Annual Planning for Coaches: Plan Your Coaching Year in 5 Steps
Coaches make an annual plan in five steps: determine your capacity, block your time off, choose your offer and prices, set two or three practice goals and schedule fixed review moments every quarter. It takes one afternoon and saves you a year of ad hoc decisions.
Many coaches plan session by session. That works until September and January fill up at the same time while the summer stays empty. An annual plan makes your practice more predictable, for you and for your clients.
Step 1: Determine Your Capacity
Start with how much you want to work, not how much you can work. Then do the math.
- How many sessions per week do you want to give at most?
- How much time per session do you need for preparation and notes? Count on 20 to 30 extra minutes per session on average.
- How many working weeks do you have per year after holidays and sick days? For most coaches, that is 40 to 44.
Example: 12 sessions per week × 42 working weeks = 504 sessions per year. With programs of 8 sessions on average, that is just over 60 programs per year, or roughly 12 to 15 clients at a time. You immediately see whether your goals are realistic.
Step 2: Block Your Time Off Now
Block your holidays, training days and supervision before clients fill your calendar. Also look at the peaks: January and September are often the busiest months for coaches, July and August the quietest. Plan your own development in the quiet periods.
Step 3: Choose Your Offer and Prices
- Which programs do you offer, with what duration and number of sessions?
- Are you changing your rate on January 1? Then tell existing clients by early December at the latest.
- What do you want to stop offering? What you stop doing creates room for what you want to do.
Step 4: Set Two or Three Practice Goals
Use the outcomes of your year-end reflection. Keep it to three goals at most and make them measurable, just as you do with clients:
- "Every client receives a standard intake form before the first session."
- "I have at least 12 hours of supervision this year."
- "I reduce the time I spend on admin to 3 hours per week at most."
Step 5: Schedule Fixed Review Moments
An annual plan you make in January and rediscover in December has little value. Put four moments in your calendar: end of March, end of June, end of September and mid-December. Take a quick look at your capacity, your goals and what needs adjusting. The mid-year reflection questions help with the June moment.
Your Year at a Glance
| Quarter | Typical rhythm | What to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Busy, many new intakes | Intakes, new programs |
| Q2 | Stable | Deepening, own development |
| Q3 | Quiet summer, busy September | Holiday, preparing for autumn |
| Q4 | Busy until mid-December | Reviews, closing programs, year-end |
See Your Capacity Instead of Guessing
In FocusCoachee you see per program how many sessions have taken place, which programs are active and which are closed. That makes steps 1 and 5 much easier. If you work with several clients at once, the overview helps you decide whether there is room for a new program. Also read managing multiple coaching clients.
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