The Comprehensive Coach Guide – #8 Pricing and Money
Maybe this is a topic that you feel doesn’t need to be addressed, but I assure you it is part of the commitment we are here to make.
Money is often described as a universal form of energy that can be exchanged between people. Our energy output can be seen as a big accounting process. We give energy to certain things and we get it from other things. Part of the transformational process we are seeking through coaching is to align or shift the way we spend our energy.
It’s like making an investment in our house. It will cost a specific amount of x, but through this investment one of two things will happen:
I will either enjoy the task that I didn’t like doing before because I now have some nice tools and equipment.
The other option is to hire someone who will do that task for me, who more often than not enjoys that work if I am willing to pay a fair price.
If by the end of the week or month we have a certain amount of energy stored (money saved), that represents a specific value to us. Like the conversion of heat into electricity, energy gets lost, and depending on how much labor was spent on saving 1, 10, or 100 dollars, the more valuable that energy becomes to us. This is because we not only paid with the energy that we used to earn that money by working but because we also paid for it with the time we didn’t spend doing other things we love like hanging out with friends or family for example.
So the money we spend on a personal coach better be worth it because in most cases we had to decide between hiring a personal coach or getting another thing that we would have enjoyed.
To me, it was always a nonissue that my coaching sessions and workshops had to be paid for. At times these expenses were higher than what I earned, but still, I would refuse to drop them.
The bottom line is that if you find a method or way that helps, do yourself the favor and arrange your budget around whatever these expenses might be and invest in your health. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Chances are high that the amount of money you spend needs to challenge you so that you take it seriously. On the other hand, don’t assume that the fee in any way correlates to the progress you are making.
A coach that costs 50 dollars per hour can stimulate the client in a way that they are giving everything they have got because the 50 units of money are literally everything the client has got. The opposite would be a prosperous person that hired the most competent author and coach only to find out that nothing changed after paying a large amount of money.
The difference is made through the motivation of the client and not the fee the coach is getting. The coaching fee is merely an internal evaluation of the service provider.
There is no logical reason as to why some people earn more money than others. I myself calculated what my education, time, and experience are worth when I offer them to a client. If people are willing to spend this amount to work with me…great. If they don’t, that’s fine too, because I get to spend my time doing other things that I love. In terms of quality, I would do the same job if I didn’t earn any money or ten times what I’m asking for. The person who pays me attaches the value of money to the quality of my work.
I’ll explain it in one example and then we can move on.
I have countless conversations during a normal day where people talk to me because it makes them feel better. I am not charging for this because I don’t intend to hang a meter around my neck to turn on every time a conversation starts. The value attributed to these conversations differs from the value of a paid coaching session, even though they are very similar.
Truth to be told, many people at some point in their lives, myself included, perceived freebies or complementary gifts as worthless or almost worthless. If I pay fifty thousand dollars for a painting it is immensely valuable. If I found the same painting standing next to a dumpster in an alley, chances are good that I will dismiss it as trash. Even though it’s the same picture!
This was certainly a long section, but it’s a lesson I learned the hard way, and very slowly at that, so I’d really love for you to benefit from my past mistakes.
Think about how much money you would like to spend per month. Make this decision in a quiet and balanced state of mind. Assess whether you can let go of some habits that cost you money so that you could afford to hire a professional.
Once you feel good about an amount of money you can see yourself spending for at least a couple of months, go out, and find your coach that is within your predefined price range. You yourself will determine through your involvement and commitment whether or not the money is worth it.
Be steadfast and immune to the glamour of heavily marketed search engine optimized coaching services that are outside of your price range. There is no need to fall into great debt because I think I need to hire a coach that earns in an hour what others aren’t earning within a month.
Get clear on the amount of money and circumstances first, then go find the professional next.