I had an interesting conversation with a coach years ago.
He wanted to offer some stuff on Patreon to get recurring revenue coming in, and was curious what I thought about his plan.
His idea was to sell a bunch of little things on the crowdfunding site:
So for $2 per month his "Patrons" would get a special email that didn't go out to anyone else, for five bucks a month they would get a shout-out on a podcast episode, for ten bucks a month they would get merchandise like pens and pins.
(I'm going by memory, but you get the idea)
While I appreciate creative thinking, and wish we saw more of that in the coaching industry, I told him that I wasn't a fan of his idea.
In theory, you'd think that it'd be easier to get someone to pay a few dollars a month instead of a large total, but it's not as simple as it sounds.
Like Al Capone said; "Better to have four quarters than 100 pennies"
Even if he was able to get people to open their wallets to support him, the whole thing would be a lot of headache and work for a solopreneur to manage.
But my biggest issue is it wouldn't "move the needle" for his business.
If a coach is putting a lot of effort into something, it should make a big impact on the business.
Let's say the coach managed to get 100 people paying him on Patreon. They might average $5/month each, so that's $500 (before Patreon takes its cut).
That's nothing to write home about, and there are easier ways to make $500 in your coaching business.
I'd venture a guess to say it'd be a lot easier to sell one $5000 coaching package and earn 10x for way less work ...
A good way to get coaching clients rolling in is by releasing engaging content that resonates with your market - so the January issue of Secret Coach Club will be my "content creation playbook".
It's an extra-large issue where I'll break down everything you need to know to crank out profitable content quickly and with a lot less stress.
It heads to the printer tonight, so subscribe by the deadline at midnight (EST) to get it:
Marc Mawhinney