Equity pricing for my workshop

November 4, 2025

You’ve probably heard by now that I’m offering a workshop in a few weeks called “Spark Your Idea.” I’ll be presenting the workshop twice (on December 4th and 9th - you can attend one or both), and then there will be several optional follow-up coaching sessions I’ll schedule to work within participants’ time zones.

The Spark Your Idea workshop is meant to fill what I find to be a gap in the ideation process, which is what to do when you hit a snag with your idea, whether it's from a challenge or in response to a positive change like growth. In my work as a business coach, I have a lot of experience helping clients work through these snags, including in this workshop format where your brain can wander a bit - but within the guardrails of my structured, carefully sequenced prompts.

Whether folks are creating something brand new or getting to the next version of something that already exists, this workshop is a great use of time. Spark Your Idea will help you work through any decision overwhelm and fears and name the resources you’ll need (I consider access to be a resource, especially when it’s limited by systemic obstacles) so you can make progress with your meaningful project.

I get a lot of questions about why I choose to offer equity pricing (you might see this called inclusive or flexible fees or a sliding scale) for my work. I think my Spark Your Idea workshop is a useful case study to help explain my pricing choices.

How equity pricing for the workshop works

For the workshop, I have three suggested registration fees: $600, $300 and $25. When you use the payment link, you’ll even have the choice to name your own fee if you’d like and that’s fine with me; I truly wouldn’t offer the option if I didn’t believe in that kind of agency for all of us. The workshop experience is exactly the same no matter which fee option you select. Nobody except me will know what you choose to pay.

The $600 rate is what folks who are well-resourced should choose to pay since it funds your seat in the workshop plus it makes seats available to folks who need to join at the $25 rate. I sometimes call this a pay-it-forward option. The $300 rate is for folks who are doing OK and can pay for their own seat but don’t have anything extra to sponsor another participant right now. And the $25 rate is for those who simply don't have enough cash to pay more for the experience. Also, and this is important, if you want to join the workshop but you absolutely can't afford to pay me at all, just send me a message wherever you communicate with me (or email me at Kay @ FacilitatorOnFire.net) and I'll give you a code to register. You do not owe me an explanation for requesting to participate for no fee, and I will NEVER ask you to justify the pricing option you choose.

But this is a confusing pricing model, so why do I do it this way?

I have always offered my work on a sliding scale, which was the term I used to indicate my willingness to negotiate fees back when I only did strategic planning and fundraising training, and at that time I only worked with organizations. My way of thinking then, which I still agree with today, was that companies who can afford to pay full price ought to do so. That allowed me to offer far lower rates to the organizations who have much smaller budgets. At the time, I explained this as “subsidizing” my work with tiny businesses and non-profits, but I’ve moved away from that term and I don’t use it any more.

Once I began to offer business and leadership coaching directly to individuals, I did a lot of planning work and ran many models to decide on my pricing*. I also did a lot of soul-searching to explore just how far I’d be willing and able to go to make it as easy as possible for folks to access my services. I also researched other pricing models to find language to communicate my flexible pricing model. (Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the research I did on language, which I know because a client just asked me about it last week, so I looked for it to no avail. If I find it, I’ll let you know.)

For now, I’m using the term “equity pricing” most often, though sometimes I still experiment with saying “scholarship” or “pay-it-forward,” and you might notice when I try out yet other wording from time to time. The language around this is evolving for me.

I suppose a short way of explaining my business decision to offer equity pricing is that it’s right for my line of business helping owners and leaders move toward social justice, and it’s the right thing for my heart, too.

FAQs

Don't people take advantage of me? No. I have good boundaries and I’m emotionally responsible, so I realized a long time ago that somebody can only "take advantage" of me if I give them the power to do so. I’m not naive about this and I do pay close attention to how people interact with me. If I get the sense that someone is trying to manipulate or "game" my flexible pricing or me in any way, I have a conversation with them.

Has anyone ever paid me less than they should? Of course. But this is the case for any business that’s been around for more than a minute, no matter what pricing model they use! I’m a business coach, so I see it happen all the time. The difference for me is that when it happens to me, I don’t get emotionally activated about it unless it’s a very serious situation. I simply don’t choose to waste my energy about it most of the time. I’m not being glib or dismissive about this issue. I understand this is a privilege I have because my family’s income is sufficient right now and our needs are met even when I have a financial hiccup in my business.

Why don't I charge what I’m worth? Don't I believe in myself enough? Here's what I tell all my clients when we talk about pricing: I'm worth a million dollars an hour and so are they. But I don't believe for a second that I should charge that, nor do I want to. Instead of tying my worth to an hourly rate, I choose to charge what I think is fair, accessible and needed in the market I want to work with, which is people who believe in finding ways to further social justice.

How can I afford to do this? I have the capacity to use this pricing model right now because my family and I work together to meet each other's needs. My spouse currently has a job that provides health insurance, and we both contribute to household finances. If my circumstances were to change - for example, if I needed to charge more in order to provide a different level of support for my family or to bring team members into my business - I have enough data to adjust my business model and pricing accordingly.

What other questions do you have for me about equity pricing? Reply to this message or email me and I’ll be happy to share what I can.

P.S. A note on my identities: I'm a white, cis-het, non-disabled middle-class woman living in Ohio in the US. I know people who share my identities have done a lot of harm in the world, so if my identity is an obstacle for you, I get it. I hope you'll take a chance on me anyway, but if not, I still believe in you and your idea. I'm sending loving support no matter what.

*I have a template I use to do scenario models with my clients when they need to decide on pricing. If you’re interested in exploring this tool, reply to this message so we can schedule a time to talk.

If you’ve got an idea you’d like to nurture, I’d like to help you do it through my Spark Your Idea Workshop.

My Spark Your Idea Workshop (details here) might be for you if you’ve got the itch to start something new or make a shift in some way including:

• Introduce a marketing idea or campaign

• Write a keynote speech

• Plan a new program or business

• Develop a work of art

• Move an existing program or idea in a new direction

• Offer your services to a new audience

• Become a coach or consultant

• Write a book

• Begin a community organization

• Start a blog, podcast or youtube channel

• Offer a course or design a curriculum

Also, I will continue to ask this favor to ask of you: please keep recommending me to friends and colleagues who might need a business coach or strategic planner (my specialty as a planner is small shops) or of course folks who might be interested in my Spark Your Idea workshop. My equity pricing structure means I can help most folks and I have extensive experience, especially in the area of social justice. Some of my clients run high-revenue businesses, while others run non-profits or part-time or one-person businesses.

As I mentioned above, I try to be transparent about my identity as a white, cis-het, middle-class, non-disabled woman in the U.S., because I think it’s important for my potential clients to know. I often get to work with people who have identities that differ from mine, and together, we are building a more just and equitable world where our lives and work are much better because of it.

Here’s to exploring equity pricing models,

Kay Coughlin, CEO and Business Coach, Facilitator on Fire