Art of Earning, Business Brainstorm
With an abundance of “stuff” all around us, it’s easy to think that the road to success is paved with bargains. People want more and they want it cheap, right?
Is it even possible to build a business that’s comfortable by stocking its shelves with products that cost more than average?
Sure, it is. Even in this economy (no excuse, people!), companies are making a killing on premium products that you’re buying.
Apple is doing it. So is Harley Davidson. The makeup brand I use, Jane Iredale, is doing it too. Heck, I would probably even put Starbucks in that category. My new go-to drink is over $5.
Passion-driven businesses are built around the fact that the customer is as passionate as the business owner. That the zeal for quality & distinctiveness is a shared trait between merchant & patron. Further, the passion they share is not only at face value – for a great computer, motorcycle, or mineral foundation – but for an underlying purpose – design, culture, or beauty.
Purpose is a nonnegotiable. Business owner & customer either share it – and do business happily – or they don’t.
Passion-driven businesses lose money on “…maybe”.
Passion doesn’t allow for compromise on the things that matter most to you. And not compromising rarely allows for a deal.
What is beyond compromise in your business?
- Level of service?
- Quality of materials?
- Craftsmanship?
- Vision of success?
- Start to finish method?
- Source of materials?
- Consistency?
- Ease of use?
- Sustainability?
How could you expand your market of passionate customers by focusing on the highest quality regardless of price?
Inevitably, your passion for your service, product, or vision means that you can check off a whole list of nonnegotiables. Take, for instance, Henry Sidel, who has a passion for Japanese culture:
“I never thought I’d start a business,” says Sidel, now 43. It wasn’t entrepreneurship that excited him — it was his passion for all things Japanese.
Sidel first visited the country as a homestay college student in 1987, later returning after graduation to live there for a time and learn the language. Over the years, he made several more trips, but his interests didn’t converge until a 2001 sake tasting at a New York restaurant. The spirits, shall we say, moved him. (Joanna Krotz, Turning Passion Into Profits)
Think he’s hocking the cheap stuff? No way. Someone who is passionate about the culture, the product, and the people doesn’t care too much about the price. He’s interested in connecting the best, most interesting sake with the people who appreciate it as much as he does.
His nonnegotiables have to do with showcasing different regions of Japan, promoting artisans, and featuring unique flavors. And he does this all with another quirk of high-end business: a limited menu.
Sidel is also ranks education & events among his nonnegotiables. It’s not just about selling, it’s about creating an experience.
My guess is that your dream for your business is not much different. You dream of a business where you attract customers who love what you do as much as you do. Who are in it for the experience and not just another cheap thrill. Who value your expertise, your passion, and your vision. Who happily hand over the cash because – regardless of what the rest of the world thinks – it’s worth it to them.
The thing is, this type of business doesn’t evolve into a high-end business. It’s designed as a high-end business.
Think again of that dream-of-a-business we were just envisioning.
What changes could you make in the structure or operation of your business to make it more like the “if only” business you dream of?
What decisions have you been avoiding because of your fear of the “high-end?”
Leave your response below!
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Art of Earning, Business Brainstorm
Folks, we’ve got a middle problem.
The Middle Problem is all about choosing not to choose. It’s about fearing either side. It seems like the easy way when really it’s the hard way.
The Middle Problem shows itself when you’re brainstorming taglines, pricing products, and writing your copy. It keeps you from enjoying your work, moving forward with a sense of purpose, and finding customers who truly love you.
You’ll notice The Middle Problem most in the pricing of those who aren’t confident in their products or services. They’d prefer to keep the prices low instead of making claims about their work. Maybe they don’t have a lot of experience and are substituting cheap for practice (hint: “cheap” only makes things cheaper). Maybe they think that, because they’ve had a difficult time getting customers thus far, they can’t really charge what they’re worth.
Worse still, they might not know what they’re worth.
You might think, “What a bargain!” Or you might think, “Really? That’s kind of a lot for that…” Or you might even feel sorry for them. When someone has a Middle Problem, you just don’t know what to think sometimes.
You’ll also notice The Middle Problem in someone’s bio, on their services page, in their product descriptions. Maybe she’s got experience in all sorts of fields and doesn’t want to choose one (or invent a new one!) now. Maybe she’s been burned one too many times before. Maybe she’s just not-quite-confident enough to say what she really does so she says she’s a jack-of-all-trades.
Do you really want to hire a master-of-none?
People in the middle want to feel safe, instead they feel unappreciated and unnoticed.
They want to feel fair, instead they feel taken advantage of.
The Middle Problem is the thing I see plaguing under-performing businesses most often. When you stand for something plain & simple, when you declare your expertise, when you charge what you’re worth, it’s easier to get noticed. Sure, some people noticing you will realize that you’re not the business for them. They would have figured it out anyhow… or caused you heartache trying.
In the Middle, your prices are too high for the bargain shoppers (do you want to go lower?) and too low for the shoppers looking for quality. In the Middle, you’re working more than you’d like and don’t have the fun money to make up for it. If you’re going to work when you need to be doing other things, might as well get paid well for it.
Does this sound like you & your business? It’s time to get out of the middle.
How to Poop or Get off the Pot:
- Know what you’re good at. I mean really, really good at. And don’t guess. Ask people, do research, work for free until you figure it out. Discern what your true gift is.
- Get better at what you’re good at. You are not born ready for your first day in business.
- Look at your competition. How are they positioning themselves? What are they charging? How are they organizing information? What will you do differently and what will you do similarly?
- Set your prices to respect yourself & your clients. If you’re not making enough to do the best work, your clients are getting cheated. If you’re not earning enough to ward off stress & resentment, your business won’t last long. Set your prices so that your customers get your best work and you get your best life. Now that’s fair.
- Communicate your work without wavering. Got a blog? Newsletter? Twitter? Use them to talk passionately about your work. Make strong statements. Say big things. This is your time to shine; use it.
What’s your experience with The Middle Problem? Have you recently gotten out of the middle? How do you feel living in the extremes?
Leave your response in the comments below!
The Art of Earning is changing how people think about money. It’s changing their attitudes and their businesses. Have I mentioned you can name your own price? Find out more.
Tara speaks from an impressive wealth of experience she’s come by on the web–and best of all? She gets you asking the right questions in the smartest fashions, and will help you begin earning money online in healthy, productive, successful ways.
— Dave Ursillo | daveursillo.com | how to lead without followers
Art of Earning
An excerpt from The Art of Earning:
The bad news is: the economic scenery is changing.
The good news is: the economic scenery is changing.
While outsourcing, automation, and the computerization of the workforce may be bad for some, it is good for you.
You, artist, are a hot commodity. We are entering a golden age where passion, purpose, and creativity is valued above routine.
We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.
— Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind
If you’d like all the finer points on this concept, read A Whole New Mind. I’m here to draw the blunt conclusion that he never explicitly states:
Artists have a big opportunity to make a lot of money in the New Economy.
To one degree or another, people in mature markets have grown sick of excess, tired of the constant push to accumulate more. The purveyors of hyperconsumerism promised happiness and ease; instead we are seeing record levels of stress and anxiety.
They still want MORE, but now they are defining that differently. Not more shiny trifles and mountains of disposable consumer goods, but, rather, more meaning, more deeply felt connections, more substance, and more of a sense of purpose.
— Prosumer Report, EURO RSCG Worldwide
If you can position yourself as a marketer of meaning & depth, you will be a big player in the emerging New Economy.
The great thing about this is that the manipulation here is minimal. There is always some manipulation.
You genuinely are a purveyor of profound meaning. Your work is not only useful but transformative. If you haven’t discovered that yet, given time, energy, and the deep desire for greatness, you will. You will see how others are changed because they own a piece of your art or interact with your ideas.
Own that power. Stand up and be counted. And understand that transformation is valuable.
***
In college, everyone was jealous of the Actuarial Science kids. My alma mater, Lebanon Valley College, was one of a limited number of institutions where you could get a degree in the mathematical game of probability and insurance premiums.
The program was near impossible to get into, harder still to graduate from. When you graduated, you could get a job but you were expected to complete a series of exams within a short period of time.
Oh, but after those exams!
After those exams were completed, you could relax knowing a good paying job was waiting for you. Nay, not waiting but calling for you.
This, we are taught, is the purpose of education. You go through the motions, you pass the exams, you learn the skills, you prepare for a job. We long to desire careers that require this kind of path.
But not you and I. Oh no, we’re the English, Music, Anthropology, and History majors. Or, like me, you chose something even more esoteric and majored in Religion with a focus on contemporary Christian theology.
I’ll admit to coveting the clear path of the ActSci kids.
But jobs with clear paths also have a clear path to automation & computerization.
These jobs will not exist 20 years from now. Not in any recognizable form, that is.
While we long to learn skills we’ve been told will fetch a good price at market, it’s those skills that are being cheapened. The strengths that will earn hefty sums as the New Economy evolves are those that combine service with meaning, consumption with experience.
Sound familiar, artist?
How are you offering a transformational perspective on mechanical skills? Do you see this perspective as “weird” or crazy valuable?
My newest guide, The Art of Earning, is dropping today. It’s all about understanding your relationship to money, why earning more isn’t something to be feared, and how you can get right by your own value. Bottom line: making money should be beautiful. Snag your copy – and name your own price – here.
Your emotions about money deeply affect your experience with money. Tara Gentile’s The Art of Earning is an intelligent treatise on our relationship with money. Her gentle questions guide us to approach money and work with natural authenticity and grace. I loved it.
– Bridget Pilloud |
intuitivebridge.com | creator of the
Lucky 7 ProcessArt of Earning
“My business is going great. But I have no idea how much money I’m making!” she said.
Hannah Marcotti had inadvertently stumbled on to one of my pet issues.
“What?!” I exclaimed, not sure if I kept the horror in my head or let it creep into my voice.
If you don’t know how much money you’re making, how can you say business is going great? Beyond that, business could be so much better if you had an idea of how much money you’re making.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that this is not an isolated problem. Hannah has good company in flat out ignoring the money side of her business.
Our relationships with money are so volatile that we think ignoring it is a good strategy.
Ignoring your relationship with money won’t make it go away, in fact, you’ll only be sucked further into the financial screaming match.
In Hannah’s case, she’s an entrepreneur with an online business, the solution is simple. She set herself up with an account on Outright.com. Outright is my bookkeeping platform of choice. You link up your PayPal account, credit cards, or bank account and track your business income & expenses while you sleep.
Special deal from Outright!
Whilst this post was waiting to be published, Outright contacted me about offering YOU an extension of their FREE trial period. The first 25 readers who sign up using the code “scoutout” will receive a free 90 day trial of Outright. How cool is that?!
I check in with Outright a few times per week, being careful not to become too addicted to the numbers. A simple green & red bar graph tells me how I’m doing for the month and I quickly do a little math to see how I’m doing in relationship to my goal.
I am always aware of my income for the month and profit for the year. And I put that information to good use.
As a business owner, you simply must be aware of the flow of your money. Money must inevitably flow in and inevitably flow out. Without the ebb & flow, there is no business.
Once your mindfulness around your money grows, you will feel free to start creating financial goals, investing in yourself & your business, and bringing in help to allow you more freedom.
So what’s happening with Hannah?
Looking at my income for the first 6 months of the year, I instantly thought “Okay, I can triple that.” That is a huge jump for me to even believe that. If I wasn’t looking at real numbers how would I know what triple it was?
Instead of allowing her business to happen to her, Hannah is taking control of her business. Instead of grabbing at the money that flows by her, Hannah is making a plan to channel it in her direction.
Of course, now she is wondering what to do knowing that she has more money. When you know you have more money, you automatically want to put it to “good” use. Now she’s working on creating a plan for saving, investing, and earning more. But that’s a post for another day.
Entrepreneur, do you know where you money is?
If you like this post, you’ll like these other recent posts:
Art of Earning
What’s the value of a buck? Or, better yet, what’s the value of $100?
It wasn’t until I started charging $100 an hour for my time that I “got right” with myself in my business. Until then, I felt nervous & unsure. I often felt resentful of my clients to whom I gave my all. Most disappointingly, because the investment was so low, I found my clients often did nothing with what I suggested.
Bumping up my price to $100 solved a lot of problems and helped me to “get right” with money.
But my prices didn’t stay there long, by January of this year, I had decided to double those prices to $200 per hour with a minimum 2 hour commitment.
What would someone pay you $100 per hour to talk to you about?
— Danielle LaPorte, author of The Fire Starter Sessions
I’ve talked before about how my family had very little money growing up. I’ve also talked about how somehow my mom never managed to say “that’s too expensive” to me.
The value of a dollar has been very real to me throughout my life. The idea of one hundred of them lined up neatly representing an hour of my time seemed entirely unreasonable.
Besides, my previous employer made it quite clear that my time was worth much less than $13 per hour.
I suspect that this is true for many people. If having $100 left over at the end of the week or even the end of the month seems like freedom, I’m talking to you. This isn’t reflective so much of how much you, your partner, or your parents make – it’s reflective of how you use money.
How you understand the value of $100 is reflective of the relationship you have with money.
And you can’t truly know what people would pay you $100 per hour to talk to them about until you come to terms with your relationship to that $100.
When $100 represents feeding your family or not, or having cable or not, or making the full mortgage payment or not, it is near impossible to assign that value to your time. However, when you cross the line into service provider, business owner, maker, or artist, you begin to realize that “or nots” are not the name of the game.
There simply is no “or not” associated with your time. Your time represents possibilities: more clarity, more time, more beauty, more travel, more pride, more space, more organization, more strategy. Instead of being a choice between having or not having, there is the possibility of so much more than what is paid for.
$100 becomes a gateway to greater things.
What “greater things” will someone gain from talking to you for an hour?
Do you see how [those things] are worth a Benjamin Franklin?
Want to get right by that $100? Here are two ideas:
1.) Invest in something for your business (coaching, an ebook, a course, a service, etc…) that is $100 or analyze a previous investment. Keep track of how that investment improves your work.
Does it help you get your work done faster?
Does it make you $500 in one month?
Does is improve your customer service?
Does it reduce your stress?
Analyze that true transactional value of that $100. Was it worth the money you gave up? Was it worth the investment?
2.) Buy a $100 dress or sweater or pair of shoes. Wear it constantly for 6 weeks. Consider the difference between that purchase and a $15 Target version.
What’s the wear & tear like?
How’s the comfort level?
What’s the style quotient?
Would you wear it 3 years from now?
Analyze the true transaction value here. Would you rather have this $100 piece or 7 Target pieces?
Neither of these experiences are fool proof. The value of your time isn’t either. But extending these examples over time, the value of $100 becomes more & more clear.
There is often a greater exponential benefit in spending $100 than in spending considerably less.
That’s why $100 has to be the minimum. On top of all the cost-of-living, cost-of-doing-business equations, I think you’ll find that charging $100 per hour for your service (or labor) is the bare minimum others expect for good results.
Charge less and you signal that you offer inferior results.
Now free is a different story.
Charging nothing is disengaging. People don’t know what to expect. They’re caught off guard.
Offering your service for free gives you a chance to find your $100 offer. You can practice with the idea of delivering superior results. You can see the value of your service (or labor) reflected back to you.
So how comfortable are you with 100 big ones? Please share your experience with money & time by leaving a response below.
Announcements, Art of Earning, Business Brainstorm
Money and I have a sordid relationship. Don’t worry, we’re pretty cool now. She won’t mind if I talk about her like this.
For most of formative years, my family didn’t have much of the stuff. My single mom employed herself as a seamstress. She was constantly busy but not rolling in the dough. Still, despite earning very little, we were never without stuff.
I had instruments, summer camps, piano lessons, a computer, and even a car.
She figured out how to get me what I needed without incurring massive amounts of credit card debt. We lived frugally but always got we wanted passionately.
She also taught me to save like a mo’ fo’. From my very first gig umpiring a softball game to my last part-time job in a jewelry store, I put half of every paycheck in my savings account for BIG purchases (trip to Austria, anyone?).
Money came & went.
After college, I got stuck. I started equating money with time, tasks, and responsibility. I saw inside the belly of a retail beast and began to believe that if I earned more money, certainly others would lose money.
I began to assume that I was truly worth the $13 per hour they paid me.
I assumed I would never be worth more.
At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, this was a burden I carried. I assumed my worth had been set. What I soon learned is that your personal worth surges out of you even when you don’t expect it.
Your personal worth doesn’t always show up in money – maybe it will take the form of gratitude or influence – but it shows up. It’s our job to claim that worth as the dollars & cents we need to earn to experience the world and to improve the world in the ways we desire.
Abundance of personal worth begets abundance of financial worth. It’s your choice how you use it.
An example:
Yesterday, I dropped about $400 at a craft show. It’s the third year I’ve attended this show and it’s by far the best show I go to every year. I love the people who vend. I love the people who show up.
But the last two years, I held scarcity in my heart when I attended.
This year, I came ready to spend. While $400 may or may not seem like a lot to you, it still represents a lot to me. And while I was a bit sticker shocked at what I had done at the end of the day, I felt damn good embodying abundance. And I felt damn good extending my abundance to those I purchased from.
Also, Lola now has a week’s worth of clever indie t-shirts to wow the kids at summer camp.
For the vendors I purchased from yesterday, I changed the world a little. I reinforced the uniqueness of their ease. I shared a smile with my debit card that told them they were worth more than the sticker price.
No, increasing consumption won’t fix our problems but having a better relationship with money might.
* * * * *
In case you haven’t noticed, our relationships to money are changing. Fast. Furious. And unexpectedly.
No longer are finance, law, and medicine fields that guarantee stability, profit, and growth.
Artists – of all kinds – are finding money to be easier to come by, abundance amidst recession, and demand despite saturation.
Your relationship to money is no longer determined by your previous experience with it, your college degree (or lack thereof), or time in an industry. Our ability to earn is instead based on our own view of our unique talents.
Capability doesn’t determine cash flow.
But passion might help determine your profit.
At the Selling Your Soul event in NYC on Thursday, Danielle LaPorte (or, as I affectionately refer to her in my noggin’, DLP) and Marie Forleo provided (at least) 2 important sparks about our relationship with money. One, a question: What do you really mean when you say “I can’t afford it?” And two, a statement: we all have “money stuff.”
Much of my success as an entrepreneur has not been about having the best widget, the fastest fingers, the smartest brain, or the most intuitive spirit. Gaining influence, earning money, finding my niche, and producing my art has largely come as a result of working through my “money stuff” and understanding what I mean when I say “I can’t afford it.”
Let me say again, having a 6-figure business isn’t about being the best. It’s about understanding your relationship to money.
Having a 6-figure business isn’t about producing more than anyone else, having more clients than anyone else, or having a monopoly on your message. It’s about understanding the art of earning.
Scarcity in earning is directly related to scarcity in spending, investing, hiring, and giving.
What I meant when I said, “I can’t afford it:”
I meant I wasn’t worth it. I meant I couldn’t earn it. I meant I made bad decisions. I meant I didn’t value myself.
What I mean now when I say, “I can’t afford it:”
I don’t see it as valuable to me. I don’t need it right now. I don’t want it. I made a choice not to have it.
Making money can be so easy.
My come-to-Jesus moment with money was when I truly discovered how easy it is to earn what you need when you work for yourself. What is easy to you, what comes naturally & beautifully to you, is ugly, difficult, and downright nasty to someone else. That is the source of value.
What is easy to you, what comes naturally & beautifully to you, is ugly, difficult, and downright nasty to someone else.
That’s the source of value but it’s not the end. Value flows forth from your alignment with your purpose and your relationship to those who identify with your purpose. Your purpose is the beginning & the end of the transaction.
What you do – the work that is paid for – may be meaty, but it won’t seal the deal.
The art of earning is offering your valuable bits for sale. The art of earning is finding your purpose scattered throughout the experiences of your life and business.
There is no need to paint a different picture or construct a different model. Take your “easy” talents, your insane passion, your drive, and purpose and box it up for sale.
Nota bene, parts of this equation often missing:
- Ease
- Talent
- Passion
- Drive
- Purpose
- Package
- For sale sign
Money need not control you. You need to control it. Money need not determine your experience. You need to earn money to determine your own experience. Your gain need not mean your customer loses. Your gain needs to be others’ gain.
What does a passion-driven entrepreneur need to know about the art of earning?
So very many things… but I’m specifically curious about what you’d like to know. I want to help you strengthen your relationship to the dollars & cents you & your business needs to survive & thrive in the changing economy. I want to help you find profit in work your soul craves.
This conversation is part of my purpose. And I’m on fire about it.
——
Update! While the conversation continues (and will for the foreseeable future!), my first contribution is all shinied up & put together. The Art of Earning is a digital guide all about making money beautifully. It’s a deconstruction of our hang-ups around the topic of cash, profit, and earning potential. It’s also a reconstruction of a new money paradigm for artists-of-all-sorts.
The best part of all is that you can name your own price. And frankly, that’s a celebration of my own confidence in my earning ability, a party to which you are oh-so invited.
Click here to learn more about The Art of Earning!
“Art of Earning” will help you heal your beliefs about money and start getting into a really loving relationship with moolah and your mojo. It will teach you how to be a Goddess of your own Abundance. The world needs this!
– Goddess Leonie | goddessguidebook.com | author of the Business Goddess ecourse
