Start from the hours, not the market
Write down what one client costs you per month in time: programming and updates, check-in reviews, messages, calls. For a typical online client that is somewhere between two and five hours a month. Multiply by the hourly rate you would accept for skilled work, and add a share of the fixed costs (software, insurance, education). That figure is your floor. A price below it is a hobby.
Then look at the market, but only to decide where above the floor you sit. Coaches with a niche, results they can show and a waitlist can charge well above what generalists do, for the same hours.
Pick a model that matches the coaching
Monthly subscriptions suit ongoing coaching: the client pays for access and accountability, and you program continuously. Packages (twelve weeks, a competition prep) suit work with a defined end. A hybrid (a package to start, then a lower monthly rate) converts hesitant clients and keeps them.
- Monthly: simplest to sell, easiest to forecast, needs a minimum commitment of three months to be worth onboarding.
- Package: higher ticket, natural renewal conversation at the end, cash up front.
- Hybrid: a 12-week package at a premium, rolling to a monthly rate after. Many coaches end up here.
Show the price in public
A price that only exists in your DMs costs you every prospect who was not going to message first. Put a 'from' price on your public page and the actual plans below it. Prospects self-select, you spend your calls on people who can pay, and the price itself becomes a signal of seriousness.
On CoachVana your public page shows your plans with real prices and an apply button; a client you accept lands in your roster without a manual step and pays on your Stripe account.
Stop paying a percentage of it
Two costs eat a coaching price: card processing, which nobody avoids, and whatever the platform takes on top of it. Some platforms add a percentage to every sale, charge a processing rate above the card processor's standard one, or sell the payment tools as a monthly add-on. On $5,000 a month of coaching revenue, every extra 1% is $600 a year. CoachVana charges by roster size in fixed levels (from $29 a month for up to 5 clients to $292.99 for up to 600), and takes 0% of sales, so the price you set is the price you keep, minus Stripe's processing fee.
Raise prices with the roster, not the calendar
The right moment to raise your price is when you are full. Raise it for new clients first, keep existing clients where they are for a defined period, and tell them the date. A coach at capacity with a waitlist is in a position to raise prices for new clients; a coach with empty slots is not.