How a Writing Coach Uses Workshops to Sell a $6,000 Group Program

Do only business coaches make money? Nope. This season of the Coach Pony Get Paid to Coach podcast, we're going deep on five wildly different coaching niches to prove you can get paid to coach — and design the life you want — in almost any niche.

In episode 5, our season 9 finale, Coach Pony founder Christie Mims talks with David Hamilton, a writing coach and science fiction author.

David is an Amazon best-selling author and writing coach living in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 2017, he has helped numerous aspiring novelists feel that sense of achievement from accomplishing their dream through his personal coaching and writing workshops. He credits Coach Pony and the Build a Real Business program for getting him on the right path.

Prior to writing and coaching full-time, David enjoyed a career with the government before teaching English literature at Carleton University. His own novels often combine his love of the natural world, a message of hope, and the endless possibilities of science fiction.

Here's how David's business works: online, trust is hard to earn, so he earns it in workshops first. Free 60-minute workshops and $75–$400 paid workshops let would-be novelists do the work and see that his methods help. That trust sells his high-ticket offer, a $6,000, 12-month group program where up to 8 writers go from an idea to a finished book. He started with a $1,200 one-on-one program that burned him out, and he's helped well over 300 writers since.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

• His niche: first-time novelists in midlife and beyond who've carried a story around for decades
• Why the "Jessica Fletcher writes a novel in a weekend" myth makes new writers quit
• How one student asking for private coaching led him to Coach Pony and Build a REAL Business
• His business model: free workshops, 75–400 workshops, and a $6,000, 12-month group program for up to 8 writers
• Why he moved from one-on-one to group coaching, without handing clients off to junior coaches
• Why workshops are his best way to build trust with skeptical buyers
• His biggest early mistake: thinking everything he tried would work the first time
• Why he now tests everything, from program titles to brochure colors (and what Moneyball taught him)
• Why community, not going it alone, helped him most, in business and in writing
• How he handles self-doubt and manages the lizard brain

To learn more about David Hamilton:

• David's author website: his science fiction novels and what he's working on

To learn more about Christie Mims:

• Coach Pony
• Build a REAL Business 10-Year Anniversary Special: our flagship program on how to start and scale your coaching business turns 10 this year. We're offering the best deal we've ever offered — this October only. Save thousands at coachpony.com/barb
• Download Coach Pony's FREE 14-Day Client Blueprint

Subscribe to the Coach Pony YouTube channel so you’ll see all the latest from Christie as she discusses the latest ideas and topics from the coaching industry!