Before you roll your eyes at me and say I'm obviously going to say yes to this question as a coach, let me tell you I'm actually going to say an emphatic "maybe!"
My husband is a financial advisor and almost every decision we make as a team involves talking about our ROI.
First, I want to share one of the reasons I became a coach is because I am coached. I've hired multiple coaches for different things. My husband has a sales coach, I have had multiple writing coaches, and I spend a ton of time seeking out mentorship for anything I need expertise or accountability for.
For me, my ROI is always worth it even if it isn't clearly monetary. I make more progress when I'm held accountable, I challenge my thoughts, and I take more responsibility than I would if I was just daydreaming alone in my office all day.
However, there are some things that will greatly impact whether or not your coaching investment is worth it for you.
Here are a few things to consider before hiring a coach:
Are you open minded?
If you aren't willing to learn from someone else and you don't want a fresh perspective, you're obviously not going to make changes. Instead of getting the true value of coaching, you'll probably stick to the idea that you're the expert and don't need any additional opinions. You're probably not going to benefit from coaching if this is your mindset. The lack of progress won't cost you anything, it'll just keep you stuck. But investing in a coach while you stay stuck will feel costly. You'll leave a coaching call thinking it was a waste of time and money with a sense of disappointment.
If you're not open to the process, you won't get an ROI on coaching.
Do you have time to invest?
A big factor in how effective your coaching experience will be is the amount of time you're willing to devote. This means showing up on time for calls, showing up without distractions, and preparing to devote some time outside of calls to the experience. For my clients, I let them set their own schedules and project timelines. I hold them to the timeframes they set which are (hopefully) realistic. I also provide varying packages to account for different seasons. But I never encourage a client to overcommit. Not having the time to invest leaves us feeling more disappointed when we don't hit our own deadlines and suddenly we have mindset issues that weren't there before.
Commit to realistic timeframes and expectations for coaching so your investment is worth it.
Do you know your definition of success?
My clients often hear me asking about what success is to them. I like to hear the big, crazy dreams first, and then hear what steps we need to be taking to make progress. Success is different to all of us. Some define success by work/life balance, others want a specific accomplishment like a completed manuscript or a publishing deal, and others want to feel more joy in their day-to-day creative journey.
If you don't know what success is to you before your coaching commitment, you might feel like you aren't succeeding.
Having clarity on what success is will allow you to have a focus for coaching. If you don't feel like you know your definition of success yet, this is something we can work through together. Make sure your coach knows how you define success so you can be making progress toward your personal and professional goals.
If you're open to feedback and to the process, you have the time in your season to invest, and you know what a successful coaching experience would be for you, then you're definitely going to get the most out of coaching and see a return on your investment.
You'll implement feedback and make changes to scale your creative career, you'll devote time to the changes and actually implement them to make progress, and you'll know with confidence that you are succeeding and should feel proud of yourself for it!
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