When it comes to investing in a coach or a coaching program, I used to get stuck in short-term thinking when I was considering the investment because I had coaches before. I was so focused on earning my money back.

I eventually learned to take a step back and realize that whatever you’re investing in is going to give you a very long ROI. It’s going to be there far beyond the time you’re in the coaching program. When you realize that, something very powerful opens up, and your whole outlook on business changes.

In today’s episode of Art of Online Business, I draw on my experience as both a coach and student to show you what to look for so you can find a coach that suits your needs.

I also discuss why finding next-level advice feels like searching for a tiny needle in a very dense haystack of basic & generic information… and give tips for making your search easier.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The power of personal connection in a coach-student relationship
• What to do if your personality or values don’t align
• How to choose between group and 1:1 coaching
• What to look for when choosing a coach
• The best ways to determine the ROI of your coaching investment

Links & Resources:

• The Art of Online Business website
• DM me on Instagram
• Visit my YouTube channel
• The Art of Online Business clips on YouTube
• Full episodes of The Art of Online Business Podcast on YouTube
• The Art of Online Business Podcast website

Check out my Accelerator coaching program

Rating/Review for the show on iTunes!

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We’re All Just Figuring This Online Business Thing Out

Case Study: Creating a Business That Makes Money While He Surfs, with Brenton Ford

What I’m Doing to INCREASE Email Opt-Outs During Promotions

When it comes to investing in a coach or a coaching program. I used to get myself stuck in short term thinking when I was considering an investment because I’ve had coaches from before. I was officially, quote unquote, in business. I had my first coach starting back in 2013. And because I’ve been there, it’s something I see a lot of people do today. I used to have this thought, this short term thinking that I better make my money back in the 12 months or the three months or the six months or whatever it is. I was like, How do I guarantee myself I’m going to make this money back or get an ROI on my investment? But when I eventually learned to step back and realize that whatever you’re investing in is going to give you a very long ROI, the ROI is going to be there far beyond the time that you’re in a program or working with somebody or whatever it might be. When you realize that something new and really powerful opens up and your whole outlook and business changes. Hey. Hey. What’s up, My friends Rick already here. Welcome to the Art of Online Business podcast. Thanks so much for coming to hang out with me today. So I used to work for the Washington Capitals hockey team for five years, and I’m going to date myself right now. I work for them in the late nineties and I was the scouting coordinator for them, so I was the intermediary between I worked in the general manager’s office and I was the intermediary between the general manager and the scouting staff. 

At the time it was my dream job. Like I just absolutely loved it. I got to travel with the team quite a bit and hang out with the team and just I loved the job and while I was there for those five years, I had, you know, I got to see the inner workings, obviously, of a professional sports team and got to see what what it was like for for the coaches and working with the players and how the coaches got to, you know, got the best out of the players. They got to play to their strengths, right, identify their weaknesses and provide the kind of support and direction that led them to achieving amazing things. I mean, not when I was there, but they went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2018, my beloved Washington Capitals. But I really got to see the power of coaching and coaches. And not only do they have coaches for like for the team, you know, the head coach and the assistant assistant coaches, but they have a video coach, they have nutritionists, they have, you know, strength and conditioning coach. They have mindset coaches. They have all kinds of different coaches. And if you want to be at the top of your game in whatever it is that you’re doing, a coach or mentor is someone that you’re very likely to want in your corner. 

I mean, look at somebody like The Rock, for example. He’s got a trainer, he’s got, you know, somebody who is training him from a fitness perspective. I mean, the rock is really good shape, right? And he knows what he’s doing, but he has a trainer. Right. Some of the biggest names in Hollywood, for example, have acting coaches. The biggest musicians have fitness trainers. They have mindset coaches. Now they’re the best at what they do, right. And they know still that working with a coach gives them a plan, gives them a strategy, you know, a sounding board to talk, talk things through and to come up with new ideas, etc.. In my business, you know, after being obviously the CEO of my business, I’m a coach to six and seven figure online coaches and course creators. And the way that I look at that role for members of my accelerator coaching program, I’m a strategist, I’m a sounding board for them, someone to talk through. And oftentimes the coaching simply happens by me asking questions because I’ve been doing this a very long time and I know the types of questions to ask to help people have that sort of breakthrough that they’re looking for or maybe they didn’t even realize was there. But, you know, a good coach is able to bring that out in people. I’m somebody who I feel removes roadblocks for people because I’ve been there and I know what pitfalls to look out for a connector, whether it’s to people or resources and more. 

Right. And the coaches there to, like I said, truly ask the right questions and listen to what you truly want in both your business and your life because they’re completely related and then help guide you to whatever that is. And in my definition, a coach is not there to do it for you to tell you what kind of business to create, because that’s up to you. And so with that, it’s sort of like a little background here. I get a ton of questions from people around coaching, like how do you find a good coach or when is a good time to start thinking about getting a coach or joining a program or what have you or what types of things to look out for and so on. So today I thought I would share with you my thoughts based on my experience as both a coach and a student. Right, Because I have a coach myself. And so I want to share with you how and why to choose the right coach or mentor or program that suits your needs. Because like I said, I get this question, these types of questions all the time, and I think it’s really important that we are doing this the right way and not looking through sort of a lens of rose colored glasses.

As if you will. And so. When do you need a business coach? Well, first of all, nobody needs anything, right? But let’s let’s let’s ask the question, like, when do you need a business coach versus when do you really need to grow and get better at your craft or skill or whatever it is that you do? What’s sort of the tipping point there? And so I’ve got some things that I want to share with you again, based on experience as a coach and also being on the other side, being a student and being coach. So number one, I think when you reach a point in your business where you’re having some success in your business, but you want to scale, right? And when I say scale, that’s sort of a loaded word because it means so many different things to different people. But in general, people want to grow their business. They want to help more people and generate more revenue, increased profit, that sort of thing. But along with that, it comes with you need to increase the the operational foundation of the business in order to support that growth. And so that’s kind of how I look at scale, but I also look at scale in a different way. Right? But so anyway, you want to scale, but you’re really not sure what you should be doing in order to do that. Just earlier today at the time, at the day I’m recording this, I had a call with somebody who’s interested in our accelerator coaching program and they’re doing they’re going to do half a million dollars this year and they’re working a lot of hours and doing most of it themselves, which is a huge feat. 

Right? And I don’t recommend it because it just working on a ton of hours. But whatever, you know, the point here is that they were like, okay, I’ve been I’ve been at this level for a couple of years now. I’m really not sure how to what to do to get to to level up the business and maybe double the business. So if you’re in that sort of example, you’re ready for a coach, you’re ready for some form of, of support, whether it’s a program or a course, a coach going back to scaling, there’s different ways of scaling. And I want to encourage you to think about this in a little bit of a different way. And here’s a perfect example of like, this is what I would do as a coach. So one way of looking at scaling could be working fewer hours and. Maybe you’re making the exact same amount of money, but maybe you cut the number of hours that you’re working in half and you have vastly improved the emotion and the energy from which you operate. Running your business, you having so much more fun. Well, that could be a way of scaling right there, because you’re making just as much money as you as you were. 

Right. And you’re working. Let’s just say in this hypothetical, you’re working half the amount of hours. That’s amazing, right? And for a lot of people, they’re like, cool. I would love to do that and be super comfortable right there. Obviously, we’re taking into account profit, right? But just just another way to think about scaling. Another reason that when when you should start thinking about a coach or versus really wanting to be focusing on getting better at what you do when you if you feel like you don’t know what you don’t know. So again, you’re seeing some success in your business, but you’re like, I am absolutely in my own way. I don’t even know what I don’t know that you are ready for some form of coaching again, whether it’s one on one or a group or whatever. We’ll talk about that coming up next. It’s sounded like a commercial, like leading into a commercial. But yeah, I hear that a lot from our members. Like, I don’t know what I don’t know. So I need you or one of the other members or one of the other coaches to to share that, to shine the light on the things that like, I’m not I don’t even know what to look for. And that’s where the experience of a coach comes in. When you have a vision and want help achieving that vision much more quickly. 

That’s where some form of coaching, again, whether it’s one on one or group coaching or what have you can come in really, really valuable for that when you have a clear vision. Again, if you’re doing if you’re already doing well in your business and let’s just say that you know, you’re doing. Let’s just say you’re doing at least 50 grand in your business annually and you want to invest some of that into coaching to to grow more quickly. Amazing. If you have a very clear vision of where you’re going, like I started working with 

somebody in our accelerator last year actually at the end of 2021, and the first call I had with them, they told me in detail what their ultimate vision was from the business so that it could fund this purchase of an estate. And like the the the level of detail they had, the estate was astounding. I thought it was so cool. Now, that is a very clear vision, right? And it’s like, all right, let’s let’s get you there faster. Let’s let’s, let’s get the business going so they can become a cash flow machine. And that sounded super, super like super, super skinny. It’s a cash flow machine. It can become a cash flow business and get you there faster. Right. If you feel like you’re working way too hard and way too many hours and it’s starting to take a toll on you. And again, if you’re having some success already in your generating revenue and that sort of thing, then you might want to consider. 

All right. That’s where that’s where I often see people are like, I don’t know how to get out of this. I don’t know what to do to stop working the hours that I’m actually working and get myself out of this hamster wheel that I’ve got myself in. Coaching is going to help you with that. If and here’s a big one, and I see this a lot, especially with people coming into accelerator if you’ve outgrown because because accelerator is for established I work with established course creators, membership creators or coaches, online coaches and I say established. You know, generally people are making minimum of 100,000 a year or very, very close to that. And we work with people who are anywhere between 100,000 on the on the low end up to 5 million. So multiple seven figures. If you have outgrown the whatever cookie cutter beginner level courses or programs that you’ve taken. And now you’re like, okay, I’m seeing some success from this. I’m just doing what I’ve been taught, which is what everybody else gets taught. And now I’m ready to do something different. And this never felt really true to myself in the first place. And I want to branch out and do other things, but I’m afraid to because it’s always been this way, because I was taught this one way to do things.

You are ready for a coach. Beginner level info is so easy to find, right? And I used to teach it myself. Beginner level info is so easy to find and the the next level advice and coaching. It feels sort of hidden or out of reach for so many people. And that’s what I have a lot of people coming to accelerator for is like, All right, I’ve taken all these other courses, they’re sort of beginner stuff and yeah, it’s been 

helpful. But now what? I don’t want to continue to do the types of things I’ve been doing because it doesn’t feel good. And this may sound kind of funny, but like a big part of of my role as a coach is to listen, listen to people and hear what they have to say and what they want to do. And they’re just looking for permission to do differently. And, you know, my job in that role is like, you don’t need anybody’s permission. If you want permission, you’ve got it, But you don’t need my permission. You’ll need anybody else’s permission. You’ve got permission to go do what feels best for you. Because, my friend, it all works. It all works. It’s just a matter of like, what lights you up, right? And if you’ve never tried it before, you might be like, Well, I don’t know What? I don’t know. Amazing. Never done whatever in Evergreen Funnel. Okay, cool. Let’s try it right now. We’re not trying it for 30 days and being like, Oh, this doesn’t work. 

Like it takes time, right? But that’s a big piece of what you’re looking for in a coach. And we’ll talk more about what to look for here in just a second. But hopefully those bullet points right there kind of help you identify when you’re ready for a coach versus, you know, what you really need to be focusing on getting better at what you actually actually do. So the next section here and this is kind of a quicker one, the question I get all the time is do I do do I want a like, well, let me rephrase that. People think they want one on one coaching. And a lot of people do. Right. And they say, well, do I want one on one coaching or like group coaching? And each have their merits, like there are pros and cons of of both of one on one and group. And some people are like, no, I only want one on one. Right? And that’s fine, right? I used to be you know, I used to do that too. The coaching, the idea right now is one on one. And honestly, when I for like my coach is, is I’ve had him on the podcast before, James Franco, He’s based out of Australia and he’s amazing. I’ve actually known James. He was one of my early, early, early podcast guests on the original name of this, this podcast here, The Art of Paid Traffic. 

It used to be called, and I had James on, I think he was episode like number. I don’t remember what it was like in the first 50 episodes and what are we on 647 episodes now? But anyway, I’ve had him on the podcast here a couple of times more recently too. So. So anyway, I do one on one coaching. And that’s what I’m looking for right, right now. But previously I’ve done one on one the group coaching. And so there is power in both. And what a lot of people don’t realize. They immediately say, Oh, no, I want I want one on one coaching and. And what what they miss. And so if you’re if you’re if you’re thinking this through, like thinking this as well. This is a perspective I want to encourage you to to look at when you are in a group program. Now, I’m not talking a mastermind, Right. Because a mastermind a true. Definition of a master mind is peers. Right. So these are it’s a meeting of the minds, essentially, where it’s not necessarily coaching from one person. It’s you’re there just to kind of share ideas and stuff. Now I’m talking about group coaching where there’s somebody actually coaching you in a group atmosphere and you’re getting help from the rest of the group. It’s the help from the rest of the group and the other perspectives from the rest of the group. 

That is invaluable. And this is what I’m always telling our accelerators is like when somebody else is in a different niche that you are right. Let’s just say that that somebody is doing a hot seat in they’re a teacher entrepreneur. Sometimes they can. I see other people and we have this conversation. So this is not happening, but somebody in a completely different niche, right? Like maybe somebody 

like in a craft niche or what have you. And I’m not calling anybody out. I’m not calling anybody out right now. By the way, there’s just a hypothetical. Somebody in that completely different niche is like tunes them out because it’s like, well, that’s not my like, I’m not that’s not my niche. That is completely irrelevant for me. And that couldn’t be further from the truth because we can learn so much from people in other niches and what they’re doing, because oftentimes what they’re doing in another niche that is completely different from yours isn’t happening in yours. So you can take things from what’s happening in other niches and bring them to your niche. And these are like new and fresh ideas. So there’s the power of the the group. And so. Knowing this and again, this this goes this goes to being both on as a coach and then also as a student. Over the years, what I always wanted is the power of both, you know, one on one coaching and the group coaching and actually the mastermind experience as well. 

And that’s what I’ve created in Accelerator. It’s one on one coaching, it’s group coaching and it’s a mastermind experience. So I wanted to create this best of all worlds, if you will. And so something that I rolled out to the accelerators, you know, this this is coming out the first week of November. So about four weeks ago I rolled out a I changed some things in the program and I said, you know what? And I’m going to do a whole episode about this coming up later this month, too. On why I rethought the program is I added in one on one coaching. And so many people, they were like, Are you like, this is nuts. Why are you doing this? And I was like, I love it. I absolutely love it. I absolutely love the depth that you can go into on a one on one level, but then also have the benefits of the group coaching, offering the group coaching and the mastermind experience when we get everybody together and so forth. And so members are have access to 230 minute one on one calls with me a month. And so anyway, what I wanted to do with this is solve that. Do I do one on one or do I do group? It’s like, hey, this is we’ve created both and there aren’t a lot of programs out there. That do that. And so whatever you’re looking for, just, you know, there’s the pros and cons of of both of those.

Right. And it’s whatever, obviously, it’s whatever you’re comfortable with and what you’re looking for. So regardless of whatever route that you go. Group or 101 or whatever it is, here’s what I would encourage you to look for when you’re finding a coach or when you’re finding a group. A group coaching program, first and foremost. Their needs. This is my again, this is these are my thoughts. And this is based on years of experience, again, both as a coach and as a student and frankly, as a human being as I’ve evolved. Values, first. Values, values, values. And for, you know, in people in accelerated, they hear me talk about this all the time. Whenever you’re making a decision, I’d encourage you to put it through the lens of your values. And so for us, like everything that we do in my business in this podcast, in Accelerator and in my life, like we live through our values and I’ve talked about here on the podcast before. So integrity is our number one value. And so know we like to say in our, in our team integrity is not, is not a is a, is a culture, not just a set of actions. The second one being advocacy. Like we use our brand to support people from all walks of life. The third one being vulnerability. Like we get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

Number four is kindness. We lead with love, kindness and care in everything that we do. And then collaboration. We are creative problem solvers, working together to help the people that we are here to, to help. And so hopefully, when you’re making a decision on a coach or a program that you figure out what their values are and you like, that’s the that’s the initial determining factor. Of. Is it even something that you’re even going to pursue looking into more, you know, just as an example, are are are they living the type of life that you want to live? Right. Just very, very simply, if they’re making a lot of money in their in their in their business, for example, but yet they’re working 16 hours a day and, you know, they’re they’re neglecting their family and their health or whatever, whatever it might be like. They’re making a lot of money and a lot of people would look like, okay, that person is doing that. They’re making a lot of money and that’s what I want to do. So I’m going to go, there’s nothing wrong with that. But like, my encouragement is to make the decision through the lens of your values. So that’s first and foremost, number one. Number two, you really want to do your due diligence. In terms of. Do you have a personal like? Can you connect on a personal level with that person who whether it’s one on one or group coaching? Like personal connection. 

Based on my experience, again, as a coach and as a student, it really matters. And the the power of the personal connection and the coach and student relationship I think is vastly. Underrated and not talked about enough because, you know, like just as an example when I, I know so much on a personal level of so many of our accelerators because they’re a person, they’re not just their business and I feel like I’m I’m I’m here to help them as a whole and not just, you know, yes, they’re coming for business help, but it’s like, oh, they’re, you know, whatever. They have two kids and their day ends at 3:00 in the afternoon because, you know, then they take over because that’s their number one value, family and priority. And that sort of, you know, just that’s just an example, right? When you have that personal connection with whomever it is that you’re working. And so you might be asking like, well, how do I get that? I don’t even know. Well, that’s where doing your research and due diligence comes in. So for example, if maybe maybe they do YouTube videos or they do a podcast, they do social media, anything that you can do to do that research, learn more about them and can you do you feel like you can connect on a personal level? Maybe you meet them at a conference or something like that and you can start to learn. 

You learn about them. I have one person and and she’s been on the podcast here before. She’s a member of Accelerator. When, when, when I had the first call with her when she applied, she’s been listening to this podcast for years and she felt like she knew me. I actually feel like I hear that a lot. Like I feel like I know you because they listen to the podcast and, you know, the the pain in their business had gotten so intense that they were like, Just tell me where to sign up. And so my point of sharing that is that that’s a relationship built over years, you know, And then I’ve had other people who are like, they just they just found out. They just find out about me or accelerator. And literally like three days later, they’re signing up and they’re in the program because they were referred or something like that. But I’d really encourage you to consider can you know, do you align with that person? You know, one of the one of our our focuses is ethical marketing, right? And so, again, values. Can you have a personal do you feel like you can have a personal connection with that person and that might that might come down to where by the way, where you think you can and maybe you get on the phone with like you get on Zoom with somebody and oftentimes you’re not getting on a on Zoom with the person who runs the program. 

Personally, I do get on Zoom because I we really protect the integrity of the of the group. And so I want to have those calls myself. But anyway, you can have get on Zoom with people. And that call right there, Will we’ll give you a lot of information like it’s a not a fit, you know, like I don’t I’m not feeling the connection. This isn’t a fit or what have you. But the point here is that there’s a lot of power in the personal connection between in the coach and student relationship. Another thing to look for and this is this surprises a lot of people, 

my friend. They don’t need to do what you do. They don’t need to do what you do or even make the money that you do. They might be making less money than than you are. They do need to be able to get people who do what you do. Results. This is really, really important. It’s helpful if they have at least done whatever it is that you do in your business in terms of your offers, like a course or a membership or coaching, etc., and had success in it. But it’s not like they have to be doing it right now. And I shared this in a previous 

episode where I learned that there were some people that were, you know, they’d been told about Accelerator, for example, and they they have they have memberships and they are like, Well, Rick isn’t doing a membership.

He’s got a, you know, this this coaching program. And and so they’re like, oh, not for me. You know, he’s not doing it right now. And my friend it’s what is again this short, short sighted thinking the way that I see it because again, this was me too for for a long time. Right. You know right now, like my coach, for example, is not doing. The type of program that accelerator is. This is an example. So I don’t look at him and say, Oh, he can’t help me with this. No way. No, because he’s done this stuff like over the years he’s done it. And it is all foundational stuff. Like over the years I’ve had so many online courses, I’ve had memberships, I’ve had group coaching programs, I’ve done live events, I’ve done masterminds, I’ve done all that stuff. And so it is when you’re looking for somebody, they do not need to be doing what you currently do. Should they have experience in it at some point in their career? Sure, it helps, but it’s not like, oh, that person needs to be $10 million more than where I am or what have you. No, not at all. They just need to be able to get people who do what you do results. And that also comes in your research and your due diligence. And with that, hopefully, you know, finding out, do they have proven success? Do they have testimonials? Do they have case studies? Are they showcasing that? Are they talking about that? It’s really important. 

If you’re looking at a group code, a group coaching program. What types of other businesses are also in the program? You want to know that? How many other people? Is it a safe environment? And can you feel like you can be your true, authentic self in that program? Because unfortunately, there’s a lot of people that don’t feel comfortable in whatever environments that they that they are in. And so this is really important. If this is something that’s important to you, that you find, you know, an environment that you do feel comfortable with that is inviting and they’re letting you know that this is a safe environment. You know, going back to the conversation I had earlier today, when I’m recording this with somebody, they asked these questions, which I loved, like, what types of other businesses are in the program, like, you know, And I said, all right, first of all, everybody in Accelerator, for example, all online course or membership creators or online coaches. That’s it. No e no service providers or nothing against. This is just who I work with. And again, they’re all established, you know, anywhere from low like probably mid 100,000 up to 5 million. And so and they’re like, well, how many people? This is a big question. 

So if you don’t care about the number of people that are in a group coaching program, amazing. If you like a smaller program, that’s cool too, obviously. But make sure that you find that information out. People are often really surprised when they hear how many people are in accelerator, for example. My the number of people I allow in accelerator is 32 people and a lot of people are like, Whoa, that’s just a small program. That’s right. It is small. And that’s very intentional because I’m very hands on. And so again, so like these are questions that you want to ask when you are looking at other options, at opportunities, what types of other businesses, how many, what are they doing in their business? What how do they sell things? You know, talk about the environment, that sort of thing. And then finally, as far as like what to be looking for in a coach or a coaching program. Look for a coach that you can work with for a long time. Don’t I don’t recommend looking for a coach that is just simply incremental to specific goals. Right. Like, for example, like, I only want to I only want a coach to get me to 30,000 months and then I’m going to move to somebody else. So. Here’s why I say this coaching like you hear me say on the podcast here, if you’ve been listening for a while, coaching is like mindset work. It’s never done. 

It’s never really done. You don’t get to like November 30th, it’d be like, yeah, my mindset work, I’m done feeling good. I’m all done with this mindset stuff, you know? Like, it’s it’s ongoing, right? It’s it’s not really done. It’s not something you can just check off your list. I’m like, okay, that’s all done. Each stage in your business is going to be something new to present something new to you, right? And if you’re working with a coach long term, like they know you and the business inside and out and it is so much easier to help you when they have that knowledge. And I know people who coach Hop, they they go from one coach to the like. They’re like, all right, they want to work with this person for a little while and then go find somebody else and for whatever reason. Right. But each time they do, it just slows down their progress because it’s like it’s kind of like hiring a new team member, right? There’s the orientation period and the onboarding and the time to learn about you and your business. And very often I see this a lot. Very often they realize, Wow, this isn’t really for me. I had it so much better before, so I’d really encourage you and this is why I left this for last, because hopefully you’re doing all of the due diligence and based on what I just recommended to the types of things to be looking for because. 

You want to be going into a switch situation where you feel super comfortable and you’re like, All right, I can really grow with this person. I’ve had people in Accelerator now for three years, for example, and it’s it’s been such a great experience. Helping them from where they were. And it’s not like they were at, you know, just starting out. And now three years later, like they were they were very, very successful in their business when it when we started working together. But it’s that long term relationship. If you can create that long term relationship with a coach or a mentor or in a program or what have you, you’re really setting yourself up for more success in the long run. And again, you just look to to learn like I’ve been I’ve been coaching with with my coach. Now, how long has it been? Two years. He’s been two years. Now almost two years. I don’t know. It’s almost two years or something, like a little over a year and a half. Right. And I’m like, I have zero desire to stop. Like, let’s keep going, right? We’re going into a new year. Let’s keep going, you know? So now that you know what to look for, now that you’re answering OC group versus 101 or both, now you’re able to answer when you need a code or when a when is when should you start thinking about a coach if you don’t already have one? So if you don’t already have one or you’re looking to change your current situation, where do you find a coach or where do you find a program? Well, one of the best ways to do it is a referral.

Like somebody, one of your colleagues, one of your friends who can refer you to to somebody that’s that’s when you can get a a trusted referral from somebody that. He has the same values as you that really knows you. Those are those are the best, Right? Just as an example today to like, I had another call with somebody who’s interested in accelerator and like towards the end of the call, you’re like, Hey, I have somebody who I was talking about. We were talking together about Accelerator and they’d be great. They’re super interested. You would love them, love the business. They’re just amazing. Like perfect for the program. I’m going to I’m going to send you an email and introduce, like, amazing, right? That person is getting a referral. Those are the best ways to do that, right? So if you’re like, All right, I’ll have a referral. Rick I don’t have anybody. You can refer me. You know, again, going back to to to what I said before, do you listen like you listen to this podcast, Right? So what are the podcasts that you listen to? What are the the host of the shows that you listen to? Do they do coaching? Do they have the programs? Again, we’re looking for alignment in everything. 

I just took you through people who YouTube channels like, do you watch YouTube videos of specific people, social media again, people that you follow in social media, Do they or do you do you jive with them? Do you align with them? Do you do you dig what they’re doing? That sort of thing? Did you see somebody speak at a conference? Did you meet somebody at a conference? This is all different types of ways to find somebody or a program. And again, referrals are by far the the best. And and by the way, if you’re looking for a referral to a coach or to a program and accelerator is not if you’re thinking it’s not for you, I’m more than happy to help you try to refer somebody, refer you to somebody or to another program. So yeah, so that’s where to find a coach or a program. Now here’s the, the big question. People are always say like, all right, there’s an investment here. And I’ll tell you right now what the investment is for accelerator. And I know people are like, holy cow, you’re going to talk about the. Yes. And again, this is part of the thing that we that I’ve been wanting to do, Like we have a new page coming out for accelerator. That’s a longer story, but it’s not out yet. But the price is right on there. 

The price is 20 $900 a month for accelerator. And if you want to hear everything that you get in accelerator in addition to access to 230 minute one on ones with me, there’s a lot that we offer in there. It’s a 12 month program, right? 2900 a month. Or you can do one payment of 30 K That’s the investment. So a lot of people are like, All right, great. What are some ways that I can determine the ROI of that investment? How do I know that I’m going to make my money back? Right. Well, I am not I’m not going to sit here and guarantee you anything because. And if a coach, by the way, that’s something else to look for. If the coach is guaranteeing you something, I would run for the hills, honestly, because the coach can give you everything that you need to accomplish whatever it is that you’re looking to accomplish. Right. Then oftentimes they’re telling you like their one way of doing things, which, hey, that’s fine, right? But there’s no one right way to do things, my friend. There’s it all works, but it’s up to you, right? And so nobody can guarantee anything. So it’s like if they’re doing that, if they’re guaranteeing it. I would just really question that again. So just be that’s something you want to be looking for. And so with that knowledge, you’re like, All right, what are some ways to determine the ROI of the investment that you are considering making? And so I’ll talk about like the really easy things. 

And then I’ll get into. The real answer. Okay. And so number one is it goes back to doing the research as to finding out if you’re looking at if you’re looking at a group coaching program. Right. Who else is in the room? Who else is in the room? I get a lot of people, for example, applying or asking about accelerator, and they’re like, I’m tired of being, you know, the the smartest person in the room. I’m tired of being the top business in the room or the biggest business in the room. I want to be around people who are doing bigger things and everything, so. That is number one. You can get you’re going to get an ROI out of that just alone. Who else is in the room? Here’s an example. I used to have a program called I called it Otto offered Optimized. This was more for on the beginner level, early stage business online businesses. And I had one of those members jump up to accelerator and they they invested, they invested the money, they paid in full and they made their investment back in the first, I want to say it was like the first 11 or 12 or 13 days or something of being in in the group. And the reason for that is because they came in and they were watching what was going on. 

They were watching the conversations that were happening. They were listening. They were like hearing what people were talking about doing or getting suggestions from other people. And it completely up leveled them. And they took what they learned literally in the first two weeks of like no coaching call yet or anything like that. That was it does happen much faster than that. That was just as a longer story. But anyway. They went and did it and they made a whole bunch of money. They made their investment back. It was simply because of the community of people in accelerator that they’d completely up leveled who they were surrounding themselves themselves with. So that’s what I mean by who else is in the room. Roy Right there. Also connections with people. They’re invaluable. You know, I have one person right now who I’m thinking of in our program who could go to I’m not going to say specific niche, but like they could go to so many other people in the same niche. And make connections with them and create partnerships. And there’s a few different people that they can start doing that with right now in the program. And so that’s part of the coaching. It’s like, look what’s right in front of you. You’ve got an amazing opportunity to make these connections and then these people that you’re making connections, connections with in the group know other people and they know other people.

And so the the huge power of connections and partnerships that you can create and joint venture partnerships, all this stuff, right? So determining the ROI, like how are you going to make your your return on investment of the of the coaching investment? The next thing you’ve got to consider when it comes to determining the ROI is are you willing to show up and do the work? Are you willing to show up and do the work? And, you know, I can so many people right now listening, you’re like, of course, of course I would do that. But oftentimes that’s not not always the case because so that’s where, like I can tell you, if you’re like, this is what I want to accomplish, this is what success means to me. This is how many hours I want to work. This is what we’re currently doing, These are my numbers and blah, blah, blah. And I give you a plan and a strategy that I know works. And you’re like, Yeah, that aligns with me. So I’m going to go give this a try. And then you go, You don’t go do it. That’s like that’s for whatever reason, right? It’s completely on you and taking responsibility for your success. Right? Because if you go into a program, if you go into working with a coach and you decide right there, it kind of leads into my it’s a mindset thing. Roy is a mindset thing when it comes to investing in a coach or a program. 

If you come into that situation, that opportunity and you’re like, I am 100% going to make the most out of this and get a 100 times ROI on this, that will happen. That will happen because you’ve made the decision like so this is a mindset thing. And so as an example of this, like from a coaching standpoint, are you part of what I help you do? And what we help you do in my program, right, is to uninstall 

essentially the think, the thinking that got you to this point in your business. Whatever’s got you to where you are right now. You know, you’ve heard the whole cliche like what got you here won’t get you there. Like, I’m taking this a step further, even more deeply. Are you willing to do the work and to allow to remove the thinking that got you to where you are and build a new way of thinking for taking things to where it whatever it is that you want to get to. And again, because success is mean, it’s personally defined, right? So many people and I’ve talked about this, I’m not going to get into it now. People are like, I want to do $1,000,000 in the business. That’s what success is. Okay, cool. Why? I just want to do $1,000,000. That’s what success is. Let’s go deeper here. Right. Because that was me, right? Like that. 

That was my that was my reason before. Because everyone said like, oh, you’ve made it at $1,000,000. Right. But again, I’m not going to go down that path right now. So this is a mindset thing. Roi is a mindset thing. Because as I said at the very beginning of this episode. When you’re investing in coaching or a one on one coach or whatever it is, it’s not just the ROI from just the period of time that you’re coaching, whether it’s 12 months or six months or two years or whatever it is, my friend, it’s an ROI for as long as you have your business. Right. So if you if you spend, you know, 2900 bucks a month for 12 months and you’re like, oh, I have to make this money back in the 12 months again, this goes back to what I used to get caught in of this short term thinking now. Is it? Are we? Is the goal to, like, give you that ROI so many times over during that time? Of course it is. But we have to remember and it just opens up this whole new perspective when we understand that whatever we’re investing in, if you go hire a coach or whatever the investment, the ROI on that, it’s not just during that time. It’s it’s everything that you learn, the connections that you make, the partnership, all that stuff like that just lives on. Right. It’s like I invest in creating this podcast, for example. 

Like, it’s not just like, okay, I record it. I release it on a Wednesday, for example. It’s not like just for that Wednesday. Like I’ve been podcasting now for how long? Well, for this podcast, seven years now. And so it’s like it keeps living. The ROI continues to move on. And it’s the same sort of thing when you’re investing in coaching or, or a program, you know. And a quick example here is I remember I was working with somebody years ago in a previous version of accelerator. This is probably like actually like three years ago. And we were at a we were doing one of the live events. We do two live retreats as part of Accelerator and we just finished up with two weeks ago here in San Diego. It was frigging amazing. But anyway, I used to when the group was smaller, I used to rent this house in Pacific Beach here in San Diego overlooking the ocean. And it was really, really cool. And I remember like this person was just early in their business and this was a conversation. Around just refining who they were serving and understanding the problems that their target audience had and developing lead magnets and an offer around solving those problems. So anyway, like very fundamental stuff, by the way, which regardless of whether. You’re just starting out or you’re doing whatever. 3 million a year. It’s honestly, it’s the same conversation that happens. 

But anyway, what that person got in that first year and what they were able to learn through that investment. Has paid is still paying off and they’re going to do seven figures in their business in the next 12 months. And that person’s not in an accelerator right now. But and I’m just saying, like they’re going to do that because of what they learned three years ago. That’s how I want you to start thinking about when you’re investing in whatever kind of coaching that you’re looking for. So I hope this was helpful for you and sort of gives you some perspective on from a coaching standpoint. And also I, I, I have been and currently from a student’s perspective and, you know, coaching is one of the best things I’ve and I’ve invested a lot of money in coaching over the years. It is hands down the best investment that I’ve made in my business and continue to make in my business. I will I will always have a coach of some sort because I know the power of that and I know the power of. Having that sounding board. You know, oftentimes when I’m with my coach and I do, you know, like a 30 minute call, we’re just like, we don’t talk about business at all. We’re just talking about like life and all that stuff. And like, that’s I love that. You know, it’s that sounding board. It’s that somebody who can relate again, similar values and all that sort of thing.

So everything we talked about today, how this was helpful for you. And again, if there’s any questions I can answer for you on any of this, please reach out. My personal email is Rick at Rick Radio.com for you. If a 101 coaching, a group coaching and a mastermind experience all wrapped up into one program like Accelerator is, if that sounds like something that you might be interested in, if you’d like me to help you level up and scale your business. While we’re all about reducing the number of hours that you’re working with, you know, I hear from a lot of people that they’re the bottleneck or they’re getting in their own way, or they don’t know how to grow their team or they want to refine their offers or whatever it might be. If you’d like my help and want to be part of a program like accelerator, then I’ll invite you to reach out. You can email me Rick at Rick Moretti, and we can start chatting to see if there might be a fit. You can also go to our accelerator page where you can learn more. You can see case studies and testimonials from current and past members and hear more about the program there. It’s Rick Mul Radio.com forward slash accelerator. So again, I hope this was helpful for you. Thank you, my friend, as always for listening to the podcast. I appreciate you. And until next time be well and I’ll talk to you soon.