The Mother Teresa Effect

We get into this business to help people but that can be a double-edged sword. By that I mean sometimes we can be a little more generous with our time then we should be.
It's not good for business to keep giving time away for free but depending on the situation it can be a very useful tool to leverage generosity and allow you to take advantage of the law of reciprocity.
​​It's really important to make clear what you charge and what's received by the client. Often people can take advantage of a lack of communication from us and end up not paying or not paying on time.

You don't want to become the Mother Teresa of the fitness industry yes we want to be known as someone who helps others but we don't want to be known for the person that does all that for free.

So how can you make sure this doesn't happen?

• Get clear in initial discussions with clients about whether they have a budget and how often they want to see you
• even if they don't ask, make sure they understand what the investment looks like prior to commencing - this removes any uncomfortable conversations later
• make it clear how you want to get paid when that needs to happen is it before the session is it after the session is it on automatic payment or whatever you choose
• you also need to make sure clients are clear on what happens when they don't show up will you be charging them a full rate half rate or whatever, your policy on those shows needs to be clear and set out in your initial paperwork that they receive from you

Once you have all of this in place you then have the structures that prevent these problems occurring and you have the freedom to choose when to be Mother Teresa and when to be the businessperson.

​All power to you.