Coaching Costs
"Coaching Costs" Why does Internet Business Coaching cost so
much? If you don't know what Internet Business Coaching is, you
will soon enough. These companies are becoming more and more
visible on the Internet scene every day. What they do is provide
you with 'personalized' help in starting and running your
Internet business. There are several Coaching operations we've
seen recently that provide some or all of the following services
to you, over a set period of time: -One-on-One phone time with
your assigned Coach -Email support with your assigned Coach
-Online Classes -Printed materials to read -Video/DVD materials
to watch -Seminars around the US These services are supposed to
be designed to teach you everything from how to set up web sites
or auctions, to choosing which products might sell better for
you, to raising your rankings in the Search Engines, and more.
Are they legit? Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the 'jury' is
still out on this question. I've looked at some of their course
outlines, I've spoken to several of the owners and managers of
these companies, and I've dealt with some of the smaller (one or
two person) operations that want you to think they are big
companies. I have a ways to go yet before deciding whether I
want to make any particular recommendations. There are three
large Coaching companies I have found that look legitimate to
me, but I want to go a lot further in investigating the issue
before I tell you that I think they are worth the time and
money. There are also many very small operations, as I said,
that want you to think they are big Coaching companies, and
those, to me, are definitely not worth the money. It's just not
possible for one or two people to provide the level of constant
training and support needed by more than just a few clients, so
the small Coaches are out, in my opinion. The larger companies
may be legit, but I'm still working on determining that. When I
make that determination to my own satisfaction, I'll tell you
about it in a future edition of this Newsletter. This particular
article is intended to explain why a legitimate Internet
Business Coaching company would have to charge the kinds of high
fees that so many Coaching companies ask for (anywhere from
$3,000 to $6,000 or more). They've gotta pay the rent! A large
Coaching company will have many people working for them in the
same set of offices. Let me give you an idea of what that costs
them, by telling you about what it costs us to run our offices.
Whenever you bring a group of people to work for you in a closed
environment, like an office setting, it costs a lot of money. I
can attest to that personally. My company, Worldwide Brands,
Inc. employs many people in our offices near Orlando, Florida.
My Partners and I spent a great deal of money setting up those
offices, and a great deal more bringing on the (excellent) staff
of people we have here. It isn't as easy as just renting space.
Once you have the office space, which isn't cheap to begin with,
you need to furnish that office space. Desks, chairs, file
cabinets, tables. Those plastic things that you put on the floor
that your chairs roll around on (you wouldn't believe what those
things cost!). Staplers, paper, pens, sticky notes, and places
to store and organize your office supplies. Restroom supplies. A
refrigerator for everybody's soft drinks and lunches. Signs for
the building and the doors. Then, you need Phone Service.
Thousands of dollars for digital phone systems that run multiple
lines over a digital (T1) phone connection. An 800 number.
Thousands per month in phone service and long distance bills. Of
course, you can't run a business without Computers. A PC for
every employee, and a couple of extras for training use. A
Server Computer to function as a central data storage location,
and to run nightly backups of all your data. Thousands of
dollars worth of software licensed for all your computers and
your Server. Printers and a Fax Machine. A Network Router and
Hubs. The Computers are useless unless they can connect to the
Internet, so you shell out more money for a High-Speed Business
Internet Connection that can handle the load when all your
employees are working on the Net at the same time, which they
almost always do. What happens if there's theft, or an accident?
You are required to pay for Business Insurance to protect
yourself against loss, and against someone being injured at your
location. Of course, you need to pay for Alarm System
installation and maintenance before you can even get the
Business Insurance. Then you have bills for Power, Water, and
sometimes Natural Gas. You have to keep the lights on and the
air conditioning running, or you're going nowhere fast. When
that's all paid for, the real costs begin! Whenever you employ
people, you have large expenses associated with that employment.
We provide a great Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance
Plan to our employees, as does anyone with a real business
location. That costs us a lot, every month. Then there's
Unemployment Insurance that we have to pay, and Workman's
Compensation Insurance. There's Human Resources Outsourcing,
Training Programs, Overtime, Bonuses, and the occasional Group
Lunch. And that doesn't even take Payroll into account! What it
all boils down to is that placing a group of people in an Office
environment costs a ton of money. Be glad that you are setting
yourself up to work from home! We maintain our Staff and our
Offices for the sole purpose of researching and publishing The
Drop Ship Source Directory, and doing that takes all of the
expenses and resources I've listed above, plus a lot more to
operate our site and pay for research materials and advertising.
When we work on our Directory, we are all working on the same
thing. All of the attention of the Owners and Employees of our
company is focused on one thing, all the time: Researching and
Publishing our Directory and the related information you see on
our site. Now, imagine what it takes for a Coaching Company to
put twenty or thirty people in an office setting, and then
dedicate each one of those people to working with only a few of
their clients for months at a time! Each one of those very
costly employees can only work on just a small part of their
business for them: maybe eight or ten clients that have signed
up for Internet Business Coaching. That's the only way they can
truly provide quality service to their Coaching clients. So,
when I see these companies charging $3,000 to $6,000 and more
for several months of personal Coaching, I do understand why
they need to do that! In order to provide quality One-on-One
service to their Coaching clients, they have no choice but to
charge that much. All that money does not go into their pockets.
Most of it goes just to maintain the business itself. That
doesn't mean, however, that they are providing quality service.
As I said, I'm still researching that. The three companies I
have found look good so far, but I haven't gotten far enough in
my research yet to recommend any of them personally. When I do,
any recommendations I have will be posted in our Resource Center
and sent out in our Newsletter. Once I form my opinion, I hope
it will help you to form your own opinion. :o) Chris Malta
WorldWide Brands, Inc. For more information, visit
http://www.YouCanDropship.com