Pay what you can coaching

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. A way to make coaching more accessible, an imperfect gesture of balance. Giving back and doing what I can when I can. Let’s see how it goes…

 
 

  • People who will find the cost of coaching a barrier right now to accessing it, but who would really benefit from working with a coach. Young people trying to make their way in the world, people in low income jobs or part-time jobs or seeking work, people who are seeking positive change, people who aren’t right now in financial positions of privilege. People doing voluntary or charitable work and seeking to make a difference. Creatives or early stage entrepreneurs. People with ideas but unsure how to move them forward.

  • It is what it says on the tin. Pay what you can at that point - this means different things for different people. A manageable percentage of my usual fees or your income.

    It can be a different amount each month. I trust you to value the time we spend together and the difference working with a coach can make and treat the relationship with respect.

    If you are interested in a barter system we can discuss this - I’ve coached for skills and stuff swaps before, someone once offered to teach me how to make a perfect poached egg in exchange for a coaching session - that got my attention! (Although that lesson never happened in the end… so I’m still open to offers there). I garden and grow my own veggies, so if you do too and can offer me plants that would be great!

  • You self-refer.

    If you meet the criteria of not being able to access coaching with me right now due to the cost of working with me, but are keen to work with me as a good coach match. If you are keen to make positive change in your life through coaching; contact me and we can arrange a free consultation call. We can use this to talk about what coaching is and what coaching isn’t. I can answer any questions you have, and you can share with me what you need me to know.

    When you book your consultation call it is helpful for me to know you are seeking a pay what you can place in advance of our call and for you to share a little bit about your context.

    We can see if we seem like a good coach and client match. We can talk about what goals you want to work on. If your focus for coaching is something I can help with, we both agree we seem like a good match of coach and client, we can then discuss how to move forward.

    If I have ‘pay what you can’ capacity this can start quickly. If I don’t have spaces I can put you on a waiting list and let you know how long it looks like for a space to open up.

    I can only offer one block of ‘pay what you can’ sessions per person, to give others the opportunity to access this support. However if you want to keep working with a coach but continue to have financial barriers we can discuss options around this.

 
 

Why offer these places?

Firstly, I have seen the transformational power of coaching happen again and again. I love it! I love coaching, it’s a kind of logical, theory based magic, being a coach is being a catalyst. Being a coach for me is about seeing the positive impact that coaching can have on an individual and the ripples that go out into their worlds and touch those around them. I choose to do stuff that lights me up and creates positive change, working with people from diverse backgrounds lights me up and I aim to help them with positive change. I often get paid in money for coaching, but that isn’t my primary motivator to work as a coach (although a kinda handy secondary benefit). 

Secondly, one of my core values is integrity and in that there is also a value of fairness. Being able to share the experience of coaching with people who can’t access it so easily right now is important to me - giving resources that I have; my time which I value highly, my skills, training and experience and using my privilege for positive change. At points in time I’ve had a comfortable income, at points in time I’ve been seriously broke. In these times when the cash has been tight, I have been helped or sponsored in ways by others and by organisations and I really remember the difference that made. I guess I’m paying it back now in my own way.

There is not a catch - I’m balancing some scales in my head with giving back. Perhaps at some stage my ‘pay what you can’ clients will have the opportunity to do something similar themselves…


What else do you need to know?

I created this offer in early 2022. I’d wanted to give back and trial ‘pay what you can’ coaching for a while but kept getting put off for various reasons. I gave myself permission to to learn, make mistakes and figure this one out as it evolved.

I worked with two main ‘pay what you can’ clients in 2022 into 2023, one relationship ended up lasting nearly a year and the other was a shorter six session block. One client was on a low income and working on socially accountable projects creating positive change with groups of young adults. We worked on a mix of life and business goals and it was important to me that the work we did had potential to ripple out. The other client was a young adult also on a low income, juggling multiple jobs, excluded from education at 15, she had a core value of trust broken by many people in lots of ways, a brave, caring and inspiring young woman seeking a way forward in life.

It is 2023 as I write this. I feel I have a better understanding of my capacity for ‘pay what you can’ work. It doesn’t always sit in neat time blocks. I aim to be able to offer two places in 2023 as this feels doable in a way that I can give these places my best.