51. How to Schedule Your Raises

If you had a magic wand and you could schedule your own raises, what would you do with that? Imagine if you could schedule on a regular basis that your income would go up and all you had to do is get a little more focused and maybe be a little better at what you do. One of the things I find entrepreneurs get caught in is when we're trying to make sure we're making enough income, we have some work that's steady or work, and we have some work that is perhaps maybe bigger opportunity work, but it's not as steady. So if we use hourly income as a concept, we might have some projects where we can make X, whatever X is, 10 bucks an hour, 25 bucks an hour, 100 bucks an hour. Then we have, let's say, some 2 X work, and then we might have some 4 X work. Maybe we can charge 100 bucks an hour for some work and 200 bucks for an hour for some other work, and 400 bucks an hour for some other work or whatever your numbers are. It just feels very inconsistent because one minute somebody wants the 1x work and then they want the 4 X work, and it feels like it's very out of your control.

They just decide, Well, this person signed up here, that person signed up here. Some people really think I'm worth this 400 an hour, but some people think I'm worth 100, and some people think I'm worth 50. What you can do is you can create a situation where you start scheduling your raises by starting at a certain number, and maybe even if that number is a little bit lower than you'd like to be, ultimately, getting enough people on board to where anywhere between 40 % to 60 % of your time is spent getting that steady income coming in or whatever you need for it financially. Then you start creating a situation where you tell people, My rates are going to go up in three months, so I'm doing this work. Let's say I know this work, let's say the outcome of this work, whether it's a product or a coaching program or a package or whatever it might be, a live event. Let's just say I know that the ultimate value to the client is $10,000. I know if they do my work, on average, people will get at least $10,000 of benefit from this. I know if I can help a client get $10,000 of benefit reasonably, I can charge probably at least $1,000 for that ultimately.

Let's just use that as the core price, not even hourly for a moment. Let's say I've got a program, or a coaching package, or an online DVD training system, or whatever it might be. I've got this situation where I'm going to start out with the first group and maybe the price is $100. Maybe this is a group coaching program. Again, forget a moment about the method of delivery, but I'm going to start and say, look, we're starting at $100, and for the next three months it's going to be at $100. Then without constantly pression, like, Hey, the price is about to go up. I'm going to let them know that once we reach this next quarter, the next 90 days, that now the price is $200. With that first group, I got people on who maybe weren't able to or willing to pay the $1,000 I'm eventually aiming for. But they came on and they're getting results. I'm serving them just as if they were paying the $1,000. I'm getting testimonials, I'm getting feedback, I'm getting the ability to fine tune how I deliver the program and people are giving me feedback. Then each three months or so, I'm slowly increasing the price.

I don't have to beat people over the head and say, Oh, this month it's going up another hundred, because that can start to feel a little too much, a little pushy. But I just let people know the price keeps going up roughly every three months or so. And so if you want to get in now is the best time. And the reason why the price keeps going up is because I'm getting better at it. I'm getting more consistent results. So the result is still 10,000 bucks in general. Let's say that's your average result, and I eventually want to charge this 1,000 for it. But maybe the first time you deliver it, only 20 % of the people get that result. Really at that point, the program is not worth as much as later when, let's say a couple of months later, you know you can get a little bit more, 10 % more of the people to get success. So over time, this is fair. This is not a scam. This is not some clever thing. This is about acknowledging that over time, you become worth more. You become better at what you do. You're able to deliver more consistent results.

But what you're doing is you're starting out at a price point and a commitment level that more people can get in, and you're giving yourself a chance to develop your craft, but you're getting paid while you do it. Because so many people say, You know, Wade, I'm not taking any money at a hundred dollars price point or two hundred dollars price point. M aybe that's because I'm worried about that might pigeonhole me as somebody who has a hundred dollars program or two hundred dollars program. But at the same time, if you only charge that $1,000 and you never prove yourself in the market, it might take a lot longer for people to be willing to invest that thousand to do that. Now, if you're an awesome marketer, there are some people that are brilliant marketers that can get you from the get go to commit at $1,000 because they're just great at their message. Some people have that. As much as I've studied some of the best people, I don't seem to have that, so I've had to work my way up. I'm okay with that because it's also allowed me to realize at each step the things I need to do better.

It helps me realize what gaps I need to fill in, what things maybe I'm missing. I constantly get better, but I still know I can get to that $1,000 price point for me because what I'm looking at is, what's the result worth? If the result is worth $10,000 to the client, I can always almost get to a point where I charge $1,000 eventually. If I proved enough people, I can do that. Ultimately, I'll also work on getting this $10,000 result to be where I can consistently get people a $50,000 result. That might be a different program or it might be the same work. That might be another variable that eventually when I reach my $1,000 charging price point of what I charge people for, because I'm getting them a $10,000 result, as I get better and I can get that $50,000 result, I can do the same thing and now start at $1,000 and start working my way up to, let's say, $5,000. All this is about saying, I'm going to get paid while I'm learning on the job training, like an apprenticeship that's paid, rather than hoping that everything works out after I put all these hours into a project, hoping that people buy and realizing that after six months, I got no response or didn't get enough response and now I've got to give up on it.

I hope you find this helpful. If you have any questions on this, you can go to the website in the blog area or the podcast area and put comments there. If you're listening on to your podcast, you can always go to wade@4dayworkweek. Com and just shoot me an email. As always, I look forward to helping you make more money in less time. Do what you do best. If you want to learn more about how we can help you do this, you can go to 4day workshop. Com. That's the number 4 day workshop. Com to learn about our 4 day Work Week entrepreneur academy, the event and the online program as well. As always, look forward to helping you. Thanks for listening and continue to let me know how I can help you.