I know everyone and their sister wants to hate on giving away pretty much anything for free… especially coaching sessions.
Heck, even offering free discovery calls or consultations get a bad rap these days.
But, for every person online telling you how giving your services away for free will ruin your business, here’s another take (dare I say, a “hot take” 
?!): giving away free coaching sessions has helped me make $1.2 million in revenue in the past 4.5 years.
And, look, this doesn’t necessarily mean offering free sessions is the key to making money for everyone. I have plenty of clients this isn’t the right move for and some I encourage to charge for their initial meetings.
But, for those of you who have heard the messaging teaching you that people don’t respect free or take free seriously, I hope this will be evidence for you that finding ways to give away free value upfront is just smart business.
I mean, I like to try on jeans before paying $300 for them.
And, when I received a $100 gift card to my now-favorite Italian spot in the neighborhood, I didn’t think, “Oh, they must be hurting, they must suck at sales, I don’t want to use this.”
No way! I thought, “How generous, I’ve been meaning to try them out!”
And also, “Such smart business. Much respect.”
I’ve now given them thousands and thousands of dollars over the years, and who knows how many referrals. Trust me, no one’s hurting for business there.
So, back to how giving away free coaching has helped me make $1.2 million in revenue in the past 4.5 years and some nuance for you.
Has every dollar of that $1.2 come from a free coaching session?
Yes and no.
I started my business by offering 100 free sessions before I slapped a price tag on my coaching.
Then, I worked with 3 clients for free in a 3-month package.
That gave me confidence and helped me hone my craft, test my offer, and feel in integrity and get behind my price point.
Some of these people became warm leads who later paid me my full coaching fee.
Then, I offered additional free coaching sessions to get fully booked.
These allowed me to speed up the customer journey and attract clients who otherwise might not have known me or had enough know, like, and trust in my brand to choose me over the countless other coaches with similar messaging, selling a similar program.
As a fully booked 1:1 coach, making $350k+ a year, I like staying fully booked. So, while I don’t offer the same volume of free coaching sessions, I’ve *always* opened up my calendar to offer these over the years between giveaways (another hot tip: leave me a review on my podcast, ONE Question, and you’ll have a very good chance of winning a session!), scholarship sessions, value-give sessions, and trial sessions.
And, no, this doesn’t ‘waste my time’ with ‘freebie hunters’, these free coaching sessions actually SAVE me time and help me attract and offer my limited spots to RIGHT-FIT leads who become clients I adore working with.
These calls also allow me to open the door to connect with people who never had me on their radar.
In fact, case and point, one of my clients who scaled from six-figures to over a million met me by winning a free session in a raffle!
Even when someone takes me up on a free call with no intention of ever hiring me, I know, that’s one more person who will become a word-of-mouth marketer, and very possibly a client in the future when their circumstances change.
So, sure, not every dollar of the $1.2 million we’ve made in the past 4.5 years from 1:1 has come directly from offering free sessions. Many of my clients book consults and are referrals.
But, I’d argue those early free sessions gave me the confidence, skills, a validated offer, messaging and marketing clarity, momentum, and opportunity to get fully booked.
Those free sessions I offer today creates beautiful relationships with people in my audience so I actually feel connected and like I know my people, gives me invaluable market research that informs my content and strategy, and keeps my pipeline full of clients for now and later. It also allows me to fulfill my values of service and giving back.
Together that’s all supported staying fully booked and making $1.2 million in revenue in 4.5 years.
Offering free sessions might not make sense for your business model or where you’re at in your entrepreneurial journey. There have been years I’ve been overbooked, for example, where these were put on hold.
But, the next time you scroll online and read a post telling you how bad for business it is to offer anything for free…that people won’t value it, take you seriously, and even worse, that it will cost you, I hope you’ll take this as evidence for the benefit of and times giving away a little something upfront can serve everyone now and later.
And, if you’re curious if a free coaching session can really be any good, allow me to put my money where my mouth is and join me for a Free $100k CEO Mindset & Strategy Session.
I’ve had one person report back that they’ve made $9k after this call and another person tell me they’ve booked two clients within two days of their session. Not a bad return on investment if you ask me.
On this call, we’ll:
unpack your business and take a holistic look at what’s going on to identify the #1 mindset shift or strategy gap to close to increase your visibility, connect with your people, and bring in more right-fit leads.
get clear on a plan of action with simple next steps you can take right away to put you on the path for making $10k and $20k+ months.
Want to snag this exclusive free session with a multi-six-figure coach who has a track record with clients getting their own six and seven-figure results and see what all the fuss is about?
Book your free session here.
You might want to hire me after, though, so consider yourself warned 
Then, I’d love to hear from you! Hit ‘reply’ and let me know if you’ve ever offered free sessions or consults and how you enjoyed (or didn’t!) the experience.
Wishing you your version of success.
Wishing you your version of success!
Is it your time to make your first or next six-figures? I’d love to help you do exactly that.
