090: Got swept up in a pricing “should”
If you’re not sure that how you operate in a part of your business is how you actually *want* to operate, this episode is for you.
.... Or if you’re just curious about what’s happened behind the scenes of my pricing lately, you might enjoy this episode, too!
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Shownotes
I haven’t talked about pricing here on the podcast much (or maybe ever?), but in the past little while I’ve reflected a lot on my pricing and services, so we’re going with it!
Pricing and offers fall under the design piece of your productivity ecosystem, because how you design your offers and pricing has a big impact on your business.
What got me thinking about my pricing and offers
1 – I've seen lots of questionable, unhelpful advice around pricing
We’ve all heard things like “You should charge your worth” and “Trading hours-for-dollars is bad”. These vague wisdoms often fall flat on the “Ok, but what would work best for me?” front.
2 – I’ve heard how some great, empathetic thinkers approach their pricing
George Kao made great point on his podcast recently, that even if you just charged $150 per coaching session and had 10 sessions a week, you’d bring in about 70,000 in revenue a year. The profit I would make off of that revenue would surpass my income as a psychologist back in Finland. So it’s not a terrible hourly rate!
3 – I’ve spoken to a few trusted business owner friends and my partner about what’s enough for me and what’s realistic to expect at this stage of my business
The truth is, not every single business owner knows enough 6/7-fig entrepreneurs to fill up high-ticket offers easily.
High-ticket offers are “all the rage” in the online business world
Yup – I had gotten swept up in the message that you should create a high-ticket offer if you’re a service provider.
The idea that even as a new coach, you should immediately create an offer or program that’s several weeks long and comes with a big price tag.
If you've known me for a while, you might have picked up on the fact that I try to avoid shoulds when I can – in business and life. But somehow I hadn’t caught this one!
(Probably because of the high-achiever tendency to want to aim high from the start, right? Wanting to work smarter, not harder. Many people who talk about high ticket offers talk about working smarter not harder, which has definitely appealed to me.)
I do think it’s easier to change your habits, routines, and how you operate with a longer support period. BUT! I’ve had several clients, either as practice, as market research, or as paid clients, who have made shifts and seen changes based on just one coaching session together. So while I think a longer coaching period might bring more sustainable results, I would not say it’s the only way to get desired benefits quickly.
Why high-ticket offers maybe aren’t the answer
The loudest advocates of high-ticket offers might have forgotten that it wouldn’t have been feasible for them to sell high-ticket offers when they first started.
Maybe they didn’t have the reputation they do now, or didn’t know as many people willing to invest in high-ticket offers as they do now.
Or – maybe they actually did already know enough people in their industry that they could’ve done that for themselves from the get-go, and now overlook the fact that not everyone has that same privilege.
Why high-ticket offers aren’t a match for my business right now
I reflected on what I want and need from this business in the next few months, to switch out this pricing "should" for something better.
I’m in a season where my photography business is bringing in enough(ish) revenue for my needs, which means that I can offer coaching services at a lower price point while still getting what I want out of this business:
1 – to spend more time coaching instead of marketing. Because it does seem like it takes more time to market and build trust in order to sell high-ticket offers.
2 – to connect with more cool humans. Hoping to make more connections and build my reputation.
As a result, I overhauled my offers and pricing, to accommodate these current goals. I tweaked the design of my business to increase my sisu (my motivation).
Now you can jump on a one-off consult call to get answers to your most burning questions – and if you want ongoing support after, I’m here for that too.
Since my business is still new and I don’t have a huge reputation yet doing the selling for me, I think having a lower-priced offer is a great way for people to experience my support without having to sign up for a big offer right away.
Right now I’m more interested in working with more people than I am in scaling or hitting the revenue goal I eventually would like to get to with this business.
And getting to my goals someday might be more likely, if more people work with me through this more affordable consult offer – because the more people see what I can do, the more likely I’ll get referrals and build a reputation as someone who can help. That’s hard to do, if I’m working hard to get occasional high-ticket offers sold.
I believe that it’s important to experiement in business. My services and pricing might not look like this forever, but I’ve tried the higher-ticket thing for quite a long time without it being a huge success, and now that I understand what might have gone sideways, it makes sense to try something new.
Got shoulds?
I’d love to encourage you to reflect on your situation:
Are there shoulds in your business that you feel a bit uncomfortable with?
Tasks that feel hard to start or follow through on?
Activities that don’t align with what you want and need out of your business right now, that don’t align with your goals?
And if something does come up for you when you ponder those questions…
What could you do about it?
How would you rather operate?
How could you experiment with it for a little while?
These are things that I talk about with my clients often, especially as it relates to shoulds around marketing, services, and offers.
It’s always so exciting to see how relieved and excited they look when they realize they can let go of the things that don’t feel good to them and do something that feels more fun or just aligned for them.
The goal of my work is to help you find what works for you, so that you don’t have to push yourself to do the things, but instead feel more internally motivated to do the things; to have a strong sense of sisu. So that you can show up for your business excited – while making time for life outside of work, too.