Why I Lowered My Coaching Prices

Sometimes we have to derail ourselves and get lost so we can be found. This past summer, I lost my way, several times, and then came back to find me. A few months ago, I felt a lot of pressure from the outside world to raise my coaching prices. Many factors played into this choice. On a weekly basis I had life-coach and best-selling author friends tell me I was undervaluing myself and should raise my prices. I was coaching some young entrepreneur clients who were relatively new to the coaching industry yet charging a lot more than I was, my own business coach even alluded to me needing to raise my prices. My ego jumped in and said I should be earning more. I felt pressure from all angles. So I did what any person trying to own her worth on the journey to self-love would do: I raised my prices. I didn’t just raise them. I tripled them. Because that’s the price other coaches seem to charge.

So I invested in my vision of having a prosperous life coaching practice, I paid a web programmer tons of money (pretty much wiped out my savings) to roll out my new coaching program with online shopping cart features. I am an elite coach now, I declared to the world. I announced it, I advertised it, and I shared it with the world. But something happened.

Nothing!

I lost clients. No new ones came; I actually felt an energetic shift. My business flatlined. And, of course, fear set in.

The truth is abundance is a side effect of doing what you love fully. You can’t expect money to come if you don’t enjoy what you do or feel good about it, and I didn’t feel good about my prices.

For the past four weeks I’ve walked around with anxiety pitted in my stomach, tied to my new coaching prices. I didn’t like them, they didn’t feel good, and I wouldn’t feel good about someone paying that. When we don’t feel good about our choices, our customers, clients, and those around us won’t feel good either.

After reflecting on my choice, I realized I wasn’t thinking clear when I made that choice, I lost sight of my audience and put too much attention on what everyone else was doing. My business is about me, and my clients, not other coaches or what other trainers are doing. If that works for them, great, but for me I know what I want and what my clients can pay, so I created a new structure for pricing independent and free from all other coaches. I arrived at a choice that felt great for my own business and me.

Many coaches seem to make it about them and their lavish lifestyle, but shouldn’t it be about the people we serve. Helping those who want to hire us. I don’t need to use your money to show my value. I fell victim to the coaching industry and tried to walk its walk. But I don’t want to play in that arena.

I want to be true to me, and that means charging a rate that feels more accessible for the many rather than the few. I got lost in the sea of coaches and made it about me, when I needed it to be about you, my clients, my audience, and readers.

I need to do what is right for me and my clients, despite what the rest of the industry is doing. I never felt good about the high prices so I restructuctured my coaching prices. I have arrived at a lower price I feel really good about, and I hope you do too. I want to be of service and help you feel safe, nurtured, and respected. Coaching clients is one of my most passionate joys.

I needed to post a blog on this topic because I have to speak my truth. Quite honestly, I get frustrated with the coaching industry. Coaches just throwing prices around because those numbers look good on paper and will help them meet their own financial goals… meanwhile, clients are racking up credit card debt or wiping out their savings to fund someone else’s dream.

Let’s quit the madness and return to the reason why we started in the first place: to be of service and help people. I started my business for you. I want to make it about you, because you matter.

It is easy to get lost in the sea of competition, I feel into the trap. The sea of how to market yourself and get people to want what you have.

But what if we don’t have to try so hard?

What if we are enough just as we are, because at the end of the day, isn’t it about fulfillment? When you connect with your joy and align yourself with all choices in integrity, you will have everything you need. Don’t put the cart before the horse.

At the end of the day, it’s about alignment. You want to be aligned with all of your choices from a place of love. Not ego, not fear, not competition, but love.

Always choose love.