Welcome to Scaling Thursday! This is our weekly segment where we talk about how to grow a business instead of create another job for yourself. We’re covering some coaching business tips this week. More specifically, we’re going to break down the pros and cons of having a private coaching model.
What is the private coaching model?
Private coaching is a model where you trade a session (aka your time) for money. Coaches generally sell these in 3-month packages where they meet with a client for an hour a week in exchange for money.
Pros of a Private Coaching Model
Because it requires your most valuable assets – your time and your brain – this is a high ticket offer where you can charge top dollar. However, most coaches aren’t even priced properly for this in the first place. Part of the reason why is because you haven’t set up your most valuable offerings first.
You also develop a much deeper relationship with the client because you’re working together for months at a time. We’re taught that it takes 90 days for someone to reach transformation.
Cons of Private Coaching
Here is where my coaching business tips are going to come into play. Private coaching may seem easy and lucrative, but it’s also a trap. Here’s why:
You’re trading time for dollars.
If you insist on the private coaching model you end up creating another job for yourself – and that’s not the point of starting a business. You start a business to build an asset not make another job where you have the worst boss ever – yourself. Or worse, you have multiple bosses – your clients.
Let’s break this down…
Scenario One: You have 30 coaching clients at once
Say you get 30 private coaching clients. You’re rolling in it! Woohoo! At first glance, it looks like everything is awesome. Well, it’s not. Here’s why.
In order to keep growing your business, you need more leads. The problem when you’ve booked yourself with private coaching clients is you have ZERO time to design a company, market and innovate because you’re too busy working in the business. With the private coaching model, the only way to make more money is to take on more clients. At some point, you cap out because there are only so many hours in a day.
Scenario Two: You have four really big clients.
Let’s say you have four really big private coaching clients. You’re making good money. Everything is great, right?
Wrong!
If you lose just one client you’ve already lost 25% of your revenue. That’s a HUGE hit. A lot of people are getting bitch slapped by this right now. Because they didn’t move away from the private coaching model and only had a few big clients, they’ve lost massive amounts of revenue in the last few weeks.
Meanwhile, because I started systematizing my company three years ago, we still have recurring revenue and new sales. It’s not perfect by any means, but we’ll come out the other side of this.
The Solution to the Private Coaching Model Trap
The solution is to create more scalable offerings based on what you teach in the private coaching model. Because we focus on high ticket coaching around here we’re talking group coaching and courses. You have to systematize your knowledge otherwise you put yourself in a massive bind.
We did this for one of our recent Persuade to Profit clients. She is a consultant who works with dentists to streamling their offices and increase revenue. Everything seemed great but there were a few problems:
- It was all one on one work that required her to be at the dentists offices – which went out the window with the shutdown.
- She had about four large clients which puts her in a dangerous spot revenue wise.
- Those four clients took up all of her time so she could not continue growing the business
- Because she had to physically show up to offices she was bound to her local area
- She was undercharging – big time!
We worked together to figure out her more scalable offerings. We took all that knowledge and work she was doing with these dentists and put them into video trainings with different investment levels. So what happened?
- She created something she can sell to dentists now despite offices being closed
- She created something she can sell to dentists all over the country
- She created something she can sell that does not require a) any of her time or b) show up somewhere in person
- Her prices shot up
Coaching Business Tips: How to Stop Trading Hours for Dollars
So if you want to scale your business – which is what this segment is all about – then you have to stop thinking in terms of trading hours for dollars.
Most people are taught to think in terms of either a) trading time for money or b) salaries.
That’s now how you build sustainability of freedom in your business.
Not sure how to systematize your knowledge?
We cover exactly how to do this in Persuade to Profit. Our clients have gone through this process and closed 13 new clients in a four week period. You can learn more about Persuade to Profit here or you can book a consultation call with our team below.