How I Scaled Up My Executive Function Coaching Business

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You’re great at coaching.

You’re even better at helping clients get their lives in order.

But your own business? It’s running you into the ground.

If your calendar is packed and your goals feel stuck on pause, this guide is for you.

I’ll show you the exact steps I used to build a coaching business that grossed over $2 million in less than 5 years while giving me time back to rest, create, and be present with my family.

This is how to go from doing all the things to being the one who sets the vision. 👇

Why Scaling Matters for Executive Function Coaches

When you stay stuck in service delivery mode, your business becomes dependent on your energy and time.

That means when you’re sick, tired, or just need a break, your business slows down or stops completely.

Scaling changes that.

Imagine being able to take a week off and still have revenue coming in.

Imagine having the mental space to:

• build a course

• speak at a conference

• launch a podcast

All because your business doesn’t rely solely on your next client call.

That’s what scaling does.

It creates freedom, stability, and impact at the same time.

When I scaled my business, I was able to walk my kids to school, exercise mid-day, turn off my phone at night, and still have a thriving business supporting hundreds of students.

By the way, I learned how to scale my business by interviewing dozens of experienced founders and incorporating their expertise into my business model.

You can follow that journey by checking out my podcast called Earn More Tutoring, which you can listen to here.

The Earn More Tutoring Podcast by Sean McCormick, M. Ed.

3 Reasons Coaches Stay Stuck in Operator Mode

Reason 1: They think finishing the task list means they're done

Tasks keep piling up no matter how productive you are.

There’s always one more email to send, one more client to schedule, one more thing that demands your attention.

Believing you’ll scale when you “get caught up” is like waiting for a snowstorm in July.

It keeps you stuck in reactive mode instead of building a business that runs on systems, not stress.

Reason 2: They try to DIY growth

Reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos can only take you so far.

Without mentorship, community, or feedback, you’re trying to build a house with scraps from the internet.

Coaches who scale consistently invest in learning from others who have done it, instead of trying to wing it in isolation.

If you're wanting to be a part of a powerful and supportive group of executive function coaches, check out the EFCA Membership Program, where you can connect and learn from coaches who are building their EF coaching business too.

Reason 3: They delay fun and health until “later”

Skipping rest, relationships, and hobbies while you “build” creates a business that feels like a cage.

If your body is tired and your brain is fried, your business will reflect that.

Coaches who scale successfully prioritize their energy like a precious resource.

Because it is.

5 Tips To Scale Your EF Coaching Business

Tip 1: Clarify your ideal week

Start by laying out what a fulfilling week would look like.

Download my free ideal week template to easily setup your own visual layout of your ideal week.

Ideal Week Template Example By EFCA

Include client hours, creative time, workouts, deep rest, and unstructured space.

Don’t just plan around work.

Plan around your life.

When I did this, I realized I wanted Fridays completely free.

That goal shaped how I hired and priced.

Writing it down and laying out visually forces you to create boundaries and structure your business around what matters most.

For an in-depth instruction of how to effectively set up your ideal week, check out my recent webinar on this topic:

Tip 2: Audit your energy

Track what you do for a full day or week.

Then highlight the tasks in green that give you energy and in red that drain you.

Next, assign a dollar sign to each task based on how expensive it would be to outsource it.

For example, sending invoices might be $ or $$, while coaching clients might be $$$$.

Start delegating the red tasks that cost the least.

It might look something like this:

Energy Audit Example

You’ll immediately feel the difference in your energy and focus.

If you want a step-by-step guide to doing an energy audit and figuring out what you can delegate or automate, check out this article.

Tip 3: Buy back your time

Take your annual income, divide it by 2000, then divide that number by 4.

That’s your buyback rate.

The reason you divide your annual income by 4 is that, theoretically, the practice of buying back your time should give you 4 times the value back when you delegate it to someone else.

For example, if you earn $100K, your buyback rate is $12.50.

This means you should offload any task that someone else can do for less than $12.50 an hour.

Hiring a virtual assistant for $10 an hour to manage scheduling or using an automation tool for $20 a month could save you hours a week.

Every hour you buy back is an hour you can reinvest in growth or rest.

Tip 4: Track your company KPIs

KPI is short for Key Performance Indicator.

Pick one metric that matters and track it like your business depends on it.

For some, it might be profit margin.

Here are some examples of key performance indicators that companies use:

• Net profit

• Number of billable hours

For others, it could be the number of qualified leads per month or the ratio of client hours to total hours worked.

Choose a metric that reflects progress and informs decision-making.

Then set a target and reverse-engineer your efforts to hit it.

Tip 5: Build a playbook and job scorecards

Create a simple documentation system for each task in your business.

This could live in a Google Doc, Notion page, or company wiki.

Use the stranger test:

If someone completely new looked at your instructions, could they follow them with zero context?

Then define roles and responsibilities with job scorecards.

This means listing out the roles that you want to replace and create a scorecard for what the expectations would be.

This is how you’ll eventually hire or train others to do the work without needing constant direction from you.

The Bottom Line

If you want to move from being stuck in every task to leading with clarity, here’s your checklist for scaling your business:

1. Lay out your ideal week

2. Complete an energy audit and color-code it

3. Calculate your buyback rate and outsource accordingly

4. Choose one KPI to track and improve

5. Document your systems and define role expectations

   
   

Hope this helps! 🤙🏻

Want support in scaling your EF Coaching business?

Consider joining hundreds of educators and professionals who have completed our executive function coaching certification and are building profitable executive function coaching practices using their teaching experience.

You'll gain all the tools, templates, and techniques you'll need as a coach, plus you'll make new friends and have a community you can rely on to grow and learn. Learn more. 

Here is one of our favorite reviews. You can read all recent reviews on this page. 

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About Me

Hey! I'm Sean 👋

I'm a former public school special education teacher who realized that executive function skills are more important than knowing when George Washington crossed the Potomac.

Since then, I've made it my mission to teach anyone who will listen about how to develop these key life skills.

In 2020, I founded Executive Function Specialists to ensure all students with ADHD and Autism have access to high-quality online executive function coaching services. We offer online EF coaching and courses to help students and families.

Realizing I could only reach so many people through coaching, in 2021 I started the Executive Function Coaching Academy which trains schools, educators, and individuals to learn the key strategies to improve executive function skills for students.

In 2023, I co-founded of UpSkill Specialists, to provide neurodivergent adults with high-quality executive function coaching services.

When not pursuing my passions through work, I love spending time with my family, getting exercise, and expanding my brain through reading. You can connect with me on LinkedIn.