How to Start a Professional Coaching Business in the UAE

2b LimitlessSeptember 23rd, 2021

After completing all the Accredited Performance Coach (APC) training with 2b Limitless, you may get inspired and want to know how to start a career coaching business in the UAE or in any part of the world you want to be based at. If you want to start a professional coaching business in the UAE, getting accredited on the 2bAPC is the first step to take in starting your business as a career coach in Dubai or a certified business coach. With many years of professional training, business coaching and doing business activities in the UAE since 2002, The 2b Limitless APC has ample knowledge about how to establish your brand and vision as a professional coach in the UAE. 

In this article, we share an overview on how to start your coaching business in the UAE, and also provide you a short checklist on how to promote your coaching business, using modern digital marketing strategies and online business tools, whether you are based in the UAE or in other countries.

How to start your coaching business in the UAE

Step 1: Get certified as an Accredited Coach with the Association for Coaching via the Accredited Performance Coach Program

First of all, being formally accredited as a coach is critical when thinking of starting a coaching business in Dubai. More and more sponsors of coaching are checking certification as a prerequisite before requesting proposals. Accreditation in Coaching is important for the growing credibility of the industry and also your ethical responsibility as a professional coach. The APC supports individuals all the way to becoming an Accredited Coach. 

On completion of the APC course, and successful fulfilment of the Association for Coaching requirements, you will receive the following which are key to building your credibility when starting your own professional coaching business in the UAE:

• 2b Limitless APC Award in Performance Coaching
• Use of 2b Limitless APC coach logo on your business cards and email signature
• Association for Coaching Executive Coach Accreditation
• Use of AC logo on your business cards and email signature
• Membership with the Association for Coaching and access to full member benefits
• 34 International Coaching Federation ACSTH Points

Book the next APC workshops in October and November 2021 so you can get accredited and be a certified performance and business coach before you start to set up your own coaching business in the UAE.

Step 2: Register your coaching business 

You can start in a simple way and be a freelance business coach once you get certified after finishing the Accredited Performance Coach (APC) training workshops with 2b Limitless. As an independent business coach, you can register your coaching business as a sole proprietorship in the UAE. It takes time to grow and as you build up your network and increase your clients, you can find the right partners and establish a full-fledged LLC company in the future as needed.

Step 3: Get a good business name and register it

Think about how to name your coaching business and start to register and trademark it. Nowadays, many ideas, logos and names pop up every second on Google and on different sites worldwide and you should assure your business that you have a good brand name that is registered so you will have no problems in the future when it comes to copyright claims. 

After identifying your brand name and trade marking it, you can also have it officially registered. In the UAE, you can  get the approval for your trade name from the Department of Economic Development (DED) before you can move forward and set-up your coaching business. When you have received the approval from the DED, you will then submit your requirements to apply for your UAE trade license, if you plan to focus on the market in the UAE, and start the process of opening a company which can now be easily be done with a local partner or a business set-up agency of your preference based in the UAE, which we will discuss more in the next step.

Step 4: Get a local agent or a business consultancy firm as needed

Opening a business in the UAE may require getting a local partner who is a UAE national or a business set-up consultancy firm like Creative Zone. You can start the search for an ideal local business partner or agency that can represent your business and trade name well and be able to perform business activities for you in the UAE with trust and confidence. Business setup consultancy agencies like Creative Zone or Virtu Zone in the UAE offer different services and corporate sponsorship where you have full documented authority and a 100 % ownership of your company. These business set-up agencies can take the complexity out of setting up a business by taking care of the administrative effort and can guide you through the process.

Step 5: Promote your coaching business 

At this point, you should be ready to market and promote your business to clients and companies in the UAE and you would need additional resources and guidance to lead you as you move forward with your very own coaching business. 2b Limitless offers 5 coach mentoring sessions even after you have finished the APC course to support you in becoming an Accredited Coach. The instructors at 2b Limitless do supervision sessions that can guide you on how to tread on your path as a certified business coach, identify key strategies for you and help you maintain efficiency that you can apply to your own professional coaching business.

Below is a short checklist on how to promote your coaching business in the UAE, to guide you after you have established your own business name, structure and presence.

A quick checklist on how to promote your coaching business in the UAE

• Start creating your company’s website and social channels

After having your business name registered, your structure defined and your business all set-up, the next step is to build a website and start creating your social media channels to promote your business coach consultancy firm or business. We have gone through a pandemic, and it taught us the most important lesson: if your business is not online, you will lose potential clients.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to code, you can hire a web developer who can help you design your website or better yet, get a professional web and marketing agency specialized in the UAE market for you to be able to target your niche market, which we will discuss in the next point.

• Understand your market and create a target customer profile

Identify the demographics of your market and see which industry, company, or age group you want to coach. Do you want to target corporate executives from 35 to 45 years old? Or does a millennial crowd appeal to you for business coach workshops? Identify your target market and focus your strengths and coaching skills to cater to this market’s needs and wants.

There is a setback when you try to help everyone with your skills and having a target market will save you time in doing your online marketing and promotions for your business coaching firm. Always remember, you are not marketing your services to everyone. Make sure you’re marketing to someone you can really help with your skills, knowledge, and experience. For example, if you have worked in the manufacturing industry before being a business coach, you can target companies in this industry or if you prefer to focus on providing business coaching for tech start-ups as you have worked with one before, then this is the ideal target market for you to focus on.

• Don’t assume clients will directly approach you

You need up to date online and offline marketing and engaging skills to attract people to your business coaching company. You just can’t sit and wait for people to approach you directly.

Reach out to them regarding your service, tell them your brand story and connect with them personally. Focus on their pain points and try providing them with the best solutions both online and offline. For online, digital marketing solutions such as blogs, email campaigns, webinars, podcasts and videos are now trending as the main sources of leads and clients for many professional business coaching companies. Try building your own YouTube channel and see your follower count increase as you create new content every week (even daily if you can) about your coaching skills and tutorials as an example.

• Don’t spend too much money trying to make everything perfect

You don’t need everything to be just perfect for getting your business coaching company started. You simply need to start. No one needs a perfect logo, website, social media account, social media following, etc. Spending too much time seeking to make everything perfect will likely get you nowhere.

Instead, focus on what you will offer — is it good enough? Will your clients be benefited? Ensure that your services will help the clients that avail of them, and the rest will likely fall into place as your business moves forward. The people that you will coach will be your best allies in promoting your coaching business and services, as long as you stay authentic and true to yourself and to others, while maintaining a fruitful and lasting relationship with your clients.

As your journey as an Accredited Performance Coach starts with 2b Limitless, we are here to help you grow and reach new heights as you embark on your professional business coaching career and business. If you are currently a professional who wants to make a big shift and become a business coach and create your own company, or an existing business coach looking for formal accreditation before starting your own business, 2b Limitless has all the essential requirements you need – from the Accredited Performance Coach APC workshops to the international certifications needed to help you start your own professional coaching business in the UAE, or anywhere in the world.