This week on the podcast I decided to take a break from pricing strategy talk (don’t worry, I will cover more pricing tips in future episodes!).
But I like to mix things up and this week I have a tech tip for you. If you have been following me and my work for some time, then you know I’ve had some webinars recently. Some of the tech I used to make the webinars happen is what inspired this week’s episode, which was to combine three powerful tech tools to create what I call magic. Maybe you plan to do some email marketing or host some webinars of your own. Of course, there are many tools to choose from to make these things happen. In this episode, I will give you a peek behind the curtain, a little bit of behind-the-scenes on how I made the tech magic happen using Carrd, which is a platform for creating one-page websites, Zoom, a meeting and webinar host, and ConvertKit, an email marketing platform. In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
The Pricing Is Positioning Course Tools & Links Referenced: Carrd Landing Pages Convert Kit Email Management Zoom Webinars Zapier Create Zaps & Automate Tasks Robby Fowler Marketing & Design
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In this week’s episode of Pricing is Positioning, I am going to share ten pricing mistakes that are preventing you from getting better rates.
While there may be a vast array of common mistakes being made, the ten I mention in today’s episode are ones I see often when working with my clients. In this episode, I cover everything from charging by the hour (and why that IS a mistake), posting pricing on your website (yes, another mistake), and even why having an unhealthy view of money is getting in the way of your success. Some of the mistakes I discuss you will have heard before, but some of it may be new to you. Listen to today’s episode to hear my comprehensive top ten list of pricing mistakes that are holding you back. 10 Pricing Mistakes Preventing You From Getting Better Rates 10. Collecting your payments in arrears 9. Having an unhealthy view of money 8. Viewing the exchange of money as a personal relationship rather than a business exchange 7. Posting your pricing on your web page 6. Not valuing your expertise 5. Pricing your professional services as a commodity 4. Using bloating long multi-page proposals 3. Not anchoring high 2. Not using pricing options 1. Charging by the hour In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Connect with Paul: FREE Webinar May 23rd, Next Thursday 10:00 am Pacific (1:00 eastern) 3 Pricing Secrets Preventing Freelancers From Getting Better Rates The Pricing Is Positioning Course The Product Pricing Roadmap Website YouTube 
Today I'm excited to have my friend Shannon Mattern from the Pep Talks for Side Hustlers Podcast join me.
Shannon left her corporate job working full time after creating her own side hustle turned personal brand. She started blogging, podcasting, and doing website consulting work. Today we talk about how she went from side hustler to full-time entrepreneur. I think her story will resonate with you. Shannon was able to build her business on the side before jumping into it full time. We also discuss the importance of goals, strategic pricing, and even imposter syndrome. If you have been wondering how to start your own side hustle or how to turn it into a full-time gig, this episode is for you! We talk about all of that and more in this episode of Pricing is Positioning. In this episode, you’ll hear:
This episode was brought to you by the Pricing is Positioning Course; a six-week online intensive group coaching course with me, Paul Klein. We’ll cover getting paid what you're worth, positioning your pricing, attracting the right clients, and honing in on your overall pricing strategy. For all of the details on upcoming sessions, visit PricingIsPositioningCourse.com. Connect with Shannon: Free 5-Day Website Challenge Shannon’s Other Courses Pep Talks For Side Hustlers Podcast Facebook: Instagram: Connect with Paul: The Pricing Is Positioning 6-Week Group Coaching Course The Product Pricing Roadmap Web: YouTube 
Whether you're starting out or are a seasoned freelance consultant, being a business owner means you go through seasons of extreme busyness to those of extreme workload lows.
During those peaks and lows, you want to employ what I call “Yes/No Pricing”. In today’s episode, I'll explain how I use this type of pricing to help increase my value and my rates over time. Plus, I’ll share some tactics that you can employ for optimal business success. “Yes/No Pricing,” can help you climb up the stairway of value and leverage your brand in the process. 
In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
This episode was brought to you by the Pricing is Positioning Course; a six-week online intensive group coaching course with me, Paul Klein. We’ll cover getting paid what you're worth, positioning your pricing, attracting the right clients, and honing in on your overall pricing strategy. For all of the details on upcoming sessions, visit PricingIsPositioningCourse.com. Speakers & Links Referenced:
The Thing Live …the premier event for creatives, makers, entrepreneurs, & leaders held in Orlando, Florida May 15th - 19th. Use the code IMWITHPAUL for 10% off at thethinglive.com. Connect with Paul: The Pricing Is Positioning Course The Product Pricing Roadmap YouTube 
There’s no roundabout way of saying it, so I’ll just say it outright, you don't charge enough!
I've worked with many entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, consultants, and freelancers. The one area they all have in common, as well as an area they struggle with, is the pricing of their products. Or more to the point, inaccurate or low pricing of their products. I do want to be clear, undercharging is not something to be ashamed of, it’s just a common theme amongst new (and maybe even veteran) business owners. What is important to understand is you have such great value. You offer so much, you really ought to be charging a premium for your products or services. Of course, the catch-22 is you don't want to charge too much either. I know how it feels to send out that proposal or that email and wonder, “Did I leave money on the table?” In today’s episode, I will be sharing some mindset shifts and strategies that will help you realize your true value and charge what you are worth. It all starts with you. The first sale is to yourself. As Alan Weiss says, “If you don't value yourself, your products, or your services, then neither will the micro marketplace.” In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
This episode was brought to you by the Pricing is Positioning Course; a six-week online intensive group coaching course with me, Paul Klein. We’ll cover getting paid what you're worth, positioning your pricing, attracting the right clients, and honing in on your overall pricing strategy. For all of the details on upcoming sessions, visit PricingIsPositioningCourse.com. Resources Referenced: The Mike Kim Show BYP Episode 179 With Paul Klein The Thing Live …the premier event for creatives, makers, entrepreneurs, & leaders held in Orlando, Florida May 15th - 19th. Use the code IMWITHPAUL for 10% off at thethinglive.com. The Soul of Enterprise With Ron Baker & Ed Kless Episode #128: The Three—and only three—Pricing Strategies Book: Pricing Done Right by Tim J. Smith The price guarantee offered by Florida based “Bugs” Burger Bug Killers (BBBK)” exterminators Connect with Paul: The Pricing Is Positioning 6-Week Group Coaching Course The Product Pricing Roadmap Web: YouTube 
This week I am excited to have Terry Weaver on the show.
Terry is the author of the book, “Making Elephants Fly.” He is a speaker, coach, and entrepreneur. He is also the host of the event, The Thing Live, taking place this May in Orlando, Florida, which I'll be speaking at. Terry is an all-around great guy. In this episode, we talked about his book, entrepreneurship, and how to price an event. Plus, we discussed how to take advantage of the knowledge economy and getting your dreams off the ground. Finally, we had an interesting conversation about outsourcing and delegating tasks, which can be a difficult thing for entrepreneurs to do. Our conversation took many twists and turns with insights from a truly knowledgeable entrepreneur. . In this episode, you’ll hear:
Connect with Terry: The Thing Live 2019 (Use Discount code: IMWITHPAUL) Terry Weaver - Speaker, Author, Dreamer Making Elephants Fly Book Making Elephants Fly Podcast YouTube Connect with Paul: The Pricing Webinar The Product Pricing Roadmap Website YouTube 
This week I wanted to discuss the four phases of client complacency.
Yes, ouch. As painful as it sounds, we have to recognize that sometimes we do become complacent with our clients. A few weeks ago I talked about the opposite end of this, the stench of desperation. The stench of desperation is when you are acting desperate or needy for a client. Well, client complacency would be on the opposite end of that. You’ve now gotten the client, but are taking them for granted or simply not treating them well. I believe in order to avoid complacency, we need to recognize when it is happening (or about to) so that we can move towards proactivity. Even if client complacency isn't happening within your organization, recognizing it is equally important because it can serve as an opportunity to gain new clients from your competitors. For example, if there's a firm that isn’t providing value to client or taking them for granted, it’s a perfect opportunity for you to say, “Hey, I can help you with the same service and also be sure you are taken care of, being respected, and provide you with the value you deserve.” In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Connect with Paul: The Pricing Webinar The Product Pricing Roadmap Web Site YouTube 
Email marketing is king. If you haven’t implemented an email marketing strategy into your consulting business yet, this week’s episode will showcase just how effective it can be.
In fact, you can be effective with as little as fifty or one hundred people on your email list. Remember, it is not the quantity of people you know, but instead the quality of people that are actually going to engage with your services. Yes, this topic is a slight departure from the usual topics I cover in the podcast. But marketing is all about how you showcase and talk about your offerings and position yourself in the marketplace. Email marketing, in an online world, is an important facet of your business. Know this, I'm by no means an email marketing guru. However, I have learned a few tricks, tips, and even some cool stuff from friends who are, like Mike Kim (an expert in email and internet marketing). In fact, Mike shared with me some key strategies I've implemented into my own email marketing and have found success. This week, I want to share my email marketing insights, advice, and observations with you, so that you can find success too. In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Connect with Paul: The Pricing Webinar The Product Pricing Roadmap Web Site YouTube 
In this week’s episode I introduce you to Dan Cockerell, former Vice President of Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
Dan worked for The Walt Disney Company for over 25 years in various parks around the world. He has an immense amount of knowledge and experience around leadership and I am thrilled to share our conversation with you. After 25 years of working in corporate and having job security with one of the greatest companies in the world, The Walt Disney Company, Dan decided to leave and start his own personal brand. He became an entrepreneur. In today’s episode, Dan shares openly about his transition from corporate leader to entrepreneur. He talks about the challenges, difficulties, and the wins and losses. Plus, he lets us in on some of the things he's up to in his personal brand today, like the production of The Perch Newsletter and more. In this episode, you’ll hear:
Resources and links referenced: Text: "danaow" to 44222 to subscribe to Dan's Free Article of the week Dan's Website: Dan Cockerell - The Perch Newsletter Dan Cockerell - Podcast Lee Cockerell - (Dan’s Dad) Tools Mentioned: The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Connect with Paul: Website YouTube 
Here is a question I get asked often: “Should I publish pricing on my website?”
When discussing both product types, productized and customized services, the answer really depends on where you are in your consulting business and whether you're established or just starting out. In this episode I delve into this topic, offer insights, and examples as to when it’s best to list your prices versus when to leave them off of your site. If you have thoughts around this week’s topic, I'd love to hear from you. Use the links below to connect with me and tell me what has worked for you and your business. In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Connect with Paul: The Pricing Webinar The Product Pricing Roadmap Web Site YouTube 
When you're first starting out, or even if you're a seasoned professional, you can fall into the “stench of desperation” trap. What do I mean by that?
Well, have you ever had this happen? You send out a proposal. Then after five minutes, you begin to wonder why you haven’t received a response from the prospect. And then the obsessive thoughts start to kick in. “Has the prospect received the proposal or did it get lost in cyberspace?” You then continuously hit refresh on your email inbox. And, you’ve even begun to draft a follow up email. Next comes, “Was my quote too high?” You begin to beat yourself up and start planning how to broach the subject of discounting your fees if you do get pushback on your original proposal quote. Finally, you get to the part where you throw up your hands in exasperation and decide, “That’s it. They just don’t like me.” It’s now been 10 minutes since you’ve sent the proposal and you’ve already thrown in the towel. That, my friends, is what I mean by the stench of desperation. In this episode, I am going to go into many of the facets that lead to these obsessive thoughts, which hold you back from being successful in your business. Plus, I’ll provide some insight and advice on how to avoid these mental roadblocks, for good. In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Connect with Paul: The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Web Site YouTube 
If you're a consultant, have a personal brand, or are a freelancer, one of the questions you might be asking is, “How do I create my first product?” In this week’s episode, I am going to share how to create and launch your first knowledge product.
First, the product you create is going to be wrapped around your area of expertise or knowledge that you want to monetize, which is why I like to call it a knowledge product. Before we dive into creating your first product, you need to know what a knowledge product is and what actually makes a good product. I break down the different types of knowledge products you can have and then provide the steps needed to launch your product, successfully. If you're looking at taking advantage of today’s digital and knowledge-based economy, this episode is the one you won’t want to miss. In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: Dan Millers (DISC Profile) Kary Oberbrunner’s Author Academy Elite Danny Ozment's Podcast Supercharger Pat Flynn’s Power Up Podcasting Mike Kim's - Marketing Insider Newsletter Dan Cockerell - The Perch Newsletter Dan Cockrell - Podcast Cliff Ravenscraft – Next Level Mastermind Dan Millers - Eaglepreneur Mastermind Tools Mentioned: Kajabi Teachable Thinkific Zoom Adobe PDF Adobe Spark Canva Screen Flow QuickTime Weebly The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Connect with Paul: Web YouTube 
We all can agree that we want more revenue or income in our business, right?
We also can agree that oftentimes in business we find ourselves taking the feast or famine approach. What if I told you that you could work a model that would not only allow you to increase your revenue streams, but essentially eliminate the feast or famine approach from your business, altogether? It’s true. In today’s episode, I am going to share with you how to implement 3 pillars of revenue in your consulting business for maximum success. How do I know the 3 pillars of revenue work? Well, I left my job, security, and career after 18 years in practice. One of the things I had to do was figure out how to pay the bills quickly. Not only did I do consulting work during that time, but I also incorporated two of the three pillars into my business model. What I say is not absolute, but I like to share what worked for me and this approach did work. I think 3 pillars of revenue might help you move your consultancy and business forward to greater heights too. In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: Social Media Marketing World 2019 The Thing Live 2019 The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Pricing is Positioning Alexa Skill Connect with Paul: Website YouTube 
This week I am excited to bring you my first podcast interview with guest Blair Enns, Founder, of Win Without Pitching and author of Pricing Creativity: A Guide To Profit Beyond The Billable Hour. If Blair’s name sounds familiar to you, it may be because I’ve talked about him in some of my past episodes. I'm just so honored that he was able to be my first guest because he is an inspiration to me and the work I do. In fact, his book, Pricing Creativity, was the inspiration for the name of this podcast!
In addition to being an author and entrepreneur, Blair co-hosts the podcast 2Bobs, Conversations On The Art of Creative Entrepreneurship, with David C. Baker. He also lectures throughout the world on how creative professionals can win more business at higher prices and lower cost of sale. Sound familiar? In this episode, Blair and I discuss value-based pricing, including the purpose and benefit of using this pricing strategy. Plus, we talk about some ways to implement value-based pricing in your business. In this episode, you’ll hear:
Connect with Blair: Win Without Pitching - Blair Enns Pricing Creativity: A Guide To Profit Beyond The Billable Hour The Win Without Pitching Manifesto 2Bobs Podcast With David C Baker and Blair Enns 2-Day Win Without Pitching Workshop April 15th-16th, Chicago, IL Connect with Paul: The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Website YouTube 
In this week’s episode, I want to share with you five pricing arrangements for your consultancy business and why I don't think you should be charging by the hour. Some of the pricing options I share in this episode may be new to you. And, that’s okay.
I’ve shared this information with professionals in workshops and events, and they too were unaware of the different pricing arrangements that could be used in their business. Knowledge is power. And after you listen to this episode, you’ll know these five pricing arrangements; which may help you quickly adapt almost any pricing conversation. Instead of a proposal or engagement going south, you may be able to move into a direction that will land you the job or maybe even help you secure a higher rate for your services! In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: Blair Enns - Pricing Creativity Allen Weiss Value-Based Pricing Allen Weiss Million Dollar Consulting The Business of Consulting Workshop - Los Angeles The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Amazon Alexa Connect with Paul: Web Site YouTube 
When talking with potential clients about pricing for their brand or business, many ask me, “So, Paul, you talk about value ladders a lot. What is a value ladder, exactly?” Well, in this week’s episode I am going to answer that question and by the end, you’ll know what a value ladder is and how to use one in your business. Plus, I will share with you priming, how to prime for higher rates, and anchoring, which ties everything all together for grading the value ladder.
In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: The Business of Consulting Workshop - Los Angeles The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Connect with Paul: Website YouTube 
In this episode, I am going to talk about not wasting time with long proposals and how to use the one page proposal in your business (which I’ve mentioned in past episodes). Oftentimes, firms or companies can end up putting together long proposals (upwards of 100 pages!). Most of these proposals are solution-oriented and resume-based. And, yes, I was guilty of putting together long proposals over the years too. But, once I turned to my own business and consultations and read an eye-opening book, I learned the importance of limiting unpaid proposals. Today, I will share with you what I learned and hope to help you craft a one page proposal that not only saves you time and energy, but can help you increase your rates too.
In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: Blair Enns - Pricing Creativity The Business of Consulting Workshop - Los Angeles The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap **If you leave a ratings and review on Itunes and email me a screenshot, I will email you back the answer whether my client selected Option -1 ($50,000), Option -2 ($35,000) or Option - 3 ($25,000) as well a copy of the One Page Proposal Template. Email it to me at: paul@paulklein.net Connect with Paul: Web Site YouTube 
In this episode I share with you what I know about using options and anchoring in your pricing strategy. If you're not familiar with the terms options or anchoring, don’t worry! I am going to describe which each one is and how they can help you in your business. Plus, I’ll share several ways you can increase your rates and your engagements with clients. By the way, in the first episode of Pricing is Positioning, I shared 7 tips for creating a pricing strategy. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I urge you to do so. I also touched on pricing options and anchoring in that episode. You can find it here.
In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: Take Charge Podcast with Ann Vertel William Poundstone - Priceless Blair Enns - Pricing Creativity The Business of Consulting Workshop - Los Angeles The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Connect with Paul: Web Site YouTube 
What is The Pricing is Positioning concept and how can it help you with your overall pricing strategy? In this episode I share with you what I mean when I say pricing is positioning and how your brand’s value and pricing of products is important to this overall concept. Plus, I share seven very specific tips that will help you develop a better pricing strategy for your business or brand. These tips are ones I’ve learned through my own journey as a consultant and during negotiations, as well as, strategies I’ve learned from some of the greats like Alan Weiss, Ron Baker and Blair Enns.
In this episode, I’ll cover these topics:
Resources and links referenced: Cliff Ravenscraft - Free the Dream Conference 2019 Ken Davis Scorre Speaker Training Blair Enns - Pricing Creativity The Business of Consulting Workshop - Los Angeles The Business of Consulting Workshop - Sacramento The Product Pricing Roadmap Connect with Paul: Web Site YouTube  Are you using anchoring in your pricing and proposals for your consultancy, freelance, speaking, or coaching? If you're not including anchoring and options as part of your pricing strategy then you're missing out on a huge opportunity. Using this strategy will dramatically increase your engagements and the profitability for all of your proposals almost immediately once employed. You see anchoring all the time and you may not even realize it. Why does Louis Vuitton sell a $20,000 handbag? It's because it makes the $2,500 handbag seem like a much better value and reasonable investment to the customer. You can employ that same strategy in your freelance and consulting business by always providing at least three options and anchoring high. You may not have any intentions of selling your high anchor, but you want to include a high anchor in all of your proposals and pricing to the client because this really helps to establish the value of your service in the eyes of the client. Human nature is to automatically solve a problem or in this case a value equation and figure out which is the best value. When you present the client with three options, one with a really high anchor, they will naturally gravitate towards the middle to avoid the extremes of the high anchor and the low option. You see this being employed all the time with online SAAS products like QuickBooks, Netflix, and FreshBooks . They all have three or four tiers or options where they have the one in the middle that's always tagged as the “Best Value” or “Most Popular”. This is where everybody lands because they're using anchoring to establish the value of the product.  This strategy can be employed in your business proposals by anchor high to establish the value of the three options. The middle one is where you want them to land and the low option is probably what the budget actually is, or where you think they would be normally. By doing this you stretch your value up and helps you establish that value, command a greater price for your services, as well as gives the client options to pick and choose. I employ this strategy even in my email exchanges with my clients before a formal proposal is provided to the client. What I will do prior to an email exchange or formal proposal is to have a discovery call, or discussion with them to find out more about the client and they're needs, and so forth. Before I get off the phone call or discovery call and before I email them my anchor and options, I will give them a verbal ballpark figure over the phone that is usually very high or where I think the high anchor will be to expose any pricing objections before the email exchange. If they go silent or respond with any pricing objections you know it may not be a good prospect, or at a minimum, you can flesh this out early in the process prior to investing a bunch of time. If they don’t have any pricing objections or issues with this high verbal anchor, you know it's a good prospect and its worth exploring further. For example, the next time you have a client on the phone for a discovery call, make sure to state a high anchor by stating the following: Yes this looks something we can help you with, based on this initial discussion, we are likely going to be somewhere between $xxxxx.xx and $xxxxx.xx. Is that going to work for you? And then go silent, let the anchor work and wait for them to respond. Fight the temptation to break the silence and you will find out more about your prospect and expose any pricing objections up front and early in this process. If they respond favorably, then let them know you will work on the specifics and that you will be following up via email with some options for them to consider. Send over the three options with that high anchor and they will likely select the middle option or even the low one. What this strategy does is makes those 2 lower options much more reasonable and a better value to the prospect which will substantially increase your engagements. Don’t make the mistakes that I have in the past, as well as many other consultants and freelancers do, where you provide one low ball price. I made this mistake where I would provide my rock bottom price, playing that commodity game where you're not getting paid for your expertise or your true value. By doing this you think you're going in with a real competitive price to get the client, and the next thing you know you're working from there down. What you want to do is work from the high anchor down and land where you really want to be. I challenge you to try this and let me know if you see an increase in your engagements. My bet is that you will. So, that's my tip for you today. I hope that you found some value in this. I love pricing and talking about different ways to make a win-win for you and your client. I am hoping to do some more training and speaking on the subject of pricing and I’d love to connect with you at www.paulklein.net. You may be interested in my services agreement or contract template that you can download for free called “The One Page Consulting Agreement” You can use it as a template to develop your own.  I’ve used this template to get some of my biggest clients like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, Slack and many other great brands that I have worked with over the years. You are welcome to download it for free at www.paulklein.net.
I would love to connect with you and I am on all the usual social channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so forth. I’d love to hear more from you and connect with you.  Have you ever heard of the terms "jack of all trades, master of none" or "there's riches in the niches"? Well, that's never been so true with consulting. But a lot of people, ask: what kinda consulting and what are the different types of consulting that an executive professional can do? So, I put together this list of different types of consulting verticals that you can get into and they're really industry applicable. You can basically apply these to many different industries as they are general in nature but will help you start thinking in that direction. Many of these can apply equally to the industries of education, healthcare, construction, development, financial or whatever your specific industry is. There are many ways to structure your consultancy based around that area of expertise that you have. The first one I have is an accounting consultant. Just about every industry needs somebody who knows accounting, so if you have expertise in accounting or a background in accounting, it would be super easy to apply that knowledge and expertise in your consultancy and then, niche down and be a specialist in that one specific area. Here is a list of others:
Any of these 17 could easily be adapted to you your background and expertise. Then narrow down into that specific industry, your ideal client and your ideal target demographic for your industry. It may seem counter-intuitive, but narrowing down your focus is actually better and will draw clients to you. Your clarity will attract and conversely your confusion will repel. It's not difficult, but it's not easy either but this is how you niche down and get into that area and become the expert that you are in that area and build that business and go out on your own. You know, riches are in the niches and don't be a jack of all trades, master of none. Don't be afraid to identify that ideal client in that ideal industry and then just go out there and get after it, be the expert that you are and you're off and running. It's a great thing, it's a beautiful thing and I encourage you to take action, start and get in the game! I hope you found this helpful and I’d love to connect with you at www.paulklein.net. You may be interested in my services agreement or contract template that you can download for free called “The One Page Consulting Agreement” You can use it as a template to develop your own.  I’ve used this template to get some of my biggest clients like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, Slack and many other great brands that I have worked with over the years. You are welcome to download it for free at www.paulklein.net.
I would love to connect with you and I am on all the usual social channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so forth. I’d love to hear more from you and connect with you. 3 of the biggest fears people have to starting a consulting business (and how to overcome them)9/3/2018  I would like to provide another business tip or business consulting tip regarding the three biggest fears people have when starting a consulting business and how to overcome them. Probably the number one fear I hear about is job security. Everybody says that they can’t leave their job because they have “job security”. I am not saying that you should just flat out leave your job without a plan or putting some thought into it, but in many cases you can do things in parallel or on the side to ramp up before you make the jump. That's what I did until I got the boat closer to the dock, so to speak, before I jumped off full time. The reality is, having one client, (i.e. your employer, with so-called job security), versus having multiple clients and multiple engagements! I've found having multiple clients with the freedom to work with multiple numbers of people and industries is much more secure than having a single employer. I worked 18 years in a so called secure government or civil service career, and what I actually found, was never ending layoffs, cutbacks, reorganizations, and I was always at the will or the whim of the bureaucracy or organization. Now that I'm on my own and having started 3 consulting companies, I get to control my own destiny and have much more security than I ever did with a single employer. look at it this way, if that one client fires you, you're toast. But if you have multiple clients and you get fired by one, you still have………multiple clients! So, it's a mindset that you have to have if you want to start your own consultancy, or consulting firm and don't let that hinder you. Job security is one fear that a lot of people have, but it's really not that big of a deal if you really think about it and shift your mindset from a single client model to multiple client model. The second biggest fear that I hear frequently is health benefits. Everyone says, well, if I leave my job, I'm not going to have my health benefits or health insurance. The reality behind health benefits is the same as the number three biggest fear, which is retirement! Both of these issues or fears that people have, are really just a number or dollar figure behind them. Once you look at it like a number and you say okay, I need to reach a certain amount of revenue to cover my health benefits and my retirement. It lessen that fear or issue as you now have a solution or a plan to combat that fear. Let's say your take home salary is $100,000 a year and with a full retirement and benefit package. Let's say the benefit or health insurance package is roughly $20,000 a year for you and your family and your retirement package is another $40,000 a year. So what you're really getting in an overall package is $160,000. $100,000 take home salary, $20,000 health insurance package and a $40,000 retirement package, so the net of that is $160,000 per year. Knowing this now establishes your target or minimum goal that you need to make as a consultant, to be able to match your current salary and benefit package. Health insurance and retirement isn't some magic or mysterious program that only an employer can provide. Now you do need to make a little higher than that, obviously, because of taxes, overhead and other things but you will also gain some substantial tax incentives and benefits as a small business owner that you do not get as an employee. The tax code is conducive to small business…..so take advantage of it! At the end of the day its just a number to you and your employer and should be treated as such when starting and scaling your consultancy. If you're doing it on the side or just starting a consultancy, that's your target number before you jump off the cliff and leave that job and that steady paycheck. So those are the three biggest fears that I hear from a lot of people and you should be concerned, but at the same time, don't let that hold you back or from keeping you from starting your side hustle or doing something on the side or getting into consulting. I hope you found this helpful and I’d love to connect with you at www.paulklein.net. You may be interested in my services agreement or contract template that you can download for free called “The One Page Consulting Agreement” You can use it as a template to develop your own.  I’ve used this template to get some of my biggest clients like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, Slack and many other great brands that I have worked with over the years. You are welcome to download it for free at www.paulklein.net.
I would love to connect with you and I am on all the usual social channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so forth. I’d love to hear more from you and connect with you.  In this week article I talk about the steps you need to take to build a quick and easy consulting website. Everybody thinks that it's super hard, or you have to spend all this money and everything, but it's really not that difficult. First, when you're just starting out and you don't want to spend a ton of money, there’s no need to spend a ton of money on a big giant web developer and invest all kinds of money. You can make a great site with a lot of the free tools and you don't need to be a programmer or a rocket scientist to do it. My site was done on Weebly. I found Weebly to be super easy, but as I talked about in my article “Why you should DBA under your name instead of some big corporate brand”, the first thing you need to do is go get your domain name and registration. You can register it with Weebly, on my webpage under the “What’s in my tool box” link. I have several digital tools listed there that I use on a daily basis and you're welcome to click on the links and check them out for yourself. Some of them are affiliate links and I get a small commission if you end up buying. So check out Weebly its super easy to use and set up. You only need two or three pages and with Weebly there's no coding or anything like that. I've tried WordPress, Joomla, Rainmaker and a lot of different products out there like that. They're all good and I'm sure there's certainly a place and a time when these would be more appropriate, But I have found that just a basic Weebly, Squarespace or Wix site are all that you need. So go get one of these and get your page started and up and running. Put up the home page with your picture on it, your services, an email and a phone number. Even if you don't have a whole bunch of pages or content to start with. You don't need to have a Mercedes when the Corolla will get you some traction. In today's digital world your resume and the way people do business is all about on the web, being able to find you when they Google search or Google search a term in your industry. Having that webpage is so crucial for that. The yellow pages are gone! The other thing I have on my page that you may find helpful with setting up your web page is a web based logo creator. I use Logojoy to create logos and branding for product or service ideas that I may have or thinking of developing. It's free to create a logo, and visualize what you have in mind and then put it on as your screensaver or on your phone’s background. It helps to visualize that idea or where you're going with that product or service that you have been mulling over. There's also Fiverr, 99designs and Upwork that are all good too. They encompass multiple designers and people all around the whole world to do design work, but Logojoy is simple and you don’t have to wait on anyone. Put your name and your business tag lie in there and it will come up with 10 different logos that you can pick one. If you want to buy it, you can but you don't have to. So it's a great tool out there for you if your interested. So go out there, get your domain first at one of the domain registrations, get a basic Weebly web site set up under your personal brand get set it up and dig on it. It's not that difficult to do use Logojoy or one of those types of places for your logo and man, you're up and running and ready to go! Get in the game and get in the business! So that’s my tip for you for this week the steps you need to take to build a quick and easy consulting web site. I hope you found that helpful and I’d love to connect with you at www.paulklein.net. You may also be interested in my services agreement or contract template that you can download for free called “The One Page Consulting Agreement” You can use it as a template to develop your own.  I’ve used this template to get some of my biggest clients like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, Slack and many other great brands that I have worked with over the years. You are welcome to download it for free at www.paulklein.net.
I would love to connect with you and I am on all the usual social channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so forth. I’d love to hear more from you and connect with you.  If you have not or are not investing in your own personal development, I believe you are missing out on some huge opportunities. I have attended numerous training programs, seminars, workshops and have met some incredible people that I would not have had the opportunity have met otherwise. Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop's talents and potential, build's human capital and facilitate's employability, enhance's the quality of life and contribute's to the realization of dreams and aspirations. This is how Wikipedia defines personal development and agree.  Last fall year I attended Kary Oberbrunner’s Igniting Souls conference in Columbus OH and met Kary personally who is phenomenal and helped me in so many ways he doesn’t even know. I also met many other incredible people including Brian Dixon, Joel Kessel, Daphne V Smith, David Branderhorst and my good friend Mike Kim. Which has lead to other great friendships and contacts. But one of the highlights was when I was headed down from my hotel room and I got into the elevator and lo and behold standing in the elevator right in front of me was Cliff Ravenscraft! If you don’t know who Cliff Ravenscraft is you should look him up. He is a podcasting and internet business pro who has worked with Dan Miller, Ray Edwards, Pat Flynn, Michael Stelzner and so many more. If you don’t know or recognize these names, I recommend checking them out. As Cliff entered the elevator I felt awkward, but I said “hey cliff”…….and crickets…..no response, so I said “HEY CLIFF”………and no response again! At this point I could sense the others in the elevator thought I was a stalker or something. Then I realized Cliff had his ear buds in and couldn’t hear me, so I tapped him on the shoulder and he lit up and we started a conversation and agreed to connect more at the conference.  I was pretty stoked about meeting Cliff and excited to talk with him more. As the conference progressed through all the great speakers, Cliff and I kept connecting and chatting about family, business and all that good stuff. Many times at these conferences dinner time is for networking and connecting so I asked Cliff he wanted to connect for dinner and he graciously agreed. We had a great dinner at Logan’s Steak house and just talked and got to know him. One of the crazy ideas that Cliff was working on was this little idea of him doing his own conference called “Free The Dream” and it was going to be in Nashville Tennessee on September 7th-9th 2018. Cliff explained that his conference was going to have some of the top speakers in the industry including Dan Miller, Ray Edwards Aaron Walker, Jevonnah Ellison and so many more. The conference is about unleashing that dream or overcoming those self-limiting beliefs that we all have in starting something new or starting a new journey weather that be in your health and fitness, career, relationships with your family or wanting to start and scale your own business. Cliffs conference will help you break through these self-limiting beliefs and the things that may be holding you back. Sometimes we just need someone to say its ok, inspire us and show us a path to obtain our dreams and goals.  As I continue to be intentional regarding my own personal development, I will be at Free the Dream and would love to see or connect with you there. You can get more information regarding Cliff Ravenscraft’s Free the Dream here. (not an affiliate link)
I know one thing about Cliff, he does everything with excellence and this event will be no exception!  I would like to talk about the three pillars of revenue that every consultancy or solo consultancy should have. As you know, with consulting sometimes it can be feast or famine and you have to be able to ride out those highs and lows between your paying client work. I would like to explain what has worked in my consultancy and get you thinking about the various options that might work and help with yours.
Every consultant knows and does this but that's the problem, most consultants only focus on their consulting practice and don't augment their consultancy with the other two revenue pillars as I have done with my consultancy which can help you ride out those highs and lows. The second pillar of revenue is having a comprehensive online resources and guides section on your webpage. This is a mixture of paid and free resources wrapped around your niche or area of expertise. One of the first things I did when I went out on my own was create a downloadable guidebook or eBook. It wasn't even original content. I just curated a bunch of valuable content that helped those in my niche. I charged $29.99 for it and In my first year I generated somewhere around $29,000 just on that ebook. This is a great tool if you have a very specific niche or process to your consulting that you can provide or help others even if it's not proprietary content.
The other thing you can have are checklists. Checklist are great for things that are industry specific to your niche and to your consultancy, so don't underestimate the power of those things as a revenue supplement and strategy to your ongoing consulting and client work. The third pillar of revenue and probably equally as powerful as doing your client work is having a comprehensive training and education program. I've found this to be a wide world of great opportunities, and is a big part of my consultancy. Now you can certainly have online training and so forth as part of your online resources and guides mentioned above in pillar two but I am specifically talking about more live training, seminars, workshops, academies, education classes and things like that. I have found that having a mixture of free and paid offerings works well. Look for industry conferences, annual business meetings and offer a one or two-hour training or speaking session on your topic or area of expertise. Many times you can speak for free and then provide high-paid or paid workshops where you take a deeper dive, train and educate people in those things. This is what I'm doing with my workshops and seminars currently in providing teaching and education on how to start and scale your own consulting business. I've done four-day comprehensive academies where we've had up to 50 people coming and paying good money and getting lots of value. Most if not all of the people that come have stated that they get more value than what they put out for it and is why we sell out consistently year after year and have had great success with that. So let’s recap the three pillars of revenue that every solo consultancy needs:
So that's my tip for you for this week the three pillars of revenue every solo consultancy needs to have. I hope you found that helpful and I'd love to connect with you at www.paulklein.net. You may also be interested in my services agreement or contract template that you can download for free called “The One Page Consulting Agreement” You can use it as a template to develop your own.  I've used this template to get some of my biggest clients like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, Slack and many other great brands that I have worked with over the years. You are welcome to download it for free at www.paulklein.net.
I would love to connect with you and I am on all the usual social channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so forth. I'd love to hear more from you and connect with you. So what new pillars of revenue are you going to add to your consultancy? |
Paul Klein
I help freelance entrepreneurs stop undercharging so they can scale a 7-figure business.
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