Training Site to Expand Via Online Advertising

Gary Henson knew he had to get out of commercial real estate.

He was making a good living in the field, but after years in the business lacked fulfillment. So, he decided to try his hand at helping other people and give business coaching -- the practice of getting corporate executives to communicate effectively with their employees – a try.

The resulting venture was Sacramento, CA-based Businesscoach.com. Now, he's undertaking ambitious plans he hopes will expand his business from less than $1 million to $5 million in annual revenue by the end of next year and build up his coaching staff from four to about 20.

To get there, the site is spending about $4,000 per month on search engine marketing and pay per click advertising on Google and Yahoo, as well as direct response space ads in local area publications. On top of that, BusinessCoach is using referrals and public relations to further get its name out.

Henson, CEO and founder of the company, is also working on lining up affiliate relationships with companies in several European countries and India. The company already operates in Japan.

"Communication is a lost art," he says.

At present, BusinessCoach.com has about 20 clients, businesses of all different sizes that pay monthly fees ranging from $2,000 to $8,000, depending on their size.

On the site, users can relevant magazine articles and other downloadable literature as well as podcasts and a member forum.

How large can budsinesscoach.com grow?

"Business coaching is the largest non-industry in the world," Henson says. "We've worked with companies in as many as 60 different industries."