Coaches,

I realized a couple weeks ago that my marketing and website were too heavily skewed toward newbies in my profession (lawyers) and I have the belief (I know this is just a thought, and I’m totally in the pool with them…..that coaching is expensive for new lawyers who are broke AF).

Post-adjustments, I nonetheless did a consult with a very, very new lawyer (admitted this year) who was all about everything I was talking about. She really wanted to sign up. But my price, $1500 for 10 weeks, was more than she could afford. She said she would think about it. She agreed to let me coach her on her objection, and (very paraphrased here) I explained that if you wait, you just suffer longer with all the problems that brought you to the call. I compared it to wanting since age 6 to learn to play piano but waiting until age 41 to get started, and unnecessarily went all those years with the pain of wishing and “somedaying.” She said she agreed, but it was still “a lot” of money for her.

I’ve done a few models, and I can’t shake that I agree with the new lawyers I have done consults for who can’t afford 1:1 coaching at the fee that to me is a bargain for what I give a lawyer who is just a little further along and more secure in her paycheck coming. I think back to where I was 15 years ago, and I didn’t have money for 1:1 coaching. I would have benefited from a small group and probably been able to pay $500 for a two-month program. I also recall one point a few years ago paying more money than I was comfortable with for some coaching and was so freaked out about what I was spending on it that I didn’t get the most out of the investment. Later, I worked with a different coach on the same issue, paid a moderate sum for a shorter period of time, and got three times the results from that coach. Some of it was the quality of the program and the fit for me, but most of it was ME — the price felt like an investment but not folly, so I felt committed — not gripped with terror. And when I signed up there was no back and forth. The coach said, what do you feel comfortable investing? And I knew what her different programs were, so I named one in the middle, and she took my payment and it went great. That’s the kind of interaction I want as the customer, and as the provider of the service. I don’t want to coach someone who is so distracted by what the coaching is costing them that we don’t get to the other issues. And, I’m not a money coach.

So to get to the point, even if I could become a whiz at overcoming this objection, I am not sure I want to. I am trying to decide if I want just one offer — here’s the 1:1, here’s what it costs, take it or leave it — or if I want to offer a small group. Now. Even though I have not been coaching formally for money for very long. Part of me is coaching because of the experiences I had in the first two years of my career. I am not willing to give everything away for free, and I have one offering (not on my website) for $150 per month that I would like to phase out because that is way too little to charge.

But I feel like had I been able to present two of these women I did consults for with a small group program for $500, I would have made money and helped them and as a result uplifted the world. I have full confidence in my ability to deliver a good program, get 4-6 women in it and get them some results. But, I hold back because I would like to exercise constraint and focus on the higher-end offer. I often wish I had done that in my law practice (turn down smaller-dollar matters earlier than I started to).

unintentional model
C: My 1:1 coaching offer is $1500 for 10 weeks.
T: If I don’t offer a lower price point option, I might not be profitable.
F: Indecisive
A: write out the pros and cons. Nitpick the age and education range of my Facebook ad. Nitpick my website copy. Replay my consults in my mind. Continue to have dull worry.
R: not yet profitable.

desired model
C: My 1:1 coaching offer is $1500 for 10 weeks.
T: I historically do best when I offer medium- and higher-priced things to a smaller number of clients so I should stick with that. (I do believe this 75% of the time)
F: Focused
A: Refine my marketing and not give much thought to the people who want to be coached by me but can’t afford it — they’re not my client. keep building toward the long term vision. Let my $150 per month clients know I am no longer able to offer that program.
R: have a solid practice of clients who can pay.

Anything else you’d add? Thank you.