Nothing ventured, nothing gained

A few points on my mind...

Athletes pay your coaches. These men and women spend everyday with you, rain or shine, helping you reach your potential and achieve your dreams. Pay them. I say this as much as a coach as I am a person that wants to push us into the realm of professionalism. I am tired of hearing the horror stories from fellow coaches. And I am not talking about one year coaches or neo coaches, this tale goes all the way to the best coaches on earth.
Does it makes sense to pay your coach 1% of your earnings? Or less than that? Most of you think it is criminal for a coach to even venture the thought of getting paid off your hard work. Some times you have to sit back and look at the big picture. See, when you are paying out lump sums it is overwhelming. Any time you have to pay anyone $10,000 in a lump sum it hurts. You do not want to do it. I wouldn't. But you have to step back and analyze. You made $200,000 in the year and you have paid your agent $30,000 - $40,000. Your coach has asked you for something, per your verbal agreement (most of us coaches are still working on the honor system), you come up with $5,000. That's a big check, right? You damn right it is a big check. Problem is you haven't paid your coach a dime all year and now you are offering him/her pennies on the hour. Pay your coach.
We love you more than you love yourself most days. We spend countless moments working through the plan so when you step out there to compete you are at your best. I will suggest to all of you, work out a monthly plan and put it in writing, it is professional, it keeps business off the track, and your coach will appreciate the gesture. We are track junkies. There is no denying that we love the sport, but we have to make a living.
For the record, I am not writing this out of anger or any personal situation I am going through. I actually have a contract and removed everything I listed above from the track (mostly LOL). I am writing this because you are a professional athlete, in a professional sport. It is time we all started acting like it, from top to bottom.

Coaches get a contract and help the athletes out. All of the above is not their fault. We have tried to conduct our business on a handshake and trust. It is a recipe for disaster. It does not make you money hungry to establish a professional, business relationship in conjunction with our personal coaching relationship.
Sit down and figure out what you want, put it in writing, and get to negotiating with your athletes. I have done it. It took me a lot of trial and error but I worked it out. Now all I have to do is coach. Ideally, I would like to have an agent, but one step at a time.
Do not sit there thinking when they make it they will take care of you. They are human. They have their own world to manage. And your idea of "take care" is not always the same as their idea of "take care of". So put it in writing.
Don't be an asshole about it either. But handle business as business. This thing we do is too personal to treat it like we are 24 Hour Fitness or something. Just keep the business separate for yourself.

I have more points but it is time for practice.