The Truth About Paid Coaching (What I’ve Learned)

In this episode, Rachel Cicioni shares her honest journey through paid coaching, highlighting what to look for, how to choose wisely, and how to avoid costly mistakes. She emphasizes the importance of aligned coaching, continuous learning, and trusting your instincts to build a sustainable business.

Resources: 

The Pros and Cons of Paid Business Coaching (Article)

Carly Filewich (YouTube)

Chapters
00:00 The Reality of Paid Coaching
02:20 Finding the Right Mentor
05:09 The Cost of Bad Coaching
07:36 Investing in Continued Education
09:43 Key Takeaways for Coaching Success
12:00 Building a Supportive Network

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Teacher to Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Siccioni, former classroom teacher turned entrepreneur and mentor to educators building their own unique teacher businesses. This is a space for teachers who are curious about alternatives to the classroom, exploring private practice and other multifaceted work, and for those who want to know what success can look like beyond the classroom. I'm glad you're here. Now let's get into today's conversation. In today's episode, I'm going to talk about the elephant in the room, paid coaching. Because offers for coaching and mentorship, they are everywhere. And I want to have a really honest conversation about it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Personally, I have spent about$28,000 on paid coaching and courses over the last five years. That's how I learned a lot of what I now teach my teacher mentees. But I've learned something else too. Not all coaching is created equal. And more expensive does not mean better. In fact, in my experience, it's been the opposite. Some of the best coaching that I've ever received was actually pretty affordable. And the most expensive program I ever paid for, it was the worst. Now, when I started my first business, it was mostly by accident. When I started my teaching business, I didn't have a coach. I didn't even know anybody was really doing what I was doing, at least in the way that I wanted to do it. It wasn't tutoring. I mean, I did a little tutoring, but this was teaching. And I didn't really know anybody else that was doing that. And so I just figured it out as I went along. And honestly, it felt like a full-time job just trying to figure out the business side of it. I was in webinars, master classes, I downloaded all the freebies, I followed so many different experts online. And looking back, I probably could have saved a lot of time and even some money if I had found a good mentor early on. For example, I didn't need to spend$65 for a branding company to create my logo. My favorite logo I ever made was one that my then six-year-old and I made on Canva, the free version of that. So yeah, it took me about 15 months to really get my teaching business running smoothly, sustainably, and earning what I felt was appropriate for what I had to offer. So when I started thinking about creating a second business, the private practice teacher, I didn't want to take another 15 months and I didn't want to fumble my way through it via trial and error. I saw how many teachers were really struggling in the classroom. And rather than seeing all of that passion and expertise being lost to the profession altogether, I was really excited. I still am. I'm really excited about what I've been able to create for myself as a private practice teacher. And I was really passionate about wanting to share what I found with as many other heart-led teachers as possible. So I didn't do what I did the first time. I looked for a coach. Now, again, this was still a pretty new idea. This was back in early 2022, and I didn't see anybody who was doing exactly what I was doing. So what I did instead was I researched coaching, just like I researched grad programs and deeper. I interviewed multiple coaches. I made sure that we were aligned, both philosophically and ethically. I made sure that they were committed to understanding me and my business and what was driving it and my ideal clients. I wanted to be really certain that they were going to take the time to really understand what it was that I was trying to build. And then I took it a step further and I talked to people who had gone through their program. I wanted some references, more than just testimonials on their websites. I wanted to know from somebody else who had gone through the program what they liked about it, what they didn't like, what they thought could have gone better. And I wanted to tell them a little bit about what I was trying to create and whether or not they thought that this particular coach would be able to help me do that. If, in their experience going through that program, would this program help me achieve my goals? And I ended up working with a fabulous coach. Sadly, she doesn't do this anymore. But at the time, she charged me$1,000 a month for four months. And it was phenomenal. She helped me build my program, find a proper platform for my program, clarify my offer, create a marketing strategy and execute that marketing strategy. She taught me how to run ads on Facebook, how to host my own master classes and webinars. She helped me set up my workflow systems and then stayed with me for another month, that was the fourth month, to make sure that all the workflow systems were working smoothly. She walked me through the launch. And then, like I said, another month after that. And within three months of opening the doors to my business, I had earned back what I had invested. And everything after that was pure profit. And that's what a good coaching investment looks like. Now for the bad. Fast forward about a year, I kind of hit a plateau. I couldn't do any more than what I was already doing. And I wanted to figure out how to make my business run more efficiently and get it out to more people. And I was stuck. I didn't know how to do that. And like I said, my previous coach, she wasn't helping, she wasn't coaching anymore. She had had another baby and wanted to step back from working as much so she could be more available for her family. And I would never begrudge a mom for that ever. So it was time to get back out there looking again. But this time I got a little too confident and I didn't do the same level of research, which then allowed me to be sold to instead of making an informed decision. And that program cost me three times the amount of my previous program. This one cost me almost$12,000. And it was honestly the worst investment I have made in any business. What I was sold was not at all what I got. And worse, they told me that I had to do business in a way that was completely misaligned, or my business was going to fail. It was either do it their way or give up on my business. They wanted me to use pain point manipulation and emotionally driven sales tactics, aggressive sales tactics. A no is just fear in disguise. And if I want my business to succeed, I have to dig into somebody's fear, um, help them overcome that fear and convince them that my solution is the only solution to their problem, or they should just give up on their dream altogether. I was supposed to do a hundred cold DMs every day. If I didn't, then I didn't really believe in my business. It was very much a don't take no for an answer energy. And I remember thinking, this does not feel like service. And I thought if that's what business needs to be to be successful, then I don't want any part of it. And the whole experience, the money and the mindset and all of it almost killed my business. I almost quit altogether. But because I started questioning everything, it did something else too. I have a little bit of a rebellious streak. It made me angry. And it made me angry enough to be determined to find another way. And sure, my business might not grow as quickly and it's not going to look like somebody else's business. But it was something that was going to feel good to me and feel good to my clients. So that took me back to the drawing board. I did better research because while that program taught me all the things I did not want my business to be, it still didn't help me address the issues that I was currently having. So I dug back in and I looked for somebody that I thought could actually help me get the answers that I needed. And this time I found some things that worked for me. And I started smaller. I actually found a$50 course with some group coaching involved with it. It was a course creator challenge with Amy Porterfield, and I got much more than my money's worth. It was fantastic. It was so good, in fact, that I invested in her$2,000 program, which was a nine-month-long program called Digital Course Academy. And I learned all about how I could make my course easier to follow, how I could create my own smaller course as an introductory offer, taught me about email marketing, different types of marketing funnels, different coaching models, one-on-one coaching and group coaching. So that was fantastic. I was able to completely revamp and overhaul my business, make it work so much better, make it more available to more people. And sadly, Amy Porterfeld has shifted gears in her own business. She'd been offering the Digital Course Academy for over a decade and now wanted to move on to higher ticket coaching. She doesn't have her$2,000 program anymore, which makes me very sad because it was a fantastic program. Then, fast forward again about two more years, I found another program. And this is the most recent program that I've invested in, focused on Instagram ads, YouTube, and how to have warm service-based conversations in the DMs rather than just cold DMing and DM blasting a bunch of people. And that felt so much more aligned. And again, I earned back more than what I invested. It had a great return on investment and taught me skills that I can share because marketing is one of those things that it's constantly changing. This is an area that I would say you need to invest in some continued education because marketing does change. Trends change. What's available changes. When I first started social media, you could get a lot of great organic leads. Now, if you want to grow faster, you do have to pay. It's more of a pay-to-play system. There are other platforms that are constantly emerging. Another great book that I read was actually Gary V's Day Trading Attention. That would be one that I would recommend. So marketing is something that you need to keep up with because it changes. That would be an area that I tell my mentees that you want to invest in some continued education. And so for myself and my business, that's what I do. And that's how I ended up working with Carly Filewitch of Educator Accelerator. And it was a fantastic program. And I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for that. And you do work with Carly and get to meet some other great educators. And that segues me really nicely into this last piece that I want to share with you. I always want to give you something that you can do with the information I share with you right away. And here's what I want you to walk away from this episode knowing is that anytime you're building a business, you are always going to have to invest some combination of time and money. There will be seasons where you have more money than time, and there will be seasons where you have more time than money. And this is normal and it's part of the journey. And it doesn't mean that you can't continue to work and grow your business. But if you were my friend or my sister and you came to me saying, I'm thinking about investing in this coaching program, here's exactly what I would tell you. Number one, know who you are working with. Know exactly who you are working with. Like I said, with Carly, I met with Carly and I worked with Carly, not just the sales team. You need to have some FaceTime with the person that you are actually going to be working with who is actually coaching you. Number two, ask for real references. Talk to the actual people or email or communicate in some way, shape, or form with people who are either currently in the program or have been in the program in the past and worked with this person. Number three, see and understand the structure before you buy. Understand exactly what it is that you are investing in. Is it going to be a course with group coaching? Is it going to be a group coaching and one-on-one mentorship? Is it just the course? If you are going to be having one-on-one and group mentorship, what exactly is that going to look like? How frequently and what's the duration? Make sure you really understand the structure and exactly what you're buying before any money exchanges hands. Number four, make sure that you fully understand the refund policy and don't be afraid to ask questions. Number five, ask all the questions. For real, there are no dumb questions here. This is a completely different world. Business is very different from teaching. It has its own set of jargon, ICA and funnel and B2B and B2C and so much more. So don't be afraid to ask questions. It doesn't making sure that you end your discovery call, having all of your questions answered so that way you can make an informed decision about what you do with your precious money and your precious time. Don't ever feel bad about that. And number six, trust your gut, not your fear, not your self-doubt. Trust your instincts. If something doesn't feel right, it's okay to say no. It's okay to say no and to try to come back later. Making sure that you're working with the right person or the right people is important, but timing is important too. And it's okay to trust your gut. I'm giving you permission. I hope that this helps you make a decision that actually supports you and the life that you want to create, not something that's going to drain you. And if you have had experiences with coaching, good, bad, or somewhere in between, I would love to hear about it. I do want to create a page on my website of trusted business partners, either some teachers that I have met in this space that have left the classroom and created some awesome businesses, like Amy, who is my virtual assistant, but she is also a private practice teacher in teaching science, both biology and environmental science. But I also know some other great people that I have met in the online space who have either done some bonus trainings with my own clients, but they also have their own businesses. And so if you have had some really great coaching, I would love to reach out and get to know them and add them as a resource as well. And if you are considering something and you want a second opinion, I'm happy to do that too. You can always reach out to me. My email is always open. If you find me on socials, feel free to DM me. I am always happy to give you my thoughts and be here to support you the best way I can and whatever it is that you're trying to build. But before I go, I do want to tell you what we are going to be diving into next week. Because if you've been listening to this and thinking, okay, I get it. I don't want to build a business that feels gross, but I still don't know if I can actually do this, the next week's episode is for you. We're going to be talking about what might actually be stopping you. And I'll give you a hint, it may not be time or money, and it is definitely not your ability. So if you have been feeling stuck or overwhelmed or like you keep circling this idea but not moving forward, then make sure you come back next week because that's what we'll be talking about. Until then, I hope you have a great week. Thank you for listening. If today's episode resonated with you, please share it with a colleague or leave a review. This helps the conversation reach other teachers who may need it. You can learn more about what I do and how to work with me at the privatepracticeteacher.org. Best wishes always.