Am I being unreasonable and/or irresponsible with this money issue?

I’m a dog trainer. Up to now, people would simply pay me at the end of a lesson, and that was that.

Now, I’d like to make a change. I’m planning to offer a deal of ten lessons with set dates, in exchange for a little less money than what the same amount of individual sessions would have cost people. I’d be paid for just nine lessons, instead of ten.

I’m doing this because I’d like to encourage my clients to participate every week. That will ensure they get their money’s worth (and a little more), so I’m hoping it may do the trick. At the moment, some clients do not come in every week, which makes it difficult to plan lessons and impossible for me to rely on any set amount of money.

I’m hesitant to go ahead with this, for two reasons:

1) I’m unsure whether it is reasonable to expect people to pay the entire amount of money if they do miss lessons. I would be paying people back if they or their dogs are unable to participate, but right now, many clients decide not to come when it rains. Nor sure how to deal with that kind of thing.

2) Until the ten lessons are over, the money will not really be mine. I think I’d be okay with putting it away and only using it once it is – but money is not abundant, right now, and I try not to to this kind of thing at all. I don’t take out loans, for just this reason.

What do you think, jellies?