As entrepreneurs, we LOVE our business coaches. Why? Because we have these special minds that we cannot always remove ourselves from, and sometimes our businesses need to be looked at from an objective, experience business coach.
If you are a business coach, thinking about being a business coach, or are expanding your coaching services to include business coaching, this article is for you!
As a business coach, you probably ensure that your entrepreneur client has proper systems and procedures in place. One of those procedures is having solid Client Agreements. But what about you, our beloved business coach? Our business coach needs a contract for every entrepreneur she helps. In other words, our business coach also needs proper systems and procedures to protect and celebrate her own business.
As a business coach, you give us entrepreneurs positivity, hope and celebrate our potential. Well, your contract with your client can set the tone, expectation and rules of the coaching relationship in a positive way that demonstrates you care about the coaching relationship!
Remember, there is business coaching, and then there is the business of coaching. You help us with the former, and we are here to help you with the latter.
What Role Does A Business Coaching Contract Play?
I know we are preaching to the choir when we say that not every client understand what business coaching actually is. And, more importantly, they may not know at the outset what your unique business coaching style is.
Enter the Business Coaching Contract!
Your Agreement also plays an important role in educating the client about what business coaching is (and is not) and what they can expect from your particular business coaching process.
Essentially, a coaching agreement is positive and organized way to delineate your services.
That’s Nice. So, What Do I Put In My Business Coaching Contract?
We thought you would never ask. Actually, we thought you would because that is probably why you are here. So let’s jump right into it! This Is what you “need to have” and we have labeled what is “nice to have.”
- The Parties. Is it your business and an individual? Your business and another business? You and an individual and another individual? This you will want up front.
- Nice to have-Introduction. This can be a short description of the type of coaching you do
- Services. Here, you can either refer your client to a Scope of Work that further defines your services, fees, and packages, or you can define your services here.
We usually suggest a Scope of Work if you have different kinds of services. - Scheduling. This is where you want to discuss how sessions are scheduled, by whom, what notice is needed for cancellation and rescheduling, and any other policies you may have surrounding scheduling.
- Term and Termination. Here you will discuss how long your agreement lasts as well as your policies surrounding discontinuation of coaching.
- The Coaching Relationship and Responsibilities: This should be a bulleted/otherwise list-form section that covers the following:
- Coaching Relationship Generally.
- Scope of Coaching.
- Scheduling, Payment and Assignments.
- Compensation. You can reference a “fee schedule” in your Scope of Services or state your fees here.
- Confidentiality. This is where you tell your client that what she tells you and does with you is between you and her.
- Intellectual Property/License. This states that anything you create for this program is yours.
- Nice to have- Disclaimers.
- Warranties. This is an ALL-CAPITALIZED SECTION basically stating that you are not making any express or implied warranties.
- Limits to liability. This section limits your liability, if any, to the amount of the contract, and no more.
- Entire Agreement. This states that everything in the agreement, including any attachments, is the entirety of the agreement, and there is nothing floating out there.
- Partial Invalidity. This is a clause that basically says if one clause is invalid, the other parts of the agreement are still valid
- Governing Law. This is important because your contract is governed by the law you want it to be governed.
Ready, Set, Coach!
There you have it. You may certainly have more than what is contained above, but these are the fundamentals to any solid business coaching contract.
Now go and do what you love!
