop becomes a client acquisition tool that pays for itself.

Turning Workshop Recordings Into Products

Every workshop creates a recording with standalone value. A "Salary Negotiation Masterclass" recording can sell as a digital product for $29-49 indefinitely. On Talkspresso, you can turn any session recording into a digital product with a few clicks. Over time, your library of recordings becomes a revenue stream that doesn't require your time.

The Scaled Practice Model

Here's what a full career coaching practice looks like when it's running well:

That's over $109,000 per year, built on roughly 20-25 hours of direct client work per week.

Step 6: Choose Tools That Remove Friction

Every extra step between "I want to book" and "I'm in the session" is a drop-off point. Your tech stack needs to handle booking, payments, video calls, session recordings, and client management.

Talkspresso handles all of this in one platform. Create your services (1:1 sessions, packages, workshops), set your pricing, and share a single booking link. Clients book, pay, join the video call, and receive their session recording from one place. No stitching together Calendly, Zoom, Stripe, and Google Drive.

When a potential client clicks your link and sees a polished profile with services, pricing, availability, and testimonials in one place, it builds confidence. They feel like they're working with a real business.

Your 30-Day Launch Plan

Week 1: Choose your niche, set pricing using the tables above, create 2-3 service offerings, and set up your booking page on Talkspresso.

Week 2: Optimize your LinkedIn headline for your niche ("I help tech professionals land $150K+ roles" beats "Career Coach"). Add your booking link everywhere. Publish your first 3 LinkedIn posts.

Week 3: Email 10-15 people who could benefit or refer. Connect with 5 adjacent professionals (recruiters, HR consultants). Keep posting on LinkedIn.

Week 4: Run your first paid sessions and over-deliver. Ask every client for a testimonial and a referral. Adjust based on real feedback.

Month 2 and beyond: Add a monthly workshop. Continue posting on LinkedIn 3-5 times per week. Build your referral network. Raise rates when utilization hits 75%+.

The Bottom Line

Building a full career coaching practice online requires intention, not complexity. Pick a specific niche where you deliver measurable results. Price confidently. Build a pipeline through LinkedIn, content, and referrals. Structure sessions for clear outcomes. Scale with group workshops and digital products.

The coaches who fill their calendars aren't the ones with the most credentials. They're the ones who show up consistently, deliver real results, and make it easy for clients to book.

See the full feature breakdown on Talkspresso for Coaches, or read our step-by-step guide for creators selling paid video calls.

Launch your career coaching practice on Talkspresso →

A structured planning expert for life transitions