I'm leaving the below for a historical reference, but I have discontinued email coaching. I like the flow state of writing long-form, and the connection of personal coaching. Email didn't meet those needs. If you're curious to learn more, feel free to email me!
As an author, I am comfortable providing advice while typing at my keyboard.
I provide hourly personal career coaching on various career topics including time management, building towards your next promotion, organizational structure, or communication.
I now offer limited email coaching, at a subscription price of $500 per month.
With email coaching, we also can talk about any topic, but there are a few differences:
Single meeting vs lighter touch
With email coaching, you can ask questions or look for feedback multiple times a month. Rather than one specific hour (where you would need to have a list of prepared topics), you can fire off single questions at a time.
Depth and length of answers
This is equivalent to my hourly rate. Therefore, if you're asking multiple questions a month, you would expect the depth and length of my answers to be equivalent to what it would take to answer an hour of emails.
- If your emails are relatively simple, I can answer multiple questions a month without a problem.
- If you want to discuss your long term vision, and potential career trajectory in depth, you probably should get hourly coaching.
Email coaching is not a replacement for hourly coaching at a cheaper price, it is instead a different product. It is a way to have a regular guide and mentor available when you are in need of answers or feedback.
Limited availability
I think email coaching is going to work well for myself and my customers. I had a surprising number of people subscribe without putting much marketing effort behind it. Therefore, I'm going to limit the availability to 20 subscribers until I can monitor how well I can handle that volume. Once I have 20 subscribers, I'll remove the email coaching availability from my website.
FAQ
- How do I sign up?
If you are on the website, you can click in the bottom-right to manage your account, and upgrade your subscription to an email subscription (or click on the link below). Boom, you're done. You can now email me at (dave@scarletink.com). However, this won't work for existing paid newsletter subscribers. See FAQ #5 below for next steps.
2. How much time do you spend on my emails per month if I'm a subscriber?
In general, this is the price of one hour of coaching, so I would plan to make myself available to answer your emails for around an hour a month.
I read and respond to emails quickly. I'm efficient while processing my inbox, and that's why I'm open to trying the email coaching subscription model.
My goal is to have everyone feel like they're getting value out of the model. If you feel that you aren't getting your money's worth, you can unsubscribe at any time. I'd hate for someone to be subscribed and feel like it's not a great value.
As a side note – absolutely no promises, but if you ask a fascinating question and I don't happen to be busy, I sometimes spend far too long answering. I can't help myself.
3. How many emails can I send?
I'm throttling interactions based on my time spent, not a number of emails. If you write short and simple emails, with relatively simple answers, I can answer quite a few in a month. I don't have a specific limit.
If you send me a 6-page email with attachments, it might take me the whole hour to read the document. If this type of situation happens, I'll let you know that you should simplify your question(s).
4. What happens if you think I've spent too much of your time?
I know it's my responsibility to be clear with expectations. If I feel that I'm spending too much time on your email(s), I'll let you know immediately. There are three ways I might do this:
a. At the bottom of one of my emails - "This took me awhile, so I won't be able to spend much time on your emails until next month."
b. Before I respond to an email - "This email could take me awhile, and I wouldn't be able to spend much time on your emails until the following month. Would you like to simplify this?".
c. I'll let you know that question belongs in hourly coaching - "This question is complex enough, I think it could only be addressed via hourly coaching".
The key is that I'll let you know as soon as I can, and be as clear as I can.
5. What if I'm already paying monthly for your newsletter?
There is currently a platform limitation, where existing subscribers don't have a self-service way to upgrade to email coaching. Apologies! Until that's fixed, here's the process:
a. You email me (dave@scarletink.com)
b. You let me know that you'd like to sign up for email coaching
c. As soon as I can, I will (prorated) refund your current paid subscription
d. You will now be able to sign up for the email coaching subscription on the website
It's a bit awkward, but it's what we have right now!
6. But I also want your paid articles!
Yes, if you're a paid email coaching subscriber, you will also have access to all the Scarlet Ink paid articles.
7. How long do I need to subscribe?
It's a monthly program, you automatically pay me every month. Unsubscribe whenever you'd like. It is self-service.
However, just FYI, there are limited seats available, so if you unsubscribe, it's possible someone else will take your subscription spot.
Additionally, I'd prefer to build a relationship with my customers (I can do better as I get to know you), so I'd prefer to have subscribers who stick around.
8. How quickly will you reply?
I do my best to reply to all my emails every 24-hours (on business days), but I don't guarantee it. Usually I'll reply more quickly. If I'm traveling (I often go on vacation), it might take longer than 24-hours.
If you don't receive a reply within 24-hours, I hereby grant you 100% permission to reply to your own email, and say something like “Ping on this!” You never know if your email got lost in my inbox. It gets crowded sometimes.
I have zero negative thoughts about anyone who pings me on an email I didn't reply to yet. :) In fact, I really appreciate it.
9. Any other questions?
If you have any other questions, or need to learn something more, email me at dave@scarletink.com