Skyrocket Profits: Want more? ??

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You don't have to do this alone??? _____________________________________________________________________On with the newsletter......

Are you happy with what you charge for your work? Would you like to be earning more, but still be serving your clients? Go on. Be honest. Would you?!

I work with a lot of service businesses (businesses that provide a service, rather than make and sell products) like therapists and coaches.

Many of these business owners have been doing what they do for a very long time. They are experts in their chosen field and what they do helps a lot of people.

Problem is, expertise does not infer financial sustainability.

Experience is not enough to pay the bills.

So, a lot of these businesses are stuck because they might have reached capacity in availability (how many clients they can see in a week/month) and it seems that they are only ever going to be able to make a certain amount of money. ?

They are stuck in the ‘selling time for money’ dilemma and they can’t see a way out. ? But there is a way out. It won’t happen overnight, but there IS another way. Trust me. ?

[If you are a product business this might not be so relevant to you, but I also have an idea for you to create sustainable monthly income so stick around…] ? ?

Pricing myths ?

Before we dive into the nitty gritty of pricing to create sustainable income, let’s dispel some myths. ?

?? Myth 1 – “I can only charge what my competitors charge, and/or what I was told I could charge when I trained” ?

The Truth – you can charge what you like but you have to be absolutely clear what the value is to your prospects and clients, and you need to talk about that in your marketing. I know some therapists who charge ￡50 per hour and some who charge ￡150 or more per hour for the same kind of work. They both offer the same results, but one has looked at their offering in a different way and is able to sell the benefits to the client and understands what the real cost is to that person if they choose to do nothing. ? ? ?

?? Myth 2 – “If I price too high, people will think I am ruthless, and they won’t want to work with me/I will get a bad reputation/people won’t be able to afford me” ?

The Truth - This is a BIG one, and it’s all about your money blocks. Money blocks are the emotional blocks that you create around your relationship with money. They show up in a lot of industries, but especially in wellbeing/healthcare and in art/music, where there is an unspoken law that therapists/artists/musicians/carers should be paid less money because they get satisfaction from the work itself. ?

So, if you are someone with stuff around money (which we all have BTW), you may have subconsciously chosen a profession in one of these fields and feel guilty for doing what you love AND being well paid. ? Work on your money blocks. If you don’t believe you are worth it you won’t be able to sell it. [If this sounds familiar then book in for a FREE 90 minute coaching call with me. I have tons of tools that will help!] If you are worried about some people not being able to afford you when they really value what you do, and need the work, you can offer payment plans (see below). ? ?

?? Myth 3 – “The more training I do, the more money I will make” ?

The Truth – if you keep doing more training because you feel what you know is ‘not enough’, if indeed you feel you are ‘not enough’, that is a bottomless pit that you will never fill with the next training or course. ? The more training you do, the more your overheads will increase as you need to make back the money you invested in yourself and your business. This won’t make you more money. ? I am going to repeat that you can do what you love to do, help people AND make money. They do not have to be mutually exclusive. ? ?

So let’s look at how you can create a pricing strategy that will bring in a healthy and sustainable monthly income:

?? Create packages or programmes so you don’t get stuck in selling time for money (but always have an ad hoc option too)?

23 years ago when my brilliant mentor Doug was setting up ETC (of which I am an associate) he quickly realised that our 3 year profit growth programme Momentum (amazing as it is) was too much of a stretch for some businesses, so he created a 1 year programme called Velocity to fit therapy and service businesses (as well as any other business). ?

He was asked specifically by a therapist to create a programme that would work for her business. ?

Creating programmes and packages for clients to buy is the main way that you are going to make your business sustainable, so you can work with multiple clients and build some monthly retainers into your business. ?

But don’t lose your ad hoc option too. Sometimes people are just not ready for a programme, or they just don’t have the funds, so keep your ad hoc option (like an hour of your time) just for them so they can also get value from what you do. Plus, you can help them get ready for a programme through some ad hoc 1:1 work so they are a great way of upselling! ? ?

?? Charge the same for online and in person ? I get asked this all the time. Yes, you should charge the same for online work as you do for working in person, so your programmes (that you are going to create if you haven’t already!) should build in reasonable travel time. ? Apart from physical therapies like massage, acupuncture, osteopathy etc, there is nothing that really can’t be done online now so yes, please charge the same. It’s still your time! ?

?? Offer payment plans ? Another hot topic for my clients is the desire to be affordable for everyone. First of all, just accept now that you might not be affordable for everyone (which is where your off the shelf resource might be helpful….) and you shouldn’t try to be. ? But you can ALWAYS offer a payment plan. If you would normally ask for the fees up front (which you should do anyway) in one payment, offer your clients options for splitting that payment into 2-3 instalments. That way, you don’t come down on your prices, and you make it affordable for them so everyone is happy! ? But here’s the caveat, be really sure that person is absolutely committed to the work you are offering, they are not just wasting your time, or bargain hunting. ? ?

?? Create a membership or subscription so you have sustainable monthly income (this is for the product businesses too!) ? Memberships and subscriptions are the business model of the future. They have been growing in popularity over the last few years and there has been a proliferation since Covid for a number of reasons: ?

• They are an affordable way to solve a problem that requires some learning over time (like therapy, business or learning a big skill)

• They have a community element, so people feel connected to others going through the same thing

• They make people accountable because of that community element so people are more likely to get the results they desire

If you run a service business where you are doing some kind of coaching or therapy that would be expensive to access one-on-one, why not create a membership platform so you can help lots of people for less money? ? Finally, hello product business (thanks for being so patient!) you can use a subscription model to create sustainable income while helping your audience solve a problem they have. Subscriptions can work for all kinds of product businesses: ?

• Food and drink
• Supplements
• Cooking ingredients
• Books
• Candles and craft items
• Beauty products

The list is endless. ?

Now building a membership or subscription model does take time, but it is a great way to scale your business. Plus it can help you upsell to your 1:1 bespoke offering so it’s a win-win! [I’ve actually built and run a membership so if you are thinking about setting one up book a Book a FREE 90 minute Coaching Call?with me and learn from my mistakes!] ? ?

Running any business is hard work, but when you are working intensively 1:1 it is even more important to do it in a way that is emotionally as well as financially sustainable. You deserve to be well paid for what you do, so think about ways that you can get out of the ‘selling time for money’ dilemma through creating packages, programmes or a membership. ? It's going to take some time, but once you do it you are on the way to financial sustainability and that is worth waiting for! Want to break free from selling time for money??Book a FREE 90 minute Coaching Call?and find out how I can help you.