Stop Reacting and Start Acting with Intention

Nov 11, 2015

I got a text message from a photographer asking me, “What should I charge for a maternity session?”

Of course my mind flooded with a bunch of follow up questions, as this is not a simple one size fits all answer. There’s so many things to consider when it comes to pricing services (and products).

  • How much time (pre-consult, the actual session, retouching, uploading to online gallery/back up server/lightroom catalog, designing product, sales session, emails back and forth, driving time)
  • What are your cost of goods (the cost of the products you selling to the client)
  • Don’t forget about charging tax (sales and income)
  • Plus what is the overhead of running your business (costs you incur regardless if you have a client)

So many moving parts and each person will have a different answer. Our lives are not identical and therefore our pricing will not be the same.

Once I asked a few of these questions, the photographer’s response was “I’m not sure, I’m overwhelmed.” This made me to realize that it was time to dig a bit deeper.  Why was this question causing her to spin into overwhelm causing decision paralysis?

She was reacting to an inquiry. There was potential to serve a client a need, make some money to weather the her upcoming slow season which led her to feel obligated to saying ‘Yes’.

We talked about her ultimate intention for her business over the next 12 months and not surprisingly, it had nothing to do with maternity sessions.

When you get clear on your intention, you can view every opportunity through this lens and make a decision that’s going to move you further along the road to your ultimate goal.

 

Carve Out Time to be the CEO of Your Business

Jan 15, 2015

time to planWe are just two weeks into the new year and already the days seem to be bleeding into one another. So much to get started on, so many things to do, so many people to connect with, so many projects I want to bring to life this year. And yet, I don’t know where in my calendar I’m going to carve out the time to create the plans to accomplish all of my ideas.  Further, I don’t even know when I’ll have a moment to forecast which idea, offering or product would be best to start with and which existing items need to be tweaked or retired.

I know I’m not alone. Many entrepreneurs I know, talk about writing out goals, want to create a year long marketing plan and have every intention of looking at last year’s numbers but don’t actually make the time to do it.

We talk about:

  • being more accountable to our families and friends.  We say things like, “If only I had someone to help me plan.” or “I wish I had someone to keep me on track.”
  • how our calendars are just sooo crazy. “I scheduled time for that but I needed to _______________ because the client needed it yesterday.”
  • all the shoulds. Yes we should all over ourselves. “I should make time to plan that launch,”  “I should make time for networking,” “I should send out promos,” “I should look at my numbers.”

We feel:

  • stressed at the amount of work it will take
  • overwhelmed in the process
  • a tad fearful that if we don’t figure out a plan than things will get out of control and we’ll lose opportunities
  • hopeful that the year will be successful

We think:

  • I can do this
  • I’ll run a report in my accounting program and it will tell me what I need to know. (Oh wait what accounting program?)
  • It’s too hard to plan. I’ll just wing it.
  • This is only a part time thing so I don’t need to really focus on it.
  • I just started doing this, so what’s there to really plan for?

We take the time to:

  • have Siri plot a reminder for an hour during the week to look over last year’s offerings, but let then swipe the reminder off the screen when it dings.
  • post on Instagram about nothing to do with our business (yes, I’m guilty of this almost everyday).
  • read about what others are doing on Facebook

How do we change this behavior?

We do it together.

(insert clapping and cheering here)

  1. You will have someone to help you plan.
  2. You will carve out a chunk of time dedicated to running your business that forces you away from your desk /kids/pets/house, so the distractions will be less allowing you to focus more.
  3. You will have a handle on your numbers and a revenue plan for the future.
  4. You will walk through the strategic process of planning for 2015 in a comfortable setting. No more overwhelm.
  5. You will have a plan for generating your revenue so your to do list is focused on moving forward allowing you the flexibility to get in the activities that refuel you.
  6. You will learn what makes you the most money and be able to phase out the things that drain you (or at least charge more for them).
  7. You will be in a supportive group of entrepreneurs who face similar issues in running a business and understand the stresses.
  8. You will create a map to reaching your 2015 chief initiative.

I invite you to come to this intimate, 12 seats only, business workshop on:

Saturday January 24, 2015
9am – 3pm
(location to be in the San Francisco east bay region)

The workshop will include:

  • writing out a revenue plan. Knowing when money is coming in is a good thing!

  • analyzing your current offerings. Are you accounting for the cost of goods and paying yourself for the production time?

  • positioning your business using your special sauce and the insights from Sally Hogshead’s How to Fascinate

  • drinks and snacks to keep you focused

  • PLUS you’ll be the first invited to join the 4 month coaching program for continued support to keep you accountable and moving forward.

This is the first time I’m running this workshop. So it is being offered at an introductory rate of $79 ($199 value). Plus I’ll be asking each participant for their suggestions, feedback and input to make the next iteration even better.

Mark your calendar for Sat Jan 24th and claim your spot today.

Sign up here!