The first thing ...

The first thing that coaches and teachers need to realise is this: the value of other peoples time. 

It frustrates me when I see coaches step onto the mat without realising this most simple and important fact. Coaches who just go through the motions - and coaches who think their mere presence on the mat is worth the money that people pay to spend time with them, are worthless coaches in my view.

Each of us is the centre of our own universe. We are all important. The time that is allocated to each of us is valuable beyond measurement. Coaches need to ‘get’ that people are trading a significant amount of this valuable resource to spend time with them; students trade their time to make the money they need to pay for the class/seminar, etc - they then trade more time to travel to the training space, and then they trade more time to listen to what the coach has to say ... that there, is a load of time. 

Coaches - pay attention to the real and actual cost of the deal made for this or that student to get there in front if you. Respect that - understand that - and you’re off to a good start.