“Hire a Life Coach? In This Economy?”

The Question My Clients Ask (And the One I Ask Myself)

“Hire a life coach? In this economy?”

I hear some version of this at least once a week. Usually with a nervous laugh. Sometimes with genuine frustration. Always with that underlying question: is this really worth it right now?

I get it. I’m a life coach, and I also work with a coach. Yes, even coaches have coaches. And yes, I have the same moment of hesitation when that invoice comes due.

Rent is astronomical. Groceries cost what a car payment used to. We’re all making tough choices about where our money goes. The idea of paying someone to help you figure out your life can seem absurdly indulgent when basic expenses keep climbing.

But here’s what I know from both sides of the coaching conversation: staying stuck has a cost too.

What I See From the Coach’s Chair

My clients are smart, capable people. They’re not lacking information, they’re drowning in it. They don’t need another podcast episode or productivity hack. They need clarity.

They come to me after years of:

• Saying they’ll “eventually” make a change, without ever defining when
• Feeling overwhelmed by decisions and defaulting to doing nothing
• Knowing something needs to shift but not being able to pinpoint what
• Spending money on courses they don’t finish and books they don’t read
• Waiting to feel “ready” before they let themselves take the next step

The economy being tough doesn’t make these patterns disappear. It makes them more expensive.

For a lot of the queer and trans people I work with, there’s an added layer. The stuck pattern isn’t just about a career or a habit, it’s about identity itself. Coming out, but only partway. Transitioning, but still shrinking yourself around certain people. Knowing exactly who you are and still not quite living as them, because it feels safer, easier, less risky to keep waiting for the “right” time. When resources are limited, you can’t afford to waste them, especially your time and mental energy. You need to know what you’re aiming for and why.

Why I Still Invest in My Own Coach

People are sometimes surprised when they find out I have a coach. “But you’re a coach!” they say. “Don’t you know all this stuff?”

Yes and no.

I know the frameworks. I can see patterns in other people’s lives with clarity. But when it comes to my own blind spots, my own excuses, my own stuck places, I need someone to hold up that mirror.

My coach helps me:

• See where I’m sabotaging my own business growth
• Call me on the stories I tell myself about what’s “realistic”
• Push me toward the scary conversations I’ve been avoiding
• Distinguish between actual constraints and imagined ones

What Coaching Actually Does (From Someone Who Does It)

Let me be clear about what I do and don’t offer my clients.

I’m not a therapist. I don’t diagnose or treat mental health conditions. If someone needs that level of support, I help them find it.

I’m not a magic wand. I can’t fix your life for you or make your problems disappear.

What I do is create space for the conversations you’ve been avoiding with yourself.

I ask the uncomfortable questions. I notice the patterns you can’t see because you’re too close to them. I help you bridge the gap between what you say matters and how you actually spend your time and energy.

I help you move from “I should probably…” to “here’s my next concrete step.”

The ROI Nobody Wants to Calculate (But Should)

Here’s what I ask potential clients to consider.

What has staying stuck cost you so far? Not just in money spent on things that didn’t help, but in:

• Opportunities you didn’t pursue because you were too in your head
• Raises you didn’t negotiate for because you doubted your worth
• Relationships that suffered because you had no boundaries, or because you were still hiding part of who you are from the people closest to you
• Sleep you lost to anxiety about decisions you kept postponing
• The growing gap between who you are and who you’re letting yourself be

When Coaching Makes Sense (And When It Doesn’t)

I turn away potential clients regularly. Not everyone needs coaching, and I’m honest about that.

If you’re in crisis, you need a therapist, not a coach. If you’re struggling with basic needs, those have to be addressed first. If you already have clarity and you’re taking consistent action, you might not need external support.

But if you recognize yourself in any of these patterns, we should talk:

• You’ve been “working on” the same goal for years without real progress
• You know what you need to do but can’t seem to make yourself do it
• You’re constantly second-guessing your decisions
• You have competing priorities and no framework for choosing between them
• You’re waiting to feel “ready” before taking action
• You’re exhausted from trying everything and getting nowhere

The Economy Is Tough. That’s Exactly Why Clarity Matters.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: coaching is an investment. It requires time, money, and emotional energy.

But here’s what I know after years of doing this work, both for myself and with clients.

The cost of staying stuck compounds. Every month you spend in the same patterns is a month you’re not building toward what you actually want. Every decision you avoid is still a decision, it’s just a decision to stay where you are.

The economy being challenging doesn’t make this less true. It makes it more urgent.

When resources are tight, you need to be strategic. You need to know where you’re going and why. You need to stop spinning your wheels and start getting traction.

That’s what coaching gives you: traction.

This Is What Life on Your Terms Is Built For

If you’re queer or trans and you recognize yourself in this, questioning, coming out only partway, transitioning but still shrinking yourself, or years past all of that and still not quite living the life you actually want, waiting for a “someday” that never quite arrives, this is exactly the gap Life on Your Terms is built to close.

It’s a small group coaching program built around three parts: Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. Getting honest about what you actually want, accepting what’s true even when it’s hard, and then taking the concrete next steps that build the life you’re picturing instead of just imagining it.

Because the economy is tough. And you can’t afford to waste another year going nowhere.