How To Be Business-Like About Your Career 

“What I have learned thus far in business is this: “I will be adult and I will value what I do. I will be transparent and I will discuss my career coach fees”. I say this because, if you want to build a business or engage with a career relaunch, then you too need to behave in a business-like manner.

It is not unheard of for a new client to be propelled into the coaching room with the phrase “but I didn’t get paid for my last job” and my question is always “and what did your contact stipulate” to which the answer is often a slightly saddened “we didn’t have a contract, we just kind of agreed the work. I thought I could trust them’. Frstly, of course, this means that there is no recourse to redeeming the fiscal loss. Secondly, it means that the entire agreement was built on a naive assumption that each of you were agreeing to the same thing …

Lack of payment is often not a matter of malice, in my experience, lack of payment arises from misunderstandings and miscommunications. It is these miscommunications that lead to disappointment in the outcome and that leads to non-payment of the bill. If it is your time and expertise that you have not been paid for, then that can feel like a disaster.

There is a way to avoid this. It’s called a contact. It had been used in business for hundreds of years. It has been used for good reason. The more explicit the contact is, the better the understanding will be. The better the shared understanding is the more likely it is that the right work will be done and the bill honoured.

Write your own contact and include such things as: What you are providing; and for how much and when. Equally include details of their responsibilities: What do you expect of your customer or employer, when will re-numeration take place and how will discontent by either party be handled.

This contact doesn’t need to be a long one. It does need to be legal. It does need to be honest. You need to be honest and be adult and put in black and white what it is that you expect.

Then you need to be even more adult and through the contact together if possible. What this does is expose the psychological contract. The psychological contract are those hidden expectations that remain under the surface, and if they remain unexpressed can really disrupt understanding and genuine agreement. Then, and only when you have talked it through, explored curiosities, ambiguities or fears, should you sign.

This certainly doesn’t mean that nothing can go wrong in this transaction. What it means is that the chances of misunderstanding each other are reduced and in this way that the transaction will be clean and the bill will be paid. It also means that is the wiser should come to the worst and there is a disappointment in the service or a bill remains unpaid, there is clear protocol agreed to employ in order to resolve the disputes.

So be “adult, talk about money, put your expectations in black and white. Remember, it’s business, so take nothing personally, but it’s better to ensure there is reduced need to in the first place. To discuss the fees and the expectations does not actually imply rudeness or a lack of trust. What it actually means implies is a real desire to do good work based on a mutual and shared understanding!