READ TMF AND MADE 10K/MONTH FROM A SIDE-GIG...

[zzzebra]

Hi forum members! My name is Ryan and I read MJ's fastlane book a while ago and that really gave me the perspective I needed to hustle and make things happen for myself.

I then went out, got a few referrals and initially started generating a few grand a month, and this past month I've just crossed $10K/month in revenue. It's a great journey, but I have a lot of roadblocks ahead to scale up the business.

A little bit about myself:
I'm a software engineer at a popular social media company that looks like a birdy. But I didn't write an app or website that made $10K/month.

I used to play tennis at a highly competitive level, until I figured that I can't make it to the pros. Then I took some time off, went to school to get a degree in Computer Science and graduated in 2013. I worked at a startup for a while, but they never took off.

While I was gearing up for my new job (i took 4 months off), I came across MJ's book and that resonated with me. There's a strong feeling in my heart that I need to go out there and do something about it.

Tennis is something I'm passionate about, and something I've been relatively good at. However, I haven't had a ton of experience coaching people.

I figured out that I have 2 relatively crucial skills that a lot of people in my neighborhood are looking for:

1. Bilingual
2. Good in tennis and good with kids

I checked out on both of those, and started reaching out to parents who'd like their kids to learn tennis and have someone who's bilingual to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap.

And that's how I started my tennis coaching business.

My problems right now:

1. Scale. I only have 3-4 hours a day to coach, and as I get more clients knocking, I simply don't have enough time to cater to all of them. I see that as a bottleneck for me right now. Unless I can hire more people to help...

2. Courts. I live in a place that doesn't have a ton of sunshine, so I need to rent courts every now and then to coach. I'm currently looking for a place to set up shop (maybe rent a piece of land and then build courts on top?), but real estate is really pricey where I live. There's a competitor near my area that's been taking in tons of clients due to their location, but from what I've heard, the coaches there are really terrible with kids and most parents are looking elsewhere. This might be a good opportunity to come in and claim the business around this area. Lucky for me, I live in a really wealthy area where people are willing to pay top dollars for a good coach (hence how I made 10K a month )

I've thought about making youtube videos, ebook and blog but thats not where majority of my target clients are located. I've only worked with kids and a potential revenue stream would be adult lessons too.

If anyone has suggestions on how to scale this up, or has some good real estate connections, please let me know and maybe we can work on something together. Thanks guys!

 

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[AFMKelvin]

Congrats how about raising the cost of the lessons?

I think it's in MJ's book on how to work Fastlane when scale is an issue. The example he gave was the Main Doctor and a hospital. He can't possibly do every single operation, check up, etc. So he hires other doctors and pays them a salary.

Your name is already out there so maybe you can be the head coach of your own coaching team? You have the contacts. Raise the price and hire help.

 

[JWelch]

instructional videos sold on the internet?

 

[inputchip]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your success thus far!

Since we are talking about an athletic sport that is largely learned by example and physically playing the sport, I would suggest that you run tennis camps for these kids. this way you can still physically interact with the kids, but also scale somewhat faster than 1 on 1 coaching. I would use videos and blogging as a way to funnel the traffic to your main sale -- the camps. You could offer 1 on 1 coaching, but that should come with a hefty price tag, for those parents who want their kids to go pro or collegiate level.

In addition to camps, I would maybe suggest a paid online course where you do periodic checkups and coaching.

As for the weather issue... depending on the age level of the kids I would imagine that a lot of the fundamentals of the sport could be taught indoors (gyms). But I am no tennis expert.

 

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[zzzebra]

Congrats how about raising the cost of the lessons?

I think it's in MJ's book on how to work Fastlane when scale is an issue. The example he gave was the Main Doctor and a hospital. He can't possibly do every single operation, check up, etc. So he hires other doctors and pays them a salary.

Your name is already out there so maybe you can be the head coach of your own coaching team? You have the contacts. Raise the price and hire help.

Thanks for the comment! I'm currently only doing private lessons ranging up to 4 students, and raising the prices any further would be a problem as others are slowly coming in offering much lower prices. But the quality is very different, a lot of the kids I've coached loved the sessions and have continued to stay with me.

One thing I was thinking about was is there a way to increase quality without increasing cost? That led me to podcasts, video analysis, stroke analysis and all that. Alas, that's for the advanced players, and for my current players (mostly beginners with the occasional intermediate ones), these offerings seem premature.

There are other coaching camps around where I live as well, and some of them have closed down. I don't know enough at this point to figure out why they've closed. Should I go on to start my own academy (there's a lot of costs involved here, such as renting an entire building out, building out the tennis courts, managing coaches and staff, coaching plans etc.) or should I take the calculated approach and figure out why others have failed and where I can bring unique value to the community?

To me, that seems like the barrier to entry, and fulfilling the NEED.

 

[zzzebra]

instructional videos sold on the internet?

A quick search on Udemy showed quite a few tennis videos already, which dampened my motivation to start one. I am unsure what unique value I can bring to the table here. Perhaps add a unique spin to the instructional videos? Or tackling a different aspect of tennis, such as getting a tennis scholarship and how to position yourself to get one.

 

[zzzebra]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your success thus far!

Since we are talking about an athletic sport that is largely learned by example and physically playing the sport, I would suggest that you run tennis camps for these kids. this way you can still physically interact with the kids, but also scale somewhat faster than 1 on 1 coaching. I would use videos and blogging as a way to funnel the traffic to your main sale -- the camps. You could offer 1 on 1 coaching, but that should come with a hefty price tag, for those parents who want their kids to go pro or collegiate level.

In addition to camps, I would maybe suggest a paid online course where you do periodic checkups and coaching.

As for the weather issue... depending on the age level of the kids I would imagine that a lot of the fundamentals of the sport could be taught indoors (gyms). But I am no tennis expert.

Thanks! Great input there. Tennis camp is definitely on my to-do list at the moment. Summer time is a great opportunity for camps and it's something I'm planning at the moment.

As you can see, such a business is time consuming, and ideally I want to automate as much of this as possible so that I can take time to focus on other things like developing elite players and not so much on the day-to-day operations of managing camps and whatnot.

I'm curious about the paid online course. Do you see that as a course for coaches or for players? Do you mean coaching done online? That's an interesting spin.

Yes! That's a great idea - taking it indoors to a gym. I'll look around to see if there's any gym that I can rent.

 

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[JWelch]

A quick search on Udemy showed quite a few tennis videos already, which dampened my motivation to start one. I am unsure what unique value I can bring to the table here. Perhaps add a unique spin to the instructional videos? Or tackling a different aspect of tennis, such as getting a tennis scholarship and how to position yourself to get one.

You've already proven a market need (thus the 10k/month business)
It's not for you to decide whether or not you are useful, the marketplace makes that determination. There are always going to be instructional everything BUT your style of playing or instruction coupled with outstanding execution could propel you to the top of that list.
You also already have a successful instructional business, which you can use as credentials for being an expert. You have a lot to offer customers. I'd buy the top 5 instructional videos and learn them inside and out, then make a BETTER one!

 

[JSM]

I take lessons at the nearest club to me and it's 40 minutes away. I think that a tennis pro on the go business would be a model that might work. You would go to the nearest court to them and give them a lesson. Then expand with more pros and cover more area.

 

[jpanarra]

Congrats!

As for hiring people, you know the space the best.. But maybe this suggestion will help, you can always consider hiring your more experienced students to train the beginners and you'll get commission because its all under your business. This works exceptionally well if the students are of High School age and ambitious.

 

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[AlphaWulf]

I take lessons at the nearest club to me and it's 40 minutes away. I think that a tennis pro on the go business would be a model that might work. You would go to the nearest court to them and give them a lesson. Then expand with more pros and cover more area.

I think this is a very smart idea that will help you stand out AND expand by hiring more trainers on the move.

 

[zzzebra]

You've already proven a market need (thus the 10k/month business)
It's not for you to decide whether or not you are useful, the marketplace makes that determination. There are always going to be instructional everything BUT your style of playing or instruction coupled with outstanding execution could propel you to the top of that list.
You also already have a successful instructional business, which you can use as credentials for being an expert. You have a lot to offer customers. I'd buy the top 5 instructional videos and learn them inside and out, then make a BETTER one!

Thanks for the input! I did exactly what you just said there -- I went online and searched for all the top instructional tennis videos and going through the pros and cons of them.

I don't see a ton of videos available online (other than Youtube, but those are few and far between)...

One thought that popped to mind:
A website that allows you to buy/sell courses focusing specifically on sports. Like Udemy/Coursera, but for sports.

 

[zzzebra]

I take lessons at the nearest club to me and it's 40 minutes away. I think that a tennis pro on the go business would be a model that might work. You would go to the nearest court to them and give them a lesson. Then expand with more pros and cover more area.

Do you mind sharing (privately if that works better for you) how much the lessons cost, and what you enjoy/dislike about taking lessons at the club? And would you pay more/less for an on-the-go tennis pro? Are you specific about which coaches you work with?

I'd like to gather more feedback and see there's something I can work on for my classes.


Thanks for entertaining all these questions!

 

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[zzzebra]

Congrats!

As for hiring people, you know the space the best.. But maybe this suggestion will help, you can always consider hiring your more experienced students to train the beginners and you'll get commission because its all under your business. This works exceptionally well if the students are of High School age and ambitious.

Great, great suggestion there. That definitely opened up some thoughts -- it's like training my minions to do the work for me while I overlook the entire process.

My kids are mostly 6-14 right now, but I think some are going to grow into that age where they'd like to make some money especially during summer time.

 

[JWelch]

Thanks for the input! I did exactly what you just said there -- I went online and searched for all the top instructional tennis videos and going through the pros and cons of them.

I don't see a ton of videos available online (other than Youtube, but those are few and far between)...

One thought that popped to mind:
A website that allows you to buy/sell courses focusing specifically on sports. Like Udemy/Coursera, but for sports.

Sounds like you've got a great vision of something that can be very valuable to many people now put a plan together and begin to execute.

 

[zzzebra]

Sounds like you've got a great vision of something that can be very valuable to many people now put a plan together and begin to execute.

Hehe I don't have a vision in my head yet It's just a random thought that popped in my mind. But thanks!

 

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[JSM]

Do you mind sharing (privately if that works better for you) how much the lessons cost, and what you enjoy/dislike about taking lessons at the club? And would you pay more/less for an on-the-go tennis pro? Are you specific about which coaches you work with?

I'd like to gather more feedback and see there's something I can work on for my classes.


Thanks for entertaining all these questions!

Lessons are around $70/hour. I like going to the clubs because that's where the best coaches are really. My high school coaches are garbage so I have to go somewhere else to get better. I really only dislike the drive. I would pay more for a coach to drive out to the courts that are 5 minutes from my house. And yes I've only worked one on one with one coach at the club I go to. You may want to ask others about that one though.