From $2K to $100K per Month: The Messy, Real Story.
A Coaches Journey from 9-5 to $100K per month.
On the morning of January 20, 2023, I closed my first coaching deal.
$2K per month.
I remember staring at the email confirmation, rereading it at least three times, half-expecting it to disappear. My heart pounded. My palms were sweaty (🎵 knees weak, arms are heavy, 🎵 … JK Eminem fans).
I even refreshed the page just to make sure the transaction was real.
It was.
A tiny exhale slipped out of me—half relief, half disbelief.
“…I did it.”
For months, I had been grinding in the dark, trying to get someone—anyone—to buy from content. And now, finally, a real person had paid me real money to coach them.
At that moment, sitting under the fluorescent office lights of my 9-5 job, I felt like I had just unlocked a secret level of life. Like I had proof that this whole coaching thing wasn’t just some far-fetched fantasy I’d been chasing.
I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my wife.
I imagined walking through the door, the way her face would light up when I said the words: "Someone just paid me two thousand dollars to coach them."
But what I didn’t know—what I couldn’t have known—was that 2 years later, I’d be pulling in over $100K per month.
Even typing that feels surreal.
Because I know exactly what people think when they hear it: "Yeah, right."
And honestly? I don’t blame them.
Because if I had heard that number back then—sitting in my office, trying to focus on work but secretly daydreaming about quitting my job—I would’ve been skeptical too.
But here’s the thing:
I didn’t make this happen overnight. I didn’t stumble on some magic formula. I didn’t wake up one day and suddenly have all the answers.
Instead, my journey was messy.
Full of second-guessing. Riddled with doubt. And at times, completely terrifying.
Some months, I felt unstoppable. Other months, I stared at my screen, drowning in imposter syndrome, wondering if I was just fooling myself.
There were days I questioned everything.
Days when I thought, “This is not for me.”
Nights when I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, running the numbers in my head and wondering if I’d ever make enough to avoid a regretful return to my 9-5.
The truth you often don’t hear about business growth.
It’s freaking hard.
I thought landing my first client would unlock the floodgates. That once I proved someone was willing to pay me, others would follow.
But instead of momentum, I found myself buried.
My days blurred together—ghostwriting client content in the morning, taking calls in the afternoon, trying to grow my own business in the slivers of time in between. I’d wake up early, open my laptop before my brain had even caught up, and dive into work that never seemed to end.
I remember one night in particular.
It was late—the night was settling. My wife was heading to bed. The glow of my laptop was the only light in the room, making everything else feel like a void.
I was editing a client’s content for the third time that day, eyes burning, hands aching from typing. I had a looming sense of doom from using my brain too much.
I was reminded of a message from my business partner.
“Remember, we need to get Jane’s content started too. They’re expecting an update.”
And I felt it. That deep, sinking exhaustion.
Not just tiredness. But the kind of exhaustion that makes you question everything.
I reflected on that message for a long time, wondering how I went from being so excited to close my first $2K to now hating every new deal after it.
“Was success supposed to feel awful?” I contemplated.
I had done everything right. I had gotten clients and was making money. But I was suffocating.
That’s when it hit me: My business wasn’t a business.
It was a trap.
I had built a system that required more and more of me, and the more I added to my business, the more of me I lost.
Success isn’t instant—It’s a series of small fixes.
At first, I thought I just needed to work harder.
If I could refine my offer and tweak my delivery—then I’d finally break through. But every late night, every extra effort, every new strategy pulled me deeper into the void.
I wasn’t fixing my business. I was feeding the problem.
Because the real issue wasn’t a lack of effort. It was that my entire approach was flawed. I was trying to be “all things” to every client.
If I kept going like this, I’d never escape.
So, I made a radical decision. I stopped selling an offer where I did the work for clients. Instead, I did the work that won for me first, then taught clients how to implement the same system.
The pancake flipped.
My system showed them how to do it themselves—the right way, the minimalist way.
No fluff.
No overwhelming strategy.
No “cutting edge” nonsense.
Just one simple, repeatable model with:
1 tangible offer—so clear a 5th grader could understand it
1 highly targeted niche—so I only worked with the right people
1 workshop experience—so they could see people think before they buy
1 storytelling content strategy—so marketing wasn’t an exhausting treadmill
1 story-driven sales call—so clients sold themselves before we even got on a call
I went from being the person who executed to the person who led.
And here’s the crazy part:
I added almost 100 clients—yet I now have less than 1 hour of client-specific work per day.
Because the model wasn’t built on me grinding endlessly. It was built on them getting the right guidance, at the right time, and in a way that was simple to implement.
And when I made this switch?
My clients started seeing bigger results, faster than ever before. For example:
Maya earned $100K+ in 4 months
Itz closed $14K in 1 workshop
Jason earned $16K in 45 days
Shima earned $9K in 30 days
Jesse earned $100K in sales
and PLENTY more
I now have 2 clients who passed the $100K sales marker from my system.
Get the same offer system they have. Register for free by clicking here.
They weren’t waiting on me to do the work anymore. They were learning how to execute what mattered most—and cutting out everything else.
And that’s when I realized scaling isn’t about more work. It’s about less, done right.
My 13 favorite lessons so far:
Done-for-you isn’t scalable—but done-with-you is unstoppable. People don’t need everything done for them. They need the right steps in the right order.
Simplicity sells. The best offer isn’t the one with the most features—it’s the one that’s so clear that people instantly see the value.
People don’t buy information—they buy transformation. Your job isn’t to give them more to learn. It’s to make the path simpler to follow.
The most profitable niche isn’t the biggest—it’s the one you understand best. When you speak their language, they trust you immediately.
Marketing is storytelling. Your content shouldn’t just educate—it should make people feel something and move them toward action.
Your best clients don’t want to be convinced. If you have to persuade them to buy, they weren’t the right fit. The right people sell themselves.
You don’t need more leads—you need a stronger process. A tiny audience with the right system will make you more money than thousands of passive followers.
A live experience will out-convert 100 pieces of content. A single workshop where people see you in action is more powerful than months of posting.
The easiest way to sell is to let them experience you first. A well-structured workshop makes closing effortless—because they already trust you before the call.
Your time is your most valuable asset—protect it. If your business can’t grow without you doing all the work, you don’t have a business. You have a job.
People don’t buy from content—they buy from conviction. Your job isn’t to post more; it’s to create moments where they believe in you before you ever pitch them.
Your best marketing isn’t what you say—it’s how you behave in front of your audience. Show them how you think, and they’ll sell themselves.
Sales calls should feel like a journey people can’t wait to start. If you have to “convince” someone, they weren’t ready in the first place.
The second I stopped doing everything and focused on teaching what mattered most, everything changed.
Don’t add more. Fix what’s broken. And simplify the path to results.
Is there a secret to scaling as a coach? Yes, but it’s a boring answer.
You have to make a radical decision. Not to do more, but to do less.
Not to be everything to everyone, but to be one thing to one audience in one way that actually works.
Most coaches chase complexity. They add offers, tweak funnels, post endlessly, and wonder why growth feels impossible.
But the real secret? Boring simplicity on repeat.
The more you subtract, the more your business compounds.
One niche
One clear offer
One repeatable process
That’s how you get clients who don’t hesitate. That’s how you go from selling to leading. And that’s how you scale—not by adding things, but by removing everything that doesn’t move the needle.
Growth isn’t about learning what to do next. It’s about knowing what to stop doing now.
Ryan
Thank you all for reading this long post.
Whoever says coaching programs don‘t scale - you‘re a double proof: 1) it actually does and 2) you enjoy helping those who need it and fully commit to it - with their success in mind, not a number like those passive income bro marketing gurus. Well done, Ryan!