Think and start doing!

Being an Esports coach is something that almost no one wants to do, because everyone wants to play. So did I for a long time, until my career focus changed towards coaching. I love the industry and want to use my CSGO experience to help individuals and teams.

My entrepreneurship journey started from that idea, and there was little competition at the time – only a handful of coaches in Finland.

I think a rough guideline for pricing your work at the start can be a balance of:

• A lot of experience and needed in the field = high price.
• Commonly offered service — race for the customers, with more negotiable prices.
• Unique service — a lot of customers, but not necessarily highly paying ones.

Having figured out my place, the start was rough, as I had to prove and build myself as a brand. I managed to get lucky with Roots Gaming, and kudos to their owner Kimmo, who gave me a little bit of blind trust. For over a year I worked with them.

While being a difficult decision to make, it is important to know when you have nothing more to give to a client, rather than running yourself down in stagnation.

I almost instantly got an offer to coach another team and went for it. I'm still on the same journey with RoundsGG, working with their owner Jussi and the players towards success.

Players make the game, coaches give direction. Not knowing everything is normal, changing direction is ok. Think of something and start doing it — it is better than not doing anything at all!

About the author: Toni Nikka is a Counter-Strike Esports coach and Esports development manager. LinkedIn