Are your current Strategic Alliances truly working for you?

Strategic Alliances can be powerful tools in generating clients and revenue for your coaching practice (next week I’ll detail the most common types of Alliances that work best for coaches), but sometimes we outgrow our partnerships and need to move on.

Many of my clients, especially when they were first starting out, created what are called “extension partnerships” with bigger, umbrella companies. This can be a great partnership because, essentially, the bigger company will do all the heavy lifting in sales and marketing; all you have to do is show up and work your coaching mojo.

The companies that are attracted to you when you are a new coach usually don’t pay industry standards (often these are $50-100 an hour).  This works for newer coaches because they typically need more hours toward their PCC, want to continue to master their craft and expand their skill set, and don’t want to have to sell themselves.

Usually what happens is that after a year or two the energy exchange gets out of whack.  You’ve become a highly skilled and sought after coach, but you are still making 1/3 or less of what the larger company is charging on your behalf, and resentment can start to build. You may find yourself working really hard and still not matching your former salary at your old job… or if you are, you’re working really hard for it.

At the end of the day, a successful Strategic Alliance is about creating an equal energy exchange. Sometimes an alliance can start out feeling great, and over time, as you grow and gain experience, it stops feeling that way unless they continue to meet you where you are.

Once you realize that you have an unequal energy exchange, it’s an opportunity to ask for what you want.

Unfortunately, as sought after as you are, many of these business models are built on certain criteria and renegotiating your rate may not be possible.  Understand that sometimes, because of your growth, it can no longer be an equal energy exchange for you to continue as is, but it wouldn’t feel like an equal energy exchange for them to change those terms. Unfortunately, when that happens, it’s time to move on and create new Strategic Alliances with people who will be attracted to you because of your experience and will pay you more in alignment with industry standards. 

Leaving a partnership you’ve outgrown may feel like a difficult decision if you’ve come to rely on that income or you’ve built a cadre of colleagues you love working with. Besides, but as Jim Collin says “Good is the enemy of Great.”  It’s truly an opportunity to dream into the type of Strategic Alliances that you crave.

What would feel like an equal energy exchange for you?

With appreciation,