Let’s be honest—building a coaching biz can feed your soul…or your self-doubt…or both! The difference? How you meet yourself along the way—and how you allow our community to meet you, too. Recently, I hosted our monthly Rock Your Biz call—and it went deeper than any of us expected. We found ourselves exploring what it really takes to build a business that feels alive, not anxiety-driven. What emerged was a powerful reminder that edupreneurship isn’t just strategic—it’s soulful work, too. When we let it, this work invites us to confront old stories about money, livelihood, and enoughness; to trust our ability to ride curiosity and action instead of fear; and to lean (at least sometimes) on a power greater than ourselves.

One of my favorite discoveries in recent years is how deeply learning science and marketing science overlap. The same brain-based principles we use to help students manage their cognitive load also shape how potential clients make decisions. When coaches show too much information too early—long, detailed packages, multiple options, full price breakdowns—they unintentionally overwhelm families right at the moment when curiosity matters most. If a parent lands on your website and has to read, compare, and decide before ever meeting you, their brain is already working too hard. And overloaded brains don’t make confident decisions. This isn’t about being mysterious or withholding information; it’s about pacing. When you reveal the right amount at the right time, you keep families engaged, curious, and ready for conversation. That’s why the timing of your package reveal can make such a dramatic difference—especially for coaches in their first stage of business.

Finals season is here—and if you're an academic coach who also runs a business, you know how intense this time of year can be. In this behind-the-scenes look at the Rock Your Biz community, we explore what real-life coaching entrepreneurs are talking about: intake calls, tricky client dynamics, ethical marketing, and building a business that actually feels good. If you're craving business support that’s thoughtful, heart-centered, and aligned with how you serve students—this is for you.

Are you curious whether you have what it takes to become an academic coach? Maybe you’re a school-based educator hoping to start a side business, or perhaps you want to get one of the new “academic coaching” positions that are popping up in schools and universities around the country?

In Part One of this series, we discussed the least you need to know to be a successful academic coach helping students thrive in school and in life:

Compassionate communication skills, and

Some basic learning theory and a few strategies to put that theory into practice (both study strategies and time management/organization for students)

In the Anti-Boring Learning Lab, we truly believe that these two skills are the minimum necessary for new academic coaches to get started working with students. As a result, we’ve structured all our courses and community calls to help new academic coaches get up and running on those skills as fast as possible.

However, most educators seeking out training as an academic (or ADHD, executive function, or student success coach) want to be more than just decent coaches. They want to deliver great services to students! And serve their students well.

To that end, there are two more skillsets that help new coaches get up and running as fast as possible -- and set themselves up to offer amazing services to help de-stressify school for students.

Before you pay tons of money for in-depth coach training, and after you’ve equipped yourself with the two toolkits listed above, here’s what you need to know next….

Recently, an educator registered for my free monthly office hours asking a very relevant question -- what kind of training does a person need to become an academic coach?

I love this question because I have a controversial answer: not much!

I know this might seem surprising. Isn’t more training always good? Especially when it comes to caring for our kids? Perhaps. But let’s unpack!

In this two-part blog entry, we’ll share some skills that new academic coaches need, alongside the kind of training that will help you equip yourself with those skills.