In June of this year, I posted a short note indicating that I’d start video consulting for teams or players who wanted it. I’ve finished the set of consulting jobs that resulted from that post, so this seems like an appropriate time to feed back some of the data I’ve gathered to the community. While this is probably not interesting to most players or coaches, I hope that the small slice for whom this is interesting are able to make use of this data.
19 different potential jobs were discussed, of which I quoted a price for 18 of them (one job I referred to another coach who could work in person, and I’ve heard that it went very well). Of these, 11 accepted the quoted price and I completed the job. The accepted quotes were to five individuals (concerned with reviewing and coaching their own play) and six teams (where the focus was on team-wide strategy and tactics, but still with some review of individual players).
The jobs came from a wide variety of player and team types. Teams ranged from local club teams trying to qualify for Regionals for the first time to internationally-known club teams with goals of medaling at Worlds or the USAU Championships. Individuals ranged from new players on small, uncoached teams to players on established, USAU-qualifying contenders that were looking for a different viewpoint.
The technology was extremely easy. Between YouTube and PayPal, there is virtually no overhead or learning curve beyond the coaching itself. Video was made from a variety of angles and qualities, and it was all usable. My written feedback for these jobs varied from 3-4 pages up to 20-25 pages of text (a bit more than 5,000 words after boiling out everything the best and most important stuff).
The range of quotes was from $100-400, and I was open about charging more for established organizations and individuals with a steady job (compared to college teams and individuals for whom money was more of an issue. The highest quotes were all accepted, and 3 out of 11 voluntarily overpaid. The smaller quotes were much more likely to go unaccepted (mostly from college teams).
Was this work worth it to the teams and individuals who paid? Great question. It’s hard to get good, honest feedback on a consulting job like this. If I were a big business, I would definitely want to bring in an external evaluator. If anyone were interested in doing a little independent research, then I’d be happy to forward an anonymous survey to these clients. The short answer, though, is that I suspect that they were pleased but I truly don’t know.
Because this was a trial run, I tried to keep quoted costs down wherever possible. If I were going to do this again, I’d raise prices overall: It’s just a lot of work to do. I think a sustainable level for this kind of work would be something like:
- $150-200: Short, individual reviews based on 1-2 games worth of film
- $300-400: Single-team reviews based on 1-3 games worth of film (appropriate for a college or developing club team)
- $600-700: Single-team in-depth reviews for very competitive teams that are looking for specific tactical advantages on high-level opponents
Obviously, that is a lot of money. I think that there is a market here where good coaches and ambitious players can find each other at a price that makes everyone happy. That market is likely larger and more varied than I could possibly monopolize, so I hope that interested coaches and players do consider this option when looking for creative ways to improve.
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