No coach is worth $10,000

Several years ago, I started to feel stuck in my life and business.  I knew I was selling myself short and was ready for a major life overhaul.  I kept seeing posts from a coach I had befriended on Facebook and, for whatever reason, something about him kept intriguing me.  I knew one of this coach’s clients pretty well and when I told him I was considering reaching out to him, he gave me an emphatic “Go for it!”  Making that first connection is almost always the hardest step, but something in my gut told me to just do it.

I messaged the coach and we set up a call for a few days later.  We got to a point in the conversation where I was super excited at the thought of working with him and then, the bomb hit.  He told me his rates.  He was $150,000 for the year or $10,000 for a weekend of coaching.  Yup, go ahead and count all those zeros.   

I had spent over ten grand on 6, 9, or 12-month programs before, but never anything like this.  He suggested the weekend program for me and my immediate response was, “That’s a lot of money.  Can I think about it and get back to you?”  Shockingly, he said, “No.”  It caught me off guard.  He continued, “I refuse to indulge in the part of you that keeps you stuck.”  Whoa.  Not only was he right, but he was also taking a stand for me to stop doing the very thing that was keeping me stuck in my life!  My overanalyzing and discomfort about spending that kind of money on myself was going to have me miss out on a lot of opportunities, more than just this one, and he refused to give up on me in the same way I had been.

At the time, $10,000 was practically all of my savings, but he assured me that the money would show up when I showed up for myself.  I decided to go “all in” on my life, said yes, and within 3 days, I had $9,700 appear in new business.  The magic was happening before I even started my coaching with him!  I still had my reservations, though, because I wanted to make money off of this investment – not just break even.

On our first day of the coaching weekend, we were walking along the beach in Santa Barbara, California and I kept thinking to myself, “This guy better be worth $10,000.  I better walk away with something pretty amazing to be doling out this kind of cash.”  The whole time, my focus was on HIM and what HE could do for me.  And then it hit me.  I still remember the moment.  I stopped right in the sand, looked over at him and said, “Oh my God, I get it.”  I explained to him how I had been making my investment all about what I could get and what he could give me and then I exclaimed, “It doesn’t matter if you’re worth the $10,000, it matters that I AM!”  To date, that weekend and my investment is one of the best gifts I’ve ever given myself.

We had a great coaching weekend and within 2 weeks I had nearly tripled my coaching investment.   I doubled my yearly coaching rates and people were paying it.  Why?  It wasn’t because that weekend gave me new marketing techniques or business strategy.  What it gave me was a profound understanding of self-investment.  I now understood that my clients weren’t paying me a fee, they were investing in themselves and their goals.  It wasn’t about me at all!  They, too, were ready to stop putting themselves last, neglecting their needs and ignoring their happiness.  They came to do the work they were ready for and stopped letting money be the thing that got in their way.

I’ve served countless people through the years and they have all agreed on 3 things: 1) making the initial call to me was the hardest part 2) making a financial investment in themselves felt scary, but liberating and 3) coaching is the best investment they have ever made. 

What I got from that weekend was more than $10,000 worth of value. I’m grateful I had a coach who took a stand for me and my vision for life.  Now I am here to take a stand for you.

If you’re like I was, you’ve been hesitant to take the first step and reach out. Fear, overwhelm, and analysis paralysis might be trying to hold you back. Once you decide to let your dreams be bigger than your fears, contact me at Deanna@DeannaDanski.com or click here.

Stop waiting, start living.