How to Get Paid More as a Consultant or Coach

We all want to make the most money we can, especially when we are selling our own services or our time. This can be anything from personal consulting to time based projects such as writing, development or working with a team around you. The bottom line is that you need to maximize your time and efforts while earning the most money possible. This is how you can become a six figure (or even seven figure) a year consultant or coach.

Why should you become a consultant or coach?

Right now is the perfect time for you to become your own brand and start marketing yourself as an expert. Everyone is good at something and if you happen to be good at something businesses and other entrepreneurs needs, you are even more valuable.

For many people the economy sucks right now and and many people are without a job and looking to go in a new direction. This means a lot of people are looking for coaches to help them along the way so they don’t have to waste their time learning the simple stuff and moving on to the areas that can help them start a new job or career path.

The same holds true for businesses. Competition is always at it’s peak when you run a huge company and consultants are always being hired on a daily basis. These consultants can range from business management, online advertising, team building and even reputation management. Whatever you specialize in and are good at… someone needs your services.

How to Get Paid More as a Consultant or Coach

There is a new course out there called “Top Gun Consulting Tool Kit” and the concept behind the program is to help it’s users become the best and highest paid coach or consultant that they can be. One of the sections of the course includes “Six Pricing Models to Getting Paid More as a Consultant or Coach”. We’ve listed each of them, along with an excerpt for you below.

1). Consulting Fee

The consulting fee is the one time payment for the delivery of any one time service. This could be anything from a website, lead generation service, blog setup, content writing or even a phone call consultation. Anything with a one time use should have a consulting fee attached to it.

2.) Monthly Retainer

Having a consulting fee is nice, but getting setup with a monthly retainer is gold. Instead of getting paid once, a monthly retainer will set you up with a paying client month after month. Retainers are great because you are getting paid a set amount of money per month, while the amount of work you will have to do for the client will vary each month depending on their needs, but limited to what your monthly retainer details.

3.) Percentage

If you are working on a larger project and something that is going to be generating sales and revenue you may want to look into a “percentage” based deal. This means you will earn a percentage of the gross profit, net profit or growth of the campaign or project you are working on.

4.) Up-Front Payment with a Percentage

There is no guarantee that a campaign or project is always going to make money, so the best way to leverage yourself and your time is to setup an up-front payment along with your percentage rate. This way you are guaranteed to make a bit of money for your time, while also earning a commission on the success of the project once it goes live.

5.) Trade

Many times companies will want to offer a trade in exchange for your services. This usually works out well for the company and not as much for the consultant. A good example of this would be if you were consulting for a pizza place and getting them local business. Instead of getting paid from them you would get a free pizza every week or month. While this is a great deal (depending on the offer), pizza won’t pay the bills at the end of the month. Consider and choose your “trade” deals wisely.

6.) Ownership of Company

Earning a percentage of a company can go a long way if you are working with a small company that is on it’s way to big success. A very small percentage of a large company still equals a large amount of money. Instead of looking at the immediate earnings of a few thousand dollars month, you should consider the potential of a long term deal with a percentage of ownership shares coming your way. This way you can help grow the company, while having an investment in it’s success and a potential huge payout when the company is acquired or sold.