Recently on a group call, a client was telling me about the rush of clients she’s had since the pandemic, and how she wanted to hire a friend and colleague, a professional who does the same work she does, to work with her clients.
I get it, there are wonderful reasons for why you would want to do this. And, in fact, we have done it at Heart of Business, and will do it again. There can be real richness in what is created.
At the same time, the desire to bring on practitioners under you always raises flags for me, which I raised for our client. There are some questions that need to be asked and answered honestly before you bring someone on. Why? Because if you bring someone without really looking at the issues involved, you can sink your business.
First question: Do you really have the consistent, ongoing client flow to justify it?
Due to the pandemic, our client, who does financial coaching, had had a rush of new clients that had overwhelmed her initially. Which is fantastic! The issue here is that that rush came due to world events, and not to her own marketing efforts, which she admitted were not very robust.
Because her own marketing had not invited in that rush of clients, there was no way she could confidently predict it would continue. What’s more, even though the number of clients was a high water mark for her and more than she could handle personally in any particular moment, it wasn’t enough to really keep another person full busy.
If your own marketing isn’t consistently bringing in a tremendous excess of business, then you may be overextending yourself to bring someone else on.
Second question: Do you have to train new people in your methodology?
Our client, over the course of many years, had developed her own methodology that was specific to her business. Anyone working for her needed to be trained in that methodology at a high level, at the level that they could provide it as a practitioner. This would take months, plus oversight and mentoring. For someone already overwhelmed, that can wipe you out.
Plus, do you know *how* to train someone in your approach, and how to evaluate them to know when they know enough to work with your clients, representing your business and reputation?
Third question: Are you ready to invest in legal, financial and administrative structures?
Bringing on other practitioners under you requires legal contracts, awareness of employment law in your area, different accounting structures, potentially payroll or at least ways of paying contractors, and tracking it all.
It’s a significant investment and set-up, taking not just money but your precious time.
Fourth question: Does your pricing/business model support having others working under you?
All of this added overhead and time required needs to be accounted for somehow. Industry standards for coaching or other similar professional services pay between 25% and 40% of client fees to a contracted practitioner. The other 75% to 60% helps the business pay for the infrastructure, time, administrative and accounting, and still have some profit show up.
This, unfortunately, means the coaching fees need to be significant enough to pay decently. If you’re charging US$100/session currently, you can see how that might not really work for the contractor or the business.
Fifth question: Do you have an even more abundance of clients than that?
Because of the significant costs, infrastructure and time that it takes to manage practitioners well, it’s often not worth it to add just one additional practitioner. It’s often better if you have at least two or three, so that you can them decently, and cover your costs, and still have a profit accumulating to the business.
That means having enough clients to keep you plus two or three practitioners busy enough. Not that they would be earning a full-time income, but enough to be interesting and worth all of this time and effort on their part as well.
Sixth question: Why do you really want to do this?
While the why question is often a good place to start, I often ask it last in this context, because it helps to see the why after really understanding what’s involved.
The two most common reasons I hear are, “I want to help a friend,” and “I don’t want to work on my own, I want someone else around.”
After answering the first five questions, you’ll know better if trying to help a friend in this way might, in fact, end up sinking your business or not. As far as not feeling alone in the business, there are other ways to get that need met. You can create a mastermind group with peers, colleagues or just other heart-centered business owners. You can hire a coach, or join a business community. You can develop a network of peer/colleague relationships, people you can call to talk to regularly.
One of the better answers to this sixth question that tells me maybe the client is right to want to expand in this way, is something along the lines of, “I’ve been building up my marketing and client base to the point where I always have a waiting list, and we have a large audience. I want to serve many more people who really need our help, and I’m really interested in learning how to help others work with our clients and do it well.”
If your answers to the above six questions show you maybe taking on practitioners isn’t something you want to do right now, here are a few alternatives.
- Create a waiting list. That can be a wonderful feeling.
- Raise your prices. A waiting list with a lot of eager clients that want to work with you specifically, is one of the signs that maybe your prices could go up.
- Experiment with different models. Do you run any groups? Have you created any programs? What can you do to serve a larger number of people without taking more of your time?
- If you’re wanting to help a friend and can do it, refer clients to them. Rather than bring them into your business, send them referrals for their own business.
- Enjoy the heck out of your situation! If you’re in a place like our client was where there was an abundance of work, Instead of always wanting to expand and grow and get bigger, sometimes you can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of the situation, that your client load is full.
Taking on a practitioner is a significant project, one that can affect your business and your time in big ways. Make sure you think through the factors, check with your heart, and take your time before setting on the path. It can be an amazing journey to have others working in your business like this, or it can be a disaster if you’re not ready for it.
What’s your experience with this?
With love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
Webinar Wednesday, May 12: How not to be afraid, with Gareth Higgins
My friend and colleague Gareth Higgins is an Irish story teller and peace activist, among other things. He has done incredible work using story to bring people together. And that phrase really just hints at the power of his work.
He has just published a new book, How Not To Be Afraid, Seven ways to live when everything seems terrifying. It’s a rich, potent work, that does not ask you to bypass your fear. There’s something alchemical that happens in this book, in your heart, around all the misery and fear that is up in the world today.
He and I will be doing a webinar on this topic next Wednesday, May 12, at noon eastern. Please join us.
Even more, I invite you to get his book.
Click: How Not To Be Afraid
