Episode Details

During the pandemic, we were told one thing seemingly over and over again: You need to start a membership. You need a community. That’s the only way you can scale your business. And to be honest, I fed into it. I believed that a membership was the key to stop trading for hours for dollars. 

But the truth is I was trading more hours for fewer dollars. See, what most solopreneurs don’t realize (what I didn’t realize for a long time) is that you’re always trading hours for dollars. That’s what work is. The key difference is how many hours you're trading for how many dollars. And that’s what Maggie Patterson is here to talk to us about today. 

See, when the pandemic ended, we both noticed something: many of those people who were preaching the importance of basing your business off a community or membership were going back to one thing: services. Because when you do services right, you can make a lot of money. 

Today, Maggie, who has over 15 years of experience successfully selling client services, tells us the key to unlocking more income: selling strategy. 

Top Takeaways

• It’s important to understand what kind of business you want to run. 1-to-1 business is a lot different from a 1-to-many business. And they require different strategies.
• The key is in pricing. Don’t just price on gut feeling. Tether it to some reality (like how much money you need to make to pay yourself, and run the business), and then listen for feedback. The market will tell you if you’re priced correctly. 
• Too many solopreneurs give the strategy away for free in their proposal. They say exactly what they’re going to do. Instead, hold paid strategy sessions (sometimes called Discovery projects) where you get paid to truly understand the scope, and give the client something tangible. 

Show Notes

• Maggie Patterson
• Reverse Salary Calculator
• The Best Advice I Never Took

Sponsored by Liquid Web

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Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or your health. 

Start with the free Solopreneur Sweep — a step-by-step method for finding where your business is losing time: https://streamlined.fm/sweep

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Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/