Offer One-to-one Coaching

This form of coaching service provision is the most direct. Basically, you get in front of a webcam and you coach people via Skype of Google Hangouts. It’s that basic. It’s a one-to-one coaching system. In other words, there’s only one person there or if you’re coaching couples, two people, but that’s it. You’re not coaching a whole audience or a wide range of people watching your recorded videos. This is for a specific individual at a specific time with a specific subject in mind. The key to one-to-one coaching is live interaction. In other words, your advice exists only to help that
person in front of you. Whatever questions or insecurities they may have, you’re there to help them. You’re operating on that one-to-one personal level. This is why a lot of people would pay good money for this. It’s all about them. They’ve booked and blocked off this specific amount of your personal time.

Advantages
The most obvious advantage of one-to-one coaching is that this is the most expensive form of coaching you could do. This is where you make the big bucks. If you have developed a solid brand in your area of expertise, you can probably be justified to charge hundreds of dollars per hour. Imagine that. You’re sitting in front of Skype and talking to somebody. After an hour, you have $300 all the way up to $500. Not too bad, right? Second, it is a short duration. The person you’re coaching cannot talk your ear off. They can’t monopolize your time. You’re offering the live one-on-one coaching for a very short period of time. We’re talking about one hour, or two hours at maximum. That’s it. For that amount of time, you’re going to get paid well. Another key advantage is that you don’t have to worry about your presentation or your advice not helping your intended audience. Since you only have an audience of one, that person asks you all sorts of questions while you go through the coaching so you can see whether they’re absorbing this and you can also shake the material so that they could absorb it more fully.

Disadvantages
I wish I could tell you that you can start offering one-to-one coaching on day one. It doesn’t work that way. You have to be a premium expert before you start offering one-to-one coaching. This means that you have to pay your dues over an extended period of time. If you expect people to pay you $300 per hour, you’re going to have to earn that right by paying your dues. What do I mean by that? Well, you’re going to have to publish books to at least document your expertise. You’re going to have to be interviewed by important people or important blogs in your industry. Your name has to be prominent enough for people to say, “Yes. That person’s time is worth $300 or more per hour.” That’s how it works. Another key disadvantage is that these one-to-one coaching sessions are very expensive. This is why
it’s a good idea to sell them in fifteen minute blocks. For example, if your base rate is $300 per hour, get people excited by telling them, “I’m going to give you live one-on-one coaching starting at $75.” That $75 buys 15 minutes of your time. If you’re a big-enough expert, that should be good enough. If people like what you have to say and if they really feel that they’re making progress thanks to your coaching, don’t be surprised if they order more fifteen-minute blocks. Before you know it, this person has already paid $300 for an hour of your time. Another big disadvantage here is you are selling your time. In other words, you can’t be somewhere else. You can’t help other people. You can’t work on something that might possibly earn more money. You’re stuck doing live one-on-one coaching. Sure, you’re getting paid a lot of money per hour, but you’re still trading your time for money. Generally speaking, you can’t record you sessions. Reselling this one-to-one session is a big no. This person wanted you to interact with them directly. They’re not asking you to turn them into content so you can make money many times over by selling your recorded session.
Finally, you might have to produce custom worksheets for this one-to-one session. This might take quite a bit of time. Also, if that person has very specialized needs, this can actually take more effort than you have originally anticipated.

Step-by-step Guide

Step #1
Set up live one-on-one appointment systems on your author website When people find your brand online, they end up on your author site. This is an ideal place to offer live one-on-one coaching. The way they can access that is through an online appointment system.

Step #2
Set up a payment system It’s very important for you to get paid first. The worst thing that you can do is to set up your one-to-one coaching wherein people can cheat you. Believe it or not, there are lots of otherwise well-renowned expert coaches that overlook this. Not surprisingly, after their clients show up, get coached, and get worksheets and supplemental information, they don’t get billed. You have to get people to pay upfront. Overcome your fear of thinking, “If I ask for money, this person is going to drop.” Well, if they’re going to drop anyways because they’re not sure, then they were never your customers to begin with. Do you see where I’m coming from? Good.

Step #3
Review your clients’ background materials prior to each session This is the key. You have to deliver solid value. You’re not just spouting the exact same stuff that you say to every random person in the street who’s interested in your areas of expertise. This person is asking for a one-to-one coaching session for a reason. They have specific needs and interests. Read up on these. Research them. Give them information they don’t already know. Break this information down so they can actually get value from the one-to-one coaching.

Step #4
Show up on time and coach This should be self-explanatory. Unfortunately, a lot of otherwise expert coaches manage to blow this. If you want to be viewed as a true professional, show up on time every time.

Step #5
Try to get another session Play it by ear. If you notice that the person you’re coaching is responding favorably and is getting really excited, give them the idea that they can book another session. The more sessions you book, the
more money you make. However, don’t be obvious or rude about it. If it’s obvious to them that you’re just milking them for every ounce of cash you can get, it’s going to be a major turn off for them. They’d probably not have a good impression of you. Play it by ear, but always try to get the next session going.