“I wish people would just hire me for my ideas.”
“I wish some company would buy my idea so I don’t have to build it.”
“I’m a smart person; why isn’t anyone hiring me?”
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear one of those things – and for too many years I was hearing them inside my own head.
Guess what? Earning money from your service business is not like giving plasma when you were in college.
No one is going to suck something of value out of you and pay you for it.
And, really, would you want them to? If you just answered yes, then quit reading. Go back to reading Craigslist or submitting to one of the online resume services. Or head back to the plasma donation center because, face it, you are not an entrepreneur.
If you’re still reading, then here is the easiest way to quit acting like you expect your business to be a fluid donor:
Offer a valuable service for sale that you are able and willing to provide -
and then do the best you can to provide it.
I know. It sounds ridiculously obvious. But look around some websites of businesses, especially service businesses. Do they clearly state all of the following:
- What they have to offer
- What the value of it is (and I’m not talking about the price)
- How to complete the transaction as painlessly as possible, including stating the price
Putting your bio up and saying “I’m for hire” is not the same as offering something that has value. I’m not saying YOU don’t have value but if your potential clients do not easily understand the value of what you do, then it does not have value for them at that time. Don’t make your would-be clients use their psychic powers to figure out your services or products.
You DO have a great big (valuable!) brain. But that will not suffice. I’m sorry.
Here are the steps to get into an entrepreneurial gear with the help of that gorgeous, idea-filled brain:
- Get very clear with yourself (Hello! Intuition alert!) about what your strengths are and what you want to accept money to do.
- Be specific and articulate your offer.
- Provide enough detail to make the client feel comfortable and confident in trusting you.
- Explain the services you offer and detail the features in ways that will help your clients understand how THEY will benefit.
- Make it easy for clients to pay you.
- Provide a clear and generous guarantee.
That last part up above: “do the best you can to provide it”… well, we’ll talk more about that in my next post. Stay tuned.
What is your plan to enjoy your great big brain AND run a profitable business? What small thing can you do today to improve the way you communicate your offer?
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Great tips, Laurie. Especially for us folks in the personal development industry. We live on our own planet, immersed in psychobabble and woo woo, and we do lots of self-development work on ourselves and have all these awesome, life-changing experiences. And then forget that a lot of people are pretty unfamiliar with that world, or might even have had some bad experiences in that world. So you can’t assume they’ll understand what you’re talking about when you offer just “life coaching.” From my experience of hanging with different life coaches, and being coached by different coaches, there’s a vast diversity of different perspectives, tools and styles. You’ve gotta tell your people what your’s are. And if you don’t they either don’t have a clue, or they assume that perhaps you aren’t really sure yourself what your perspectives, tools and styles are.
Great tips! Looking forward to chatting on Tuesday
Cath
CathD’s last blog post..Your Mess is Your Message
@Cath – It’s very helpful to me to hear your ideas about different providers, different tools. A great example – thank you!
It’s an art form to communicate to others what it is you have to offer. It’s a bit like having a present to give for somebody’s birthday….the present is one thing, but wrapping it takes “giving” to a whole other dimension — there’s the sense of marvel and intention and excitement both as one wraps the gift and as the receiver then unwraps it. Thanks Laurie for your post.
@Maura – What a wonderful image you create. Now I’m feeling a little busted on my very poor real life gift wrapping skills. But you motivate to improve – as always! Thanks.
This is great, Laurie. I find that my work is applicable to so many different scenarios / situations, that it’s hard to articulate that in one meaningful “mission/vision” statement. Curious to know if others have dealt with that same issue and how. I give learning objectives / outcomes for my work – but finding ways to be specific to a certain audience is tricky as my work is definitely applicable to all audiences. Thoughts?
@Allison – I think you’re articulating something that MOST service professionals struggle with. One approach is to give up (the fantasy of?) trying to serve all audiences and reach out to the niche of your most responsive groups or where you feel most passionate. (Trust me, the “others” will still find you – and hopefully beg you to include them as clients! – but your message can be so powerful when directed to a niche.)
Talking to your fans (since you clearly have them!) is also a great way of refining your offer message. They will tell you what they liked and how it benefited them if you ask them.
I love what you are offering!
@Allison – PS: Thank you for jumping in on the comments! A big juicy treat to see you here.
Thanks Laurie … and Allison, Cath, Maura for your input. Gets me thinking (that’s usually a good thing). Great analogy about the gift wrapping!