Give Coaching to More Than the 1%

This is a guest post by Sarah Yost and is a part of the Do No Financial Harm discussion.

Life coaching is expensive. And it changes lives. I’ve seen people lose weight peacefully, resolve decades old resentments, become better parents, partners, creators. My clients have finished important projects, learned to trust their own wisdom, became sovereign in their own lives. People live better and love brighter because they got coached.

Therapy has its place for many, but coaching is often faster and more powerful. I’ve been told that 1 hour with me was better than 1 year in therapy.

Some coaching programs cost 6 figures for a year. Most coaches charge between $100-$300/hour, myself included. I don’t think those prices are unfair in relation to the value, but for most people that’s a lot of money. Coaching is inaccessible for most people.

Our industry spends a lot of time and energy selling each other higher end marketing programs analyzing every piece of the sale. This is in the name of healing and creating a heart centered business. There’s a huge question for most people about how to save the world and pay the rent. And how to do both without selling out, selling someone short, or being sleazy.

Leaders lead. That means the people watching are paying attention. They trust us, believe in our vision, want a piece of it for themselves. And some will sell their soul or their Toyota for a shot at it. Ultimately, fundamentally, yes, we are obliged to lead responsibly. Clients are sovereign. They make their own decisions. They’re responsible for themselves. But so are our children ultimately liable for their beliefs and decisions. And we want to lead our children the best, most responsible way possible.

Yes, we can do financial harm to our clients. Some coaches are sleazy. Most probably don’t mean to be, but their sales tactics are questionable.

Of course it’s possible to make money, give value and not harm people. But it takes a minute to establish the structure, to figure the pieces out and to get clear on how to bring it all together. Still, we can change the world even if we can’t quite figure out how to market ourselves.

It’s time to bring coaching to the people

Coaches coach so we can change the world. We know we’re here for a reason. We have gifts of intuition, compassion; we have a keen ability to problem solve, we possess remarkable insight. We’re quirky. Special. We’re living on our own terms. We delve deep, ruthlessly seeking out the crevices in our psyche that hold us back. We face them with courage and grace so that we can be more in tune with our intuition, more compassionate. So that we can see clearly and be more fully ourselves. So that we can lead our people and show them how to do the same.

We are changing the world. If only we could find takers.

Blazing our trail and spreading our message takes skill and dedication. There is a time to pay for expensive business building programs to help that happen. And there is a time to coach.

The Coaching Clinic

Populations who really, really need coaches: women stepping out of domestic violence, young men addicted to Heroin, returning soldiers trying to find their place in society, new college graduates who don’t know what they’re doing with their life, teenage moms.

Business building advice centers around figuring out who your ideal customer is, figuring out what their problem is so you can solve it, figuring out where they are so you can find them, figuring out how to structure your services so you can appeal to them.

But what if you don’t know yet? You just know you love to coach.

Who are your people? If you don’t know how to find them yet, or if you don’t really know who they are yet, I propose a coaching clinic to help figure it out.

How it works

Massage schools give low cost massages to people in the community. This gives new massage therapists the opportunity to practice and gives people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford massage access to care. Same thing with students of dentistry, psychology, acupuncture, hairdressers, and aestheticians.

I want to create this for coaching. This gives coaches the opportunity to deep practice skills, to test out different niches and ideal customers, to find their way while building their business structure.

People won’t have to mortgage their house, put an expensive program on their credit card or further harm themselves financially. They could receive coaching on a sliding scale. Coaches can coach. People get coached. The world gets changed. Win. Win. Win.

Sarah Wagner Yost is a life coach specializing in helping Soulpreneurs with Shiny Object Syndrome. She believes your distractions are not your problem, they’re your gift. You can find out more about her at www.sarahwagneryost.com.