If you’re anything like most coaches & online educators we meet, you want to give your clients & students the world.
But let’s face it…
No matter how talented of a coach or consultant you are, there’s no way you can know EVERYTHING under the sun. There is a whooole lot that goes into running an online business, from mindset, to marketing, to scaling, to branding, to legal….we could go on and on!
So how do we make sure that our courses and programs are ticking all the boxes to set our clients up for success?
Enter: guest experts.
Guest experts help round out programs and fill in those knowledge gaps where we may be lacking. Because for real y’all – you can do anything – but you can’t do everything.
Guest coaches and experts allow us to stay in our zone of genius while providing an incredible level of value to our clients and students. Teamwork makes the dreamwork, are we right?!
When you bring on a guest expert or coach, you’re investing time, energy, and money into creating an extra module and putting it up in your course software – whether it’s in Kajabi, Thinkific, or Teachable. Whatever the topic the module is on, you and your guest collaborate to create an additional asset – which adds to the overall value of your program and to your business as a whole. This value is then passed on to your students so they can benefit even more from your ah-maaazing program.
This all sounds great…right? What could do wrong?
We’re ALL for collaboration, community and helping fellow women in business succeed 🙌🏽 But there ARE certain things you absolutely must pay attention to if you want your next guest expert training to be a success.
We see far too many coaches & online educators neglecting these aspects…and we don’t want YOU to suffer the consequences!
1) Nail Down All The Important Details
A lot of the time when coaches bring on guest experts, it goes a little something like this 👇🏽
You start off by hitting someone up in their DMs, asking them something like, “Hey, do you want to come into my facebook group or mastermind and give my students a quick training?”
The guest expert thinks to themself, “cool!” and agrees.
They come in, do the recording for you….and that’s that.
YIKES 😳 You are missing a seriously important part of the process!
You must (and we mean MUST) have a Guest Expert Agreement. Your agreement is what outlines the terms of the creation of this additional asset.
Because that’s exactly what this training is – a business asset. Just as you would never skip out on getting an agreement from a service provider creating an asset for you (think brand photos, social media graphics or a set of blog posts) you must nail down the details for the asset this guest coach is creating for you.
A couple of thing you need to have in your agreement are:
- The date & time
When exactly is the training taking place?
- Payment terms
What compensation is being provided in exchange for this training?
Because for real y’all…if you’re not paying your guest experts, you need to start compensating them for their time, energy, knowledge, and value. The same thing goes if YOU are the guest expert! #KnowYour Worth (then add tax 😉) Let’s put a stop to the whole ‘free labor’ trend – exposure won’t pay anybody’s bills.
2) Royalties
In your guest expert agreement, you’re going to want to make sure you clearly state what you both have agreed to in terms of compensation. If you don’t intend on paying the guest based on each time you share the training with your students, you’ll need to communicate in writing that there won’t be any ongoing royalties.
Make it clear that your guest is going to create a training/module for your course/program, and while you may continue to benefit from its value, your guest will only be provided with a one time payment (if this is your agreement, of course!) & that they are not going to receive ongoing royalties every single time you run your program.
If you fail to clearly communicate your royalties/compensation policy, you might find yourself facing a demand to take down the guest’s training from your program or compensate them per view/use of the training. This could seriously take away from your students’ experience & be a huge headache for you, so it’s integral you organize this before the recording takes place!
3) Rescheduling Policy
Life can get crazy, and as much as none of us want to, sometimes all have to reschedule. Make sure to include a rescheduling clause in your guest expert agreement.
Be sure to address questions like:
- What happens if you need to reschedule?
- What happens if your guest expert needs to reschedule?
- Will there be a rescheduling fee?
If you are an expert in your field, your time is probably in hot demand 🔥 That’s why many speakers and guest experts will actually charge a rescheduling fee if the training needs to be rescheduled. If you’re a guest expert yourself and are constantly fielding requests for trainings, you might want to implement something like this.
A rescheduling fee helps deter people from rescheduling their engagements (if it can be avoided!) and compensates them for the inconvenience due to the change in plans. As always, it’s best to discuss your policies before the creation of the module begins!
4) Vet Your Guests
We can’t stress this enough – you MUST properly vet your guests before bringing them into your community.
Your students have put their trust in you. When you vouch for somebody, you’re putting yourself (and your reputation) on the line.
While there are so many talented coaches to connect with on the ‘gram, you can’t just bring in any random coach you find on Instagram without doing your due diligence. Your students and clients are likely to do business with this person, and you’d hate to have recommended someone who doesn’t provide a quality product or service.
Remember: it is your job as a leader to make sure you’re not putting your clients in a compromising situation.
Find mutual connections with your guest and ask for their take on your guest’s work, meet with your potential guest over Zoom, familiarize yourself with their content/products, and make sure their work is something you can stand by and present to your own community with confidence.
We are SO HERE for coaches & educators coming together to create mega-valuable training resources. We truly have so much to learn from each other and we are that much more powerful when we work together. However, like anything in our businesses, we have to plan, openly communicate our boundaries and policies, and protect our brands that we work so hard on, day-in and day-out.
Check out our ready-to-use, lawyer-approved, plug-and-play legal contract templates! So you can upgrade your client contract while staying Profitable & Protected™✨
Not sure where to begin? We’ve got you. Grab our FREE Legally Launch Handbookto get the legal lowdown on everything in entrepreneurship, without the confusing mambo jumbo. We’re serving it up straight & to the point. (Heads up: It’ll forever transform the way you view your client relationships!) Grab your copy now.
*The information presented in this blog post is for educational & informational purposes only. This should not be a substitute for customized legal advice from a licensed professional in a private setting. If you need legal advice, please consult with an attorney. This is not a law firm.
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