That’s because when you’re working for someone else, you’re
forced to watch the clock. You must be present for a certain number of hours.
This may mean being a cashier for 8 hours. Even if the store is completely
empty, you’re still there.
Stop
Filling Your Hours
If you’re not careful this mindset can transfer over to your
business. You show up to your laptop or tablet each day, with the knowledge
you’re going to be there for eight hours.
The problem is that creating a client’s website only takes
you two hours. So you just fill the other six hours with busy work like
checking the news, posting to social media, and hanging out on forums.
Then at the end of the day, you scramble to get the website
published and send out an invoice. You may feel like you’ve worked all day but
you really didn’t. You stretched a simple project into the time available.
Focus on
Your Value
Instead of focusing on time, start looking at the value that
you’re providing. It doesn’t matter if you made that value happen in two hours
or twenty. If the project only needed four hours of your attention, then
complete it in that time-frame and turn it in. Don’t wait by the clock just
because you feel like you have to.
As an entrepreneur, you’re in control of your time. If you
believe it’s valuable, your clients will pick up on that and have more
confidence in you!
Your Skills
+ Experience = Value
Service providers can sometimes think in terms of what they
can do, like writing a sales page or setting up the tools to seamlessly
automate a client’s marketing.
But it’s not just about your skills. It’s also about the
experience you carry with you and your ability to get the job done correctly.
There are dozens of ways to do most tasks.
Your client can get overwhelmed wondering which path is the
right one. With your experience, you can guide them to the action that will
help them achieve their goals.
Imagine a client comes to you looking for web design
services. There are plenty of ways to start a website but they’re stuck. They
don’t know which option is going to serve their needs.
You listen to their request and ask probing questions. You
get an idea for their vision and understand what features are essential to
their website. Then you create a WordPress site for them.
You didn’t only make a website for them. You showed them
which option is the best one based on their needs and that knowledge is worth a
premium. You saved the client countless hours of frustration, streamlined their
decision, and gave them valuable insights. That’s worth far more than just your
hourly rate!
At first, it might feel intimidating to create a package
with a large price tag. But keep in mind that your experience and expertise are
priceless.
