Weeknotes #24: Relational Fee-Setting in Coaching - An invitation
You are reading ‘Like person, like coach’: explorations at the intersection of personal narrative and coaching practice:
I’ve often called my coaching sole-trading as slow business, and more recently relational business. In essence, less concerned with the number of clients and more interested in the quality of the relationships I build with partners and clients.
And yet, there is one area where I haven’t been as relational, and that’s in setting fees. Coaching is hard to sell and hard to buy - it’s a broad, unregulated industry and approaches, skill-sets and fees vary greatly. It’s also selling ‘not knowing’ in a culture that mostly prizes ‘knowing’ and expertise. What I find most transformative about coaching is offering someone the chance to hear their own thinking and derive their own sense from it. Our opinions, knowledge and expertise might support this process but it can’t provide the embodied integration of arriving at one’s own sense-making.
Throughout the last four years I’ve set my own fees with some periods of time offering 3 x different options to increase accessibility. I’m curious to experiment with an even more collaborative pricing strategy inspired by Peter Koening’s (found via Max St John) concept of ‘finding the fee I love to pay, and you love to receive’. I’ve linked a podcast episode below where you can hear Peter talk about this phrase in the context of becoming conscious about our relationships with money.
Some of the questions this approach brings up for me are: What is the fee I want to invest in my development? What is the fee that I want to invest in the coach I enter into relationship with? What is the fee I, as coach, want to receive for the quality of the service I deliver? How does context and timing play into this? How might this fee need to change over time? How do we talk about it? What makes these conversations feel safe, open and honest? What do we both need to have this conversation well?
If you are looking for a coach and would be curious to experiment with collaborative pricing get in touch. To get a sense of whether we’d match well, see the website which includes information on my training, coaching approach and client testimonials. I’ve historically focused on the topics outlined below and I’m also open to working with themes that fall outside these:
Transitional periods in career/role. Are you looking for/to:
* Time to articulate what you want to be different in your role/career and identify options for the near future;
* Increased confidence, trust in self and vision of what will bring you a greater sense of fulfilment and/or stability;
* A space to be honest about what you want and use that knowledge to move forward with practical steps.
Growing into new leadership role. Are you looking for:
* Increased self-awareness in work relationships in order to improve communication and effectiveness;
* Regular reflection focused on learning from what you are doing and taking action anchored in organisational vision;
* A space to develop your leadership style, one that enables you to operate at your best and be responsive to the organisation you're leading.
This week I am fascinated by:
💰 How to Change Your Relationship to Money with Peter Koenig;
❤️ The Body’s Grace with Matthew Sanford;
🔥 Jung, The Unconscious and The Future of Coaching with Laurence Barrett.
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If you enjoy reading Like Person, Like Coach, please recommend it to others who might find useful, too. If you have feedback and suggestions on how I can deepen my learning please write me on iacobrbacian@gmail.com.