My solution to feeling uncomfortable with charging fees for helping others.

There is something about the forest that enables me to make the connections I need to make in my brain.  This afternoon I enjoyed an amazing walk in the forest at Canyon View, and as often happens, during the walk I received a flash of insight to a problem I have been deliberating over for a while.

The dilemma I've been trying to resolve is about charging money as a life coach. My honesty and integrity is core to my being, and so I feel it is important for you to understand the struggle that I have faced in making a business out of coaching.

I realize that there are already many helping practitioners out in the world doing their thing and getting paid for it, but I've never felt right about using that precedent as a reason for me to charge money. But today I got the answer I needed, and I hope that it will be of service to you as you consider your own dilemmas with money.

You see, I always asked myself the question: why should anyone pay me money to be a coach? After all, it's not a 'real' job. And what value do I really offer?

But then in a flash of insight, the answer came to me so clearly: in the past 15 years I have invested thousands of hours as I struggled and suffered through my personal challenges, I have invested tens of thousands of dollars in counseling and coaching, and I have invested tens of thousands of dollars in post secondary education. And the thing is, I have not been paid for any of it.

So, I have invested time, money, blood, sweat and tears, and I have yet to be paid for it. So why not charge money for the service that I offer? Seems like a reasonable proposition when framed this way, doesn't it?

My next dilemma comes in terms of how can I charge high fees for my hourly service?

Well, this was pretty easy to answer once I thought about it in the right way. What is the most valuable thing that I can offer to anyone? Direct, one-to-one coaching.

It is the most valuable 'product' that I have to offer. And like any item in the world, it is subject to the laws of economics, supply and demand. The reality is, there is only one of me, and I only have 24 hours in a day to work. So this reality leads to a fee based upon those constraints.

However, I want to be able to help people as much as I can. So I can offer less "one-to-one'ness", but to a larger audience. hence, I will be offering group coaching and seminars.

I also do not want time and space to be a barrier, so I can offer web-based and print-based information.

And finally I do not want money to ever be a barrier to anyone getting help, and that is why I am offering this blog as a free information source.

I imagine there are many of you struggling with this or similar dilemmas -- money has always been a huge stumbling block for me. I hope that this insight has been of some value to you, even though it was free :)

~Dave Brown