 Hey, what's up, coach? Welcome back to our channel. If you haven't yet, make sure you subscribe. Every single week we're putting out content that is specific to starting, growing and building a sports training business where you are. So, in today's interview, I had the pleasure of interviewing coach Kaley. Kaley is a soccer trainer who is based out in Oakland, California. This interview is one that you definitely want to watch. You definitely want to take notes. Kaley goes deep into how she started her business, how she grew her business, where she sees the industry in the next two to five years and how important private training is to kids. So, make sure you subscribe to the channel and I hope you enjoy today's interview. Sure. So, I started with soccer as a player. I played my whole life. I played club growing up here in the States and was fortunate enough to start playing competitive at a pretty young age. And through there, I earned a scholarship to play in college, Boise State University in Idaho. And so I grew up loving soccer and playing and then when I graduated and came home, a former basketball coach of mine in elementary school mentioned that the high school he was coaching basketball at needed a soccer coach and I started coaching a junior varsity team. And then, you know, from there I really started to love coaching and I coached there for a few years before entering grad school. And then some career changes. I gave coaching a break, but then I got back into it coaching a varsity team in the Bay Area. And then decided to give team coaching a rest and started my own training business. Okay, excellent. So tell us a little bit about your training business then. What do you specialize in? Yeah, so it's just personal soccer training. So I specialize in, you know, one to one from four. I go, that's the most I will train in a group for an hour. So I focus on mostly like, you know, technical skills, some tactical, but mostly technical skills for field players. Okay, excellent. And what's your, what's your favorite age group to coach? Yeah, I have to say high school. I just, I like the teenagers because it's that transition before, you know, they're going to play in college and I just really enjoy coaching that level in that age group. Excellent, excellent. So how, tell us a little bit. So when, when you first started, how did you get your first client then? Yeah, that's a great question. So actually like I started personal soccer training kind of like on happenstance a friend of mine from high school, he used to do soccer training. But he underwent like knee surgery and so he kind of asked me to take over his clientele essentially and he didn't really have plans to get back into it. So he, you know, offered me a handful of his clients, and then kind of led me to this app called coach up app and I, you know, I made a profile and I was able to gain a lot of clientele on there as well. And so mostly there's like word of mouth like, you know, marketing on social media, mostly Instagram has helped and word of mouth. That's really cool, really cool. So how many clients are you currently training at the moment? At the moment, I would say I have like 10 steady clients. Yeah. Are they all different ages? They are. They range from like five years old to high school. Okay, cool. So when when you first started your your training business, what would you say was your biggest obstacle when you first started coaching? Yeah. Well coaching team sports I think the biggest obstacle is well it depends on the environment so I was coaching at a school that their soccer team was not very good it wasn't very good for a lot like I played against that soccer team when I was in high school and we used to, we used to beat them by a lot of players unfortunately so there was this long standing of them not being very like committed and good so my biggest challenge there was getting them to show up to practice to be honest. As far as training, the business goes. I think my biggest obstacle is just maintaining clients and gaining new clients I think that that's probably my biggest challenge because I can't I I have a full time job so it's hard to manage like all of it. Yeah. Yeah. What's your what's your most favorite part of running a business then? You know, it's basically it's mine so I get to make my own schedule. It's, it was like, you know, different sense of pride and the effort that I put into it versus like me working for someone else like it's mine and at the end of the day it reflects on me so I just enjoy, you know, I just enjoy the entirety of it to be honest. So what would you say to a coach that's either watching or listening to this interview and they want to start a business but haven't yet what's one thing that you would recommend they do? Honestly, just start. I think that that's probably the hardest part for anyone would start in a business that you know you have a lot of thoughts like what if this and what if that and you still have those thoughts even, you know, years into it. And I have them often myself but I think at the end of the day it's like you grow so much when you start a business because it's really just you against that not against but it's just you, you know, running the show and so it there's a sense of like power that comes with running your own show and just, you know, persevering through all the adversity that comes with it because you know clientele will come and go. You know, there's always something you can work on and better, you know, I mean there's a multiple things so it's also hard to like focus on one thing and that that's probably my biggest challenges. I have all of these thoughts and ideas but like it's hard for me to focus on one to get one done so I just try to like I'm trying to figure out a system that works for me and like, you know, organizing myself and my thoughts and like taking on one thing at a time entity of it at a time so I can like accomplish those things so I think it's just, you know, just have an open mind. Yeah, yeah, love that love that. So what would you say is a is a high quality training session. I think definitely a high point is when I see clients improving I think like, I mean soccer such a skilled oriented sport. So it's really about, you know, and graining the basics over and over and over and going over the same thing over and over which can be like boring and monotonous to a lot of players. But I really am a firm believer and you've got it. You've got to do drills over and over and over in order to get that mastery so when I see my clients like, you know, doing it, you know, going through that process like oh okay like they make mistakes, but they just but they work through adversity and they don't give up. I love that and then they improve and so I really try to highlight on that because I think it's easy to like, you know, for anyone to make a mistake and to kind of tank so Yeah, I love to watch them like overcome adversity overcome something that was challenging for them and to see them thrive. So where does your where does your coaching style originate from. That's a great question. Um, and I've never, I haven't really reflected on that too much but I think like I mean, I mean, I definitely grew up in the States and you know I'm not a huge United States soccer fan. And coaching fan all, you know all the time I think that like I think soccer has evolved a lot over the past decade I think like at least here in the States I think that coaches are starting to take on more of like the worldly view of soccer and and how a lot of like European American clubs train and how that how the coaches coach, which, you know, is a huge reason as to why a lot of a lot of why soccer is, you know, better and mostly every other country. At least on the men's side women side not so much but men said yes but um honestly I think I've taken bits and pieces from my own coaches that I've had, mostly in my life. You know I definitely like think of reflect on coaches that I've had even when I was like super little, even to like my first coach to my college coach and I try to take, you know, from all of them because I think they all brought something that was unique and kind of had an everlasting, you know impression on my life and as a player so yeah. Love that. So when you when you bring on a new client or when you're working with a new player was there was a few things you look for in that player. Yeah, I mean I really try to like focus on not just like them as like physical soccer player but like where they're at mentally and emotionally because every player is not at the same, you know, in the same space. So some players you know they need more, more motivation and you know some need more push, whereas some need, you know, not as much. You just have to really like know your players and know your clients and figure out what makes them tick and what works for them. Everyone deserves, you know, everyone deserves to be pushed to a certain limit, you know, so I try I do my best to like observe and study them and figure them out where they're at mentally and then go from there. How do you currently. So how do you market and sell your your business and what is what is the number one way you. Yeah. Social media and word of mouth. That's pretty much it. And yeah so like people, you know, hopefully sharing my content not everybody does that's okay but and then like other parents telling other parents about my business. Okay, awesome. And how have you managed to get most of your clients has it been through referrals or culture. How has it been. I think referral. So, so Kelly where where do you see your your training business in the next five years from now. That's a great question I honestly don't know. I really, I really don't know because I have to like, I feel like I'm kind of like I I'm at a phase where I need to, you know reflect on that and figure that out and I haven't really put a lot of into it like I'm an educator my school year just ended so I've kind of like just starting to really get back into training to get more consistently so that's a great question. No, I don't know the answer to that right now. But do you see yourself still in business in five years. I do definitely. Yeah, I don't know if I really want employees per se. I don't know, but I definitely do see myself still doing it. And, and how, how have you found managing like a full time job and training. Oh, you know it can, it sometimes it can interfere but for the most part because you know I train kids so like their school hours are my school hours so the schedules align, and then I have summers off so. That's the best bit. Yeah, exactly. So where do you see a private training going in the US in the next two to five years. Yeah, I think that it's a big thing and I think like the pandemic really like encouraged or inspired I guess you could say people to to start more personal training like sport specific training businesses not just soccer but like all sports. I've seen multiple people that I know of like, you know, from high school. Yeah, doing the same thing and like the whatever sport they played in so I think that it's going to continue to be, you know, it gives, it gives kids an edge. And at this point, if you're, if your goal is to play at the next level after high school like and you're not doing extra like you, what are you doing. Like what, like what, you know, I mean in my opinion I'm like okay like, if you know I were a parent, I would be putting my kid in the arena like, you're going to have personal training, you know, to get those extra reps to focus on specific skills. Anything to give an edge is beneficial. So, so Kelly I'm going to finish with my last question. And this is a two part question. First one is what does failure mean to you. And the second one is how important is taking risks in business. And it's like, as, as much as I would hate to admit it but it's just like, it's absolutely necessary and that's what makes people grow and makes people succeed. Like, I know for a fact in my own life, like if I haven't failed at things that I probably wouldn't be right about right now and I know like, even looking into my future like I know I need to fail even more in order to grow and that's okay because that's just, I know you see growth the most. And I think that should be, I think that's like the goal I think that should be the goal like I want to just continue to grow but without like that doesn't mean like every time I do something I'm going to get it right first time. So it's, and I think you know, there's such a negative connotation of failure, the word failure but I think like, in my mind or in anyone's mind like kind of realizing like, well in order, if I don't fail, then I'm not learning from something and I'm not that means I'm not growing. So learning and growing comes from failure and that's a beautiful thing. So I'm sorry I forgot the second question. So the second one is how important is it to take risks. Oh, it's absolutely important I feel like I've really just started to really embrace that in my life. And I'm, you know, like just scratching the surface of that I feel like, in my opinion, I feel like I should take more risks. But it just as important as failing taking risks because, you know, if you don't put yourself out there then you're holding yourself back that means that you're really not living your whole, you know, your whole life and living out opportunities that can make come your way and I don't want to live a life like that. Okay, love that. Love that. Perfect. So if any coach or anyone watching or listening wants to get in contact with you or follow your business, what would be the best way to do that? The best way to get in contact with me is to follow my training business Instagram which is cap underscore soccer training. That would be the best way. Okay, perfect. And what we'll do is we'll put that underneath the video so anyone can can follow and check you check you out and follow your journey. Thank you, I appreciate that. All right, perfect. Well, thank you very much for jumping on here and sharing your journey your story with us. And I hope to connect with you in the near future again. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. One thing coach Kaylee for appearing on our show and for the interview. Now if you are a coach and you are in soccer, you're in basketball, baseball, football, whichever sport you're in, you are a coach and you have a private training business and you would like to be interviewed. Okay, reach out via contacting me on my email below is make money coaching sports at gmail.com will get you featured on our podcast and we would love to have you on the show. Okay, so if you haven't already make sure you subscribe to the channel and if you want to get in contact with me for a one to one zoom call to see how I can help you to grow and scale your business. Reach out to me. My Canon Lee link is in the description of this video. You can click it and book a free 15 to 20 minute call with me today. Okay, thank you for watching and I'll see you on the next one.