12. Can You Really Make Six Figures as an Enneagram Facilitator? Let's Do the Math.

Short answer: Yes. You absolutely can. But making six figures and having a six-figure business are two very different things.

In this episode, you'll get the breakdown of some of the real math behind a $100K Enneagram business...from operating expenses and taxes to the number of workshops you may actually need to sell. You'll also hear why knowing the Enneagram, facilitating it well, and building a business around that work are three different skill sets.

This isn't meant to discourage you from building a profitable Enneagram business. It's meant to help you build one with your eyes open, realistic numbers, and a better plan.

Plus, a word of caution about income claims from certification and coaching programs, and why a good certification should make you a better practitioner, not promise you a particular financial outcome.

You Still Have to Build the Business...but you don't have to build the workshop from scratch.

Enneagram MBA Commercial License Kit: Slides • Facilitator Notes • Activities • Field Guide + More

Get Access -> https://www.enneagrammba.com/enneagram-facilitator-kit

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome back to another episode, bonus episode here on the Bringing the Enneagram to group. This is a bonus episode. Uh originally, this limited series started out as 10 episodes. I did have a feeling there might be some extra ideas and topics that made sense to cover later in the future. So one of those uh was just covered in the previous episode, talking about my recommendation for a um certification. If you are looking to bring the Enneagram into the workplace, I'll give you the spoiler alert. It's the awareness to action Enneagram framework. Um they have a cohort starting September 21st, 2026. Depending on when you're listening to this, this might be a great time to jump into that. If you've missed it or aren't quite ready for that, I gave you some uh places to start learning about the framework, understanding it to see if it might be a fit for you. I shared why I recommend it, who I recommend it for, who I don't recommend it for. Um and you can listen to all of that in the previous episode. Um, for those of you who are new to me, um, to this podcast, I am your host, Sarah Wallace. I'm also the host over on the Enneagram at Work podcast. And then um we, depending on when you're listening to this, are just getting an Enneagram for Educators uh started, where I will be co-hosting with a uh an education professional uh who recently went through the awareness to action framework as well. And so we are we're teaming up for Enneagram for Educators podcast. Um, I'm the founder and managing director over at Enneagram MBA, a team training company where all we do is bring the Enneagram to groups, hence this, hence this podcast. Um, and today we're going to be talking about is it possible to actually make six figures as an Enneagram facilitator? Um, if you only do coaching, feel free to, you know, replace facilitator with coach. And I think the same logic, you'll have to switch some things up with your pricing and your offerings, but um, it'll, you know, I think that translate. Um, there the reason for this episode is that I have been seeing for, I don't know, at least the last year or so, um, some pretty, I think, borderline unethical Facebook ads. Um, and then I have seen some other uh marketing materials out there with income claims, specifically make six figures with the Enneagram, mix make six figures sharing the Enneagram um in the workplace. And uh I have been I have been burned in the past by these sort of you know, vision casting, make six figures, travel the world, have time freedom, um, all while making a difference and using the Enneagram to do so, which that sounds incredible, right? We I know that we want to be Enneagram facilitators, we want to be Enneagram coaches, we want to share the Enneagram because we love the Enneagram. It has personally impacted, probably transformed your life in some way. And we want to be able to share that with others and feel um like we are making a difference. We get to talk about the Enneagram, we get to help people, and what? We get to make six figures and we get to travel the world and we get to have, you know, do whatever we want to do, make our own schedule and flexibility. Well, gosh, will that sound why why isn't everybody signing up to be an Enneagram coach or an Enneagram facilitator? Um, because it's not as easy as some of these people are making it out to seem. And so I had shared um in the previous episode that one of the things I really appreciated about the awareness to action material and really the marketing around it was that it was very much focused on the content and making giving you the credible content, the the framework to be able to bring the Enneagram into a corporate workplace and both be helpful and legitimate and and and be taken seriously. And that's it. There's no income claims, there's no lifestyle claims. And honestly, I I appreciate that because um I think that those are probably two very different skill sets. And uh I just appreciate that that they're staying in their lane with that. And I know there are others out there that um are trying to do a little bit of both, and and I don't know that there's anything wrong with that, but I just want you to understand what actually goes into creating a six-figure business and um just to maybe dig a little bit deeper into some of these claims, if if they these are programs that you happen to be looking um into. So um, like I said, the the reason why I'm doing this is because I know that for the most part, the Enneagram community is is such a big-hearted group of people that care deeply about other people, that love the Enneagram, that want to have fun with it, that want to share the share that with others, that want to share the impact with others. Um and I I hate to see anybody being taken advantage of um because I have fallen for these things in the past. Um and so I'm just I gotta, you know, maybe so take take this with a grain of salt, right? Maybe I'm maybe I'm I got a little chip on my shoulder from from past experiences, unrelated to the Enneagram community. But when I see them um in this community, it just I'm like, oh, come, come on, come on. So um, and then something else I I do want to make you aware of is that this these income claims have been kind of a rampant problem in the coaching world in general. Um they're, you know, I still see them, but but less frequently there for a while. You were seeing people charging, I mean, $50,000 for a mastermind group, you know, $5,000 an hour to meet with a a business coach with promises of income claims, million dollars, six figures, half a million dollars. Um, and most of the time it's simply not true. Um, their their framework is not proven. Um, and so the FTC has recently got involved in the last few years, and they now um have really cracked down and and uh prohibit any sort of unsubstantiated income claims, earning claims, anything that might be a little deceptive, um, intentional or not. And certain business opportunities out there that have specific earning claims, you know, they there needs to be disclosures and requirements around that. Um, there's also um additional rulings and regulations around um money making opportunities like coaching, business coaching, and um you really need to have evidence supporting those income claims. And they have clearly stated that exceptional success stories are not evidence that others are likely to achieve that same thing. So um just want to put that out there. And then now that we've gotten kind of that out of the way, now I want to talk about what does it really take, though, to make six figures and is it even possible? So I think short answer, absolutely, yes, it is possible, but we'll say making six figures and then having a six-figus are two very different things. And we're gonna walk through that today, just so you know, eyes wide open, what it's gonna take. I think that you have what it takes. I believe that you are absolutely capable of bringing six figures in. I just want you to know a little bit. I just want you to see the whole, the, the big picture, the whole story here, right? Um, so we're gonna do a little, a little math. And I typically have a rule where I don't do public math. So I have made some notes um and I have I have my numbers in front of me, so you might see me looking away. I hope that I don't have to do anything else on the spot, but just know that even going through these numbers uh gives me a little gives me a little anxiety. Uh, but we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it. I know we can do it, I know I can do it. Um, so first thing I'm gonna I'm gonna give you kind of two ways to look at this. So um let's say that you make a thousand one hundred thousand dollars, this this magical six-figure number. Let's say you get to that first tier of the magical six-figure number and you make one hundred thousand dollars in a year facilitating Enneagram workshops. Okay, what does that actually mean? So if your business generated $100,000 in revenue, unfortunately, that does not mean that you took home $100,000 personally. Um, I'm gonna give you a hypothetical Enneagram facilitator business. So let's say that this person generates $100,000 in growth, gross revenue. Now there's gonna be business expenses. And I'm I'm going to do very just to keep this easy and very basic math, yours is gonna be different. Yours might be more, yours might be less, but uh we're gonna say um we're gonna subtract operating costs and expenses like assessments, um, any sort of certification or continuing education that you did. We can subtract your website costs if you paid a website designer, if you pay them to update it, the website host um platform, you got to pay for that URL. If you have any sort of, you know, email campaign software. Um, sometimes you might have some professional liability insurances in there, um, any sort of marketing expenses, so your business cards, any pamphlets or postcards that you have, um, any sort of um, you know, I think your email campaign software would fit under this as well. Um, can't accounting. You might pay a bookkeeper. You're gonna probably have to pay somebody to do your taxes, maybe, maybe not. Maybe you do them yourself, but count and counting those. Um, there's workshop materials. Maybe you do, you print off books, or you have stickers or pens, or you know, counting and all that, the printing that goes along with that. Um, any sort of travel that isn't fully reimbursed. So you know you got your airfare and hotels and and mileage on your car, meals. Um, you might need to pay subcontractors. So that's one of the things that we we have here. Um, we have Liesel who does the some back end work for us, welcoming new clients, getting people set up for workshops, gotta pay her, visiting facilitators who, when I'm double booked or they might be a better fit, depending on the industry or their skill set, um, we'll contract out with them. Um, any sort of professional membership. So if you're a prof member of the International Enneagram Association, there is the Enneagram Resource Group, um, there's other unrelated Enneagram uh groups that you might also be a member of, um, Sherm, you know, what whatever else you got in there, make sure you include that. Um, if you have your own podcast, you're thinking about a podcast, you got the podcast cost in there, payment processing fees. So there's a lot. I went through all of that just to kind of stir some ideas to make sure because it's easy to forget some things, but those are those are your expenses. And let's just say nice round number, that it's $25,000. So we add up all these expenses for the year, you got reoccurring, you got um project specific or workshop specific, um, event specific. So um you have $25,000 in business expenses. So I'm gonna take $100,000 and I'm gonna minus set uh $25,000. And now we are working with $75,000 of business profit. Okay. Now, depending on what state you're in, you know, your personal situation, I want to be very clear that I am about to simplify this enormously. And I I have been and I will continue to simplify this enormously. Disclaimer, you know, talk to your accountant about your particular tax situation. Um, the point here isn't that everyone's numbers will look exactly the same. My point is that revenue is not income. So just to, you know, be thinking about your own situation. But let's say um we're at we have $75,000 in business profit. Okay. So when you subtract your federal self-employment, state, and local taxes, a lot of taxes. Um, when you subtract all of that, you're looking at maybe $20,000 to $22,000 on that $75,000 profit. So we have $75,000. We gotta, we gotta pay, we gotta pay the taxes. So let's take $20,000 just to be a nice even number. So now we are down to $55,000 that is actually available to you. So not, I mean, not terrible, not terrible for getting to do work that you love. And maybe if you do have a flexible schedule, and maybe you are able to travel the world on that schedule on that amount. Um, it just right, every situation is gonna be different. If you have, you know, a family of seven, it's gonna, you know, your financial needs might look a little bit different depending on what your partner does versus household of one. Um, so all different kinds of situations. I'm not here to say what is a good or bad income amount for you. I'm just simply here to kind of give you, make sure that you understand what it takes to make a hundred thousand. And maybe you already know this, but I I just don't think it gets talked about enough. So, so that's that. So if you're saying make a hundred thousand, that's what that's actually gonna look like. Now let's let's let's say, okay, I do want to make a hundred thousand. Okay. What what do you actually need to build a to bring in a hundred thousand dollars personally of spendable income for you? Okay, so you you so I'm gonna attempt to do this again. So let's say you want to bring home, we're kind of gonna do some reverse math here. You want to bring home in your pocket $100,000. Again, just the basic six-figure entry point here. Um, if you want to make $200, you can change this equation. If you want to make a half a million dollars six-figure income, you change the equation. But you know, just for the sake of this example, we're gonna say $100,000. So on a hundred thousand dollars um of taxable um income here, you're probably again, depending on your state, depending on your situation, you want to consult your accountant, you're looking at $35,000 to $45,000 of tax revenue. Um, at that amount, probably $25,000 to $35,000 of operating expenses. And so when you add that up, we are at $160,000 to $180,000 in gross revenue. So that's your top number. So you need to be, let's just say, let's let's pick the middle number. So $170, $170,000 is what you will need to to make to bring in gross income without it before taxes, before expenses, gross income to be able to personally have that $100,000 um in your bank account. And then even then, um there may be some personal taxes that you have to to pay out. So again, simplifying enormously here, but just to give you the uh an idea. So um this is just a an example for planning purposes, not tax advice. I just cannot say that enough because I am not the person to give you tax advice. Let me let me just tell you that. Um, so let's say we have we need a hundred thousand hundred and seventy thousand dollars in workshop revenue and or coaching revenue. Um, so let's look at some potential numbers. Very it's it's absolutely doable, but just eyes wide open, go in, kind of working backing into this. So let's say that you charge $3,000 for a two-hour workshop or a half day workshop. Whatever, whatever the workshop is, it doesn't matter. But let's say you have a $3,000 workshop experience. If you wanted to bring in $170,000 to meet that number, you're gonna need about 57 workshops for the month at $3,000 a workshop. All right. If you wanted to, maybe you have a $5,000 workshop offer. Um you're going to need 34 workshops a year to get to the one 170 number. Uh let's say you have an eight thousand dollar workshop offer. You would need 22 of those. So again, I mean, it's not it's not crazy. You know, that's just under two workshops a month at that $8,000 rate. Um, for us at Enneagram MBA, that is our full day experience. Um, and then obviously you, you know, you could do a mix of these, but just I think it's helpful just to understand this. Okay. And then let's say you have a $12,000 workshop experience or program offer. You're gonna need 15 of those. And then let's say you have a $20,000 program experience. Um, you'll just need nine of those, which again isn't isn't crazy, but it is good to know what it what it actually takes, how many workshops equal that number that you actually need to make a hundred thousand dollars in your pocket. Um, so again, the simplifying your you could do a mix of these. Um, your pricing is gonna be different, obviously. You're gonna have maybe some coaching packages in here, maybe some other things, but this just kind of gives you an idea. Now, I also not to be the bearer of bad news, to you know, not to deter you, um, but I actually think we can be um, you know, you're more likely to hit this number if you understand exactly what goes into it and exactly what you need, rather than putting it out there and wishing and hoping without really understanding all that goes into it. So let's say um, you know, 34 workshops at 5,000 doesn't just mean that you're facilitating 34 workshops and that's it. Your work is done, right? I wish, I truly wish, and I think so many of us wish that that was just the case, that all we had to do was workshops or talk about the Enneagram, right? But if you are, if you are running your business or wanting to build a business, and you may not want to be building a business around this. Um, these are for those of us who who are wanting to or have a business that we want to build. Um, it's not just the workshops. You have to generate the leads, you have to have probably sales calls, um, you're probably writing proposals, you're probably following up on those proposals, probably more than once, twice, three times. Um, you're making, you're writing and sending contracts. Um, you're invoicing or working with your bookkeeper to make sure that those invoices are going out, that they're being paid on time, outstanding issues. Um, you are prepping for your workshops, which I know you probably put so much time and and love and care into. You are probably customizing the content of your actual workshop. You are not just traveling, spending that time traveling, but you're also planning to travel. You know, I I don't know about you, but it it it's um, it's you gotta you gotta rent the car, you gotta find the hotel near the location or on nowhere the conference is to book your own uh travel, book the flight, make sure your flights match up with what you have going on at home, with what you need to do at the workshop. Then you're actually facilitating, then you're following up afterwards. And then ideally, you know, you're doing enough marketing to replace. The clients that don't rebook after that initial workshop. So there's a lot that goes into this. And you know, it is there's very different skill sets where you have one skill set where you need to know the Enneagram. Um, so looking for people to learn from and you know, be taught by who know the Enneagram really well. Then there is the facilitating of the Enneagram or potentially coaching. Um, so facilitating coaching, different skill set from Enneagram knowledge. So you have that bucket facilitating. That means, you know, creating um engaging content, education materials, um, thinking about adult learning, um, then actually doing the facilitating. So you have that skill set. And then you have the business building skill set around the facilitating of the Enneagram. So a certification could help you, you know, with number one and number two, knowing the Enneagram, facilitating the Enneagram. Um, it doesn't always magically give you, though, number three. And so a good certification program like the one we talked about in the last episode should absolutely make you a better practitioner. I would just be cautious when a certification program starts also selling you the financial income or the, I'm sorry, the financial outcome of being a an Enneagram practitioner. Okay. So I know that six figures is absolutely possible. It's also not, it's also not easy. It's not easy. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. And so if you are willing to make mistakes and fail and get frustrated and probably miss goals, but keep trying and keep tweaking and keep experimenting, um, I believe that I believe that you can get there. So is it possible? Yes. Is it automatic? Absolutely not. Um, just because you got certified, is it automatic? No, it absolutely is not. Um is it possible to make six figures because you built a real business around a valuable skill? Why, yes, it is, and you can absolutely do that. So um, you know, I I want I want to be encouraging. I don't, I don't want this episode to um to be a downer. I don't I don't want that at all. So, you know, don't let the math discourage you, but let it help you to actually build a plan or a better plan. I think again, eyes wide open, it's like, okay, this could feel like a lot, but it was a lot before, and maybe you just didn't understand everything that that you needed to do. Now you have a better idea of what all you need to do, and you can you can figure it out. You you can do that. So um again, please don't be discouraged by this, but please, I hope you feel empowered um to know, okay, this is what it takes, this is what I got to do. Um, and it that has been incredibly helpful for me as I make my goals each year to know, okay, I wanna, you know, I want to make this amount. All right. Well, it's not just that amount. You know, I think in in the beginning, that's what I would would say uh to myself. That was, you know, and maybe you're smarter than me from the gate and have figured this out sooner. But um, it took me a little bit to realize, oh, wait a minute, just because I want to make, you know, $200,000 doesn't mean I'm bringing $200,000 home, right? No, not not at all. So um you'll have you'll have different taxes, um, county tax, state tax, federal tax, uh, self-employment tax. Um, so you know, talk to a tax person when the time comes or or get with them now to maybe help you um kind of figure out what those ranges are for you. Um, but uh I I hope that you find this empowering and informative and um maybe even a little motivating to feel more confident about the direction you're gonna go in. And you can tweak this. It's like, okay, maybe I don't need six figures. I would be happy with $80,000 in my pocket. I would be happy with $60,000 in my pocket. You can do the same math and see, okay, well, how much do I does my business need to gross for me to walk away with that? Or like I said, maybe you want to do double this or triple this. You can you can also do that. Um, just do the the same equation there. So with that, I'm gonna I'm gonna leave it there. Um, I will say that uh I've talked a lot about our DIY commercial license, and that is there to give you an additional revenue stream that you can, if you're coaching and want to add facilitating or you're thinking about facilitating, um, you've gotten certified and you're ready to get into it, but you just keep, for whatever reason, because I know how this is procrastinating about getting your slide deck together, um sharing it with someone else, maybe you're doubting yourself. Uh, we have the commercial license DIY kit that has the slide deck, the field guide that you can edit yourself with your font, your log logo, your photos, your own content if you want to tweak it. Um, we have a sample presentation of me giving that exact same workshop. We have talking points for each slide, icebreakers, activities to do inside the workshop. There's an opportunity to extend the workshop to a half day. This experience is a two-hour one. We give you a sample agenda, we give you additional resources to share with your attendees, things to do before, things to do after. So you get all of that in that DIY commercial license kit. And I will be very careful to say, you know, it what you do with it, um there's still go, there's still going to be, you still gotta market yourself. You still gotta, you know, build the business around that. But that's one little piece that can give you a little bit of a shortcut as you are building your business. Uh, so that is there. I'm gonna put that in the show notes. Um, it's a tool that can save you a significant amount of time building the actual workshop materials, but you're still gonna have to build the business. And so just kind of keep that in mind um as you move forward. Um, if you have questions um or comments or your own experience of things that have worked to get you to your goals that you think other coaches would want to hear about, um, I'm happy to share those, or maybe we do an interview with your success or your tips. Um, and you can reach out over at enneagrammba.com forward slash contact to share those. Um, I'll drop the link to the commercial license. I'm also going to drop the link to the awareness to action um certification, level one certification, where to get signed up. And with that, thanks for being here. And uh we'll see, we'll see if any other episodes pop up uh in the future. But for now, uh thanks for being here and uh maybe maybe we'll see you in a future one.