I had an interesting conversation with a coach a few 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 it 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 easier to sell one $5000 coaching package and earn 10x for less work. 

 

If you'd like to learn how to structure your coaching business to make more profit with less hassle, check out the live training with Anirudh that's happening on Thursday. 

 

You can register for it here: 

 

 

Marc