Did you know that charging higher fees will help you become more confident as a coach?
It worked for me and I’ve seen it work for my clients as well. Setting fees that will pay you well is an important threshold to cross as a new coach. The longer you wait to cross it the scarier it will feel.
Sure, it makes sense to give some coaching away during coach training. Your trainer might have encouraged that because they want you to practice coaching skills with as many people as you can as often as possible.
Practice integrates learning.
The downside of offering free or low-cost coaching past coach training is it becomes an ingrained habit. That’s how some coaches get stuck in what I call perpetual student mode.
This is where that practice-integrates-learning thing can work against you, as it becomes increasingly difficult to shift from free or charging little to charging fees that pay you well.
It’s time to break free from this trap. Let’s talk about how.
Charging Low Fees for Your Coaching Services is a Bad Habit
Brains have a need for order. Anything you do repeatedly can become habit. Your mind SETS.
That can be a positive thing. But some mindsets make you feel STUCK.
Take a moment here and answer truthfully … has your mind set in a fixed way as you charge less for coaching than you want to earn?
Here are 4 limiting beliefs I hear from new coaches about charging for their services:
- “I’m still a new coach so I shouldn’t ask clients to pay much.”
- “How can I charge higher fees when I don’t know what I’m doing?”
- “Why would someone pay me for this?”
- This is the harsh one … “I’m a fraud.”
Own the Experience That Led You to Coaching
Let’s start with the limiting belief: “I’m still a new coach so I shouldn’t ask clients to pay much.”
Coaching is a skillset. I’m certain that you’ve had jobs where you’ve learned a new skillset or two.
Let’s say you are suddenly given a new responsibility at work. Chances are you showed promise you could handle it and that’s why you were given the opportunity. There’s a learning curve, right? Maybe it’s something you’ve never done before.
But here’s the thing, your employer pays you while you learn. They trust that you will integrate what you are learning. They believe that you will grow into these bigger shoes, this more challenging role. They take a chance on you because you have shown that you can grow. It’s a good faith practice.
You Brought Skills to the Table of Coaching
As a professional coach, you employ yourself. Are you going to require that you know everything before you get paid well? That would be super unreasonable.
You are on a developmental path, but you didn’t start this journey of becoming a coach on ground zero. You already had a significant toolbox full of communication skills.
You already knew how to listen, ask questions and support or inspire greatness in others. No doubt, your friends and colleagues sought you out as a sounding board and counselor.
In fact, the ability to coach may have been with you for decades.
It’s time to give yourself credit for what you brought to the table. Coach training only enhanced your skills.
Coaching Prospects Invest When They Perceive Value
The next limiting belief sounds like this: “Why would someone pay me?”
That’s the wrong question. The better question is: “What does my audience want so much they’ll invest in my help to get it?”
See the difference? The first question is full of doubt and fear. The second question is a problem-solving question. It’s smart and strategic. It shifts the spotlight from you to your target audience. That should ease things for you.
Step Fully Into Being a Coaching Professional
If you’ve graduated from free services to charging fees you have leaped up a level so give yourself a pat on the back for that.
If the amount you’re charging is too low to earn well, you’ve got one foot in the professional realm and one in the student realm.
There’s a kind of trance that new coaches get into of striving so hard for results and yet not stepping back to think things through strategically.
I flopped around without strategy for years when I started as a coach.
For example, I didn’t think about profit until well into my coaching business. Episode 58 is all about planning for your profits. And it’s never too early to learn to think that way.
Any coach can earn well in their first year of coaching. The only thing holding you back is you.
Sure, finding paying clients requires strategy and effort. And there are many things you can do to make that easier.
Give yourself a fair advantage. Start your business powerfully and charge fees to keep you in business.
Everyone and No One is a Fraud
Have you been thinking of yourself as a fraud? That’s harsh and the 4th limiting belief that holds coaches back.
Imposter Syndrome seems to be wired into humanity. Nearly everyone feels this.
Here’s the thing I want you to remember. You are on a developmental path growing and evolving. Everyone is. At any given moment each of us is a fraud to the next step, the next level. Replace the harshness with positivity.
Instead of ‘fraud’, think “I’m a trailblazer. I make this happen.” The mere fact that you took the leap to become a coach and an entrepreneur means you have grit, determination and a vision. Hold onto that while you give yourself a big raise and own all that you brought to this table.
Stay inspired and make things happen!
