Statement of Ethics and Transparency

As a service provider and small business owner, it is of the utmost importance to me that I continue to hold myself to the highest level of integrity possible in all interactions - both inside and outside of my business. For me, this means continuously striving to be as transparent as possible and explicitly stating the measures I have taken, and continue to take, to run my business ethically and mindfully.

Ethical Conduct

While the coaching industry does not have any centralized certifying organization, the International Coaching Federation has a code of ethics which is widely accepted as the industry gold standard. I intimately know and actively uphold this code, which can be found here.

Ethical Pricing

While the pricing of any specific offer is dictated primarily by the total scope of work required by the client or program, at any given time I have a defined General Pricing Level. The General Pricing Level is defined by my standard individual 12-month coaching agreement and applies to new clients enrolled during that time period. The number is calculated based on a “full” week consisting of 40 coaching hours: roughly split out into 30 paid live coaching hours, 6 paid email coaching hours, 3 pro bono live coaching hours, and 1 pro bono email coaching hour. Whenever my practice sustains over 90% of its paid capacity for longer than three months, I automatically increase my General Pricing Level by 15-20%. At select times, I have also chosen to increase my General Pricing Level by 5-10% after undergoing significant supplemental training that has augmented the depth and/or quality of my service.

From time to time, I may choose to offer new clients discounted rates based on a variety of factors including blatant financial need. However, the number of hours reflected by discounted packages will never constitute the majority of total hours in my practice. Additionally, I will never inflate the General Pricing Level for a specific party based on any factor other than an explicit increase in total service hours.

Ethical Sales

I do not believe in using manipulative or dishonest sales tactics and actively work to provide a safe and ethical sales process in all interactions. It is never my intention to use explicit pressure when speaking to a prospective client. I also work to avoid leveraging fear-based or shame-based sales tactics in my marketing and sales calls. This being said, I am aware how insidious manipulative and fear-based sales and marketing tactics are in our society, and I am always open to receiving direct feedback on this topic in service of my continual growth and development in this area.

For most of my packages, and all of my individual packages, I require that potential clients have at least one 90-minute coaching session with me. Often times, in the case of individual packages, I require two 90-minute coaching sessions before engaging in a paid coach-client relationship. This is not a coercion tactic. Rather it allows the minimum amount of time that I feel is needed for both parties to assess a good fit.

I typically do not propose details and pricing for individualized packages until after both parties have expressed informed interest in continued work together. However, I will openly and honestly answer questions about typical package details, including pricing, at any point throughout the introductory or enrollment process. The vast majority of my pricing is posted publicly on my website at all times.

Referrals and Testimonials

When appropriate or requested, I will refer other coaches or service providers to clients or prospective clients. While some of these people may be current or past clients of mine, the vast majority of them are not. I never receive any financial kickback for the referrals I make and do not participate in any compensated referral programs. Similarly, I do not personally run any compensated referral programs within my practice, nor do I provide any incentive or compensation for testimonials.

I am always happy to provide testimonials upon request and connect prospective clients with past and current clients. I am, however, bound to my clients by confidentiality, and therefore will never disclose their identity without explicit permission nor will I provide partial or complete lists of my clientele to anyone.

Service-Centric Business Model

The coaching industry is a service-based industry, and therefore it is important to me that my business model be a service-centric model. I primarily aim to achieve this by engaging a 10-10-10 rule: 10% of my gross income from coaching is donated to charity, 10% of my coaching hours are spent offering pro bono individual coaching, and 10% of my week is spent donating my time and expertise to charity outside of the coaching profession. I am always happy to provide a list of the charities I donate my time and money to as well as share the criteria I use for selecting my pro bono individual coaching clients to current and prospective clients who ask for this information.