I don’t want you to rest on your laurels with that $53 per hour goal because realistically, it’s not going to carry your business for long. If you are spending 12% of your gross earnings on marketing, retain a bookkeeper, and then pay your insurance and professional registrations, your $53 is quickly whittled down to almost nothing. And that’s okay! Because no one expects to hire a coach or consultant at $53 an hour.
Monetizing your business is about looking at what people are charging in the market, and then figuring out what you are going to charge, and deciding how you will charge.
Have you heard the adage that people who are broke sell their hours for dollars? They charge themselves out at $50 an hour because they feel that they don’t deserve a higher number or that their customers will never pay it.
These are people who say things like, “Yes, I am a career coach.” And then they say, “And you can hire me for $25 an hour.” And then they grind away at their work.
But successful entrepreneurs don’t do that.
Successful people say, “I can create your LinkedIn profile for $300.” Struggling people say, “I can create your LinkedIn profile for $25 per hour, and it might take me 6 hours.”
Even if it does take you 6 hours in the first scenario, your client doesn’t care because for $300 they finally got a decent profile exactly where they need it. Now they can get down to work and make their own money. Yay!
If you think that no one is going to pay you to organize their career, or organize their office for super efficiency for $300, think again. Naturally, you’re not going to organize the office for a struggling entrepreneur who makes $100 a day or sells their books for $7 in profit. Those are not your customers.
If you think that no one is going to pay you to organize their career, or organize their office for super efficiency for $300, think again.
Think of an organization where people are falling behind in their work because they are disorganized. Maybe it’s a company you see people complaining about, or you heard they just went through a downsizing. Instead of charging $300 a day per office individually, you meet with their VP of Human Resources. You submit a proposal and then go to speak to a group of 12 of their employees during a lunch and learn. You charge $1000 for the lunch and learn, provide them with some quick tips to get organized and teach them some strategy to keep on top of things. Next, you work with each person in the group, charging $300 per person, and you make sure that their office gets organized ($300 x 12 people is $3600 plus $1000 for the lunch and learn = $4600 for you). Now, if that organization you selected is making $2 million a year, the investment of $4600 to make their people more effective plus thrive after a downsizing is well worth it.
When I first began freelance writing contracts, I was writing for an hourly rate. Soon, I began to bid on larger projects to where I was writing for corporate clients on a project basis. If I was writing a course and thought it would take me 40 hours of work, I’d submit a proposal for a total amount of money, but wasn’t billing by the hour. The added benefit to billing this way is that when I complete the work in, say, 35 hours, I can still bill for the entire amount.
This is the beauty of doing the math beforehand and monetizing your strengths.
Monetizing your business is about looking at what people are charging in the market, and then figuring out what you are going to charge, and deciding how you will charge.
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Elisa Ellis on 06/29/2018 04:07 PM
Great article!
Pam Robertson on 06/28/2018 11:40 AM
Thanks for your comments everyone! I'm so glad that you've found this helpful!
Marrian Efua on 06/28/2018 04:37 AM
Well done. Knowing your worth is key and knowing where your money is
Shauna Madsen on 06/28/2018 02:15 AM
Great article Pam, thanks for sharing!
Kathy Keegan on 06/28/2018 12:51 AM
Great piece, Pam! So clear! Thank you.
Karen Haggerty on 06/28/2018 12:19 AM
Thank you Pam. This exercise gave me a slightly different perspective!
Shawna Halley on 06/27/2018 01:27 AM
Thank you Pam for the reminder not to work by the hour.