How many of you made as much
money as you wanted to last year? Don't be shy; raise your
hands. Hmm, I don't see too many hands out there. What
would you say is the cause of this gap between your goals
and your earnings?
While you could certainly
name the economy or inadequate marketing as the culprit,
I'd like to suggest a third alternative. It may be the
constraints of the billable hours model that keep you from
your financial goals.
Let's face it, there are
only so many hours you can actually bill to clients. For
example, the national average for consultants is 22
billable hours per week. You can only raise your rates so
high and still find enough customers. And if you spend
more time on marketing, that's less time you have
available to bill.
But there's a way out of
this trap. No matter what type of business you're in, you
can use intellectual property to crack the billable hours
ceiling. Here are just some of the ways to start tapping
into this resource today:
1. Package your process.
What if every time you began work with a new client, they
paid an up-front fee before you spent even one hour with
them? If you sell a process rather than your time, clients
will pay for access to your previously developed
materials. Examples are workbooks, forms, assessments,
surveys, games, self-paced programs, and train-the-trainer
packages.
2. Give a class. When you
assemble a group of people to learn together, you can earn
more per hour than working with them separately. Classes
can be given at your office, at a rented (or borrowed)
facility, on the phone, or on the web. Your market for
classes is not just your clients -- think about what you
could teach your colleagues as well.
3. Record a tape, CD, or
video. The simplest way to make recordings is to capture
your live classes or speaking engagements on audio or
video. Make your unedited recordings available immediately
on the web or by phone. More polished recordings can be
made with the help of a local studio or editor, or you can
learn to do this yourself with the right equipment.
4. Write a white paper,
workbook, or booklet. Short publications like these are
easily within your reach, even if you don't consider
yourself a writer. A simple 20-page booklet might have as
few as 4000 words in it. If you've written four articles
to promote your business, you've probably already written
this much. These are perfect formats for e-books, which
cost you nothing to print.
5. Author a book. This might
seem an impossible task, but if you write one page a day,
five days a week, at the end of a year you'll have a
full-length book. If writing isn't your strong point, find
an editor, ghost writer, or even a co-author who has the
skills you lack. You don't have to wait until your book is
finished to start selling excerpts as articles and white
papers.
6. Market other people's
products. If you don't yet have your own product, don't
let it stop you. You can begin earning passive income by
selling other people's books and tapes, becoming a
re-seller for software or assessment tools, licensing
someone else's process, or joining affiliate programs.
Any of these products can be
marketed in conversations with prospects and clients, in
your standard marketing kit, in mailings or newsletters,
on your outgoing voice mail message, and on your web site.
If you've been counting on
hourly fees for your entire income, you may be surprised
at the impact developing your intellectual property will
have. It will add not only to your revenue, but also your
professional credibility. And in poor economic times, you
will find that prospects who hesitate to pay for personal
service will still purchase classes and information
products.
Wishing you money earned in
your sleep,
C.J. Hayden, MCC
Here are
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Personal
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Personal
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Fitness
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Maximum
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The
Complete Guide to Successful Fitness Marketing – a
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Instant
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newsletters, print ads, and more.
