If you’re reading this, you probably want to what does WFH means, and how it can be used to benefit your business. WFH stands for Working from home and it isn’t anything new, with professions such as carpentry and weaving having a long history in the home hundreds of years into the past. That changed with the advent of machinery and heavy equipment around the turn of the 1800s with the Industrial Revolution taking swing and such jobs moving towards centralised locations like offices and factories – a trend which has continued on in the years since. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic however, more and more workers are working from home and businesses are considering new employment models and how they can use remote working to their advantage.

What is the WFH Model?

Work from home is exactly what it says on the tin, working in your own home. It’s not possible in every situation of course, but in more and more jobs that are digitally-based or text based such as writing or programming there has been a big shift with employees preferring to work from their own homes. So, the question you might be asking yourself is should I consider this for my business and what are the pros and cons of doing so?

Working from home requires you to be on the ball with your employees, making sure they know what they’re doing and how to do it. It’s not something that just any organisation can shift into overnight, however a slow process of shifting may be more advantageous than the world-tilting changes that came with the COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns. In the UK especially, with cases currently on the rise again and the future uncertain it might be something to prepare for just in case the worst comes to pass.

How the WFH Model Benefits You

There are some downsides of course, but let’s talk about the positives first. Working from home of course makes an office and all of the overheads that come with it unnecessary, and can have a great impact on the way your business runs.

• Employee Morale – Everyone knows that a happy employee is a productive employee. Giving employees their own space and the flexibility to work on their own schedule rather than a nine to five grind is a great boost to morale and therefore productivity. Of course, you have to balance that flexibility with oversight while being careful not to overreach and make your employees feel like they are being monitored too much.

• Lack of Overheads – There’s the issue of office rent and overheads to pay (assuming you don’t own your building), but there’s the factor of equipment too. In the case of less intensive digital jobs you don’t really need a high-powered computer to do the work, thus businesses can save a lot by having their employees simply use their own machines. While this may make organisation of files and data difficult, cloud-based services such as Google SQL or IBM Db2 can assist by making co-operation simpler.

• Fewer In-Betweeners – Offices need cleaning, they need managers to monitor employees and the amount of employees that can be supervised is often dependent on the structure – the size of the rooms, blind spots etc. With digital monitoring becoming easier, one manager can co-ordinate many more employees digitally than could ever fit into a regular, offline office, especially since a hands-off approach is seen to be more employee friendly. Fewer employees doing go-betweens and side tasks means more revenue generated per person overall.

• Hiring Flexibility – Finding the best workers to fill particular roles can be challenging, especially when people are rooted in one place and are reluctant to move because of family ties, friends etc. In the case of the WFH model, your business has the flexibility to hire from John O’Groats to Land’s End, a sure fire recipe for getting more talent into your workforce.

The Other End of the Stick

Working from home doesn’t come without its flaws, not least of which is the costs associated with shifting from the existing office framework. However, as recent years have shown it is sometimes necessary, and with more and more of the workforce wanting to remain working from home after the pandemic, due to concerns about unsafe workplaces or accessibility issues. Below are a few drawbacks to the WFH model:

• Existing Infrastructure – It’s no secret that businesses like doing things the way they do them, and even suggestions that might lead to improvement are often forgotten if they would be a challenge to implement. Altering your organisation to the WFH model means changing the way you do things, the way your assets are organised and how you contact your employees. It’s a challenge for anyone, let alone those who prefer to leave things as they are.

• Communication Delays – When you’re in an office with someone and you need to talk to them you can simply pop your head through the door and see if they’re available to chat. That’s not something you can do with a WFH organisation, since your employees might physically be miles away – it’s not exactly feasible to travel to other people’s homes every time you need to talk to them! While this can be mitigated with employee calls and chat rooms, some people find these overbearing and morale can suffer as a result.

Wrapping Up

The WFH model isn’t something you can just rush into, and it’s not a model that just anyone can follow successfully. Worries about worker coordination and communication have kept a lot of jobs confined into offices for decades, but with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic workers have seen what is possible and they don’t want to go back. In 2020 we boldly went where no-one had gone before, and people liked what they found there.

Becoming a successful coach is one of the rewarding careers you can take up. Supporting people to help overcome their challenges and guide them to success is a great feeling, especially when you can also build a profitable business. While in-person coaching is still the primary choice for most, advancements in technology have popularized online coaching, which is even more personalized and successful. 

With many coaches launching their business, finding a space for yourself can be challenging, and thriving there is another story. If you are brainstorming on how to start an online coaching business, or you already have one but want to make an impact in the market, this blog would be an excellent place to start. 

Without any further delay, let’s start looking at how you can build a lucrative online coaching business. 

The key elements of an online coaching business

An online coach is an experienced person who offers guidance to clients to achieve their goals, offering actionable advice. Technology has simplified and made online coaching a great career choice for those who want to launch a coaching business from the comfort of their home. Thanks to the power of the internet, you can connect and interact with clients across the globe through video conferencing tools and build a successful career amidst the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Before learning about how to start an online coaching business, there are key elements you must know about.

• What services you can offer as an online coach

When you are launching an online coaching business, you cannot start offering random services without any plan. You might have expertise in many areas and aspects, but you can’t be an expert in everything. Start with choosing your main service and create your offerings based on it. By keeping your services simple, you will be able to scale your business faster, easily reach out to potential clients, and effortlessly promote your business. 

• Charging your clients

Financial gains are what drive you to offer excellent services to your target market. To establish your pricing strategy, you must have a plan about how much money you want to make an online coach. Once you have an answer to this question, track backwards. What can you offer to your potential clients to make the revenue you want to generate? Your pricing scheme must match your offering, and it must be competitive as well. 

• Decide your coaching efficiency

Beyond what you can offer, you must think about how much time you can allocate for your online coaching business. Decide whether you would be spending part-time or full-time and choose a business model that fits your time and your requirements. Depending on the time you plan to spend, you can choose whether to deliver one-one coaching or group coaching. 

Once your coaching business gains more traction, you will better understand your client and can come up with more offerings. Establishing an online coaching business will help you grow your target market and reach more clients. However, setting up the business is not the end. You must dedicate more time to build and constantly improve your business model to grow your venture. 

Building a successful coaching business: Step-by-step guide

With the ideal type of online coaching in mind, you can start building a thriving business. Now let’s look into steps to launch your online coaching business to walk you through how to create your business from the ground up confidently. 

• Select a profitable niche

As you determine the niche you want to work on as an online coach, you can also narrow down your target audience. This step is really important as you cannot work with every client who comes your way. Some of the profitable niches to choose from includes health and wellness coaching, financial coaching, skills coaching, performance coaching, spiritual coaching, relationship coaching, photography coaching, and the list goes on. 

After finding the niche, think about who you want to help achieve their goals. For example, do you want to help college graduates searching for a job or seasoned businesses looking to scale, or homemakers who want to build a side hustle? 

It can be anything, but define your target audience clearly so that you can create better marketing plans to reach out to the right clients. You can also create and sell personalized coaching programs to them. 

• Set up a business website to sell your online coaching services

One of the most significant advantages of running a coaching business online is that you can connect with your clients remotely without having to travel to meet them in person. This makes sense and is more convenient during the current times of the COVID-19 pandemic, where lots of restrictions are imposed. Having a website gives your clients an idea about the services your offer, your expertise, and all about you. 

While building a website is mandatory, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars right away. You can quickly get started by leveraging professional tutor management software to help your business to move to the next level. Pinlearn is one such online tutoring software that simplifies managing your clients, scheduling meetings, billing, taking online sessions, and much more. Pinlearn allows you to set your business website most quickly and affordably, perfectly designed for single and multi-tutor coaching businesses. 

• Establish your unique selling propositions and core values

Online coaching has a lot to do with values and inspiring ideas. Clients come to you not just for your expertise but also for your view on the subject and the problems you can help solve. That is why you must have well-defined and describe unique value propositions or USPs. Also, ensure that your values align with those of your target audience and form a personal connection. Think about your unique experiences to your clients and make them the central figure in your online coaching offerings. 

• Marketing techniques to promote your business

When you are launching your online coaching business, you must also find effective ways to get leads. Leverage online marketing to target the ideal clients for your coaching program and reach out to them with your services. One of the best approaches to grow a client base is to build a presence on prominent social media profiles like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, depending on your niche. Email marketing is also very powerful, especially if you already have an email list ready with you. 

Conclusion

Today’s modern technology allows almost everyone to launch an online coaching business. Establishing a coaching business online will help you reach out to a broad client base and expand your target market. Begin with a simple approach and work your way towards building a profitable online coaching business. 

Ahmed Ezz – steel industry businessman – is an Egyptian entrepreneur, industrialist, and former politician. He was born in Cairo in 1959, into a family that had been trading in construction materials for three generations. His father’s business, Ezz Foreign Trade Co, was a leading importer of steel rebars into Egypt.

Ahmed Ezz attended Port Said, a renowned English school in Cairo’s affluent Zamalek district, where he quickly developed a reputation for academic excellence. Mr Ezz continued his education at Cairo University, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1982.

Mr Ezz became increasingly involved in the family business while studying at university, taking a keen interest in expanding the company’s overseas trade operations, and playing a leading role in establishing an efficient local distribution network in Egypt. Already an energetic and industrious entrepreneur, by the age of twenty-one he had built relationships with local suppliers and developed import and export operations with suppliers in other countries, predominantly in Eastern Europe.

In the mid-1980s, Mr Ezz ventured into industrial production, founding the Ezz Ceramics and Porcelain Company, and building a state-of-the-art plant in Sadat City. The company, producing premium-quality household tiles, quickly became synonymous with high-quality products and unrivalled design, and established a strong market share in a competitive market. Ezz Ceramics and Porcelain Company was floated on the Egyptian Stock Exchange in 1998, with Mr Ezz holding two thirds of the company’s shares.

Building on his family’s trading business, Mr Ezz became interested in the steelmaking industry in the early 1990s. He established Ezz Steel in 1994 and embarked on a major investment in steelmaking capacity in Egypt. In 1994, the company invested in its first greenfield plant in Sadat City, with a production capacity of 1.0mtpa. The following year, it acquired El-Baraka rolling mills in Ramadan City, with a production capacity of 0.5mtpa. In 1998, Mr Ezz – in partnership with Danieli Group (BIT: DAN) – began building Al Ezz Flat Steel, a state-of-the-art plant in Suez, Egypt, completed in 2002.

Ezz Steel was floated on the Egyptian stock exchange in August 1999. It was also floated on the London stock exchange through a GDR (Global Depository Receipt) Program, with Mr Ezz holding a 60.3% share in the company.

Ezz Steel purchased its first stake in ANSDK (Alexandria National Steel Company) by the end of 1999. This investment was funded through the issuance of a Bond on the international stock market. Ezz Steel and ANSDK entered into a strategic alliance, with the latter renamed Ezz Dekheila Steel Company (EZDK). Ezz Steel acquired a majority shareholding  in Ezz Dekheila Steel Company in 2005, having bought out the foreign shareholders – including the African Development Bank and IFC (the World Bank) – and invested new equity through a private placement on the stock market. Ezz Steel had become the largest steel producer in Egypt by 2005.

Today, Ezz Steel is the largest private steel producer in the Middle East, and an increasingly important player on the global stage, with annual production of 5 million tons of finished steel per year, and exports that will exceed 1.0 million tons in 2021 with a growth rate of 44% compared to 2020.

Ahmed Ezz was elected as a member of parliament representing the rural district of Menouf-Sadat in 2000 and 2005. As elected representative, he played an instrumental role in a vast array of community projects, enabling his constituents to access healthcare, education, training and cultural opportunities that they otherwise would have struggled to access.

From November 2000 to February 2011, Ahmed Ezz served as the Chairman of the Planning and Budget Committee in the Egyptian Parliament. Known as a reformer, he advocated for market liberalisation and private sector growth, as well as reforms to modernize Egypt’s budgetary process, tax regime and public spending efficiency and accountability.  Mr Ezz was elected by his peers to chair this high-profile committee twice, playing a critical role in steering spending and budgetary decisions through challenging economic times.

Serving in office for more than a decade, Mr Ezz played a pivotal role in bills related to increasing investment on infrastructure, tax reforms, monitoring public finances, civil service reforms, reforming health insurance, and instilling transparency and efficiency in subsidy programmes.

Recent years have seen something of a resurgence for call centre services in the UK. The sector suffered the economic turbulence that all businesses have felt since the financial crash, but it has been particularly vulnerable to the ongoing insecurities during the subsequent prolonged period of economic uncertainty. Many businesses have followed the instinct to centralise to ensure close control over their operations. As a result, outsourcing plans have been abandoned and existing contracts allowed to expire.

However, the benefits of outsourcing have remained as true as ever—indeed, they are arguably more pronounced in difficult times. A good outsourcing decision should be a win-win. Investors should be satisfied at the savings available; domestic outsourcing is usually around 10 to 15% cheaper than running an in-house operation (and offshore outsourcing can see that figure reach 50%). Meanwhile customers should be able to expect at least the same level of service, if not better, because of outsourcing.

The lower costs are, undoubtedly, a major factor behind any decision to outsource call centre services in the UK. Indeed, for many businesses, that might be the only motivation. And there are many reasons outsourcing can offer savings. One of the first is that running a contact centre is expensive. Obvious overheads include the premises and facilities costs. These might be considerable for a business based in an expensive region or city. These costs will be increased by the need for equipment and software. Omnichannel customer support means that call centres are frequently not just about phone calls; agents need to be able to address concerns across a range of channels.

Of course, staffing is usually the biggest cost of any business, and contact centres are no exception. Call centres in the UK usually have extended hours, working weekends and into the night, if not 24 hours a day. And these costs extend into the main business too. There will be a need for support from central services and, inevitably, the call centre will eat into the capacity of the organisation’s leadership, diverting their attention from the core functions of the business.

However, the improved customer service is probably the most important factor in the decision to outsource, thus familiarizing the guides of customer satisfaction is a crucial part of a great call center customer service. “World-class customer support is the key to successful outsourcing,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, an award-winning outsourcing provider specialising in high-performance call centre services. “I have lost count of the clients who have come to us after a bad experience with another provider. And when we looked at the reasons, it was because they went for savings first.”

The scale of outsourcing providers is one of the key factors in their ability to offer better call centre services for customers. Call centres in the UK will typically have anywhere between 20 and 50 clients each, adding to the depth of experience and expertise they can bring to every contract.

Staff will also feel the benefit. Working for a larger organisation, where they are part of the core function and not an ancillary service, means they will be at the head of the queue for training, development, and advancement. Employee satisfaction is a key driver behind customer satisfaction.

Businesses that are considering outsourcing customer support are not limited to call centres in the UK. Premium offshore providers can also provide exceptional services. Countries like the Philippines have emerged, thanks to good education standards, with a high level of English proficiency and a neutral accent. “Look for an experienced provider that can deliver the same or even a higher level of service than your current onshore provider or in-house operation.

When you have an offshore call centre that invests in the best agents, processes, technologies, and facilities, you’ll find your profits will benefit not just from the savings but also from more satisfied customers. If you are considering offshore outsourcing, then go with an experienced provider that can deliver the highest level of service. Stay clear of low-cost vendors, as they compete on price, not quality. Paying a few pounds more per hour for high-quality call centre services is well worth the investment and may spell the difference between outsourcing success or failure,” says Ellspermann.