Online coaching tools are abundant and quite accessible. You can find plenty of them for free or you can pony up some money and find even more of them. With just a click of the mouse, a wealth of coaching tools is available for study and use. That’s the great thing about the digital age – who needs books and libraries and encyclopedias when you have the internet!

Should You Pay for Online Coaching Tools?

The internet is filled with free advice and information. However, sometimes you get what you pay for! When it comes to coaching tools, online is a mixed bag of good and bad. Plenty of valuable information exists as long as you weed through much of the filler, garbage, promotional hype, and sales copy.

If you are a discerning researcher who can spot sales bs a mile away, then you will probably do great finding useful information about coaching. If you are a bit more gullible and naïve, then you may have a more difficult time sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Whether you pay or continue to look for free coaching information depends on your research skills, budget, patience, and ability to spot bs!

How to Separate Good Information from Bad Information on the Internet

Be skeptical
If you don’t have a skeptical nature, try to become a skeptic. One of the problems we are having with our political divide in the US is that people trust sources or information if it fits their ideology. Conspiracy theories abound because people lack skepticism. When looking for information of any nature, it pays to first be a skeptic.

Know the Source
When you find information or online coaching tools, know where the information comes from. Has it been written by a reputable coach or does it originate from an accredited source? Knowing from where it came is a great guide to its usefulness or uselessness.

Know the Time
Coaching is an evolving field. Something written in 1998 may not be relevant in 2018. Though many coaching tools and models are useful no matter how old they are, some have been replaced. If an online coaching tool appears to have come from the last millennium, further research is needed to check its relevance and validity.

Sales Banners. Most coaches who have a website attempt to monetize it at some point. Most other sites are also monetized. This means they have ads. A website’s content may be promoting the same online coaching tools or information as the ads. It doesn’t destroy the content’s credibility, but it means that further research is needed.

Don’t Pay for Information When You Can Find it for Free

Since online coaching tools can be found all over the internet, it is worthwhile to check for free information before you pay for something. If you find something that sounds relevant or valuable, but it costs, it might be worth the extra time to search around to see if you can find the same thing for free.

I’m not saying that you should never pay for anything – many coaches supplement their income by offering one-of-a-kind, valuable information for a fee. Just don’t go clicking on the “Pay Now” button until you’ve dome a little more research!

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!

Fred Philips
Business Coach
Writing Team, Coaches Training Blog Community