A Podcast for Coaches

Mark Butler: Hey, this is Mark
Butler and you are listening

to a podcast for coaches.

Couple of episodes ago we
talked about decreasing.

Unpredictability in a coaching practice
and how it has its unpredictable parts

and how we have to use our mindset and
our care of relationships as a way of

reducing that unpredictability so that we
as coaches are able to sustain ourselves.

While we're serving our clients today,
I wanna come back to this topic, but

instead of approaching it through the
lens of what does my mindset need to

be and how do I need to approach my
relationships such that the practice is

as predictable as possible, I wanna talk
about the actual business model itself and

how we approach the coaching containers
that we create, and how those containers

could have more unpredictability
or less unpredictability in them.

Now, before I do that, I want to say
that I'm looking at this as a coach

who uses the money in my coaching
practice to pay for my family's, life.

There's another type of coach who gives
great service and takes great care

of their clients, but the money they
generate from their coaching practice

is not necessarily consequential
to their household consumption.

There's nothing at all wrong with this.

It's a great thing.

There are people for whom the financial
stability in their coaching practice

is actually rooted in the financial
stability of the household because

either the coach has a day job or a
business that they run, and coaching

is the thing they do on the side.

Or the coach has a spouse who has a
day job or a profession, or a business

that provides the stability in the
day-to-day finances such that the coach.

doesn't have to be very concerned with
the unpredictability of a coaching

practice because their finances
are going to be fine either way.

This episode and the last one for that
matter, are really geared toward those

of us who in order for us to stay happy
and healthy in our practices, we want

to have enough financial stability.

That we can keep doing the work we do.

Without thinking too much about the
money, in my episodes that I've done

in the past about ethics of coaching,
one of the things that can have a

negative impact on the ethics of
our practice is if I'm so consumed,

With my financial situation

that my focus is on generating a
transaction instead of giving the

best possible care and service to the
prospective client that's in front of

me, or the client that's in front of me.

So if we're gonna be pro coaches
who actually use our practices as

our vocation, as our way of making
a living, we need to bring enough

financial stability to our lives
that we can keep our focus on

the client and not on the money.

So now that I've established who
this episode is for, it's really

for people who are relying on the
money they generate through their

coaching practice to keep their
families consumption at normal levels.

I wanna talk about the different types
of coaching there are and how tailoring

our practices to one or the other.

It could actually increase or decrease the
unpredictability in our financial lives.

Now, as I say, types of coaching,
I acknowledge that I've done many

episodes about the difference
between training and coaching.

What I'm talking about today is
different types of coaching within a

conversation based coaching practice.

And the two types of coaching that
I'm thinking about are number one,

hygiene coaching, or number two.

Repair coaching.

Now I just made these up.

You can decide whether they're useful
to you, but I'm describing hygiene

coaching as the type of coaching
that I do with clients who are so

converted to conversation-based
coaching that they always have

coaching sessions on their calendar.

They always have a
relationship with their coach.

They view coaching as utility, and I did
an episode about that a few months ago.

They view coaching as a utility where
they kind of see it as the brushing

and flossing of their thoughts, their
feelings, and their relationships.

It's how they stay healthy.

Hygiene based coaching
is what I'm calling it.

Then we have what I would
call repair coaching.

Repair Coaching is the type of
coaching that happens with clients who.

Don't always have a coaching
session on their calendar.

They view coaching as something
they do on an as needed basis.

They tend to reach out to their coach
when they're having an acute experience.

It could be an acute positive
experience, as in I've just realized

that I have these huge goals and
aspirations that I wanna pursue, and

I really want to get the collaboration
of a coach to work on these things.

I.

Or they could be having an acute
negative emotional experience.

I have a family member in crisis, or my
relationship has really hit a rough patch,

or I'm really struggling in my confidence
or my business isn't working, and it's

time for me to reach out to a coach.

If I were to label hygiene coaching
and repair coaching in another

way, I would say hygiene coaching
is coming from a place of want.

And repair coaching is probably
coming from a place of need, I'm

not judging the people who engage
in these two different types of

coaching because I think all of us, I.

Engaging in these different types of
coaching at different points in our lives.

But when people approach a hygiene based
coaching, I tend to hear them say things

like, I just want to have a coach.

I just love having a coach.

I never want to be without a
coach because it just really

helps me stay on track in my life.

Repair type clients or repair type
coaching tends to sound like, well,

I reached out to you because I
really need some support right now.

Or when they're not engaging with
coaching, they tend to say, I don't

really feel like I need it right now.

So that's why I'm saying hygiene
coaching tends to be want based and

repair coaching tends to be need-based.

Hygiene coaching tends to lend
itself better to stability

in a coaching practice.

If I can build enough relationships and
serve those relationships well enough

that I maintain this nice pool of clients
who just tend to renew and value our

time together and want to be present with
me in conversation over the long haul.

I don't need a ton of those
in order to have a very.

Healthy and stable coaching practice.

The issue is that even the healthiest
hygiene based coaching relationships, I.

Come to a natural conclusion.

There's nothing wrong with it.

In fact, when those relationships feel
like they are at an end, I think we

get into ethical trouble if we try
to find a reason for them not to end.

If we go into a persuasive mode,
or at worst, a coercive mode

where instead of having a.

Healthy long-term hygiene
coaching relationship, and we

try to coerce it into continuing.

I think we're outta bounds ethically.

So there's a challenge that can come
up in a coaching practice that is

largely hygiene based, which is.

What happens if you've got a very small,
happy, healthy group of clients who

renew and renew and renew, and then
within a period of just a few months,

they don't renew the relationships,
reach their natural conclusion?

Well, now I don't have clients and I
don't have the money that the clients

are paying me, and it feels a little
bit not quite right to frame it that

way, but in dollars and cents terms.

That's what we're facing.

Also in a practice that's almost
exclusively hygiene based.

Because the relationships
tend to last a long time.

These practices may not start many
new relationships in a given year.

The practice itself can get out of the
habit of starting new relationships.

That are available for invitation into a
coaching relationship when the time comes.

Yes, I talked about that in the
previous episode about how to reduce

unpredictability in a practice.

But as I sit with that idea
myself, I have to acknowledge I.

When I'm settled into a nice groove
with a great group of long-term

hygiene clients, my mind starts
to slip away from the starting and

the nurturing of new relationships.

And I have found myself at times with
a mostly blank calendar and not quite

sure who's gonna be my next client.

And because I count on the money
from the practice to make my family's

life work, that can get stressful.

So a hygiene client driven coaching
practice is very appealing,

but it's at risk of dry spells.

Well, let's talk about
a repair based practice.

In a repair based practice, which
is one in which the coach tends to

be very flexible and very open and
say, look, I wanna support you in

whatever way you wanna be supported.

You reach out to me when you want
to do some coaching together.

Ethically, I think this is.

Really strong because the coach is
saying, not only do I not need you, but

I'm going to take a role in your life
where when you put out the bat signal

and you need some support, I'll be there.

I think a repair based practice
is especially great for people

who don't need the money.

If they can go through their life
living the way they want to, functioning

in the way that they want to.

And not have to worry about whether
the email is gonna land in the

inbox or whether the phone is gonna
ring or the DM is gonna arrive.

That's great.

The issue that I think those
coaches face is they will tend

to work with clients in crisis.

And having worked with clients
in crisis, I can tell you that

mentally and emotionally it is
much more demanding than hygiene.

Now on the financial side, a purely
repair based coach is going to have

a very hard time creating a stable
income stream unless they have so many.

Relationships, so many people who
are converted to them and to coaching

that in any given month, enough
of those people will be in crisis,

which is a slight overstatement.

I acknowledge they don't have to be in
crisis, but enough of those people have

to get to the activation energy that
it takes to send that coach a message

and say, could we have a session?

The pool has to be so big and the
percentage so stable of that pool that

reaches out for help that the repair based
coach is able to make the living that they

want to make and feel solid themselves.

My argument against a purely repair
based coaching practice is that

no one wants to call a plumber.

I would guess that if a plumber were
to have a hygiene business where they

say, oh yeah, you set up, we'll set you
up on a, on a subscription, and we'll

come clean out your pipes every six
months and you'll pay a fee for that.

It might be a great idea, but I don't
know of any plumbers who are doing that.

As far as I know, plumbers
tend to be almost purely repair

based, purely emergency based.

So in order for plumbers to have
stability in their businesses, I

think plumbers have to be really
good at positioning themselves in the

places where people go when they have
that particular type of emergency.

When we were kids, that was
the phone book, 15 years ago.

That was search engine optimization.

Whoever had the best local
business listing was gonna

get the plumbing clients.

That's probably still true, but in
a coaching practice, if I'm gonna

run a purely repair based business,
I've gotta be present in the minds

of enough people that when they get
into crisis, they reach out for help.

And it's not that, I think that's a.

Bad thing.

It's that I think if you were to do
that exclusively, there'd be a lot of

up and down and a lot of volatility
in the practice, and I think the work

you did would be particularly intense.

So what are we to do as coaches?

Are we to take a primarily hygiene
based approach, long-term relationships,

accepting the dry spells that can
come in that kind of practice.

When these healthy long-term relationships
reach their natural conclusion and we're

in a little bit of a rebuilding phase,
or do we go with the repair based route

where we build a bunch of relationships
and then we wait for some percentage of

those clients to have a crisis moment in
their life and they reach out for help.

As I've been sitting with
this over the last few weeks,

I think the answer is both.

If I want to start my month with
the highest possible confidence,

that enough money will come in that
month to make my family's life easy.

Yes, I wanna be nurturing
relationships, and I think I want

to have containers in my practice
coaching containers that facilitate.

Long-term hygiene and short-term repair.

And it's funny that I use the term
hygiene because as I was whiteboarding

out, this whole concept, it occurred to
me that I'm describing a dental practice.

Now, some of you listening got
there way before I did, but

I realized dental practices.

Do hygiene and repair.

They do both.

Dental practices also deal with
the reality that nobody's really

excited to go to the dentist.

So dentists are wise to make
hygiene as frictionless as possible.

Which is why usually you're still in your
dentist's chair when the hygienist or

the dental assistant are asking you if
we can go ahead and schedule your next

appointment for six months from now.

That's the lowest friction moment
for them to introduce that idea.

Because dentists do both hygiene and
repair, and because they have extremely

high overhead in the form of buildings
and equipment and staff payroll and

the whole thing, they have to be really
good at creating stability in their

cash flow such that they don't have to
wake up on the first of the month and

worry about keeping all the bills paid.

I'm sure this is true in a
lot of professional services.

By the way.

It just happened that because I was
thinking about hygiene and repair,

suddenly dentistry comes to my mind, and
then as I'm thinking about dentistry,

I start thinking about the dentist I've
been seeing for the last, I don't know,

two, three years, Kate found them.

A couple years ago.

We were transitioning
away from another dentist.

We found this dentist.

And when we got into their
practice, we found out they

do a very interesting thing.

It's probably getting more and more
common in the world of dentistry,

but this is the first one I've
dealt with and this is what they do.

Kate and I both pay a monthly
membership fee to the dentist.

I.

It's a small enough amount that I don't
really feel it on a month to month

basis, even though I'm paying it times
two, because it's both me and Kate.

Our kids go to a pediatric
dentist, which is somebody else.

So now I'm paying this monthly fee,
and the monthly fee entitles me to two

cleanings per year at no cost, which has
this nice psychological benefit that when

I go to the dentist now for a cleaning.

If I don't need any repair, I walk
in, I receive service, and I walk

out and no money changes hands.

And I have laughed at myself at what
a psychological impact that has had.

I know that I'm paying
for those cleanings.

I might even be paying more for
those cleanings than I would if

I just paid for them one off.

Although when I do the
math, I don't think so.

I think it's probably about
sixes, two cleanings per year for

the amount I pay in the monthly
subscription, and same for Kate.

But there's such a, psychological
win to going and receiving a

service and feel like you're
getting it, quote unquote for free.

So that's really interesting to me.

They've really reduced the friction by
having to pay that monthly subscription.

They do.

Another interesting thing
that when there is a repair.

Required.

I get 25% off repairs

early in my relationship
with this dentist.

I think I needed a crown.

It was probably 1500 bucks
or something like that.

I can't remember the amount.

Well, that's annoying.

I never want to spend
$1,500 on a dental repair.

But again, it was fascinating to watch
my psychology when they said, oh, but

you know, as a member you get 25% off
that repair and suddenly I felt smart

and my embarrassment about having to
pay for this expensive repair and my

anxiety about it, suddenly it goes
down a little bit just because I.

They've discounted it by 25%
because I'm a member now, I'm

not in the dentist finances.

I don't know whether the dentist
inflated that price 25% so they

could drop it right back down 25%.

I don't think so because I'm a
person who's paid a lot of money

for dental work over the years, and
their price for that service was in

the neighborhood of what I expected.

So I got to have this nice
little emotional bump from the

fact that because I'm a member,
I get this discount on repairs.

I love that this dentist does that.

I don't know whether this is
true, but I wanna say something

about the ethics of this.

There's another thing going on
here that relates to the ethics

of both dentistry and coaching.

Dentists have a financial
incentive to find repairs to do.

They get paid when they fix teeth.

That creates an incentive for them
to sometimes see repairs that may

or may not be absolutely necessary,
and they have to really check their

ethics to say, well, we could do
this, but we don't really need to.

For some reason, the fact that I pay
a monthly membership for the dentist.

Increases my confidence that they're
doing right by me when I'm in their chair.

Now, that's emotional.

I don't know that I could justify
it with math, but there's something

that feels right about it to me where
I say, I hope they have thousands

of people in that dental office who
are paying the monthly membership.

Because if they do.

The dentists who work there wake up
on the first of the month and know

that it's gonna be a great month,
and they never have to be in my mouth

looking for a way to pay their mortgage
or to pay for their kids, whatever.

Now do I know that's the case?

I do not know that's the case.

I'm hypothesizing, but it's
one of the reasons I like

paying that monthly membership.

I think it aligns my desires
with the dentist's desires.

Okay, what do we do
with this dental model?

Am I proposing that I should charge my
coaching clients a monthly membership

and then add on to that AEs price Maybe.

I told you I was just thinking out loud.

I don't really have a solution here.

What does seem true to me is
that I want to be a coach whose

full-time vocation is coaching.

I also want to be a provider
who sees to his family's wants.

Many of you would also say needs, that's
not the language I typically say with

finances because what I mean is I want
my family's consumption to be smooth and

normal across the months and years, and I
want my attention to be able to stay clean

around both my family and my clients.

I also believe that my coaching clients
want me to be healthy and happy and clear.

I think my coaching clients want to
know that when the zoom room opens

and there I am, they want to know
that a happy, healthy, clear-headed

coach is sitting in front of them.

Somebody who's able to be present
and positive and hold clean space.

Not have his mind on, I don't
actually know how we're gonna

pay the mortgage next month.

It is not my client's responsibility to
keep me happy, healthy, and clearheaded.

It's my responsibility.

I think it's my job as a coach to say.

If you want your coach to be happy,
healthy, and clearheaded, we need

to arrange this relationship in such
a way that I don't just disappear

one day and say, oh, sorry, the
coaching thing didn't really pan out.

I went and got a job.

I also don't want my clients to
have the experience where they

say, oh, mark used to do one-on-one
coaching, but he started to pursue

other business models that really.

Set aside one-on-one work because
he was trying to create more

predictability in his income stream.

Now, my clients might not agree with that.

They might say, look, dude,
really, it's not my problem.

And they're right.

So the question becomes,
can we as coaches.

Organize our practices in such a way that
we're happy, we're healthy, we're clear.

Our clients feel like they have
access to both hygiene and repair,

so that all of us are the best that we
can possibly be in the relationship.

I'm gonna keep thinking about this.

I think there's something here
that makes all of us better off.

Now I wanna be clear.

I am happy and healthy.

I'm incredibly grateful and sometimes
a little bit shocked that for

about four years now, session-based
coaching has reliably provided a high

percentage of my family's income.

That is the coolest thing to me.

In the world.

I love it.

What I'm looking at now is, is
there a way for me to evolve

the practice in a way that I'm
delivering higher and better service?

My clients are the
happiest they've ever been,

and it's financially
more level and smooth.

Maybe then it's been in the past because
it does have its natural fluctuations.

It's just food for thought.

As coaches, I think we should be trying
to innovate and as we try to innovate,

we want to innovate in ways that make our
clients better off and make us better off.

'cause remember, I believe
in session-based work.

As long as session-based work is a
thing that people provide and people

purchase, I'll be doing it I think
for the next 30 or 40 years, well

into my seventies and eighties.

If there's a hygiene and repair
hybrid approach that can support that

longevity in my work and my practice,
then by all means, let's figure it out.

And with that, I will
talk to you next time.