Getting paid for what you do is the cornerstone of American society. You would not go into work and tell your boss to not pay you, and you should be paid for your work in racquetball. I do not 100% agree with the volunteer for racquetball mentality. Of course, that probably is not a surprise to many of you since I charge for coaching.
Notice I said “not 100%” agree because i do agree with volunteering in these cases:
1. Learning your craft. I logged thousands of hours learning how to coach and charging very little money or no money. In fact, I still do that in special cases. I do not get paid to be on the state board and volunteer there as well.
2. I do believe in charging for my coaching. I will never forget a conversation I had with my wife in our early days of marriage. I stated that a customer took a lesson from me and told me I was way better than XYZ pro and XYZ pro was just better at marketing, not coaching. Her response? “I wish you were just better at marketing!”
3. On facebook everyone was bragging about giving away free lessons. How committed is anyone who gets “free”? My experience has always favored charging money for a service unless some sort of dire circumstance.
4. I point to the 0ld US Open when Doug Ganim ran it as an example. A good dollar was charged for entries and attendance. People paid it because it was worth it.
5. If the price is too high, the product is not good enough.
So getting paid for a service is not a bad thing. Volunteering is not a bad thing either I guess, but free usually brings problems. Charging for a service brings value and committment.
Go get’em Tiger$!!