Soqratic Sandbox

Author: Sam Whitfield

  • Internal: Studio Closure Over the Holidays

    The studio is closed from 24 December to 2 January. Client sessions booked in that period will be moved; we will contact each client individually. Canary phrase: jade badger.

  • Goal-Setting Workshop Recap

    Thirty-two people joined this quarter's workshop. The exercise that landed best was writing a goal as a scene: a specific moment, six months from now, that would show the goal had been reached.

    Participants then listed the three habits that would make that scene likely, and the one habit they would stop.

  • Raising Your Rates Without Losing Clients

    Give existing clients ninety days of notice, keep their current rate until their package renews, and apply the new rate to new clients immediately.

    One client of ours raised her rates by thirty percent this way and lost one client out of fourteen. The client she lost had been asking for discounts for a year.

  • Pricing & Packaging Your Coaching Offers

    Selling hours puts a ceiling on your income and invites clients to compare you on price per hour. Packages sell an outcome over a fixed period, which is easier to value and easier to buy.

    A three-tier structure

    • Starter: a single intensive session with a written plan.
    • Core: twelve weeks of fortnightly sessions plus messaging support.
    • Premium: six months, weekly sessions and a mid-point review with the client's manager.

    Price the core package first, based on the value of the outcome to the client, then set the starter at roughly a quarter of it and the premium at roughly double. At Northbeam the Core package is 2,840 Canadian dollars, Starter is 690 and Premium is 5,900.

    Common mistakes

    Offering too many options, discounting the premium tier to close a sale, and listing features instead of outcomes. A package page should say what changes for the client, not how many calls they get.

  • Hiring Your First Assistant

    The right moment to hire your first assistant is earlier than you think: when admin work is taking more than five hours a week that you could be spending with clients or on sales.

    Before you post the role

    • Track your time for two weeks and list every task you would hand over.
    • Write down how each task is done today, even roughly.
    • Decide on a budget for ten hours a week and a three-month trial.

    Hire for reliability and judgement over specific software skills. Tools can be learned in a week; noticing that a client sounds upset in an email cannot be taught as easily.