Starting a coaching practice involves less paperwork than many people think, but a few things simply need to be properly arranged. This checklist outlines them.
1. The Formal Foundation
Register with the Chamber of Commerce and find out how VAT applies to your services; the Tax Authorities are the source for this information. Consider professional liability insurance and establish your general terms and conditions before your first client signs, not afterwards.
2. Your Offering and Your Rate
Choose a recognizable specialization instead of "coaching for everything": if you want to be found for something, you need to stand for something. Determine your rate consciously (single hour, package, business versus private) and be open about it; unclear prices cost more clients than high ones.
3. Your Administration and the GDPR
From your first client, you process personal data, and therefore the GDPR applies: know what you store, why, and for how long, and ensure you can return or delete data per client. Arrange this before you start, because cleaning up a scattered administration afterwards is much more work. How to tackle this is described in our article about the client file.
4. Visibility
Ensure one place where you are verifiable: who you are, what you do, what it costs. For starters, a verified profile on a platform where seekers are already comparing is often faster than your own website that still needs to be found. Start small and expand what works; a half-hearted presence on five channels convinces no one, but one complete and current place does.