Why you should create a challenge

The way most health coaches try to grow their email lists is by giving something away for free. One thing that you can give away is a free challenge. In this post I’ll explain why this is a great way to grow your business.

I'm hosting a workshop on August 3rd to help you get started with creating or optimizing your challenge.

It allows your potential clients to get to know you and your coaching style

I don’t recommend doing a lot of coaching in your free challenge, but you’ll want to do some basic coaching on the topic of your challenge. This allows clients to see how you work and if they resonate with you.

It might allow you to get a glimpse of potential clients

Depending on the participation in your challenge you might be able to get to know your potential clients better while running a challenge. You’ll see if they appear to be coachable or not. You might realize that some people have different philosophies about health than you do. 

It helps your potential clients build confidence in themselves

Your potential client can get a quick win which will increase their confidence in getting results. Many people won’t join your programs because they don’t believe in themselves. If someone has been able to get a quick win, they might feel like they are finally ready to take the next step.

A challenge can help you grow your email list, or social media following

Having a bigger audience whether on your email list, or social media can help attract more people to your coaching programs. One way to grow both is with a challenge. If you host a challenge in a Facebook group, you can direct people to join the group to participate and you can direct them to join you email list to get direct links to replays and other challenge information.

And the people that participate in a challenge will be more engaged than someone who has received a free guide.

A challenge can lead to your main coaching program

If your challenge is related to your main coaching program, it will make your coaching program seem like the next best step to take to get results. You can talk about your main program during the challenge and show how if they get results in your challenge, 

A challenge lets you help people for free

Many people will tell you that they can’t afford your coaching packages. A challenge allows you to help those who can’t afford coaching. And maybe when they are financially ready, they’ll remember the help that you provided in your challenge.

Challenge vs a free guide

While a free guide can be quick and easy to create, many people that sign up for a free guide will never even download it, let alone read it. But a fee challenge can really help you get in front of your clients, instead of just in there spam folder. But with a challenge you are probably getting in front of audience in multiple ways. They will be more likely to open your emails which helps you look better in the email world.

Challenges can be simpler to set up and make them look professional than free guides where you might end up fussing over every little detail.

Challenge vs a workshop

Workshops are great for teaching a skill or concept, but challenges are better for clients who want to implement something. For example you could do a workshop explaining the concepts of mean prep. Or you could do a challenge where the client actually does the meal prep. Both are useful in different situations and in different ways. 

If you’re not comfortable with speaking, a challenge offers an easy way to ease into it. Your daily challenge videos can be much shorter and more casual than a workshop. You can even skip the live videos and offer recorded videos or a daily email instead.

The tech for setting up a challenge can be much simpler than a workshop. You don’t need to create slides, or host a webinar for a challenge. If you’re trying to keep things simple it’s easier to do it with a challenge.

Challenges complement free guides and workshops

It doesn’t have to be either or. Challenges can be a great part of your marketing strategy that also includes free guides, and workshops. Offering all three allows you to target different learning styles and people at different stages in their readiness to make change. Guides and workshops can be for those who are in the gathering information stage, and who have a visual learning style. Challenges are for those who are ready to take action and learn by doing. 

Summary

A challenge doesn't replace other free or paid offers in your wellness business, but it can compliment them and help you reach people in a different way. If you need ideas to get started, or help setting up your challenge, check out my workshop on August 3rd: