Last week I was on an initial conversation with a prospective client. We’d been talking about the journey he’d take to find her point of clarity. Somewhere in there I mentioned that my coaching wouldn’t cost him anything, and that she didn’t need to worry about a big bill at the end.
She stopped me.
“So how do you get paid?”
Fair question. I’d ask it too. And I’d rather answer it in public than have people wondering.
The short answer
I have a portfolio.
There are franchise brands in it. There are also funding partners, accountants, bookkeepers, and executive placement firms. If you end up using something in that portfolio, that company pays me.
You never do. Not for the first conversation, not for the tenth.
The longer answer, and the part that matters
Here’s what most people don’t expect.
I don’t know what that fee will be.
Not roughly. Not approximately. I don’t know the number when we start, and I don’t know it while we’re working together.
That’s on purpose, and it’s the whole reason the model works.
If I knew that Brand A paid me more than Brand B, I’d be human. Something in the back of my head would start steering. Every question I asked would tilt a few degrees.
So the arrangement is built to keep me out of that. My entire focus is always on the client, never on the money.
The portfolio does the same work in a different way. Because it isn’t only franchise brands, I’m not sitting across from you needing the answer to be a franchise. I can afford to be genuinely indifferent about where you land, which is the only position from which I’m any use to you.
But doesn’t that still mean you only get paid if I buy something?
Something, yes. A franchise, not necessarily.
That distinction matters more than it sounds like it does. If our work together lands you at an executive placement firm, I’m compensated. If it lands you with a bookkeeper and a funding partner for a business you build yourself, I’m compensated. The franchise is one door in a hallway, not the only one.
But let me sit in the honest version of the tension rather than talk around it, because the answer is still yes: if you do nothing at all, I’m not paid.
Here’s what actually happens.
Most of my clients don’t buy a franchise. Many go on to find their dream job instead. Others discover that they were meant for self-sufficiency and just never had anyone walk them through the journey. Some decide the right move is staying exactly where they are, with a much clearer head about why.
I count all of those as wins, and I mean that.
We celebrate when a client reaches a point of clarity about their career and their next steps. Regardless of the outcome, we celebrate when they realize what their future can look like.
If I only cared about the fee, I’d be a broker. I’d take your call, hand you a list of brands with the best commissions, and push. That’s a real job and there are good people doing it, but it isn’t mine.
What I do instead
I don’t sell anything. I help people come to a point of clarity where they can decide what their next career step looks like.
We go on a journey of discovery, education, and awareness. We look at your income, lifestyle, wealth, and equity goals. We look honestly at what staying put will look like in one year, and in five.
I offer choices. I don’t tell you which one to pick. That part is yours.
If this sounds too good to be true
I know it does. People tell me so.
This model has been running for over 40 years. Every coach in our network owns their own franchise. There’s no downline, no upline, and nobody’s income depends on recruiting anyone.
My first economics professor wrote one word on the chalkboard on day one: TANSTAAFL. “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.”
Yes, that dates me.
He was right. There is a cost here. It just isn’t yours.
The cost on your side is your time and your honesty. Nothing else.
Who shouldn’t work with me
Two kinds of people, and I’ll say it to either one directly.
If you’re not open to change – if you want to stay in your lane and keep doing what you’ve been doing – we don’t need to talk. That’s a legitimate choice. It just doesn’t need me.
And if you already know exactly what you want to buy, if you’re Ready, Willing and Able, you don’t need a discovery process and going through one will only frustrate you. You’re better off with a broker, and I’ll point you toward one.
I’ll tell you if I can’t help you.
But most people who reach out aren’t in either group. They’re ready for a career change – they just don’t know what to change to. They’re wondering whether there’s a version of their career that they actually chose.
That’s the conversation.
Money should not be the reason someone doesn’t look at what their possible new life could be.
If you’re tired of being tired, let’s chat.
