Here’s 3 signs you are ready to stop charging by the hour, day or session (and start selling high-value packages, instead)…
Sign 1: You’re getting quicker/better/more experienced
You are bloody good at what you do and getting quicker all the time – so now you’re getting paid less, for doing more. Whatttt?
This is the huge irony, and massive drawback, of hourly rates:
- You get quicker? The client gets more for their money 😬
- You invest in your expertise? The client gets higher-quality work and access to more knowledge, for EXACTLY the same price 🙈
- You grow in experience and get established? The client pays the same as if you were starting out 🙄
Alongside the fact that what happens when you do finally put your big-girl pants firmly on, and raise your rates? You have to justify every penny to keep those long-standing, bargain-basement clients happy, and it makes you question your own capability. Gah!
Sign 2: Your clients don’t (or won’t!) leave
They’re getting a bargain, and they know it!
But just because they’re 100% happy, doesn’t mean you are (or should be). You’ve got stuck delivering the grunt work, which does not light you up, and you’d much rather do the higher-level strategic stuff and then move on, and let someone else who does love it do the day-to-day implementation.
But living in a capitalist, racist, patriarchal society where we’re conditioned to please others and work hard to prove our ‘worth’… walking away from what is seen as an honest, decent day’s paid work feels like madness.
I’m here to tell you: it’s not.
It’s setting boundaries around what you do and don’t wish to do in your business.
And you are ALLOWED to do that!
You get to choose. I get that you may well want a way to bridge the gap, and I’m in no way suggesting you ditch all your income sources without a Plan B in place – so part of the process may be for you figuring out how to make that switch without feeling like you’re burning your bridges or alienating existing clients.
Sign 3: Your income has stalled
Clients are happy, your bank balance? Not so much.
This is about switching to a business model that serves you beyond the start-up phase. Sure, hourly or day rates can help you to get going fast, but they create your very own glass ceiling, too. Once you reach capacity, and have nudged your rates as far as you feel you comfortably can, that’s it. Its simple maths. You are stuck at a certain income level, this time of your own making (rather than one chosen by some employer setting fixed salary brackets) – nothing more frustrating, I know.
The key here? Is to simply switch to focusing your clients on buying into an outcome, a result. Which yes, requires deliverables and a certain commitment form you, but that also frees you up time-wise.
- You work faster? >> You get to finish earlier 🎉
- You outsource? >> You still take a slice of the profit 💰
- You create a system or template that you can apply to every client project? >> Great, YOU reap the rewards of your IP and the shortcuts you’ve created 📈
If you’ve been furiously nodding along to all 3 signs above, book in for a free Profit Potential Consultation Call, and I’ll help you figure out if moving from hourly rates to serving clients via packages could work for you.
