Nice one Kenny! And, absolutely, client work can be the critical foundation builder. I've appreciated Dan Koe's straight-shot perspective on this. He's highlighted it in recent issues he's released. Spend a year or two in the services space. Some spend even more.
Thanks, David! It's been an interesting discovery for me to realize that a lot of people don't necessarily talk about providing services. I've also seen some people who stay stuck in it and don't develop the tools to ramp up their products!
I'll check out Dan Koe's issue. Thanks for bringing those up :)
"If you’ve been doing client work, have you experienced a similar situation? How did you manage it?"
The most obvious answer is to significantly raise your prices. It gives you more time to deliver great service (justifying higher prices) and also gives you more time to work on your products.
I have seen this in a business I ran and consulting that I have done. I thought the lower paying customers were keeping me afloat or helping me to build up a base that would make my offerings more attractive to others. But really they just burned me out. When I charged higher and higher fees I still had people willing to pay, people who would have paid much less had I not raised fees. I found that one customer could replace the fees of five or more other customers. I failed to do this quickly enough, but when I finally did it was a game changer for me.
I'm glad you're mentioning this, Antonio. I'm personally going through a very similar situation and I'm also realizing that you can find people happy to pay more and have a great relationship with them.
Was there a specific reason you didn't do it faster? I'm realizing that it takes me longer to get over the emotional fear of raising prices, but I shouldn't let that get in the way.
Because I always put others before myself to an unhealthy degree. I have been making this mistake off and on all the way up through this past fall. But I am done with that mistake from here on out.
The more specific reason is I wanted to remain accessible. But I think that you can still selectively give discounts or work pro bono if you feel that is appropriate -- just don't advertise it -- and only do it after you have sufficient high paying clients / customers that would allow you to do it without overstretching yourself.
I think the same, it's really hard to launch a product, it's so time consumming and there are more risks than client work, but the reward can be better as well. Congratz for the kid!!
A few people have mentioned that they use their client work to validate the demand and a problem and build products based on that. That helps reduce the risk for them and they have potential clients right away!
Love you thoughts here, Kenny! As I am reading your lines, I am noticing that I am 100% in the client work bucket. At this stage that's by design for my business. It's about generating revenue (to keep the lights on for me and my fam), but also to get from really good to mastery at my craft. My hunch is that when I am there, I will have the authority to launch product(s).
I've been seeing a bunch of people doing what you are describing. They use the experience they get from their 9-5 or client work to share products based on that experience. Same for people building a sizeable audience fast, they usually have a lot of valuable experience in their field.
Can't wait to see your products! Although, I'm sure you already have plenty of wisdom to share in whatever form you use :)
I was chatting with a guy who made a few and he had a good point. You're still indirectly trading your time for money because you need to build the product and still promote it. Might be a good hourly rate though depending on the success of the product!
Insightful...
Glad you got something out of it, Prince!
Nice one Kenny! And, absolutely, client work can be the critical foundation builder. I've appreciated Dan Koe's straight-shot perspective on this. He's highlighted it in recent issues he's released. Spend a year or two in the services space. Some spend even more.
Thanks, David! It's been an interesting discovery for me to realize that a lot of people don't necessarily talk about providing services. I've also seen some people who stay stuck in it and don't develop the tools to ramp up their products!
I'll check out Dan Koe's issue. Thanks for bringing those up :)
Great points here
Thanks, Ryan!
"If you’ve been doing client work, have you experienced a similar situation? How did you manage it?"
The most obvious answer is to significantly raise your prices. It gives you more time to deliver great service (justifying higher prices) and also gives you more time to work on your products.
I have seen this in a business I ran and consulting that I have done. I thought the lower paying customers were keeping me afloat or helping me to build up a base that would make my offerings more attractive to others. But really they just burned me out. When I charged higher and higher fees I still had people willing to pay, people who would have paid much less had I not raised fees. I found that one customer could replace the fees of five or more other customers. I failed to do this quickly enough, but when I finally did it was a game changer for me.
I'm glad you're mentioning this, Antonio. I'm personally going through a very similar situation and I'm also realizing that you can find people happy to pay more and have a great relationship with them.
Was there a specific reason you didn't do it faster? I'm realizing that it takes me longer to get over the emotional fear of raising prices, but I shouldn't let that get in the way.
Because I always put others before myself to an unhealthy degree. I have been making this mistake off and on all the way up through this past fall. But I am done with that mistake from here on out.
The more specific reason is I wanted to remain accessible. But I think that you can still selectively give discounts or work pro bono if you feel that is appropriate -- just don't advertise it -- and only do it after you have sufficient high paying clients / customers that would allow you to do it without overstretching yourself.
I actually touched upon this with my first substack post: https://antoniobuehler.substack.com/p/take-money-when-offered
Ah yes! I remember reading your post. And glad you're done with it. Congrats on making this decision!
And that sounds like great advice. That would probably help avoid resentment toward the situation.
I think the same, it's really hard to launch a product, it's so time consumming and there are more risks than client work, but the reward can be better as well. Congratz for the kid!!
Thank you, David!
A few people have mentioned that they use their client work to validate the demand and a problem and build products based on that. That helps reduce the risk for them and they have potential clients right away!
Love you thoughts here, Kenny! As I am reading your lines, I am noticing that I am 100% in the client work bucket. At this stage that's by design for my business. It's about generating revenue (to keep the lights on for me and my fam), but also to get from really good to mastery at my craft. My hunch is that when I am there, I will have the authority to launch product(s).
This feels intuitively right for me.
I've been seeing a bunch of people doing what you are describing. They use the experience they get from their 9-5 or client work to share products based on that experience. Same for people building a sizeable audience fast, they usually have a lot of valuable experience in their field.
Can't wait to see your products! Although, I'm sure you already have plenty of wisdom to share in whatever form you use :)
Digital products are like the holy grail for people making money online - no longer trading your time for money. One day we'll get there.
I was chatting with a guy who made a few and he had a good point. You're still indirectly trading your time for money because you need to build the product and still promote it. Might be a good hourly rate though depending on the success of the product!
Good point, you then change your role to promoter... never thought of it that way.