Field Guides / Coaching

What video business coaching costs

The cost of a video business coach is more than the monthly fee: it's the fee times the minimum term, plus anything charged up front, plus the hours it asks of you. Den Lennie's VBA Elite Boardroom is $1,700 USD a month, flat, cancel anytime, with no onboarding fee and no application, and the price is on the page. For any coach, get the full year-one cost in writing before you compare.

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Why is it hard to compare what coaches charge?

Coaching prices are hard to compare because they're built from different parts: a monthly fee, a minimum term, an up-front fee, sometimes events or extra seats, and different currencies. Some coaches publish a price and some give it on a call, so you often start without the figures side by side.

The monthly fee is the number people remember, and on its own it's the least useful one. A lower monthly fee with a twelve-month minimum commits you to far more than a higher fee you can leave after a month. The minimum term decides how much you lose if the coach turns out to be the wrong fit, and that's the figure most owners never work out before they sign.

The other cost is time. Count the calls, the travel to any events, and the work between sessions. Some of that time is work on your own business you'd want to do anyway. The rest is a cost like any other.

How to work out the real cost of a coach: the method, step by step

The method is to get five figures in writing from every coach on your list, turn them into two numbers, and compare those two numbers before you compare anything else.

1. Ask every coach for the same five figures. The monthly fee and its currency, the minimum term, anything charged up front, what happens if you leave early, and anything that costs extra. Ask in writing, before the sales call, so the call can be about fit.

2. Turn the answers into two numbers. Year-one cost is what a full year costs you. Committed cost is what you've agreed to pay before you're able to leave. The second number is the one that tells you what you're risking.

3. Check the currency and the tax. A price in another currency moves with the exchange rate. Convert it at today's rate, and ask whether tax is included or added on top.
4. Read the exit terms twice. Notice periods, refund rules and whether you can pause all change what leaving costs. If the answer to "what happens if I leave in month two" is vague, ask again until it isn't.
5. Compare committed cost first, then fit. The lowest committed cost tells you which option risks the least. It doesn't tell you which coach can help. Once you have the figures, the companion guide on whether a coach is worth it turns year-one cost into a break-even bar per job.

A worked example

Here are two made-up offers in round numbers, not any real coach's prices, to show why the monthly fee alone misleads.

Offer A is $1,000 a month with a twelve-month minimum and $2,000 up front. Offer B is $1,500 a month, month to month, with nothing up front.

Offer A costs less over a full year. If it turns out to be the wrong room, Offer A has cost you $14,000 and Offer B has cost you $1,500. Neither number says which coach is better.

What does the VBA Elite Boardroom cost?

The VBA Elite Boardroom costs $1,700 USD a month, flat, with GST included for Australian clients, and no onboarding fee, no application and no minimum term. Run through the sheet, that's a year-one cost of $20,400 and a committed cost of $1,700.

Month one is the fit test, and it runs both ways. You can cancel anytime, and there are no refunds, so the only month you have at risk is the one you're in. There are no pauses. Your rate stays the same for as long as you stay a paying member; if you leave and come back later, it may be higher. The membership includes the weekly Boardroom call on Tuesdays and Den on Signal between calls. The price and the full list of what's included are on the Elite Boardroom page, and the wider picture is in the pricing guide.

Who shouldn't pay for the Elite Boardroom?

The Elite Boardroom isn't worth $1,700 a month to an owner below about $150,000 a year whose job is still getting work in the door, or to anyone who won't do the work between calls. The $150,000 figure is the baseline, not the test. If you're earlier than that, the free Field Guides on pricing, qualifying and follow-up are the better place to put your time for now.

The mistakes owners make when comparing coaching prices

Four mistakes make one coach look cheaper or dearer than it is.

• Comparing monthly fees only. The minimum term and the up-front fee can outweigh the difference in monthly price.
• Booking the sales call before you have the figures. Ask in writing first. A call spent finding out the price is a call not spent on your business.
• Forgetting the exit. Find out what leaving costs before joining, while it's an easy question to ask.
• Treating the cheapest option as the safest. The safest option is the one with the lowest committed cost that can also do the job.

The rule of thumb for weighing coaching costs

Compare coaches on what you're committed to before you can leave, then on fit, and only then on the monthly fee. Benchmark: five figures in writing from every coach (monthly fee, minimum term, up-front fee, exit terms, extras), turned into year-one cost and committed cost. The next question is whether coaching is worth it for your situation.

Hold yourself accountable

Which of these have you taken on or put in place recently?

• You've asked every coach on your shortlist for the five figures in writing.
• You've worked out year-one cost and committed cost for each.
• You know what leaving in month two would cost with each option.
• You've converted any foreign-currency price at today's rate.

Your one move this week

What's the one thing you can commit to implementing this week? If you're not sure, start here.

Send the full-cost email to every coach on your shortlist, including any whose price is already published, so the exit terms come back in writing. Fill in the year-one cost sheet for each as the answers arrive.

One thing executed every week creates 50 strategic moves a year.

Related tools and guides. Is a video business coach worth it, Pricing guide, What working with a video business coach looks like, Know your numbers, Field Guides.