This page explains how USEFULCOACH LTD sets the price of useful. coaching, and publishes the figures behind it, from what comes in to what the owner takes home. It follows Ratio Aperta, a standard for showing what a price is made of, which the company’s director, Tom Herbert, started.
Meets Ratio Aperta 0.1 (ratioaperta.org), since October 2026.
1. The Offering
useful. Contextual Behavioural Nutrition. Process-based sports nutrition and mental performance coaching for climbers, athletes, artists, and dancers, drawing on contextual behavioural science. It starts with an initial 6-week package and then continues monthly, with unlimited video calls and messaging support throughout. It also includes a nutrition planning sheet, Cronometer Gold and Sequence subscriptions, and the client documentation. Every call and message is with Tom, the company’s director and only coach.
| Coaching | Price |
|---|---|
| Initial 6-week package | £350 (£200 plus a £150 setup fee) |
| Then monthly: reduced | £150 |
| Then monthly: standard | £200 |
| Then monthly: pay it forward | £250 |
After the first 6 weeks the client chooses the monthly fee, and can change it at any time. Calls and messaging are unlimited at every level. Coaching renews each month until the client cancels, which they can do at any time, and it carries on until the end of the period they have paid for.
2. The Price
Where a £200 month goes.
| A £200 month, 2025/26 | |
|---|---|
| Running costs | £56 |
| Tax on profit | £18 |
| Left for the coach’s time | £126 |
| Calls, on average | about 2½ hours a month |
| Messaging and admin | about 30 minutes a week |
| The coach’s time | about 5 hours a month |
| Works out at | about £25 an hour, before personal tax |
Running costs and corporation tax are the year’s totals divided by its 143 paid client-months, a client-month being one client paying for one month. Call hours come from the booking systems. Messaging and admin is Tom’s estimate. Running costs include each client’s Cronometer and Sequence seats, about £3.50 a month.
How the price relates to the cost. It wasn’t built up from an hourly rate. Calls are unlimited, so time varies a lot between clients and from month to month, and the fee is an average across them: some months a client uses far more than 5 hours, some far less. The first 6 weeks cost more because starting takes the most time, and the £150 setup fee covers that so the monthly fee can stay flexible.
Why £200. This part is judgement. Tom wanted a figure that was round, seemed reasonable, and made it more likely that someone could stay long enough for the changes to last, rather than stopping after a month because of the cost. £150 is there for anyone who needs it, and £250 helps cover the difference for someone on £150. So about £25 an hour is a choice, made for staying power rather than margin.
3. The Accounts
| Year | Income | Running costs | Tax | Owner's pay | Left in the business |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | £34,434 | £8,038 | £2,626 | £24,076 | −£306 |
| 2024/25 | £41,809 | £8,002 | £4,034 | £30,576 | −£803 |
| 2023/24 | £27,723 | £8,561 | £1,258 | £17,576 | £328 |
| 2022/23 | £37,964 | £8,657 | £3,612 | £23,546 | £2,149 |
| 2021/22 | £39,900 | £8,723 | £4,213 | £29,999 | −£3,035 |
| 2020/21 | £42,500 | £6,892 | £5,189 | £32,104 | −£1,685 |
| 2019/20 | £16,928 | £5,544 | £869 | £7,861 | £2,654 |
USEFULCOACH LTD, financial years from 1 September to 31 August; the first runs from incorporation on 22 August 2019. Figures to 31 Aug 2026, from the accounting records in FreeAgent.
Where the last column is negative, the owner was paid more than the year earned after costs and tax, with the difference coming from profit kept in earlier years.
4. The Costs
| What it's for | 2025/26 | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software and tools | £2,519 | £2,128 | £1,635 | £2,083 | £3,084 | £2,640 | £2,153 |
| Employer's National Insurance | £1,136 | £514 | £479 | . | . | . | . |
| Training and learning | £959 | £812 | £2,945 | £1,802 | £670 | £385 | £259 |
| Card and bank fees | £854 | £1,330 | £734 | £887 | £755 | £550 | £351 |
| Website and hosting | £689 | £659 | £666 | £167 | . | . | . |
| Phone | £438 | £455 | £376 | £725 | £301 | . | . |
| Company, legal and accounts | £397 | £658 | £676 | £622 | £994 | £439 | £398 |
| Travel | £446 | £592 | £84 | £157 | £126 | £31 | . |
| Use of home | £312 | £312 | £312 | £312 | £312 | £312 | £216 |
| Equipment and depreciation | . | . | £85 | £540 | £929 | £1,088 | £2,028 |
| Insurance | . | £198 | £189 | £189 | £179 | £150 | . |
| Products, subcontractors and referrals | £44 | £114 | £230 | £1,043 | £1,348 | £1,223 | £84 |
| Other | £244 | £230 | £150 | £130 | £25 | £74 | £55 |
| Running costs | £8,038 | £8,002 | £8,561 | £8,657 | £8,723 | £6,892 | £5,544 |
A dot means nothing was spent. Other is whatever is left over, so each column adds up to the running costs in section 3.
The Method
USEFULCOACH LTD’s figures are pulled by script from its accounting records in FreeAgent, on an accruals basis (counted when invoiced or incurred, not when paid), and rounded to the pound. Last synced 4 Oct 2026.
Against the filed accounts. USEFULCOACH LTD files micro-entity accounts, which have a balance sheet but no profit and loss account. So the check is the last column of section 3: the amount left in the business each year equals the change in net assets on the filed balance sheet, to within £4. The first year’s filed accounts include a profit and loss account and match, apart from £4 of turnover (£16,924 filed, £16,928 here). The 2025/26 accounts are not yet filed.
Referrals. The company pays a personal trainer £30 for each client referred: three so far, £90 to the end of September 2026, counted in products, subcontractors and referrals in section 4. The fee comes out of what the company receives, not added to the client’s price, so a referred client pays the same as anyone else. The links to Fathom, the analytics provider, on useful.coach and ratioaperta.org are referral links, and have earned nothing so far.