Serving Pro Bono Clients and Keeping it Professional

For many new coaches, the focus is on getting coaching experience…period. An option emerging coaches often take is to agree to coach clients without charging for their services. This is what we call pro bono coaching. However, having only or too many pro bono clients will not help us with our own financial bottom line and without being able to earn a living we will not be able to keep doing what we love…coaching. By considering ahead of time how serving pro bono clients can help both you and the client, you can create a win-win situation. Let me tell you how:

• Create a policy for working with pro bono clients that you can follow.
• Decide on how many pro bono clients you want to work with at any one time. Knowing that your business will continue to thrive with one or two pro bono clients serves everyone. Keep a list of future pro bono clients if you have an opening.
• Create an application for your pro bono clients that helps you select who you want to work with. If a client cannot invest in your coaching services monetarily, you will want to be able to determine if they are willing to invest in it emotionally.
• Discover what the client is able to give for your coaching. Again, this may not be monetary, but perhaps their testimonial can be a great marketing advantage for other clients. Or perhaps they can help at an event you are speaking at or have word processing skills that can help you in creating marketing materials. Explore the possibilities.
• Treat pro bono clients the same as any other client. This includes signing agreements that outline policies for “no shows”, confidentiality, length of time you will work together, etc.

In summary, we can do it all. Give back, serve and maintain a thriving coaching business for years to come