Democratizing Business Coaching: How to Provide Affordable Coaching For All

The Past

Remember those weird days, back in the 80s, when therapy was reserved for those lucky few who had money and time to address their issues; or those with serious mental problems that demanded immediate help?

And even then, it was sort of a hushed thing—taboo even—no one was going around at dinner parties talking about their recent session with their therapist.

The Present

It’s nothing compared to how commonplace therapy has become; nowadays, it’s rarer to meet someone who has never gone to therapy.

Therapy has become an integral part of society: most federal and private insurance plans cover it, the government provides grants to fund therapy for lower-income communities; even schools and universities have on-site counseling and therapy services for their students.

People are now open to it—we have come to see how much we can improve society by cultivating an individual’s growth. 

Being in the business coaching industry, I've thought a lot about therapy's upward trajectory compared to business coaching—them being similar as they focus on self-improvement.

Except that while therapy looks inward for personal healing and growth, coaching’s focus is projected outward to achieving tangible results in the societal realm.

The Future

I’ve thought about the obstacles preventing business coaching from taking off and becoming as accepted and accessible as therapy. I’ve thought about all this because I want to do something about it.  

And I know—it’s a tall order.

To know where I’m headed, I have to look back to my days as a young professional: working hard to climb the corporate ladder, excelling among my peers but still facing countless challenges that could have been avoided had I received some form of guidance, all while watching the higher-ups receive executive coaching paid for by the company.

I’m not saying I needed it more than them; all I’m saying is everyone—no matter what step of the career ladder they’re on—needs it in some form or other.

Old Habits Die Hard

The sad part is things haven’t changed much since I was working at those big companies; the price of coaching sessions remains sky-high, which is why companies decide to reserve coaching sessions for their most valuable players in leadership positions—you can't really blame them.

I mean—I get it. If you’re a coach, and the culture around coaching equates high costs with valuable coaching, why change that?

It seems as though the coaching industry has been very keen on maintaining the idea that by increasing your coaching rates, you also increase your appeal and value, which is great for business coaches—bad for clients, and ultimately decreases the number of people who can get the help they need from business coaching.

So, any other individual who isn’t in a leadership position at a big company and works freelance, is privately contracted, or owns their small business (etc. you get the point) has to pay out of pocket for these services— that’s why we still hear people refer to coaching as if it was therapy in the 80s­—if you aren’t at rock bottom, who has the time and money for it?

To make things more difficult, the inaccessibility of coaching has also largely been attributed to the residual stigma from past decades that still hangs around self-improvement efforts—this unrealistic belief that you only need help if you’ve hit rock bottom—and even then, admitting to needing help is nothing to announce to the world.

So, although coaching has begun to slowly but surely trickle down the career ladder and into other business sectors and professions, we still have a long way to go in removing that stigma and settling the fact that coaching is an aim at improving oneself, at pushing you further towards your goals.

Yes, coaching can get you out of a rut when you fall into the trenches, but it exists to meet us where we are and push us further towards our idea of success.

Why CoCaptain Was Born

If we know how much society stands to gain from improving an individual’s performance, how much longer until we all recognize and facilitate the potential that business coaching has to change the world for the better?

I’ve decided to step up to the plate and embark on a journey to show that there is a way to make coaching accessible—to bring coaching out of the shadows of autocracy and democratize it.

That’s why I created CoCaptain, an online coaching platform that is breaking new ground in the coaching industry.

How We Will Ensure Accessible and Affordable Coaching For All

The key to the operation was vetting coaches with various backgrounds, specialties, and skills, but that had one thing in common: they are incredibly talented and became coaches to work with their ideal clients to ensure their success.

And, because affordability is subjective, we offer coaching at various price points to ensure everyone can access the coaching partnership they need.  

At CoCaptain, we offer coaches a secure platform that ensures they have the administrative, marketing, and training resources they need to be the best coaches they can be and connect them with the clients that will benefit the most from their coaching.

The safety net that CoCaptain offers, coupled with the autonomy that we grant our coaches, is the driving force in providing coaching for every need and budget.

Our coaches come from different backgrounds and niches; they dictate their prices, coaching styles, and availability.

This ensures that there is a coaching option for those CEOs with CEO money who need executive coaching; or for those young professionals who don’t have that CEO money yet but need a good business coach to get them there; or even those small business owners who might only be able to afford a session a month with a marketing expert to increase their business’ visibility—and EVERYTHING in between.

The reasons and possibilities are endless when the price point doesn’t tilt to one side.

At the end of the day, the goal is to create a platform that provides optimal support for its coaches to open the door for more coaching options and price ranges to reach the public.  

Looking Beyond the Horizon

CoCaptain was created with young me in mind, this new generation of workers that are thrown out into this ever-changing professional landscape, all of the older generations trying to stay in it, and anyone who feels they need help but have no idea where to find it and how to pay for it.

If there ever was a time and place for coaching to gear up and become the new therapy, it’s now —with the professional world becoming more competitive, every industry changing rapidly and becoming harder to navigate as technology and globalization throw us further into uncharted waters.

We don’t really get a handbook for life—let alone how to navigate our careers—but we can get coaching.

Me and the team at CoCaptain are excited to see how far we can take coaching and even more excited to see how many coaches and clients CoCaptain will help.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on CoCaptain, and we’d be happy to help you find that perfect coach that fits your needs.