Dear New Coaches: Stop Doing These 11 Things Before You Burn Out
Starting your wellness coaching business is exciting—but it can also feel completely overwhelming. You’re passionate about helping people, you’re eager to make an impact, and you’re ready to start earning money doing what you love.
But instead of feeling confident and in control, you find yourself drowning in a sea of strategies, second-guessing your every move, and wondering why nothing seems to be working.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Many new wellness coaches unknowingly create overwhelm for themselves, making it harder to build a successful coaching business.
And trust me, I know this first hand! I’ve been guilty of every single one of these at least once in the 8+ years I’ve been running my business coaching & copywriter business, Albers Mind & Body Wellness.
So no shame!
And if I can prevent you from making even 1 of these mistakes, you’ll be so much further ahead and reach business success faster.
Here are 11 common ways you might be unintentionally creating overwhelm for yourself:
1. Following the Wrong People
If you're just starting out, I don’t recommend following advanced coaches and entrepreneurs (i.e., people making $100k+) and then mimicking what they’re doing.
Why?
It can make you feel behind, leading to overwhelm and Imposter Syndrome
They use advanced business and marketing strategies that don’t work the same for new coaches
Your focus should be on building a strong foundation—your niche, a simple offer, and basic marketing strategies. Once that’s solid, you can expand with new offers and advanced marketing.
Instead, follow coaches who specialize in helping new coaches grow. And if you’re wondering who does that… I do! Let’s connect on IG.
2. Trying to Be Everywhere at Once
You might believe you need to be on every single platform—Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, and more—to get clients. The result? You stretch yourself too thin, post inconsistently, and end up frustrated when you don’t see results.
3. Overcomplicating Your Offer
Instead of keeping things simple, you might try to create multiple offers at once—1:1 coaching, group programs, memberships, workshops, mini-courses—without first mastering one. This leads to confusion (for both you and your potential clients) and slows down business growth.
4. Consuming Too Much Information
It’s easy to fall into the trap of constantly watching webinars, downloading free guides, and scrolling through business advice on social media without actually implementing anything.
And trust me, I get it! I’m a business and marketing podcast listening junkie!
But what I’ve noticed is the more people I follow and sign up for their email list, the more I end up distracted, overwhelmed, and in decision paralysis.
5. Pricing Yourself Too Low
You might undercharge out of fear that no one will pay you or constantly change your prices, hoping to attract clients. But both approaches undervalue your work and can actually hurt sales—either by making your offer seem too cheap or attracting clients who don’t fully commit.
Starting with a lower price is okay, but as you gain experience and skills, your prices should grow too.
6. Waiting for Everything to Be Perfect
Perfectionism is one of THE biggest reasons why you don’t make progress. You wait for the perfect website, the perfect branding, or the perfect moment to launch your offer. The truth? Perfection doesn’t build a business—action does.
7. Constantly Switching Niches
You might struggle with choosing a niche, so you hop from one to another, hoping to find the “right” one. This creates confusion in your messaging and makes it difficult to attract the right clients.
8. Trying to Do Everything Alone
Building a business can feel isolating, especially when you don’t have support. If you try to figure it all out on your own, you’re more likely to experience burnout and frustration, and building your business will take you much longer.
9. Avoiding Sales Conversations
If you feel uncomfortable selling, you may avoid talking about your offers altogether. Instead, you hope people will magically sign up without you having to promote your coaching services directly.
10. Focusing on the Wrong Metrics
You might obsess over follower counts, likes, and comments rather than engagement and conversions. While visibility is important, a large following doesn’t always mean paying clients.
11. Jumping from Marketing Strategy to Marketing Strategy
Rather than sticking to one strategy long enough to see results, you might try something for a few weeks, get discouraged, and switch to a new approach. For example, starting with blogging, then abandoning that after 3 months to move over to YouTube, then abandoning that after 6 weeks to try Instagram. This lack of consistency prevents long-term growth.
The Bottom Line
Overwhelm doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for coaching. It simply means you need to shift your approach.
It means asking the question, “How can I make this more simple?” and “How can I create a quality (not perfect) program as quickly as possible so I actually start helping people and grow my business and offerings along the way.
I’d love to hear from you! Tag me on the Gram and share what’s overwhelming you the most in your coaching business. Let’s start the conversation!
