Important question for entrepreneurs and small business owners who don’t really know if their pricing strategy and approach is “right” for them
What’s the difference between having prices that ensure your business is profitable and cash-flow positive and supports your personal financial goals, too…
…and one that is struggling and you can’t see your way out? Or worse, that is actually financially strong but leaves you wondering when will your business’ success trickle down and have the personal financial impact you want so badly?
Pricing isn’t (entirely) logical. It’s (mostly) emotional.
And, it tells a story.
It tells a story about your brand. It represents what you want your prospects, clients and customers to believe in. This likely isn’t a newsflash for you.
With your pricing strategy and approach, you get to choose the story you want to tell. What is great about this moment in time is that as an entrepreneur or small business owner, you have as much control over that as the “big” guys do.
Even if you struggle with your pricing. Even if you wonder if you’re telling the story you most want those you serve to believe in.
But here’s what might be a newsflash because it doesn’t get discussed in entrepreneurial circles as much as I wish:
Math isn’t the reason you struggle with setting and raising your prices; it’s not why you have a hard time with the story you tell vs. the story others hear. It’s a lot deeper than that.
It’s internal.
The Real Problem
You struggle because pricing taps into your emotions.
You struggle because pricing brings into question your confidence.
You struggle because when you see the number on paper, or on a screen, or you say it aloud, you begin to question your value and the value of what you’ve created. And, how that compares with your competitors.
You struggle because you did what you were told — you streamlined costs or boosted volume — yet, the bottom-line results you were expecting didn’t materialize or didn’t last for long.
You struggle because no one told you that as your revenue increases, you’d have to navigate and negotiate the new financial, emotional and (possibly) spiritual responsibilities that come with.
You struggle because…you’re afraid of (fill in the blank).
I often tell my coaching clients and workshop participants that while price represents what someone pays you, you charge with your emotions. Call this the paradox of pricing.
And, it is why the more traditional pricing methods and approach frequently fall short. Often leading to you experiencing more frustrating years than necessary; causing you to grow at a slower rate (and not sustainably); or causing you to downright fail.
Or worse: They can mask some fundamental flaws in your offerings and business model. Clues you miss because your business is actually doing well — your business is successful and profitable.
But what you aren’t noticing is how in the midst of that you, personally, are broke or not doing as well as one would presume given how well your business is doing.
My Commitment & Superpower
I know this from first-hand experience. I, too, am an entrepreneur…since 1995.
I’m Jacquette M. Timmons. As a financial behaviorist, I run a coaching and speaking business that focuses on the human side of money. And, I am committed to getting you to see that you don’t manage money – you manage your choices around money.
Also, I want entrepreneurs to take better care of their personal finances.
I’m a traditionally published author; I host live events; and I speak for Fortune 100 and AM Law 200 companies, and nationally known non-profit organizations. My coaching and teaching style helps my clients move through the stages of self-awareness to self-empowerment to personalized action.
You can read more details about my body of work here. But as it relates to the role of pricing and how it can mask some fundamental flaws in your offerings and business model…
My aha moment came when I had a profitable year, but realized I was actually “broke” – my personal finances didn’t reflect my business’ success.
This was amplified when a client of mine reached that sought after threshold of earning six-figures in her business. But in the same celebratory breath said, “Oh shoot…I don’t have any money! How can this be?”
Recognizing a gap in the business coaching space – the gap of not integrating business and personal finances, I created a dedicated coaching program for entrepreneurs: “Successful, Profitable…and Not Broke.”
After all, your business should be in service to your personal goals and finances, too – right?
Obviously, there are many dynamic elements that lead to a successful and profitable business. But, from my work, I have had a front row seat into the challenges entrepreneurs face when it comes to pricing. As well as the corresponding costs – like a stunted business and life.
However you define better, can you imagine a better business (and life) because you have a pricing framework to utilize each time you create and/or refine a service or product?
Price, Confidently
Pricing is the backbone of your business. And, it’s hard.
When you struggle with your pricing strategy and approach, that can eventually impact your bottom line in a negative way — the struggle can stunt your business’ growth and profitability. Not to mention the impact it has on your personal finances. But it also means you’re probably not doing your best work for your peeps.
On the flip side…
When you approach your pricing strategy with ease and confidence, your genius effortlessly shines. You show up differently – you’re more present, energetic and curious. You are at your best, so you can give your best.
Ironically, when you do the deep emotional work of exploring the intersections of the various relationships that influence the price you charge and why, it becomes easier to do.
The result: You feel “good and right” about your pricing strategy and approach. Plus, having a successful, profitable business just got a whole lot easier to build and sustain.
Get In the Zone
I have used my front row seat to create a framework that will help entrepreneurs and small business owners, like you, set and raise your prices confidently. I call it “In the Zone: How to Price Your Genius.”
I believe it is a better way because it looks at pricing through the lens of your:
- Relationship with money
- Relationship with yourself
- Relationship with your business
- Relationship with your prospects, customers and clients
This is a combination and approach the traditional pricing methods don’t touch with a 10ft pole.
This is a combination and approach that helped me transform how I price my services. As a result, I went from feeling like my prices were holding me back to feeling like my prices were propelling my business and me forward.
I also believe it is a better way because of how I define genius: that intersection of what you do, how you do it, why you do it and who you are.
The goal of “In the Zone” is to help you feel confident with your pricing and with your approach. To know deep down that the price you land on feels good and is right for your business…and you. Not because you’re following some tried-and-true formula. But because you have a framework to utilize each time you create and/or refine a service or product. One that uses “pricing” as a feedback loop so that it does what it is inherently designed to do anyway!
By the end of the day, you can leave knowing that you are…
- pricing for profit (even if you’re not on the 6- and 7-figure bandwagon.)
- pricing for short- and long-term growth and sustainability.
- pricing for the value you create (not just what you think someone can afford to pay).
- using a pricing model that automatically integrates your personal finances, too!
My biggest takeaway was looking at the emotional components of money, my business and my future in my business. And then having the opportunity to plot it out with real numbers and real excitement. It really showed me the programs that I offer that I am not emotionally attached to anymore – so they may need to go.
What I loved about today’s retreat was that it allowed me the space to have a total re-think about how I was approaching my pricing. And the interaction with the other participants was palpable in also helping me rethink my approach to my business, in general.
You’re Invited
You’re invited to join us for this 1-day, intimate and retreat. To join us, the price is $1,500. (A payment plan is available.)
The impact “In the Zone: How to Price Your Genius” will have on the financial health of today’s businesses (like yours), and the financial health of the people who are behind them (like you) will be a game-changer.
And, I hope you’ll join us for this exclusive experience.
The next event is live virtually, via Zoom and is scheduled for Thursday, March 26, 2020, starting at 11am ET. (*Live, in-person events are hosted in a posh, cozy New York City location, with breakfast, lunch and healthy snacks provided throughout the day; this is included in the price. The group dinner afterward is optional and isn’t included in the price.) Whether live in-person or virtually, there’s learning, group discussion, self-reflection, and smaller breakout conversations.
This one-day retreat is a great opportunity to work on your business (not just in it) in collaboration with me and up to 10 other driven and curious entrepreneurs – like you. Entrepreneurs who also want pricing to stop being so darn hard. People who have the same mission as you: to get one of the most important aspects of your business “good and right” – pricing.
I can share more details about the day’s agenda as we near the date, but for now, let me leave you with this: pricing is about more than the number you charge. It is the reflection of everything about your business…and you.
During this one-day retreat we will explore this reflection and intersection, so that you can set and raise your prices with more ease and confidence. Hence the reason I am unabashedly enthusiastic about you joining us on Thursday, March 26, 2020 for, “In the Zone: How to Price Your Genius.”
Look forward to welcoming you!
(n.b. Would you prefer to curate your own group of participants or explore a 1:1 VIP Day? If you’d like to discuss either, mailto: [email protected])