STOP OVERCOMPLICATING YOUR BUSINESS
I’ve always been brilliant at making things complicated for myself.
And I bet if you’re reading this, you are too.
Shall we form a gang?
I’m gonna share my story with you about how, when I realised I was making life difficult for myself, I stripped things back and, in doing so, scaled to the next level.
WAIT! Before you click off because you think this is another ‘scale to 6 figures’ post, it’s not.
I’m nowhere near 6 figures dear.
This is about scaling from level one to level two.
Or level two to level three.
Or level three to...ok you get it.
So, here are my stories.
With a bit of luck, you’ll find yourself relating and have the same realisation that you’re making things complicated for yourself.
When I started my business as a social media manager, I offered #allthethings.
Snapchat
Email marketing
Blog writing
You wanted it, I offered it.
I signed my first dream client a few months into my business and agreed to manage their Facebook, Facebook Ads, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest accounts, write fortnightly blog posts and later on adopted the job of email marketing (without charging any extra because, ya know, talking about money is terrifying).
I did all this for $1,000 per month.
Which at the time, having talked them up from 6 hours a week at $12 an hour, I felt pretty good about.
I soon found that trying to do everything for them was a full time job that unfortunately, didn’t pay a full time wage.
I didn’t have time to sign more clients let alone manage other clients social media.
I decided that moving forward, I needed to drop the services I didn’t enjoy or took up too much of my time and instead focus on things I loved doing.
I also needed to up my rates to reflect my experience, the results I was capable of and my worth.
I spent some time asking myself what I really wanted, how much I needed to earn to support myself and the types of clients I wanted to work with.
I dropped Pinterest and Instagram because they were too time consuming.
I increased my prices to £400 per platform.
I worked daily on my mindset to increase my confidence and believe in my new increased prices.
Know what happened next?
I signed an absolute dream of a client.
It was an industry I hadn’t expected I’d enjoy and whilst I took on all their marketing - LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blog writing and funnel building - I was earning enough to cover my bills, to still be enjoying my work and I still had spare time to focus on my own business and another client or two (if I pushed it).
Working with less clients allowed me to go ALL IN and generate better results.
The relationship I had with this client was wonderful and they continued to renew their contract each time it came to an end.
I’d taken my business from level one to level two simply by dropping what I didn’t enjoy and charging my worth.
When I started my business as a Confidence Coach, I focused all my energy on creating a ‘signature programme’.
The problem was, I was spending all my time creating workbooks and trainings and pdfs in advance that I wasn’t spending time promoting myself.
And the signature programme was priced at £3250 which reflected the value of the programme but I didn’t believe anyone would work with me at the price.
If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else too?
After two months of no clients, I promoted an audio coaching service.
Because it was brand new, I offered it at just £59.
Within a couple of hours, I had 3 people signed up.
Woohoo!! Signed my first coaching clients.
The problem was, although my clients were enjoying the daily prompts and were having breakthroughs after the first week, it drained my energy.
I was spending time each day responding to my clients and sending them daily mindset prompts - a journal prompt, affirmation and empowerment list to write, each tailored to their needs - but wasn’t receiving what I deserved in return.
Which of course was my own fault.
But because I hadn’t valued myself enough to charge more, the service ended up dragging out over two months and I was left feeling drained, undervalued and defeated.
A few weeks into this ‘test’ service, I created a group programme that I ran as a BETA at £159.
I had 3 people signed up but because I didn’t feel valued (again, MY FAULT), I felt so much resistance when it came to creating the workbooks and interacting in between the calls.
Whilst my clients were happy, I still wasn’t.
Over the course of a few months, I changed my niche, I created more courses, had more ideas, designed another programme, began to create a membership site and had so many crazy, wonderful ideas of things I could create next.
The problem was, I wasn’t earning any money.
I was pricing myself low to attract people but the people I was attracting wanted everything for free.
I was giving away free sessions because I just wanted to help people but then I was left feeling drained, undervalued and frustrated.
I felt like I constantly had to create things in order to be successful but the problem was, I was spending all my time creating, creating, creating and not enough time connecting with people.
At the end of 2018, after realising I hadn’t achieved any of my goals, I took a step back and analysed where I was going wrong.
Just like in my social media business, I was overcomplicating things.
With the help of my mentor Gemma Went and our mastermind Elevate, I set to work stripping back my business and making it as simple as possible.
Consistent income was my main priority.
How was I going to do that?
Instead of a one off offer or package, it was time to put together a retainer package where clients would receive monthly calls, support via email/whatsapp and a 2.5 hour deep dive call in exchange for a set fee each month for 3 months.
I priced it at £350 a month but a week later - after receiving a Facebook message from someone I’d connected with online telling me I was undervaluing myself - I realised I was back in my old self. I was scared that if I priced myself too high, no one would work with me.
I realised that if I’m teaching people about how to charge their worth and believe in themselves, I needed to be charging my worth too.
I increased my prices to £600 a month and within a few days, I’d signed a new client.
After running over the time limit for our calls multiple times, I decided to update the package and included a full day virtual workshop instead.
More value = higher price = less clients = delivering a better service.
Adding in lower priced services too allows me to support clients who may not have the budget for 3 months of 1:1 coaching.
Having 3 simple services at 3 different price points means I can cater to different clients needs, I can generate a consistent income and I’m no longer stressed or exhausted trying to create, create, create or at the thought of needing 10 clients just to reach my income goal.
Need help with your pricing? Book yourself a 1:1 Pricing Power Hour here.
Since simplifying my business, I’m less stressed, everything feels easier, and I’m seeing better, more consistent results. Consistent sign ups to my email list, consistent client enquiries, consistent income. Strip back to scale up is my new motto.