October 23, 2024

Do you know what you ACTUALLY do?

Lots of folks come to me to learn how to increase their income by ditching hourly billing for alternative pricing approaches.

But before we can work on that, we have to figure out what it is they ACTUALLY do.

It’s harder than it sounds.

You probably define “what you do” in terms of your expertise, deliverables, or activities.

But this is a very “me-focused” approach, and it’s usually not very effective.

It’s much more effective to be “you-focused” by defining what you do in terms of client outcomes.

For example...

Imagine you meet someone at a barbecue.

You ask them what they do.

Which of the following replies do you think would be more effective?

“I stretch and manipulate deep layers of muscle and connective tissue.”
“I help professional athletes get back in the game after being sidelined by an injury.”

In both cases, it’s pretty clear that you’re talking to a massage therapist, but do you see the critical difference?

The FIRST focuses on the activities the massage therapist engages in, which forces any potential client to “connect the dots” between the activities and an outcome they or someone they know might desire.

The SECOND focuses on an outcome that their ideal client desires and uses language that is from the client’s world (“back in the game”, “sidelined”).

Guess which style works better for landing new clients.

Here’s the thing...

If you want to escape the hamster wheel of trading time for money, you have to start thinking about the outcomes you provide (i.e., what you ACTUALLY do for your clients.)

Once you identify the valuable outcomes that you can reliably deliver, you can price those instead of the activities you engage in to reach said outcomes.

This is the path to working less and making more (i.e., increasing your profits).

So...

What do you ACTUALLY do?

Yours,

—J