Coaching Costs

"Coaching Costs" Why does Internet Business Coaching cost so

much? If you don't know what Internet Business Coaching is, you

will soon enough. These companies are becoming more and more

visible on the Internet scene every day. What they do is provide

you with 'personalized' help in starting and running your

Internet business. There are several Coaching operations we've

seen recently that provide some or all of the following services

to you, over a set period of time: -One-on-One phone time with

your assigned Coach -Email support with your assigned Coach

-Online Classes -Printed materials to read -Video/DVD materials

to watch -Seminars around the US These services are supposed to

be designed to teach you everything from how to set up web sites

or auctions, to choosing which products might sell better for

you, to raising your rankings in the Search Engines, and more.

Are they legit? Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the 'jury' is

still out on this question. I've looked at some of their course

outlines, I've spoken to several of the owners and managers of

these companies, and I've dealt with some of the smaller (one or

two person) operations that want you to think they are big

companies. I have a ways to go yet before deciding whether I

want to make any particular recommendations. There are three

large Coaching companies I have found that look legitimate to

me, but I want to go a lot further in investigating the issue

before I tell you that I think they are worth the time and

money. There are also many very small operations, as I said,

that want you to think they are big Coaching companies, and

those, to me, are definitely not worth the money. It's just not

possible for one or two people to provide the level of constant

training and support needed by more than just a few clients, so

the small Coaches are out, in my opinion. The larger companies

may be legit, but I'm still working on determining that. When I

make that determination to my own satisfaction, I'll tell you

about it in a future edition of this Newsletter. This particular

article is intended to explain why a legitimate Internet

Business Coaching company would have to charge the kinds of high

fees that so many Coaching companies ask for (anywhere from

$3,000 to $6,000 or more). They've gotta pay the rent! A large

Coaching company will have many people working for them in the

same set of offices. Let me give you an idea of what that costs

them, by telling you about what it costs us to run our offices.

Whenever you bring a group of people to work for you in a closed

environment, like an office setting, it costs a lot of money. I

can attest to that personally. My company, Worldwide Brands,

Inc. employs many people in our offices near Orlando, Florida.

My Partners and I spent a great deal of money setting up those

offices, and a great deal more bringing on the (excellent) staff

of people we have here. It isn't as easy as just renting space.

Once you have the office space, which isn't cheap to begin with,

you need to furnish that office space. Desks, chairs, file

cabinets, tables. Those plastic things that you put on the floor

that your chairs roll around on (you wouldn't believe what those

things cost!). Staplers, paper, pens, sticky notes, and places

to store and organize your office supplies. Restroom supplies. A

refrigerator for everybody's soft drinks and lunches. Signs for

the building and the doors. Then, you need Phone Service.

Thousands of dollars for digital phone systems that run multiple

lines over a digital (T1) phone connection. An 800 number.

Thousands per month in phone service and long distance bills. Of

course, you can't run a business without Computers. A PC for

every employee, and a couple of extras for training use. A

Server Computer to function as a central data storage location,

and to run nightly backups of all your data. Thousands of

dollars worth of software licensed for all your computers and

your Server. Printers and a Fax Machine. A Network Router and

Hubs. The Computers are useless unless they can connect to the

Internet, so you shell out more money for a High-Speed Business

Internet Connection that can handle the load when all your

employees are working on the Net at the same time, which they

almost always do. What happens if there's theft, or an accident?

You are required to pay for Business Insurance to protect

yourself against loss, and against someone being injured at your

location. Of course, you need to pay for Alarm System

installation and maintenance before you can even get the

Business Insurance. Then you have bills for Power, Water, and

sometimes Natural Gas. You have to keep the lights on and the

air conditioning running, or you're going nowhere fast. When

that's all paid for, the real costs begin! Whenever you employ

people, you have large expenses associated with that employment.

We provide a great Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance

Plan to our employees, as does anyone with a real business

location. That costs us a lot, every month. Then there's

Unemployment Insurance that we have to pay, and Workman's

Compensation Insurance. There's Human Resources Outsourcing,

Training Programs, Overtime, Bonuses, and the occasional Group

Lunch. And that doesn't even take Payroll into account! What it

all boils down to is that placing a group of people in an Office

environment costs a ton of money. Be glad that you are setting

yourself up to work from home! We maintain our Staff and our

Offices for the sole purpose of researching and publishing The

Drop Ship Source Directory, and doing that takes all of the

expenses and resources I've listed above, plus a lot more to

operate our site and pay for research materials and advertising.

When we work on our Directory, we are all working on the same

thing. All of the attention of the Owners and Employees of our

company is focused on one thing, all the time: Researching and

Publishing our Directory and the related information you see on

our site. Now, imagine what it takes for a Coaching Company to

put twenty or thirty people in an office setting, and then

dedicate each one of those people to working with only a few of

their clients for months at a time! Each one of those very

costly employees can only work on just a small part of their

business for them: maybe eight or ten clients that have signed

up for Internet Business Coaching. That's the only way they can

truly provide quality service to their Coaching clients. So,

when I see these companies charging $3,000 to $6,000 and more

for several months of personal Coaching, I do understand why

they need to do that! In order to provide quality One-on-One

service to their Coaching clients, they have no choice but to

charge that much. All that money does not go into their pockets.

Most of it goes just to maintain the business itself. That

doesn't mean, however, that they are providing quality service.

As I said, I'm still researching that. The three companies I

have found look good so far, but I haven't gotten far enough in

my research yet to recommend any of them personally. When I do,

any recommendations I have will be posted in our Resource Center

and sent out in our Newsletter. Once I form my opinion, I hope

it will help you to form your own opinion. :o) Chris Malta

WorldWide Brands, Inc. For more information, visit

http://www.YouCanDropship.com







About the author:

Chris Malta is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He has

worked with computer Systems for 18 years. He's been involved in

eCommerce systems, networking and site design for more than 6

years. He developed The Drop Ship Source Directory, and he and

his partners at Worldwide Brands, Inc., publish the Directory

and run eCommerce sites of their own using Drop Shipping as

their only business method.