Best coaches, instructors, lawyers, etc don’t do this

When I say “best” I’m not referring to the above-listed specialists being “nice”. I’m talking about the actual outcome you can expect from the work of these people.

In my experience, this pattern has been so strong and consistent that I’ll let myself make a few generalizations, though they are of course subjective.

The most prominent example involves my kids. They are competitive athletes. We are a tennis family. Over the years, we’ve met dozens of instructors from different walks of life, visited and worked with many different clubs and academies, developed relationships with many coaches and mentors.

I will simplify the description of our experiences but it comes to these two scenarios. In scenario one you are offered an assessment or trial of some kind and you have to pay a hefty price upfront — hundreds of dollars. In scenario two the instructor spends time with your kid without asking anything in return. Whether they try to monetize their first encounter with you has nothing to do with their prominence. You can have a famed instructor spend hours with you without asking anything in return, or in fact, rejecting any reward when you offer.

Don’t get me wrong. There is no free lunch. Everyone has bills to pay. Ultimately you will of course end up paying hundreds and thousands to any coach. However, I’m talking about the very initial interaction or two.