Welcome! If you found your way here, you must be a passionate educator concerned about helping students learn more effectively and efficiently…

…and curious about training or collaborating with me. I’m delighted and can’t wait to get to know you.

My trainings serve a wide variety of educators, including:

• Classroom teachers looking for professional development in improving student outcomes without sacrificing teacher well-being
• School administrators looking for evidence-based executive function and academic skill training for teachers
• Educators who work one-on-one with students (academic life coaches, tutors, educational and occupational therapists, and more) who want to improve their academic skills services for students
• Parents who consider themselves to be educators of their students (this might be homeschool parents, parents looking for a cost-effective alternative to purchasing coaching for their students, and more)
• Education-related nonprofit and for profit organizations, looking to train staff-who-work-with students in how to effectively improve students’ academic skills and outcomes
• New or experienced academic coaches, looking to launch or grow successful businesses and/or become Anti-Boring Approach Licensed coaches,
• And more! Surprise me. I’m often amazed by the variety of educators who are moved by the information on my website

No matter what kind of educator you are, there are training opportunities for you. They are evidence-based, anti-boring (which is another word for “fun”), skills-based and super practical and often called “the best professional development I’ve ever done”.

The space below will give you an overview of my offerings, to help you figure out which components will best meet your needs.

Let’s Start With the Big Picture

As you see here, there are three essential components to the training arm of my business:

1. Courses provide a flexible way to learn at your own pace via self-guided, online, materials.
2. Community Calls provide a shot of inspiration, encouragement and accountability, as you meet with Gretchen and the community to ask questions, brainstorm solutions, and hone your teaching skills
3. Custom Packages allow for you to bring Gretchen and her Anti-Boring toolkit to small and large groups at your school or organization, both in-person and virtually.

All these components are designed to be very flexible. You can mix and match different components depending on your needs.

For example:

• A teacher looking for professional development hours might simply take The Art of Inspiring Students course
• An administrator hoping to train a small group of freshman teachers (for example) might purchase a package that includes the Art of Inspiring Students course plus in-person training
• A life coach who realizes they need a bigger toolkit of academic skills might take both the Art of Inspiring Students course and a semester’s worth of community calls, to learn the tools and then integrate them successfully with their clients
• A tutor or coach starting a business from scratch who’s interested in becoming an Anti-Boring Approach licensed coach might invest in a package of all the courses plus a year’s worth of community calls
• And so on and so forth!

Below I’ll give you detailed information about each component and links to sign up for the various offerings. However, after familiarizing yourself with the various components, you are always welcome to contact my team directly. We’re happy to give you advice about what trainings are right for you.

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Take the Courses

Most educators like to start with one of my two flagship, self-guided courses.

These courses are an efficient and cost-effective way to learn the tools you need in a flexible time frame.

The two flagship self-guided courses for educators are:

1. Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically

 

A few years ago, I learned some basic brain facts that forever changed the way I work with students, to help them become independent, motivated, self-starting learners.

Since then, I’ve been perfecting my Anti-Boring Approach model for inspiring students how to study, and manage their time, strategically. Even better, I’ve turned it into a training for educators, to help you achieve similar success with your students.

Highlights of this self-guided training include:

• A simple system that turns disorganized students into expert time managers and test-takers
• 7 academic toolkits that every teacher, tutor and coach and should master, and how to efficiently teach them to students so they stick for good
• 7+ transformative mini-conversations grounded in brain science that turn teens into test-taking powerhouses, and how to weave those conversations repeatedly into your work with students until they totally get it
• 41+ concrete tools to have in your back pocket to help teens tackle procrastination, disorganization, weak note-taking, and haphazard studying

Professional development hours, graduate school credit, and International Coaches Federation hours are available. Group rates are also available.

Note: If you are interested in becoming an Anti-Boring Approach Licensed Coach, this course is required.

Click here for more details and/or to register for the Art of Inspiring Students course.

2. Launch Your Biz

 

 

Nothing is more motivating than getting your first clients, after all!

Highlights of this self-guided training include:

1. Specific guidelines for how to deliver maximum results during and in-between coaching sessions
2. A unique, efficient, and free system for keeping students actively engaged, tracking progress, and communicating with parents (folks rave about this Anti-Boring™ Habits and Grades Tracking System)
3. Technology tricks and tools (including instructions for how to use them) that keep the student in staying focused on their goals and consistently improving their habits, even when motivation lags
4. The most effective ways to price, package & market coaching services to appeal to parent and teen
5. Tools to attract motivated students who want to learn, and not just placate their parents.  
6. 10+ simple marketing actions unique to this field that will help you attract your first clients
7. How to inspire potential clients (both teens and their parents)  to say yes to your packages

Note: If you are interested in becoming an Anti-Boring Approach Licensed coach, this course is required.

Click here for more details and/or to register for the Launch Your Biz course.

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Join Community Calls

Although the above courses are top notch, nothing beats learning in a cohort of inspiring educators under the guidance of an experienced mentor.

That’s what the Anti-Boring Educators’ Club is all about!

Every month you receive up to two live community calls led by Gretchen and a Teaching Assistant from her licensed Anti-Boring Approach coaches.

These calls are a great time for:

• ask questions that have come up as you implement the Anti-Boring Approach or Biz Launch tools
• hear stories from teachers and coaches ahead of you on the journey
• get out of the silo of alone-ness that comes with being a classroom teacher or academic coach, and enjoy community and fellowship with other like minded educators
• receive some extra inspiration “goodies” made by Gretchen every month
• and more!

If you can’t attend the calls live, you can submit questions and comments ahead of time, watch the recordings, and engage in discussion with Gretchen on an online discussion forum.

There are two levels of community membership depending on your needs:

Level 1: Art of Inspiring Students Club Membership

Join Gretchen and other Anti-Boring educators in 1 monthly community call plus additional goodies.

This level of membership is ideal for teachers, academic coaches, and other educators who would like ongoing support as you practice integrating the Anti-Boring toolbox in your classrooms and coaching sessions.

We will dive deeply into your questions about teaching students time management, organization, study skills, and self advocacy.

Some teachers like to join the community while they are working through the Art of Inspiring Students course. Others join for questions and support after they have worked through all the materials.

Stay on month-by-month, or commit to an entire year! Here’s how to join Level 1: Art of Inspiring Students:

• Click here to join at a subscription fee of $55/month.
• Click here to join at the discounted rate of $550/year.

Level 2: Launch Your Biz Club Membership

This membership level is for coaches needing support getting their new businesses off the ground!

You get everything in Level One plus:

• A second call a month during which academic coaches and coaches-in-training receive mentoring and support from Gretchen and other coaches ahead of you on the journey.
• A video of a full, unedited coaching session with a student
• A month-by-month checklist that guides you through what key actions you should be taking this month in regards to (1) Coaching students, (2) Marketing your services, and (3) Self care.
• Gretchen’s eyes on your business and editing of all your biz launch documents
• Access to the Anti-Boring Approach to Powerful Studying student course for all your clients at no additional cost
• And more!

Some academic coaches like to join this level of membership as they begin working through the Launch Your Biz course. This way they can get cheerleading, support, accountability, and a cohort of other biz builders as a way to motivate them as they work through the course.

Others like to save up their questions as they work through the course, and then join the Club for a month or two to get answers and accountability for a short period of time.

Note: If you would like to become an Anti-Boring Approach licensed coach, it is required that you spend an entire year being mentored by Gretchen in the Educators’ Club. Keep scrolling for more detailed information about the full coach training and licensure process.

Here’s how to join Level 2: Launch Your Biz:

• Click here to join at a monthly subscription of $395/month
• Click here to join at a discounted yearly subscription rate of $3950/year

 

Compare Levels of Membership

In case it’s helpful to compare, here’s a chart that gives you an overview of what is included in each level of membership.

If you have additional questions about Club membership, please contact us. We’ll be happy to give you as much information as you need.

When Are the Club Calls?

The Google Calendar below contains the most up-to-date schedule of both levels of Anti-Boring Educators’ Club calls.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about the schedule:

• The calls are not at a consistent time. By bouncing around to different times of day, and different days of the week, we hope to accommodate as many different time zones as possible.
• The calls are always recorded.
• Although it’s always inspiring and refreshing to attend a live call, many educators report feeling just as connected to the community when they watch and respond to the recordings.

 

Coach Training Packages

Are you looking for a full coach training program to move you from inspiration to action, from the initial idea of “I want to be a coach!” to “Look at my thriving biz”?

Some coaches-to-be like to dip their toes in the water following an alaccarte process:

• First, they take the Art of Inspiring Students course. This allows them to learn the basic academic coaching toolkit, and decide if they like Gretchen’s style of training. They might then join the Club, continuing to test out whether Gretchen feels like the right mentor to them.
• At some point, they purchase the Launch Your Biz course, to check out the step-by-step instructions. They then upgrade to the Launch Your Biz Club to test out what this community is like.
• Finally, after feeling safe, affirmed, and inspired, they fully commit to a year of mentoring from Gretchen, so that they can position themselves to become a fully Anti-Boring Approach licensed coach.

Other folks know they take more consistent, effective action when they dive in whole hog and commit to the entire program. There are some financial incentives for making this commitment too.

If you’re curious about the various packages available to you, and the pathway to becoming a licensed coach, check out this document.

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Design Custom Trainings

Congratulations! You are considering bringing Gretchen to your campus or organization to train your faculty or staff in the Anti-Boring toolbox.

You are part of a small-but-growing movement to teach students (and their teachers!) brain-based study skills to help them become more effective, efficient, independent, self-sufficient, life-long learners.

Gretchen loves to work with organizations to create custom packages that meet your training needs.

Here are some organizations she’s worked with in the past:

• University learning center staff
• Faculty and parents at Independent Schools
• Parents and students at a Catholic high school
• Faculty at public independent study program
• Education-related nonprofits
• And more!

Depending on your organization’s need and budget, we can choose from the following “menu items” to put together your training:

• Group discounts on the Art of Inspiring Students course
• Group discounts on Art of Inspiring Students club membership
• Zoom training calls with your staff
• In person staff trainings
• Large group speaking engagements
• One-on-one mentorship

If you are interested in inquiring about a custom package, please contact us and tell us more about your situation.

Here are a few stories, though, to help you better envision which kind of training might be best for you.

Private Boarding School in Canada

Over the course of a school year, Gretchen worked with a team of five academic coaches serving the students in the evenings at a boarding school in Canada.

The goal was to create and document processes for making their one-on-one and small group coaching services more effective at their school.

The package included:

• Spots for 5 educators in the Art of Inspiring Students online course
• 3 hour-long training calls via Zoom with the full staff, to troubleshoot concerns and plan how to integrate the tools
• Email and phone support in between training sessions with the team lead

University Learning Center Staff

The newly hired director of a learning center of a college in the midwest reached out to Gretchen for support:

“Help! I’ve just been hired to create a new Learning Center at my school, and I don’t know where to start.”

Over the course of a year, Gretchen worked with this learning center director to do the following:

• Mentorship as the newly appointed director worked through the Art of Inspiring Students to learn the Anti-Boring toolbox, and design a learning center structure based on these tools
• Spots for three new hires in The Art of Inspiring Students, to make sure all learning center employees had the same tools and language
• Licensing agreements to creating a training based on the Anti-Boring toolkit to train 50 peer tutors a year

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Case Studies and Testimonials

How I Got 10 Academic Coaching Clients in Three Months:

“I’m a long time educator and was looking to transition from classroom and adjunct positions, and find something that I could do from home, and that would be more sustainable. Gretchen is very engaging, she has a dynamic personality and draws you in immediately.

Once you get into the training, you realize that she is truly concerned about what you’re learning. She doesn’t hold back; she lets you know every bit of her experience. I put the numbers to it and I figured out what I needed to make to recover what I paid Gretchen. At this point, I have ten of my own clients, and I was able to pay for the training with the second client. I’m a happy guy. It was well worth the investment! If you want a program that talks about nuts and bolts, the reality of what it’s like in the field, and want the infrastructure, systems, and practices that go into it, you couldn’t find a better program. Gretchen gave us all of that. In Gretchen’s program, I got strong support for launching into this new career.”

~ Rich Brown, 2015 Anti-Boring Approach Coach Trainee.

To watch Rich’s video testimonial about the Coach Training, click here.

To hear Rich speak about why the Anti-Boring Approach™ is such a valuable tool, click here.

The Best Choice I Made for My Business:

I love all of my life coaching tools and know that they can change the trajectory of a teenager’s life.  However, I was really struggling to sell parents on the value of hiring a life coach for their kids and finding new clients was painful.  In the interest of being able to “hold the students’ agenda,” I wanted to beef up my academic learning and studying skills and enrolled in Gretchen’s Anti-Boring Approach to Powerful Studying™.  It has been a game-changer in my ability to help students. But, more importantly, it has made landing new clients so much easier.

I’m finding it easier to land new clients willing to pay for coaching. The best choice I made for my business was to immerse myself in both systems – Gretchen’s Anti-Boring Approach to Powerful Studying™ as well as John Williams’ Academic Life Coach training.  I highly recommend it!”

~ Debbie Lehr-Lee, UNStoppable Students, 2015 Anti-Boring Approach Coach Trainee,

Now I’ve Worked With 3 Clients & Received Multiple Referrals:

As a classroom teacher for over a decade, I realized that my passion in the classroom lies in school readiness, which includes the executive functioning aspect. I was ready to leave the classroom and focus on students in a more holistic way.  Seeing Gretchen’s Facebook posts about academic coaching made me realize “I want to do that!”

The training was the perfect opportunity to learn this material. Now, two months after finishing the training, I’m pleased to report I’ve worked with 3 clients, received multiple referrals (including 3 inquiries within four days!), and have several consultations set up for new clients. Because Gretchen helped me find my first clients, I’m now so much more articulate about what coaching is and how it benefits students; it’s much easier to talk to potential clients about what I do.

I’m especially grateful that Gretchen was willing to teach us her simple & brilliant GoogleDoc Framework for how to document our work with clients. Also, her tips for enrolling clients were invaluable. It was super helpful to learn exactly how to write a marketing letter, and I was surprised and grateful to know that I don’t have to have a website right away, that I can get the word out about myself in ways that feel authentic and comfortable to me.

Gretchen is clear and systematic in explaining her system, without being dogmatic. She’s compassionate and creative as well as grounded and structured. And she’s generous with her time and feedback, too! I’m glad I took advantage of both her group training and her private coaching sessions, as the coaching sessions enabled me to work through some of the harder-to-crack resistances I was feeling. I’m excited about my future as an academic coach!

~ Sarah Weidman, 2015 Anti-Boring Approach Coach Trainee.

The Tools She Offers Have Brought Results to My Clients:

I already had an extensive teaching and tutoring background, and had felt the need to move into academic coaching based on challenges I was having with my existing clients, where students needed more than content support; they also needed study skills and strategies to address learning differences. I felt drawn to working with Gretchen because she has a proven method for guiding learners with very concrete tools and methodologies. Her system is effective and her style is engaging.

The biggest benefits of the training were getting a broad overview of the field of academic coaching, and learning best practices. The training was flexible enough to help me explore and express my own style of coaching, while also equipping me with specific tools and step-by-step instructions about how to integrate those tools into my tutoring. We were empowered to utilize our own foundations of knowledge and grow to a greater level of mastery. Gretchen treated us with enthusiasm, like peers, even though she was leading us.

What’s special about Gretchen is her flexible thinking and the way she creatively uses different approaches to learning and teaching.  She also has a concrete method that works when people aren’t sure of which approach to take. The tools she offers are well thought out, they work, and they’ve brought results with my clients, including greater academic achievement and a lot more awareness of how to manage a variety of learning projects.

I also got concrete guidance on building my business with specific and motivating marketing actions that actually work. Because Gretchen is so research-based, tapped into cutting edge thinking about BOTH learning and entrepreneurship, I had a sense of trust and I felt confident that I was building a brand based on reputable methods, processes and research. This training is a must-have program for anyone who wants to build a successful academic coaching practice.

~ Eve Chosak,  2015 Anti-Boring Approach Coach Trainee

Gretchen Has Been Very Successful In Building a Six-Figure Business…and I’m So Glad She’s Passing Her Wealth of Knowledge On To Others:

As her business coach, I think the world of Gretchen. She is an incredibly good teacher, with a way of making learning fun and packaging it in a way that people actually get it. She’s been very successful in building a six-figure business for herself and now has a system in place that she can “turn on” whenever she needs more clients.

I’ve been impressed with Gretchen’s tenacity and creativity to keep on evolving her marketing until she landed on something that works for her unique field, and she has a super amount of energy and passion for helping other academic coaches get started on that path. I’ve seen her trainees benefit greatly from her hard work. Why recreate the wheel and work with other business coaches who don’t know the field as well as Gretchen does?  It’s been a privilege supporting her in growing her business, and I’m so glad she’s passing her wealth of knowledge on to others.   

~ Bill Silverman, Business Coach with the Big Shift Coaching Program

Gretchen Manages To Inhabit the Unique Territory of Being Anti-Boring and Wise:

Gretchen and I have gone through the same business coaching program. Because I have greatly benefitted from masterminding with her about business development, I felt completely confident hiring her to help me develop a training.

Gretchen is so knowledgeable and open. She’s always making great suggestions that are brilliant and so easy to implement. She’s also super warm, thoughtful and fully engaged/present.  I couldn’t imagine someone better to walk through business processes and strategies with.

With Gretchen you get the perfect blend of caring, fun and depth.  Some people have lots of knowledge but they are boring. Others are fun but have little substance. Gretchen manages to inhabit the unique territory of being anti-boring and wise!

~ Jo Ilfeld, PhD, Executive leadership coaching and consulting at www.SuccessReboot.com.

I Recommend Gretchen as a Business Mentor for Aspiring Academic Life Coaches Wholeheartedly:

I was feeling overwhelmed in my business and totally stuck around what steps to take to get out of the overwhelm.  Gretchen has been a business mastermind partner for three years now, and she knows me well. She had the perfect suggestion that was adapted to my unique needs, and she was spot on! My whole body started to relax and I felt: OMG, that is what I need! Gretchen is not just a great coach for students, I can speak from experience that she is also superb with adult business owners.

She allows me to follow my intuition and guidance, even if it goes against what other experienced business coaches think. She helps me stay strong in my inner guidance and respects and champions my own unique way of building my business, while also providing insightful suggestions that I hadn’t thought of.  This is probably what I appreciate the most about her coaching style.

I recommend Gretchen as a business mentor for aspiring academic coaches wholeheartedly. If you are wondering whether or not to work with her, go for it! You won’t be disappointed!

~ Isabelle Peyrichoux, CEO and Career Reinvention Coach, at Brilliant Seeds.

Gretchen is a wonderful facilitator and the course went way beyond my expectations: 

My name is Lorraine and I am an ESL Teacher and Coach.  I currently live in Spain but last year I was in Ireland for the summer.  My niece was entering a big exam year and was having a crisis of confidence.  I offered to help her and we worked together once a week for two months. During this time I searched for practical skills to help her prepare for the exam.   

Late one night I came across Gretchen Wegner, Academic Life Coaching and  The Art of Inspiring Students training course. I attended a master class and decided to invest in the course. It was worth every penny.  Gretchen has designed a wonderful course that is practical and informative. The course covered a lot of information which is delivered in concise chunks that were easy to absorb.

The main benefits came from” proving your learning”, receiving individual feedback and interacting with Gretchen and other participants.  The course provided practical tools which engage students in their learning process and gave me the confidence to implement new techniques with great results. Gretchen is a wonderful facilitator and the course went way beyond my expectations.  I can’t speak highly enough about this course.

~Lorraine Hanlon (Ireland & Spain)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between an academic coach and an academic life coach?

We will address this more in the actual training, but here are a few notes:

When I first got trained into this business, my boss called us “academic coaches” because we were primarily working with students with learning disabilities around school-related time management, organization, and study skills.

However, I started using the word “life” when I realized that so many of my clients are actually struggling with life-related issues. The academic struggles are the most frustrating and visible of their symptoms (especially to their parents, who are the ones willing to pay), but actually there is more going on – learning how to advocate for themselves, have better sleep and exercise routines, make and sustain friendships, communicate better with their families, and have a more exciting vision for their lives, and more.

This is why I like to use the phrase “academic life coach” – because it clues the parents AND students into the fact that, although we might START with academic-related problems, our work will eventually reach other aspects of their life as well. However, it’s important to say that I’m not a trained life coach, and I don’t pretend to work in that capacity; I’m a skilled teacher and brain nerd with my Masters in Education, and I’m most interested in helping students become passionate, skilled, life-long learners who know how to rock school…AND have a satisfying life, too.

Can I work for you after I’m trained?

No. Right now I don’t plan to have any coaches working for me. Rather, I want to help you get your business up and running so that it is sustainable and self-sufficient. I also love the vision that we might create a community of colleagues, each of us with our own niche, or perfect client. For example, I love working with juniors and seniors in high school who are creative but scatter-brained; maybe you love working with middle school students, students in online schools, students with a specific learning difference like autism, junior college students, etc.  When a client who is less than perfect for me comes in, but who matches your niche, I want to be able to refer them to you, and I would LOVE to have a community of folks who happily do this for each other. I don’t believe that we are in competition with each other, but rather, that we get to help each other have the most joyful businesses possible.

How much of my time will this training take?

I have tried to indicate in the descriptions of each part of my program how much time you should plan for. However, keep in mind that your business will grow in direct proportion to the amount of time you’re willing to devote to it this year. The times I have indicated are minimum time investments.

Will I get referrals from you?

While you are in my training program, I will happily share your contact information with my overflow clients. I can’t promise how many folks I refer will actually contact you, as it depends on whether these clients are local or national, where you live, what your client specialty/niche will be, and how well you’ve written up your marketing description. However, during the training I will share your contact information, and if the client reaches out, you can walk them through your enrollment process (which I will teach you how to do!) to discover if you are a good match. In addition, if you decide to go through my Anti-Boring Approach™ Coach Certification Process (which will be held in early 2017), you will have the opportunity to continue to receive referrals from me even after you have finished the training.

What if I already work with a business coach around business development?

I get it! If you’ve immersed yourself in the world of entrepreneurship, you’ve likely found yourself a number of great resources for growing your marketing. In fact, a couple of my past trainees have come to me AFTER spending tens of thousands of dollars (literally!) in other people’s business development programs (yielding few results in their bottom lines), only to discover that The Anti-Boring Approach™ Coach program took them farther faster (including getting them more clients, making more money, and seeing a bigger difference in their clients’ lives). Why? I’m not exactly sure, but my hypothesis so far is that other coaches/trainers understand the GENERAL tenets of how to market, but they don’t have the intimate knowledge of the peculiarities of this market in particular. There is something very different about helping parents trust you as the person who will help their teen create results (and to whom they’re willing to pay several thousand dollars) AND at the same time, helping teenagers know, like and trust you as well. The systems I’ve created — both to deliver coaching AND to market to and enroll both parents and teenagers — are actually part of what sells my work. I’ve not seen anyone teach what I teach.

How does this training differ from other people who train academic coaches?

I don’t know the complete ins and outs of what the other programs offer, but here’s what I DO know. The two trainings listed above focus mostly on how to coach students through goal-setting, time management, organization and focus. There is a little emphasis on study skills, but not to the degree that I think is necessary to create life-long, passionate learners who can learn anything they are taught, no matter how good or bad they think their teacher is.  The three things that make my program unique are: (1) the way I teach concrete study skills, (2) my emphasis on marketing mastery at all levels of my training, and (3) my focus on technology that allows you to coach from anywhere.

Also, although the other programs do have business building components, near as I can tell they are not as thorough as mine is. I’ve invested over $25,000 learning how to market myself and build a sustainable business. My main teachers have been Bill Baren and Marie Forleo. I’ve ALSO done the hard work of translating those trainings into the peculiar field of education, during which you’re needing to sell to both the parent and student… and the primary client who is receiving your services (the student) is NOT the person paying for the services, which poses some challenges in regards to how invested the student is compared to the parent in their own coaching success. I’m excited that I get to teach you what I’ve learned, so you don’t need to re-invent the wheel yourself. Also, I believe my TOTAL SUPPORT program includes more one-on-one coaching with me than other academic life coach programs do.

Please note: One thing my program does NOT provide that the others do is certification as an official life coach, which allows you membership in the International Coaches Federation. If this is important to you, you might like to budget for doing my program first (to get the basics of your business set up), and then to do John Williams’ Academic Life Coach training program (to get the ICF certification and also to learn a piece I don’t teach in detail – how to work with teens on goal setting, motivation, personality inventory, etc).

What if I can’t afford the cost of the training but I know this will really help me?

I absolutely understand the financial quandary, as I ran up against the same problem when I decided to seek out training for how to run and market my own business. In order to try and shield you from the stress I experienced, I’ve designed the program so you can earn back the cost of the program before it’s even finished.

Here’s what I mean: in August I’ll ask you to find yourself a minimum of 3 practice clients for the fall semester, and I recommend finding more (and I’ll give you some great ideas about where to find them). I recommend that you charge these practice clients a minimum of $1000/semester, which means that you will earn $3000+ between August and December. Voila! Program paid off.

Here is something else to think about: when I first attended a weekend training on how to market my services, the coach asked us to raise our hands if we work as coaches. Almost the entire room raised their hand! Then he said, “Please keep your hand up if you have a coach,” and more than half the arms – including my own! – went down. The trainer then challenged us, “How do you expect people to pay you top dollar for being a coach if you don’t find it a valuable enough service to invest in it yourself?” That point hit me in my core. Twenty-five thousand dollars later (that’s how much I’ve now paid for 3 years of coaching in Bill Baren’s Big Shift program, gaining a wealth of marketing wisdom that I hope to pass on to you), I’m a transformed entrepreneur charging more for my coaching services than I thought possible. I attribute this confidence to at least two things: (1) After receiving coaching for the first time in my life, I suddenly understood the true value of the service I was giving my clients, and (2) investing top dollar for a premium coaching program gave me the confidence to ask my clients to invest top dollar, too. This choice changed my life, and I wish the same confidence boost for you.

Here’s a mantra I told myself when I became stressed about the first $10,000 I put on a 0% interest credit card to pay for my first marketing training: “It’s cheaper than grad school! It’s cheaper than grad school!” Although I originally said this in jest, I quickly realized the power of this mantra. Many people go thousands of dollars into debt to pay for MBA programs, and here I was getting the equivalent of that training for significantly less…. AND I was able to pay it all off before I’d finished my training.  

Finally, it is customary for business training programs to charge at least 5% of the trainee’s earning potential. If you commit yourself to practicing the marketing techniques I will teach you, here is a model for what you could earn if you decided to devote yourself full-time to this work and got a little more experience under your belt:

        4 clients/day for 4 days = 16 client hours/week

        Each client invests $2500/semester (which is slightly less than I am charging now per semester)

        16 clients x $2500/semester = $40,000/semester

        $40,000 x 2 semesters = $80,000/year gross income

P.S. Just to share with you how I paid for all my marketing programs (because I certainly didn’t have the cash when I registered for them): I got myself a credit card that would be 0% interest for 16 months. That way I could receive the full price discount for the trainings by paying in full. Because my training helped me attract new clients quickly, I was able to earn enough money to pay off each of these credit cards before the interest was due. Although I know credit card debt isn’t for everyone, this process has worked well for me.

For more information about pricing or to apply for the program, please contact me.