It is desirable that mediator fees bear upon participants and encourage them to make progress. The temptation maybe to reduce your fees as a budding mediator, yet you will quickly realize that you will be working much harder as a mediator than in virtually any other professional capacity and that these fees are very much earned. Further, remember that you will have at least two and often more participants paying the mediation fee. Obviously, you will increase your fees with your success. In the short term, however, it is recommended that you do not under sell yourself.
People generally expect to get what they pay for.
In Sum While noble work, mediation is also, at least for the private practitioner, a business. Unless one can make a reasonable profit, one will not be practicing as a mediator for very long. There are exceptions, for example those who do not really need money and are able to volunteer on an unlimited basis at community mediation programs and the like. However, for the rest of us, being able to get a successful mediation practice going as a target that can only exist for a limited amount of time. My hope is that the suggestions in this article are helpful in thinking not only about how you will start offering quality mediation services, but also in terms of how you will continue being able to afford to offer those services.