Most coaches start a soccer academy backwards. They rent a facility, print jerseys, and then wonder where the players are.

Here's how to do it right.

Start with training, not a facility

A facility is overhead. Overhead kills young businesses. Start with private and small-group training at parks, rented field space, or wherever you can get grass. Your first players fund everything that comes later.

Hector started exactly this way — 10-12 sessions a week, no facility. Years later he was doing $200,000 a year. The facility comes after the revenue, not before it.

Sell programs, not sessions

The fastest way to stay small is selling $75 sessions. Do the math: you'd need hundreds of sessions a month to build anything real.

Package what you do into a program — 8 weeks, 12 weeks, a season. Charge $3,000 or more for it. Ten players at $3,000 is $30,000 — an academy foundation from ten families.

Run the three marketing pillars from day one

1. Local ads. $10 a day targeting parents in a
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