$174K in 6 Months: How One Mental Shift Made Me More Money Than Marketing Ever Did
When I first started my business as a coach, I was incredibly optimistic.
After 16 years of service in the military, I was finally free to do things my way. No boss, no bureaucratic red tape to navigate. The only thing between me and serving my customers would be me.
I had no idea how true that statement would be. I’ll explain what I mean in a minute.
My first year I earned about $23K in revenue. Nothing special. Certainly Forbes wouldn’t be calling for an interview on how I did it.
But you know what? I was thrilled.
To create money, any money, out of nothing but my own hard work and ideas was amazing to me. If you’ve ever had any experience selling, even if just a lemonade stand or Girl Scout cookies as a kid, you might have an appreciation for how difficult it is to create that much money all by yourself.
The problem was that I’d also spent about $28K on various courses and programs, learning how to start a blog and an online business. Ouch.
“No problem!” I assured myself. I was confident I would make that money back over the years to come.
I did earn more, but not a lot more. In fact, over the next couple of years, I would fail to earn enough to pay myself regularly. I had high expenses due to education and outsourcing, and only meager profits. It hurt both my bank account and my ego.
What made it all the worse was that my clients kept telling me how great my coaching was, how I had made a real impact on their lives and careers. I had one glowing testimonial after another.
I kept asking myself: what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I make this work?
When good marketing produces bad results
I’m embarrassed to admit that I continued to pour yet more money down the drain on conferences, online marketing courses, and various contractors over those years, thinking the answer to my problems was my lack of knowledge or skill. Every time I made more, I spent more. My frustration grew.
It wasn’t until I hired a coach myself that it all became clear: my prices were too low to ever get my business to the place I wanted to reach. I didn’t have an information problem, I had a mindset problem.
To put it another way, you can be a master of marketing, but if you don’t master your “inner game,” you’ll continually struggle to achieve your business goals.
And that’s true at every level of business.
The simplest definition of money mindset is how you think about money. It’s how adept you are at pricing your products and services, your willingness to charge what they’re worth, and how capable you believe yourself to be when it comes to creating both revenue and value for your clients and customers.
Like many entrepreneurs, I’d assumed the hard part was finding people to pay me. I focused on blogging and marketing to make sure there were plenty of people coming in the door.
But if you haven’t figured out how to charge for your services appropriately, more people coming in the door just means exhaustion.
The classic solution to this overwork issue, if you follow the online marketing gurus, is to turn to passive income streams. You have this idea that you’ll coach during the day and magically make money while you sleep.
But marketing, good marketing, takes time. A lot of time.
I knew things had taken a seriously wrong turn when I began to resent the coaching calls on my calendar, because they kept me from all the work I needed to do to create online sales funnels. That’s right, my core business felt like a distraction from my marketing, rather than the other way around.
How screwed up is that?
The secret to my (mind-blowing) success
Several years ago I was taking a long walk with a friend, and he challenged me to generate six figures in revenue that year. I said I wasn’t interested.
“I don’t need that much money,” I told him.
“But wouldn’t it be nice to have it,” he asked incredulously.
“I guess. But I don’t need it,” I protested.
This was the first sign that my money mindset issues ran deep. You see, a part of me thought it was wrong to make more money than you needed. So perhaps it was no real surprise that as long as I didn’t need money, I didn’t make money.
Admittedly, there was also a part of me that thought a goal like that wasn’t within my reach. I was scared to try because I was scared to fail.
Once I gave myself permission to earn more, I had to tackle my scarcity mindset. This meant intentionally taking fewer clients, so I could serve those I did sign more deeply and powerfully. I set a capacity of never taking more than 6 clients at a time.
This set me up for the scariest proposition of all, because to earn more with fewer clients, there was really only one option: I had to raise my prices. Significantly.
That forced me to re-evaluate the true value of what I was already doing and how I could raise the bar. I listened more carefully to the dreams and fears of my potential clients, and then got creative with what I felt was the perfect, VIP solution to help them.
The results were beyond my wildest expectation.
I went from paying myself pitiful wages to billing over $174K so far this year. In full transparency, I offer the majority of my clients payment plans, so not all of that revenue has been deposited into my bank account yet. I’ve never had a client fail to pay what they agreed to, so I feel comfortable reporting that as revenue, but as per this article, I also believe it’s important to be as transparent as possible about what these numbers actually represent.
Even better, I was able to accomplish those results by taking clients who inspire and amaze me, while also making time for the important things in life like family, friends, and my health. These rather simple changes have made an enormous impact.
For one thing, I’ve become a lot more confident in my ability to find and sign clients whenever I need to. The scarcity mindset is gone. That means I am detached from the outcome of any one potential client–I never pressure anyone to sign with me and there’s never any desperation to my pitches.
As my prices have gone up, the number of people wanting to work with me has gone up too. This was completely counter intuitive, until I realized that low prices unconsciously signaled to my clients that my services must not be worthwhile. Let’s face it, if you’re really offering to transform someone’s life or business, who expects to get that at a bargain?
Moreover, those low prices encourage people to sign up for work they aren’t totally committed to and thus never fully get the benefit from. You don’t want to sell to someone who’s still kicking the tires, so to speak. It results in a “poor” experience for everyone.
What I discovered is that changing your mindset about money changes your mindset about everything: about what you do, your capacity to deeply serve your clients, the lifestyle your business can enable, and the amount of satisfaction you enjoy in your business.
A successful business requires courage
No one sets out to create an unsustainable business.
People know they’ll have to work hard to get a new business off the ground, but they tell themselves that eventually they’ll hit a tipping point and everything will get easier.
But that’s not what happens when your prices are too low. At some point you realize you can’t keep taking on new clients without sacrificing the quality of your work (and your lifestyle). While I see the benefit of selling information products to increase your reach and revenue, calling their creation and marketing “passive” is a cruel joke.
That’s not to say online marketing isn’t something you should invest in. Just don’t kid yourself.
Effective online marketing is incredibly time intensive. But in my experience, so is mediocre online marketing, which is all you can expect if you’re trying to squeeze your efforts around your client based business.
So if you’re a coach, consultant, or freelancer, hear this: the fastest way to grow your business is to raise your prices.
There is a right way and a wrong way to go about it of course.
There’s a limit to what you can charge for certain products and services for specific clientele. The question you should be asking yourself: how do you know when you’ve hit the price ceiling for your services and what could you tweak to raise that ceiling once you hit it?
There are 3 reasons you probably have trouble answering that question:
- you don’t fully understand the needs and desires of your clients
- you don’t understand the full breadth and value of services you can provide
- you have assumptions about what customers will and won’t pay, assumptions you’ve probably never tested
These stories we make up about how much people are willing to pay for our services are the #1 reason so many entrepreneurs are overworked and underpaid.
Does it take courage to override those voices in your head that say you can’t charge more? Sure.
But you know what, hiring you probably requires some courage on the part of your client too. If you want your potential clients to overcome their skepticism and potential disappointment, you need to be willing to do the same.
Make hiring you the scariest and most committed thing either of you have ever done.
Then make it worth it.
Discover the Blindspot That Keeps You Overworked and Underpaid
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Fantastic result, Jen. I’m very happy for you, and I hope it continues to multiply.
I remember hearing Clay Collins say something about how you should only quote prices that make you a little nervous (because you think it might be too high), otherwise you’re not charging enough. Of course, it won’t always work, but the times that it does will make up for the times that it doesn’t, and you’ll have worked less.
Yes. And I think the same advice applies to your clients. Your price should be slightly scary to them too. That will obviously be different price points for different people, and I’ve gone the other way too, where I lowered my price for someone to range they could pay but was still a reach, because I thought they were committed and interesting enough to make that worthwhile for both of us.
It was also the insight that reducing my workload benefitted my remaining clients due to focus that made this worthwhile. Clearly, my own gain wasn’t enough to fully make this shift for me. I needed to see how it helped my clients too. And it does!
Hi Jen, love this article. As a lifelong freelancer I have only just been getting to grips with the ‘scarcity mindset. As soon as I made space for the work I wanted and got rid of the other work where I was allowing myself to be paid less than my worth – everything fell into place and the worthwhile work and money flowed. I do still though feel like a fraud when I’m discussing money but I just think of that voice as the one which wants to keep me imprisoned in my old ‘safe’ habits. I acknowledge it and then focus on slam dunking the work. Thanks for the reminder about we can get in our own way.
That was my experience too, Mac. Really startling how much easier things became.
One of the things that helps with feeling like a fraud: let your client tell you why working together is worth it. It’s a bit of role reversal. I’m not trying to convince them to work with me. I’m giving them a place to decide if this work is worth it to them. At the end of that conversation, two people need to be convinced of the value, and it’s the customer that does the convincing. Try that on your next potential client call and let me know how it works!
Great thought, I’m going to try that out! Thankyou.
Woo hoo! I said it before and I’ll say it again: Jennifer Gresham for President…! Untainted. Clean on the scene. And I do mean this in all seriousness, if you started running for elected office at whatever level of government, I would vote for you.
Too late for this round, but maybe HC will pioneer the way for women like you in future. You’ve got a long life ahead. Do a bit more business, and then give of your leadership, maturity, and knowledge of what makes people tick to all the people and to your country (plus you already understand the military too).
We could use someone like you on the underside of the planet too. Thought of emigrating? (again?) haha:-)
Hope I’m around long enough to see something like it.
Good luck, Jennifer.
Victor Surkus (Canberra, Australia)
You are too kind, Victor. You know, I haven’t ruled politics out, but I don’t know how much I’d enjoy it, and I’ve already done 16 years of service work. For now, I’m very, very happy as a coach and a mom. I always appreciate your enthusiastic support. I’ll definitely be visiting Oz if not emigrating. Too many animals trying to kill you is what I remember! LOL
This was awesome and a great way to meet you! Congrats and I am following your example asap…i mean now!
Thanks, Jean. Glad you enjoyed it and I love to hear how you put this into action. Lead by example and share your story!
Great post Jennifer. Already shared with a friend who struggles with charging what she’s worth. 😉
It’s one of those moments when you think, “How could I not have seen all this before?” At the same time, I know I’ll go through it all over again at the next level. You don’t really get over money mindset as much as you learn how to handle it. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Jennifer, this is what I needed to hear today. I shift in mindset makes all the difference in life. Sharing it!
You’re welcome, Ann. Sometimes we get just the message we need. 🙂
Jennifer, great post, and so true. I have a freelance business that I’m just turning from a side hustle into my main gig . . . but a couple of years ago, even when I was still doing it on the side, I faced the issue you talk about in this post. Fortunately I ran across someone who made me realize how much I was undercharging for my skills, so I raised my prices a bit, and no one balked.
Then about six months later I raised my rates considerably (to where they are now), and I was TERRIFIED. Guess what? No one even blinked. In fact, many of my clients have since called my rates reasonable. And I was so scared of charging them!
Now I’m at the point where I just need to figure out where more clients are going to come from. 😉
But what you’re advising here is pure gold. I especially like your observation at the end about how entering into a client/provider relationship takes courage on behalf of both parties. We tend to forget that, but if we can help reassure our potential clients, we can help them be more comfortable about things even when we’re a bit anxious ourselves.
Yes, we often project our own valuations onto those of our potential customers, and I’ve found that many of them just aren’t true. Or they may be true for one set of clients and not another. You never know until you test! Let me know if I can be of service as you look for your next set of clients. But I’ll offer a great place to start is reaching out personally to those you’ve already served.
Oh, wow. The comment about not needing money nailed me. That has been my business and financial life in a microcosm. Thank you for writing that. I needed to read it.
Just be aware that having that realization and fixing it is harder than it sounds. For me, that issue runs very deep and the only way to overcome it involves some discomfort. It’s also why I waited so long to talk about the good things that were happening in business–a part of me was embarrassed by my own financial success. Feel free to contact me privately if you want to talk about it.
Congratulations Jennifer and thanks for sharing this great post.
The three fundamental points you made are so pertinent to so many of us – entrepreneurs, coaches, freelancers and others:
you don’t fully understand the needs and desires of your clients
you don’t understand the full breadth and value of services you can provide
you have assumptions about what customers will and won’t pay, assumptions you’ve probably never tested
Great questions for reflection and action!
Thanks again.
Happy to provide any perspective I can on this topic. It’s taken me a long time to learn it, but wow, was the education worth it. 🙂
Jennifer, great post. Your story is powerful, especially the part about your mindshift. I’ve struggled with raising my prices and changing the way that I work with clients for several months. Part of my shift is that I feel somehow that advice on health should be very affordable. But at the same time many people need more of my time than I can give them in one session.
The scarcity principle is a big one for me too!
I think when you get into this business with the heart and mind to help people, it’s too easy to justify sacrificing your own wants/needs for your clients. The real shift is realizing those low prices aren’t helping either of you.
I worked with a fitness/nutrition coach for 6 months on this same issue–he hated to leave anyone out due to finances. So part of the solution is creating a menu of options at different price points. The other piece is thinking bigger about the value you’re providing. My fitness/nutrition coach based his pricing off a low hourly wage, which is normal for the industry. He was charging something like $3500/yr to work with him. We were able to raise his prices to about $14,000/yr, even with some of his former clients, simply by changing the nature of the service he provided. It’s a topic I could talk about at length, which is why I’m doing a group program! 🙂
You nailed it Jen. Great article. Should be mandatory reading for every coach. That mindset issue is why so many coaches give up. Too many excellent coaches and Hypnotherapists never move to full time because of their own doubts and beliefs- so sad…Rather than address the issue at a subconscious level (where it exists), they struggle to make conscious 🙁 if I could shout it out over the rooftops I’d yell “there are easier ways!!!”
Thanks, Wendy! I’ve seen the same thing, coaches giving up not due to a lack of skill, but a lack of confidence. I’m right there on the rooftops with you!
I think this article should be printed on the wall of every freelancer as inspiration to take the plunge and charge their worth.
Personally, the big different I find with charging what you’re truly worth is as you found Jennifer, you get to work with truly inspirational people. I found that when I worked with clients on a low ‘hourly rate’ setup they don’t value the project in the same way. By charging a premium they are fully invested in the outcome and you both are focused on collaborating to make it happen.
Great post, the best I’ve found online for some time.
Thanks, DJ. I agree, the best part of all of this has been getting clients who are truly committed to seeing results, and then watching them far surpass anything they thought possible. They then spread the word about your services, and you have a line of people wanting to work with you. Talk about a virtuous cycle!
We need to talk. 🙂 After reading this I’m feeling very exposed but in a good way. The exposure is allowing a light of hope to shine through which speaks of a fulfillment I haven’t yet experienced through my artistic profession. I know that I have incredible value to offer others. I’m searching for that truth and your words here tell me that I’ll uncover it from the whispers of others. When I find a way to lift them up we’ll all lift together. “A rising tide lifts all ships”. I’ve been a proponent of that phrase for a long time now but I’ve always interpreted it to mean that I had to raise my own ship in order to raise all the other ships with me. I suddenly see that as opposite of the actual truth. Raise the ships of others and your ship will raise with them. That my friend is a profound shift! Thank you…
You are incredibly talented, Peter, and yes, the starting place is to become the tide, not worry about your own ship. Focus on providing value, more value than anyone can imagine from your industry, and you’ll never worry about money again. We’ll talk. 😉
First up – brilliant article 🙂
Secondly, this reminded me of something I once heard someone say: he had an online business for a few years but a shift in financial circumstances that meant had to go back to a full time job – so he was privately fessing up to the fact that his ‘business’ wasn’t as lucrative as it looked. However his explanation WHY was what stuck: “I never wanted to take over the world or create an empire. I’m not about that sort of business, I’m about serving my clients and do what I want to do in the world!”.
In that person’s eyes empire building, dominating the world, being epic and all those cliches were the ONLY alternative to barely making enough to scrape by. (Hint: they are not!)
Result: they had to quit. That person does not really serve their clients anymore as they have a busy job (not exactly their calling) and their focus is elsewhere. It’s very hard to see who wins in that scenario… yet it’s one we see again and again.
To be clear I’m not saying there’s something wrong with dabbling with a passion on the side of something else, that’s a great model for many people with a portfolio career! I also don’t think we all have to go all in all the time… but I do think that we have to sometimes stop kidding ourselves, and get more real with whether that is having a helpful or unhelpful impact on our lives.
Thanks for sharing this (you KNOW I love it!). As someone who’s found it easy to set up funnels that lead to sales I’ve had a very different experience of this as you know – but I’d say the money mindset side ALWAYS applies no matter what your “in flow” business model turns out to be and I’m glad you’re speaking about a topic that’s often seen as a little bit optional… but in reality is anything but.
Such a great story, well, not for the person who had to live it, but a story that happens more often than the internet would lead you to believe. And I know that polar mindset very well–either epic or just scraping by. It feels SO good to be beyond that.
I will say that outside maybe a handful of people or less, the ones who really succeed at internet marketing and “passive” income are the ones who do it full time. Most of the big names are not coaches or freelancers, again, with maybe a few exceptions. That’s not to say there isn’t a need for online marketing in any business, but if you run a model that is built around you delivering some kind of service, it’s very very hard to do that AND do the online marketing well. In my case, I’ve used some of that extra revenue to now hire a part-time marketing director who is amazing. I’ll still be working on the strategic direction and prioritization of tasks, but he’ll be implementing them, and far better than I ever could, that’s for sure. My mindset had to change, that was critical, because even if I’d focused all my energy on serving clients, the model wouldn’t have worked at the rates I used to charge. But I do wonder how things might have been different if I’d focused on revenue from coaching first, THEN invested in hiring someone really good to do my marketing, how that might have changed things.
We could talk endlessly about this topic I think! 🙂
All the Hell Yes! And congratulations to you for ‘overcoming’ the scarcity mindset. As I like to say “I can’t afford the scarcity mindset” but to be honest, the journey out and through it is a constant work in progress and hasn’t been/(isn’t; present tense – let’s be real) easy for me.
I so resonate with not “needing” six figures. I would still probably only pay myself a ‘bare minimum’ to live comfortably so I’d think even if I make more revenue, I don’t “need” to pay myself more, so why make more? Or some sort of limiting belief. I’m repackaging my services and raising my prices though starting NOW. Losing clients along the way, but another insight is that your ICA evolves as you evolve!
Thanks so much for this. Needed to read it now! And such great timing.
Thanks, Janet. I agree, money mindset is something we ALL struggle with, no matter how much money you’re making. I’ve helped several people who are running multi-six figure businesses to see the real value in their products and services, and charge accordingly. Great to hear that you’re ready to implement these ideas right away–you might be surprised at how few clients you lose along the way. There’s an art to raising your prices for sure, and I’m happy to talk to you about that if you’re interested, but it’s rarely as fatal as you imagine. Let me know how your first experiment goes!
Jen, you are a phenomenal coach and fair compensation has ONLY JUST BEGUN to match up to the value you bring as a coach. I couldn’t be happier for you and this is just the beginning. Thank you for sharing your success in such an authentic way. You inspire me !!!!
Thanks, my friend. Ditto on the inspiration.
Yes, this is just brilliant news. I’ve already read this article 3 times.
Levelling up done in spectacular fashion. I’ve already said, so but it is worth saying again.
Congratulations.
Yes, you are definitely someone who needs to read this at least a couple more, Terry! LOL. Glad this was useful. Let me know how your first experiment at higher prices goes, okay?
Love this post! First, sharing with a friend who frets about driving business away because she charges too much (she doesn’t at all!) In my case I’ve just started travel freelancing – I’m so early in the game that I don’t even have my first assignment yet but I know it will come – and I plan to remember this advice.
Thanks so much for sharing, Leyla! I will say that it’s possible to be in the gray zone for your pricing, where you’re slightly higher than your competition but not so high that you stand out as an elite option. This is a tough place to be, because you are not signaling an increased level of service. So paradoxically, you’re better off going much higher and then figuring out what needs to be true to make those prices worth it. Again, SO few people do this, tell your friend it’s a great way to distinguish yourself in the market. Not everyone will go along with the higher prices, but those who do will appreciate the greater value (and results) they get. Tell her to shoot me an email if she has any questions about how to implement!
This is super-valuable advice – priceless, actually. We are often our worst enemies (as you right point out). Usually what’s lacking is confidence (as in am I worth it??), and we can have a surplus of fear about what others will think… This will resonate with her totally!
Hi Jen,
Brilliant article. One of the hardest things when trying to make money on your own is realizing your worth and the value you put out there.
My biggest obstacle was always separating what I was willing to pay for something vs what someone else would pay. As a designer/developer, I know that I would never pay for someone else to design a site and so when I used to quote clients, I would vastly undercharge because of that mindset along with thinking that it was an easy job so it shouldn’t be much.
Finally, something clicked and I realized it’s an easy job for me because I invested so much time in learning that stuff. I spent years educating myself to reach a certain level and then didn’t think it was right to charge the proper value.
I think another problem most of us have is that we aren’t natural salespeople. It’s easy to say “raise your prices”, but that’s scary as hell! One of the most important skills anyone can learn is how to market themselves. Eventually, you get to a point where your sales are on auto-pilot.
Thanks for writing this article and I’ll be sure to share it with my audience.
Scrivs, I’d give you a giant high five for this comment if I could. Completely agree. We undervalue our best skills (because they are easy for us), then project our own ideas about what people are willing to pay. You’re also right that raising your prices requires good sales skills (more so than marketing, I’d argue). It took me 18 months and lots and lots of pitches to hone my skills, but I’m pretty darn good at it now. In fact, I’ve learned to love it. Then I have to fight my own mindset issues all over again on valuing my sales skills! LOL
Thanks for the great comment!
Hi Jennifer, this is my first time visiting your site (having just found this article referred to by someone else on Facebook). This is really useful advice especially for those who second-guess their worth and value. I’m pinning this on my Entrepreneurship board and just signed up for your video. Your authenticity and rapport with your audience is inspiring! I’m definitely coming back.
I hear you, Marva. I think the secret is that we all second guess our worth and value. The trick is to not allow that thinking to influence your pricing. Will be happy to see you back and enjoy the video. I’d love to know if you implement any of the ideas in your business!
Jen, this is a great post, one I’m going to share with my coaching friends. I still struggle with what I’m “worth,” but did raise my prices after much arm-twisting from one of my coaches a few months ago. It’s made a big difference in how I feel about myself (and in how my clients feel about me). And as you know, they value you and the program more, putting more time and effort into it, and getting even better results. Win-win!
Thanks so much for sharing, Angela. Coaches in particular need this advice, if the data on average coach income is to be believed (and I do). Few people have ever worked with a coach (so they have no way to put a value on it) and almost no one has a line in their budget for coaching. So you have to be really adept at how you handle the discussion with potential clients. That’s the bit of education that’s missing for most coaches I think. Glad I could help!
Scarcity can be such a monster, creeping in from all kinds of unusual angles at unexpected moments. But I love how you tackled it. And yes, raising prices takes courage, but it’s worth it and amazing things happen that go above and beyond dollar amounts. It’s amazing what mindset can do.
Anthony,
Yes, almost everything that requires courage but offers a potentially high payoff (with little risk if you fail) is worth it. Even if you don’t get the payoff, you’re nearly always proud of yourself for trying, and have good information in reflection on how to do it better next time. Having a group to do this with also helps a lot with the jitters! 🙂
Thank you for this article!
I am actually facing this problem myself. I have my own trucking company and have lots of trucks and lots of clients. I am always busy and grossing a lot, but I am not still paying myself what I think is right. But I have now have a few ideas of what I need to do. I will let you know how it works out, and again thanks for this. It was a good reality check for me.
Yes, please let me know how it goes. I’d be interested to hear!
This was such a great article!! I love how detailed you got and I loved how you talked about mindset and how closely it connects to how much money you can make. I think that is something that not many people realize or talk about.
Thanks, Zoey. Glad this was helpful for you. Which detail in particular surprised you the most?
When you talked about not making money until you needed it. I think that rings true for so many entrepreneurs – especially women in business. We feel like we don’t “deserve” to make excess money. Instead we need it to have a specific purpose.
Exactly. Because you’re in business to “help people,” it somehow feels wrong to make more than you “need.” The crazy thing is, people who are delighted with their product or service don’t think that way. If they loved their purchase, they will feel good about the investment. Nothing wrong with that!
Hey Jen,
This was my first time to your website. It won’t be my last.
I have just begun coaching others and I thought I knew exactly what my services and time was worth, but after reading this article, it’s back to the drawing board.
The points you made at the end:
you don’t fully understand the needs and desires of your clients
you don’t understand the full breadth and value of services you can provide
you have assumptions about what customers will and won’t pay, assumptions you’ve probably never tested”
were exactly what I needed to hear.
Thank you for taking some time to write this post. You have undoubtedly helped a ton of people.
Take care,
Joel
So glad to hear this has shifted your thinking, Joel. That’s the first step! So what’s next? What will you take from this article and turn into action?
First and foremost, I will be talking to a few key people in my network to discuss how to dig deeper into the needs of my clients. Once I have that understanding, I will continually probe deeper as I talk to my clients.
From there, I will be examining how I can provide a better service to my clients. This will start with long, hard look at my current services and at how I can tweak them to be just a bit better. To do that, I will use the information I gathered from step 1.
If I see a need in my repertoire, I will look to create it.
Any other suggestions?
Read The Prosperous Coach by Rich Litvin. You’ll love it.
Great article, Jennifer! Thank you for sharing your experience and inspiration! Best, Elena
My pleasure! What was your #1 takeaway and how do you intend to apply it?
Hi there Jen,
My first time to your site and this article resonated with me in so many ways. I especially relate to your comments about how deep money mindset issues run.
In my past I have taken on jobs I didn’t want but I thought I couldn’t get better and I worked in others for way less than the value I was adding but didn’t own.
So it was no wonder when I decided to freelance I ‘killed’ myself working, yet from an income perspective, I was always on the breadline.
Becoming aware of my limiting money mindset was the first step, then came acknowledging how this limiting mindset had been a part of my life from young. Only then was I ready to make a decision to change.
But such a deep-seated issue is a habit that takes lots of practice, time and ongoing self-management to intercept the ‘demon’.
The journey never seems to be complete and it’s good to be reminded by posts such as yours that we should remain vigilant and always be evaluating whether we are allowing our money mindset to get in the way of our thriving.
If so then it’s time once again to ensure, as you say, that we fully understand the needs and desires of our clients/employers, understand fully the value of the services we provide and stop telling ourselves what our clients / employers will and won’t pay us, without knowing for sure.
You’re right–the journey is never complete. Fees that once seemed outrageous and impossible are now standard, and yet I struggle all the same with the next level up. That said, the changes can happen with a single pitch. I lead a group coaching program on Money Mindset, and often it’s just as “easy” as helping someone to get the number they want (and can justify, both internally and externally) out of their mouths. It’s about setting aside your assumptions about what people will pay and what they value. And it’s also about persistence. I always remind people that you can pitch a $1000 product or a $10,000 product — each sale will be roughly the same in terms of difficulty, but you can accept a much lower conversion rate on a $10,000 product and still come out ahead. It’s worth the discomfort. 🙂