Volunteering your time to mentor people can be very rewarding in its own right though. But the fact that people are paying for it probably killed that aspect of

Volunteering your time to mentor people can be very rewarding in its own right though. But the fact that people are paying for it probably killed that aspect of it too. The cost of the service should have been a red flag from the start. It's the same as if you provide technical services at cost, say just asking the same hourly rate as your day job in hopes it will lead to something when they can afford more. Since they are paying, they will presume that is the market value for what they are getting and treat it as a price ceiling, making it far less likely the relationship will lead to something bigger.