- A set fee for each session
- An hourly rate
- A rate for a certain number of hours the client must commit to
- Fixed price for a certain result
- Fixed price for a certain program
- Exchange of professional services
- Doing it for free
With my new clients, who come to see me once per week or so, I charge a fixed price for the session. The session will end up being around an hour anyway. By setting a fixed price, neither the client or I will have to watch the clock thinking about how the price is running up.
However, if you do longer sessions of varying length, if you leave the control of time spent more up to the client, and you want to be paid for your time, then an hourly rate might work better. You would calculate after session how many hours and minutes were spent and bill her for exactly that time.
If the client is paying for the exact time it is usually more convenient to sell her a number of hours first and put them on her account. Typically that is done in blocks of a fixed size, such as 10 hours or whatever else you choose. The client would buy one or more blocks before we start, we would then debit the hours used after each session, and when we have used them up we need to sell her some more. There is more of a selling job involved with this approach. She is more likely to say no, or to not have enough money. On the other hand, she commits to a certain number of hours, so we have time enough to get good results without worrying about how she is going to judge the results after the first session.
It is fairly rare, but some people charge by the result. That is, you promise a certain benefit and set the price for it. No matter how long time it will actually take you will get the same money. That gives you incentive to be effective and get the job done. But on the other hand you might not know in advance how long it will take. And there might easily be discussions about when something is really resolved. The client might have a different expectation than you have in mind.
More common is to charge a fixed price for a specific program or package. A program would be a certain sequence of prepared steps. We promise to do all the steps, to administer all the techniques that are outlined in the program. We can't at the same time be sure of a specific result. But if it is a good program, generally, good results within a certain range are likely. You could promise all processes in a module for a fixed price. However, what is more common is to charge fixed prices for programs the client would do in her own time. We give her some instructions and she will do most of the work herself, so there is not much to lose by fixing the price.
If you need the services of another professional, you can propose an exchange agreement, your services for theirs. That can be calculated in dollars, but usually it would be more satisfying to just exchange straight for comparable levels of skill. Otherwise it is not likely to be satisfactory if one charges $150 per session and the other charges $30. If both are professionals, exchanging straight over and ignoring the prices would work best.
You could get many of your service needs met by barter agreements for processing sessions. I have gotten all kinds of holistic health care, car repair, TV repair and clerical work in exchange for my sessions.
Generally only accept exchange with something you really want. It must be a win-win situation, you should both be happy with what you are getting. Don't just let somebody polish your hubcaps 100 times because you feel pity for them and they need sessions. Make sure there is something valuable and desirable that they can do. Also for their sake, otherwise they might not feel that their processing has been paid for properly.
You could also deliver sessions for free. You can regard transformational processing as a mission you have, something you really want to do for the world, and that you don't need any pay for. That is fine. However, you would then have to make sure that YOU choose who to give sessions to, and when and where. Doing it for free allows you to be completely in charge, not having to commercialize your mission in life. It is not something you have to do. Don't get into a situation where people can just call on you anytime for sessions and you have to oblige for free. That would create a criminal exchange that you would both ultimately be unhappy about. If you do it for free, that means YOU have the freedom to choose the circumstances.
Common fees when charging per session would be between $30 and $150. Hourly fees would typically be between $20 and $100. If one sells processing in bigger chunks there would usually be a sliding scale, so it gets cheaper the more one pays for. Like, the first chunk of 10 hours is $800. the second $780, the third $770, and so forth. If charging by program or major result it would usually be $500-3000 for each.
I adjust my fees somewhat based on the person's ability to pay and how much effort it is to work with them. The money is not my motivation for doing processing, so I am flexible in that regard. I like helping people.
If you are a professional facilitator you would want to be busy with sessions. If people aren't coming in at your current fees, you might have to change them, at least temporarily. Or you might even do some free sessions to get something moving. Any processing is better than no processing, both for facilitators and clients. You might offer free introductory sessions to attract some more people.
It is not advisable to do sessions on credit. The results from processing are intangible. It is not uncommon to forget how screwed up one used to be. People usually aren't very happy paying for something they don't have any longer.
Never buy into the idea of "If you just give me some processing I will be able to make a lot of money and then I'll pay you back". The activity of getting and delivering sessions has to be viable in this current time frame. You are doing yourself and your clients a disservice by depending on future monetary miracles.
Set your fees at a level where you get a viable income from it and your services are accessible for most people. Don't charge an exorbitant amount because your services are so terribly valued. They are, but you can't really charge for the worth of the results. People make their own results, it is really not something they buy from you. You act as a consultant inspiring people to change themselves.
People can pay you in cash or in checks, or whatever is most convenient. They can make out checks to you personally, or to whatever business name you are using.
Some facilitators take only cash in order to not leave a trail that the tax department can follow. It is up to you how you want to play the game. In the United States tax is inherently a voluntary action covered up by a fraud, so you could legally get away with not paying tax. Most other countries aren't so lucky, and tax paying is a law.
For the same reasons, you might or might not want to give a receipt. Most people wouldn't expect a receipt if they pay session by session, but they would often like a piece of paper if they pay for a bigger block of hours in advance.