By Casey Cole Corbin, Good to Great Coaching, Consulting, & Counseling
(This blog entry is intended for counselors, coaches, and therapists)
It took 20 of the 25 years I’ve been counseling and coaching for me to realize I was doing a disservice to both myself and my clients.
Like you, I got into this industry to help people so I focused on people that seemed to really need help. I volunteered at a homeless shelter one day a week for 10 years. I worked in about a dozen different counseling programs mostly with people that could not afford to pay for those services themselves. The family would pay but they were tired of paying, and government programs would (barely) pay. It was a mentality I got sucked into and was challenging to get out of.
When I truly understood my value I did two things:
1- I researched the fee range in my area. The highest-priced were $150 session. I changed my price to be $175.
2- I stopped doing pro bono (free) sessions.
This has served me well. Those that can afford it don't blink at the price. In fact, they feel better about paying more as they feel they are getting themselves the best care they can.
You can’t go up but you can always come down.
I can always lower my price if I want to work with someone that truly can't afford it. I do this through scholarships, not a sliding scale. A sliding scale usually means writing a policy, having prospective clients fill out an invasive application, and then spending my time verifying whether the financial information is correct. What a hassle. It also goes against my motto for going into private practice: less paperwork, more time actually helping people.
I also ONLY offer partial scholarships. Why? People invest in what they are invested in. They need to have some skin in the game. So now I work with internally motivated clients that actually do the work. If they don’t do the work I simply tell them, “Sorry, but that scholarship has run out.”
I've been surprised at the ones that I thought couldn't afford the full price, and even though I make them aware of potential scholarships in my intake paperwork, they didn't even ask for one. They paid up gladly. These are the best clients, by the way. They took more personal responsibility, did the homework, and have referred more people to me.
Do I still get twerpy clients that are being pushed to come to see me and are only externally motivated? Unfortunately, I still get a few every year. But they are full-pay only. I consider it endurance pay for putting up with their lousy attitude while I wait for the magic moment to kick in and they get serious about changing.
It was truly a game-changer when I stopped doing Sliding Scale and switched to the Scholarship model. But I've changed the game again and I don't offer Scholarships any longer. I upgraded everything! I now have my clients join my monthly subscription membership program. All the automation is a win for both of us. It allows me to multiply my time and the client get more value both inside and outside of session time.
It's worked so well many counselors and coaches asked me to mentor them to maximize their impact and income while minimizing their time investment. I have a wonderful wife, 4 children, and two grandchildren that I get to spend more time with than ever before!
If you are a
counselor or coach that would like to learn more click here to Request an Invitation to Ethically Automate Your Program:
https://forms.gle/pqwhAD8uYeQpSDEA8 (Don't worry, it's not one of those crazy expensive programs.)
See you soon,
-Casey
Who is Casey? Casey Cole Corbin is a husband, dad, & grandfather. Serving as counselor, life coach, artist, & infopreneur. Casey helps people like you that are good but want to be great in their personal and professional life!