October 13, 2025 • 22 mins
What’s really standing between you and a business that lets you work less - without sacrificing impact or income? In this solo episode, Anna Lundberg dives into the all-too-common traps that keep solopreneurs working beyond their limits and outlines a path to greater freedom, profitability, and alignment. If you feel stuck in the cycle of overwork, feast-or-famine income, and business models that don’t quite fit, tune in to reimagine what success could look like for you.
Key takeaways:
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The Four Traps of Expert Businesses: Anna explores how Frankenstein businesses, over-delivery spirals, feast-or-famine cycles, and the time-for-money trap keep solopreneurs tethered to unsustainable work habits.
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The Importance of an Intentional Business Model: Instead of a reactive approach, Anna stresses designing your business model with purpose, so it supports your lifestyle and ambitions—not just your bank balance.
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Redefining Success on Your Terms: Get clear on what success actually means to you, from minimum income goals and ideal working hours to non-negotiables—so you know when you’ve “made it.”
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Offers and Clients That Work for You: Learn why your offers should be energy-conscious, strategically priced, and tailored to deliver value without burning you out. Plus, discover how to attract and select dream clients who respect boundaries and value your expertise.
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Three Pillars for Sustainable Business Growth: Anna shares the simplified framework behind her approach: Intentional Business Model, Authentic Marketing & Sales, and Simple Systems & Processes.
Curious what a four-hour day could look like in your business?
Book a free strategy call to explore how your business model, offers, and boundaries could support more space - without compromising on financial rewards.
onestepoutside.com/call
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Reimagining Success, episode 363. And this one is for you
if you love the idea of working less. Maybe you listened to
last week's episode on the four hour day, or even you
aspire to Tim Ferriss's four hour week, but when you
look at your offers, your delivery, your pricing, it just feels completely
impossible. Maybe your calendar's maxed out, you're juggling too
(00:22):
many custom projects, or you've hit an income plateau that just doesn't
reflect where it is you want to be. If your business still
feels fragile, dependent on your time, or out of
alignment with what you really want, then this episode is for you.
Welcome to Reimagining Success, the podcast that helps you build a
(00:44):
profitable business as an independent expert, one that works for you and your
lifestyle. I'm your host, Anna Lundberg, former corporate insider
turned business mentor, executive coach and mum of two.
Whether you're a solopreneur, a coach, speaker, consultant,
I'm here to guide you in creating a business that gives you freedom,
flexibility, and the fulfilment you're looking for, ready
(01:06):
to redefine success and build a business that you love. Let's get
started.
Okay, so last week I introduced this idea of the four hour day.
And I like the evolution of my thinking
here from having kind of demonised, let's be honest, the nine to five to
some extent and really going, okay, but if not this, then what
(01:29):
are we working towards? Right? It's easy to say, okay, we don't want
the factory 40 plus hour weeks, so what do we want
instead? And so let's see if we can create
this four hour day as a kind of movement, as something to work
towards, as solopreneurs and experts and founders.
Okay, now
(01:51):
why are we not there now? Why do
expert businesses hit a wall? And, and this is something I've seen with so many
brilliant solopreneurs that I've worked with, that I haven't worked with. And we
start with this momentum and you know,
we're getting clients and of course there's this phase of saying
yes to lots of things because we don't know what's going to work
(02:13):
and we get momentum and so on, but then we hit a wall. And it's
not because we're doing anything wrong, but the business model hasn't
been designed, it just kind of happens. So a few common
traps, and I've talked about a few of these before. The
Frankenstein business, this is one that I think isn't talked about enough, but it's Kind
of cobbled together from free advice, online
(02:34):
courses, what you've seen others do, and just being really reactive
to sort of where. Where things are coming. Right. So you just.
Oh, yeah, they've asked me for this, I'll do this. They've asked for coaching on
that. Sure, no problem. I've run a workshop over here. I've designed a programme
there and, and, and it kind of works. It's kind of bringing in the income
you want, but it's very complicated.
(02:55):
Alex Merry and. And he won't mind me sharing this because he shared it publicly,
had, I think it was 12 offers. So Alex Merry was. Is
the founder of Mic Drop. I've had a lot of.
So it's a speaking group which I highly recommend. So chat with me about that.
However, he talked about having created these 12 different offers and he's
(03:16):
really stripped that back and chosen
to focus on Mic Drop. And he has a couple of other things, but really
very much anchored in his brilliance,
really his zone of genius. And together with his wife Livy, they're
creating something really fantastic. But they can only do that because
they've stripped back from those 12 offers that somehow had been
(03:39):
created. And be honest, if we look at the big players,
I think of. Of quite a few of the big names, you know, they might
have 12 offers, but what do they have? They have entire teams of
social media and videographers and assistants and associates and.
And all sorts. Right. That's not the case for those of us starting
out, and it may never be the case. So that's the first trap, the Frankenstein
(04:00):
business. The second one is over delivering, the over
delivery spiral. So we're starting a bit tentatively, so
we're charging a bit too little. We're not quite confident enough. We're
customising too much because even though we haven't charged very much, we want to make
sure that they're really impressed with what we do. And then
we constantly tweak. So I've done this and I still do it and I'm working
(04:21):
on it to myself. So full transparency here. You know,
I'll create a whole off site, I'll create a whole training
and I'll do it from scratch, even though I have lots of existing things. And
then for the next one, I'll start again because each training is slightly
different and there's a different audience and even worse, perhaps, you're doing
completely different things, reinventing the wheel every time.
(04:44):
And. And for those of us who are kind of multi passionate, just throwing that
in there, we like variety Right. So we don't want to do the same thing
again and again. But if we get into this over delivery spiral
of tweaking, doing everything bespoke
and unfortunately charging too little, let's be honest, if someone, I always say,
if someone wants to pay me 500k for a bespoke project, no problemo,
(05:05):
baby, happy to do that for you. But generally we fall into this
spiral of charging too little and, you know, over delivering. So over
delivering and not getting the
reward that we should. Feast or famine
cycle. Don't need to explain that one to you. But really it's this kind
of lack of a consistent revenue rhythm. We're chasing
(05:26):
projects. One day we've got, you know, 10k coming
in, 15k. The next month we've got nothing,
you know, dependent on big launches or we're busy with a client
and then we forget we need to also do business development. So when that contract
ends, we have nothing lined up. There's no pipeline. So really, this roller coaster,
which is a bit of a cliche, but unfortunately quite common, and then
(05:49):
the time for money trap. And this is an interesting one because as a solopreneur
expert, to some extent, we are selling our time for money, but
it's still looking at, you know,
making the model work. So it's not just depending on you showing up,
doing the work, solving the problem, necessarily. And this is something we'll talk about. So
the thing about these traps, these models, Frankenstein, over delivery,
(06:12):
feast or famine, time for money is that they're really reactive, not
intentional. So, yes, they might generate income, but they're
not creating the freedom that is the reason, the main
reason why we started the business in the first place. Okay, so
what is it that gets in the way? Well, you might have a sense
of this, but perhaps you haven't dared to voice it or
(06:34):
haven't quite fully been able to articulate what's going on. But there's a big
one around. You know, when we talk about choosing a niche and being
specific, there's this fear of narrowing down. What if I miss
out on work? Oh, my gosh. I can't possibly say that I do this
because then what if they want something else and then I can't do that? So
that's a huge one. Fear of narrowing down. Another one is
(06:56):
confusion and lack of confidence over pricing. Oh, can I really charge
that? But no one else is charging that. Am I good enough? You know, there's
a lot there, actually. It's not just lack of clarity on pricing.
It's not just A pricing issue, emotional attachment to
responsiveness and the identity. No, I should reply straight away. So I'm
available. So I'm showing that I'm a really reliable
(07:17):
person and they'll give me more work and to be
honest, lack of clarity. I don't really know what I'm building here. I'm just
kind of fumbling my way through the dark
and more deeply. I suppose a lot of us are still operating
from some probably unconscious, although some also very explicit
rules that we inherited in corporate. This idea, the sort of
(07:40):
presenteeism that if we're available we're very valuable, if we're busy
we're very important. And at work, you know, in
the office, in a corporate job, we're getting paid basically
regardless. So it's a very different
model to when our price is
directly tied to how much we're earning.
(08:02):
When the quality of our work is very much tied to us as a personal
brand, as an individual. Right. It's much more personal. So there's a lot of things
going on underneath FOMO of missing out,
wondering if we're charging too much, feeling like we need to be
available and replying and so on and not really knowing what we're trying to build
in the first place that can get in the way.
(08:25):
So my approach, and I've talked about this before but, but I I aware
that I need to say things a hundred times for it to land. So I'd
happily say this again and again. I have three pillars now I've talked about the
five pillars in the past but I've narrowed it down to, to three pillars
essentially and which are having an intentional business model. Number
one, and that's the focus of today. Number two,
(08:45):
authentic marketing and sales. I'm calling it natural. Feels
good to you, fits in your energies and lifestyle and so on.
And finally simple systems and processes. So not lots of fancy software and
so on but, but processes and systems that support you. So three
pillars, three sides to that triangle. You need an intentional business
model. Authentic marketing and sales and simple systems and processes.
(09:08):
And that's what we're working on in the accelerator now. And those are the three
dimensions. Okay, so intentional business.
I have an intentional business blueprint that I take my clients through. So it's super,
super tangible. It's like a one page business plan. But I want to walk you
through the clear key components that you want to be thinking about
and to be perfectly transparent here. Let
(09:29):
me tell you who this is not for. It's not for VC backed tech
startups. It's not for teams of 50. This is
expert solopreneurs, maybe with a small support team
earning up to, I'd say multiple six figures. There's a ceiling
certainly that I. But that's perhaps my own
limitation. And for people wanting to work fewer hours
(09:52):
without sacrificing depth or value. So I'm not talking about people
who want to just sit on the beach sipping margaritas. So apologies if that's. You
see. Yeah, no, that's an important part of life, but it's also
for us doing valuable work that's fulfilling, rewarding,
that makes a difference. Okay, so that's who this is for. So
key components to walk through. The first one has to be, and this is the
(10:14):
top part of the business blueprint, a clear vision of success.
And that is big picture. You know, I want to feel this way. It looks
this way. You know, for me, actually, my
definition of success is pretty simple. It's being present wherever
I am. So when I'm with you here talking or with clients or presenting,
I want to be fully present, engaged and
(10:36):
passionate about what I'm talking about and, and the work I'm delivering and
financially rewarded for that. Now. Okay, podcast, you're not paying me, sadly, but
hopefully I'll get a few CL clients from this. Right? So nonetheless, it's rewarding.
I'm here, I don't have the kids banging on the door because they're at school.
And this, this, you know, this is good for me. On the other side, if
I'm, you know, during the summer holidays or the weekends or evenings
(10:57):
and I'm with the kids or with my partner or doing something
else that's hopefully fun in my life, then I'm fully there as well and not
going, oh, I really wish I, I should be working on that. I should be
answering the email, whatever it is. So that's my definition of success. But what's your
definition? And there's the big picture, subjective
image vision of what that looks and feels like. But there's
(11:19):
also, then we look at really tangible numbers. What are your
minimum income goals? And that sounds like a low bar, but that might be
replacing your salary from your full time job. It might
be covering your costs or it might be a higher bar, but there is
sort of a minimum income. And to be honest,
there is also a ceiling, I would suggest, because if you don't
(11:41):
put that ceiling, there will always be more. I spent some time with a friend
this summer who told me her partner is just sort of addicted to that game.
How much more money Can I make? And that's great and you know, that
sounds fantastic and they have a lovely house and so on,
but are you then choosing to do that
over the other things and people that matter in your life?
(12:04):
Is that so much more important, the incremental gains from making even
more hundreds of thousands of pounds or millions or billions wherever your
ceiling is, or, or actually have you sort of, you know what,
I've scratched that itch. I've shown that I can make my however many figures and,
and now that's not the, the thing. And for most people I work with,
maybe we're holding ourselves back. We're not talking about making
(12:25):
millions and, and this perhaps is the first stage. It may
be that once you've made your 100k, 250k, whatever it is,
you go, actually now I'd like to make more, fine. But
it's not. Certainly if you're simply trying to earn
a living replacing your job, being able to live a
comfortable life, taking care of your family, and most importantly
(12:48):
perhaps being able to say no to work that isn't aligned, then we're not talking
millions here, right? So that's a lot of money. But what does success look
like for you financially? And then the hours you want to work. So for example,
four hours a day or three days a week, whatever that looks
like. And importantly as well, a part of that vision of success is your non
negotiable. So, okay, no calls after, you
(13:11):
know, 3:00pm, after school pickup, no work on Fridays.
I want to have, I was going
to say a monthly massage just came into my mind that probably wouldn't be on
my non negotiables, but it could be, maybe it should be. But if you
don't name what success looks like, if you don't even know what your non negotiables
are, your hours, your income, goals, then you'll always be chasing
(13:33):
more because you don't know if you've got enough. Maybe if I never check
my accounts, I won't know. Actually I'm earning 20k a month and
that's beyond what I need. But I'm still chasing because I've got to make more
money, more money, more money. So being on top of your numbers and knowing how
much you want and need is a really important part of this. It's not about
the money. And yet it absolutely is about the money. Okay,
(13:54):
so your vision of success then. I want to talk about offers and
I want to talk about clients. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much,
but if we talk about the offer design, this is really crucial because the offer,
the service, the product is, is where time comes
into play. Energy, pricing, everything, right? So
thinking when you're coming up with offers, don't just go, oh well, so and
(14:16):
so does a course or says that you should do courses or
oh, it's all about the, the big programmes or workshops or
it's got to be one to one coaching. No, it's got to be group coaching,
all these shoulds or copying other people's models. Think
about how much time and energy does this offer actually take to
deliver? Because you might be saying yes to something, let's say with a
(14:38):
corporate, a B2B. Oh my gosh, they're paying me so much money. But what you're
then offering them within that money is way beyond. If you
actually spread that out over all the time you're going to take and energy and
the compromises and being away from family, whatever it is with
travel and so on, the cost will be way higher and it might not
be worth it. So how much time and energy does it actually
(15:00):
take deliver? Probably more than you think. Can
you deliver this at your best or are
you always feeling stretched because you've squeezed in too much? Right. You're offering too many
calls too often and it's getting in the way of other things. Are you
pricing in integrity with
where you want to be, with the value you're delivering And I know that's a
(15:21):
really tricky thing to put your finger on, or are you pricing out of
fear and thinking, oh gosh, I can't possibly charge more than that, who am I
to? And so on and
one interesting. And I think I've heard people talk about a sort of the saviour
complex and it's easy to think, okay,
do my clients need me? And you might think, yes, they do, I'm the expert,
(15:45):
you know, I, I need to give them one to one and lots of feedback
on their model and I'm the one they're paying to work with and so on.
But the truth is they're super smart. The people I work with, they
get a lot of insights themselves. I give them prompts and frameworks and so
on. But of course as we know from coaching, if you've had any experience of
that, the best, you know, commitment, motivation,
(16:09):
buy in comes from, you know, coming to your own
conclusions and developing your own
ideas that really work for you. That's the whole point. Your definition of success
and my favourite moment are in a group call, for
example, or the WhatsApp chat where the members
are helping each other and give sometimes better feedback
(16:31):
than I could have done. And that's a bit humbling, but isn't that amazing? So
if I think I'm the saviour and oh my gosh, I have to give them
500 hours of one to one time with me or I have to be there
and give them all that support and I have to check everything they
do and so on, then that that's locking them
into this dependency and unfortunately for you means you have to be
(16:52):
there over delivering all the time. So try to be honest with yourself and think
do they actually need you and do they actually need
you to pack the programme full of all this stuff that doesn't
exist yet. You have to develop the perfect workbooks and this, that and the
other. Or can you create a model where they're getting what they need but with
a much simpler, more stripped back
(17:14):
skeleton and, and gives them what they need without all
the stuff and all of you.
So rather than, you know, thinking oh, it's all about the hourly coaching and as
much of time with you as possible. It's packages, right?
Generally in coaching it's much more powerful and
valuable to have an end goal, to have a
(17:36):
purpose, to have something you're working towards with on your side
boundaries, maybe with some exercises in between if you want to and
so with prep but then things for them to do in between the calls and
apply what they're learning as well rather than just sort of open
ended consulting and just you keep talking working
indefinitely. You have a productized service, you have a really
(17:57):
clearly defined scope, you have certain outcomes and that's going to be
completed at a certain date. And rather than maybe
totally bespoke customers projects for
everybody, you and maybe this takes time, you have experience of what actually this
looks like but you eventually develop a flagship programme that has
standardised templated onboarding set and start
(18:19):
dates, finish dates, material. You work through series
of workshops that you offer instead of creating a new type of workshop for every
single client. Okay, so that's offer design and
then finally clients I'm seeing this is quite a long episode so I hope it's
worth the listen as I go over what I usually do but, but it's really
important when you think about the clients you're working with. And I have a client
(18:41):
checklist. Message me, you can message me Anna Essie Lumberg on
Instagram or Anna Lumberg on LinkedIn. You can also
email me let's say podcastonestipoutside.com and
I can send you this checklist, but it's considering, of course, there's a
big picture, B2B versus B2C.
It's do they value your expertise?
(19:04):
Do, are they aware of their problem? Are they willing to
pay to solve that problem? You know, do they respect
your boundaries or are they going to demand, expect that you answer
them at, you know, the drop of a hat every night, every weekend and
so on? Do they pay on time? Do they do
the work? Do they trust the process? Yes.
(19:26):
It's not about just getting more clients, right? It's getting the right clients. And that
means yes. You might say no to some people, some people might be turned off
themselves, but you will deliver so much better value for the
right clients. They will rave about you, they'll be happy to pay. You
can increase your prices, you'll be happy delivering the work. You'll become known
as the expert in this thing. Right? Clients will see you more as a
(19:48):
strategic partner. You're the expert, so
you know what the
requirements are. You know the best approach. In my experience,
a series of three workshops covering these topics
is the best approach. Because a one off lunch and learn is not going to
make any difference. Or in my experience, you know, with a new client, I'll
(20:09):
usually start with a four month coaching container and we work on
XYZ things. You're the expert guiding them.
Don't be too, you know, wishy washy and said, oh,
we can do whatever you want because then hang on, but I'm paying you to,
to advise me here so that that doesn't work in your favour.
Okay, so what's your vision? Big
(20:33):
picture. As well as the tangibles of practical parameters, hours,
fees, non negotiables. Offer design and
really thinking about what your clients need, but also what it
takes for you to deliver. And then speaking of
clients, really the right clients who are going to value your
expertise, respect your boundaries and be like the
(20:56):
dream clients who pay you without complaining and they do the work and they get
amazing results. So if your current model
isn't supporting your vision, it's not your fault. It's just likely that you've built,
you know, what you were told would work. You followed some kind of blueprint from
someone else. You've hobbled together.
What's the word? Cobbled together. I think I'm after this kind of
(21:16):
Frankenstein model. But it's okay,
it's no one's fault. And it's amazing that you've even got this far by yourself.
Right? But it's never too late. To recalibrate and go, hang on,
stop. This was not the reason why I quit my job and actually come back
and and design or redesign something that reflects
your actual goals now and who you are now and who you want to be
(21:37):
in the next few years, not maybe who you were a few years ago. You
know, I started my business 10 years ago. My lift looked very different than 10
five years ago. So what's your energy, your priorities now
and for the next season of your life? And that's what lets you work
fewer hours, earn more, and protect your peace
without sacrificing the impact that you want to have. Okay,
(22:00):
thanks for listening and I'll see you next week. Bye for now.
If this episode has you thinking that something needs to shift, whether that's
streamlining how you work, redesigning your offers, or finally building the
business that you actually wanted when you started, let's talk about what's next
for you. We can look at where you are, what you want these next few
(22:21):
months and years to feel like, and whether one to one support or the business
accelerator would be the best fit. Just book a
call@onestepoutside.com call. It's a
simple conversation to explore what would make the biggest difference for you right
now. That's onestepoutside.com call.
Reimagining Success, episode 363. And this one is for you
if you love the idea of working less. Maybe you listened to
last week's episode on the four hour day, or even you
aspire to Tim Ferriss's four hour week, but when you
look at your offers, your delivery, your pricing, it just feels completely
impossible. Maybe your calendar's maxed out, you're juggling too
(00:22):
many custom projects, or you've hit an income plateau that just doesn't
reflect where it is you want to be. If your business still
feels fragile, dependent on your time, or out of
alignment with what you really want, then this episode is for you.
Welcome to Reimagining Success, the podcast that helps you build a
(00:44):
profitable business as an independent expert, one that works for you and your
lifestyle. I'm your host, Anna Lundberg, former corporate insider
turned business mentor, executive coach and mum of two.
Whether you're a solopreneur, a coach, speaker, consultant,
I'm here to guide you in creating a business that gives you freedom,
flexibility, and the fulfilment you're looking for, ready
(01:06):
to redefine success and build a business that you love. Let's get
started.
Okay, so last week I introduced this idea of the four hour day.
And I like the evolution of my thinking
here from having kind of demonised, let's be honest, the nine to five to
some extent and really going, okay, but if not this, then what
(01:29):
are we working towards? Right? It's easy to say, okay, we don't want
the factory 40 plus hour weeks, so what do we want
instead? And so let's see if we can create
this four hour day as a kind of movement, as something to work
towards, as solopreneurs and experts and founders.
Okay, now
(01:51):
why are we not there now? Why do
expert businesses hit a wall? And, and this is something I've seen with so many
brilliant solopreneurs that I've worked with, that I haven't worked with. And we
start with this momentum and you know,
we're getting clients and of course there's this phase of saying
yes to lots of things because we don't know what's going to work
(02:13):
and we get momentum and so on, but then we hit a wall. And it's
not because we're doing anything wrong, but the business model hasn't
been designed, it just kind of happens. So a few common
traps, and I've talked about a few of these before. The
Frankenstein business, this is one that I think isn't talked about enough, but it's Kind
of cobbled together from free advice, online
(02:34):
courses, what you've seen others do, and just being really reactive
to sort of where. Where things are coming. Right. So you just.
Oh, yeah, they've asked me for this, I'll do this. They've asked for coaching on
that. Sure, no problem. I've run a workshop over here. I've designed a programme
there and, and, and it kind of works. It's kind of bringing in the income
you want, but it's very complicated.
(02:55):
Alex Merry and. And he won't mind me sharing this because he shared it publicly,
had, I think it was 12 offers. So Alex Merry was. Is
the founder of Mic Drop. I've had a lot of.
So it's a speaking group which I highly recommend. So chat with me about that.
However, he talked about having created these 12 different offers and he's
(03:16):
really stripped that back and chosen
to focus on Mic Drop. And he has a couple of other things, but really
very much anchored in his brilliance,
really his zone of genius. And together with his wife Livy, they're
creating something really fantastic. But they can only do that because
they've stripped back from those 12 offers that somehow had been
(03:39):
created. And be honest, if we look at the big players,
I think of. Of quite a few of the big names, you know, they might
have 12 offers, but what do they have? They have entire teams of
social media and videographers and assistants and associates and.
And all sorts. Right. That's not the case for those of us starting
out, and it may never be the case. So that's the first trap, the Frankenstein
(04:00):
business. The second one is over delivering, the over
delivery spiral. So we're starting a bit tentatively, so
we're charging a bit too little. We're not quite confident enough. We're
customising too much because even though we haven't charged very much, we want to make
sure that they're really impressed with what we do. And then
we constantly tweak. So I've done this and I still do it and I'm working
(04:21):
on it to myself. So full transparency here. You know,
I'll create a whole off site, I'll create a whole training
and I'll do it from scratch, even though I have lots of existing things. And
then for the next one, I'll start again because each training is slightly
different and there's a different audience and even worse, perhaps, you're doing
completely different things, reinventing the wheel every time.
(04:44):
And. And for those of us who are kind of multi passionate, just throwing that
in there, we like variety Right. So we don't want to do the same thing
again and again. But if we get into this over delivery spiral
of tweaking, doing everything bespoke
and unfortunately charging too little, let's be honest, if someone, I always say,
if someone wants to pay me 500k for a bespoke project, no problemo,
(05:05):
baby, happy to do that for you. But generally we fall into this
spiral of charging too little and, you know, over delivering. So over
delivering and not getting the
reward that we should. Feast or famine
cycle. Don't need to explain that one to you. But really it's this kind
of lack of a consistent revenue rhythm. We're chasing
(05:26):
projects. One day we've got, you know, 10k coming
in, 15k. The next month we've got nothing,
you know, dependent on big launches or we're busy with a client
and then we forget we need to also do business development. So when that contract
ends, we have nothing lined up. There's no pipeline. So really, this roller coaster,
which is a bit of a cliche, but unfortunately quite common, and then
(05:49):
the time for money trap. And this is an interesting one because as a solopreneur
expert, to some extent, we are selling our time for money, but
it's still looking at, you know,
making the model work. So it's not just depending on you showing up,
doing the work, solving the problem, necessarily. And this is something we'll talk about. So
the thing about these traps, these models, Frankenstein, over delivery,
(06:12):
feast or famine, time for money is that they're really reactive, not
intentional. So, yes, they might generate income, but they're
not creating the freedom that is the reason, the main
reason why we started the business in the first place. Okay, so
what is it that gets in the way? Well, you might have a sense
of this, but perhaps you haven't dared to voice it or
(06:34):
haven't quite fully been able to articulate what's going on. But there's a big
one around. You know, when we talk about choosing a niche and being
specific, there's this fear of narrowing down. What if I miss
out on work? Oh, my gosh. I can't possibly say that I do this
because then what if they want something else and then I can't do that? So
that's a huge one. Fear of narrowing down. Another one is
(06:56):
confusion and lack of confidence over pricing. Oh, can I really charge
that? But no one else is charging that. Am I good enough? You know, there's
a lot there, actually. It's not just lack of clarity on pricing.
It's not just A pricing issue, emotional attachment to
responsiveness and the identity. No, I should reply straight away. So I'm
available. So I'm showing that I'm a really reliable
(07:17):
person and they'll give me more work and to be
honest, lack of clarity. I don't really know what I'm building here. I'm just
kind of fumbling my way through the dark
and more deeply. I suppose a lot of us are still operating
from some probably unconscious, although some also very explicit
rules that we inherited in corporate. This idea, the sort of
(07:40):
presenteeism that if we're available we're very valuable, if we're busy
we're very important. And at work, you know, in
the office, in a corporate job, we're getting paid basically
regardless. So it's a very different
model to when our price is
directly tied to how much we're earning.
(08:02):
When the quality of our work is very much tied to us as a personal
brand, as an individual. Right. It's much more personal. So there's a lot of things
going on underneath FOMO of missing out,
wondering if we're charging too much, feeling like we need to be
available and replying and so on and not really knowing what we're trying to build
in the first place that can get in the way.
(08:25):
So my approach, and I've talked about this before but, but I I aware
that I need to say things a hundred times for it to land. So I'd
happily say this again and again. I have three pillars now I've talked about the
five pillars in the past but I've narrowed it down to, to three pillars
essentially and which are having an intentional business model. Number
one, and that's the focus of today. Number two,
(08:45):
authentic marketing and sales. I'm calling it natural. Feels
good to you, fits in your energies and lifestyle and so on.
And finally simple systems and processes. So not lots of fancy software and
so on but, but processes and systems that support you. So three
pillars, three sides to that triangle. You need an intentional business
model. Authentic marketing and sales and simple systems and processes.
(09:08):
And that's what we're working on in the accelerator now. And those are the three
dimensions. Okay, so intentional business.
I have an intentional business blueprint that I take my clients through. So it's super,
super tangible. It's like a one page business plan. But I want to walk you
through the clear key components that you want to be thinking about
and to be perfectly transparent here. Let
(09:29):
me tell you who this is not for. It's not for VC backed tech
startups. It's not for teams of 50. This is
expert solopreneurs, maybe with a small support team
earning up to, I'd say multiple six figures. There's a ceiling
certainly that I. But that's perhaps my own
limitation. And for people wanting to work fewer hours
(09:52):
without sacrificing depth or value. So I'm not talking about people
who want to just sit on the beach sipping margaritas. So apologies if that's. You
see. Yeah, no, that's an important part of life, but it's also
for us doing valuable work that's fulfilling, rewarding,
that makes a difference. Okay, so that's who this is for. So
key components to walk through. The first one has to be, and this is the
(10:14):
top part of the business blueprint, a clear vision of success.
And that is big picture. You know, I want to feel this way. It looks
this way. You know, for me, actually, my
definition of success is pretty simple. It's being present wherever
I am. So when I'm with you here talking or with clients or presenting,
I want to be fully present, engaged and
(10:36):
passionate about what I'm talking about and, and the work I'm delivering and
financially rewarded for that. Now. Okay, podcast, you're not paying me, sadly, but
hopefully I'll get a few CL clients from this. Right? So nonetheless, it's rewarding.
I'm here, I don't have the kids banging on the door because they're at school.
And this, this, you know, this is good for me. On the other side, if
I'm, you know, during the summer holidays or the weekends or evenings
(10:57):
and I'm with the kids or with my partner or doing something
else that's hopefully fun in my life, then I'm fully there as well and not
going, oh, I really wish I, I should be working on that. I should be
answering the email, whatever it is. So that's my definition of success. But what's your
definition? And there's the big picture, subjective
image vision of what that looks and feels like. But there's
(11:19):
also, then we look at really tangible numbers. What are your
minimum income goals? And that sounds like a low bar, but that might be
replacing your salary from your full time job. It might
be covering your costs or it might be a higher bar, but there is
sort of a minimum income. And to be honest,
there is also a ceiling, I would suggest, because if you don't
(11:41):
put that ceiling, there will always be more. I spent some time with a friend
this summer who told me her partner is just sort of addicted to that game.
How much more money Can I make? And that's great and you know, that
sounds fantastic and they have a lovely house and so on,
but are you then choosing to do that
over the other things and people that matter in your life?
(12:04):
Is that so much more important, the incremental gains from making even
more hundreds of thousands of pounds or millions or billions wherever your
ceiling is, or, or actually have you sort of, you know what,
I've scratched that itch. I've shown that I can make my however many figures and,
and now that's not the, the thing. And for most people I work with,
maybe we're holding ourselves back. We're not talking about making
(12:25):
millions and, and this perhaps is the first stage. It may
be that once you've made your 100k, 250k, whatever it is,
you go, actually now I'd like to make more, fine. But
it's not. Certainly if you're simply trying to earn
a living replacing your job, being able to live a
comfortable life, taking care of your family, and most importantly
(12:48):
perhaps being able to say no to work that isn't aligned, then we're not talking
millions here, right? So that's a lot of money. But what does success look
like for you financially? And then the hours you want to work. So for example,
four hours a day or three days a week, whatever that looks
like. And importantly as well, a part of that vision of success is your non
negotiable. So, okay, no calls after, you
(13:11):
know, 3:00pm, after school pickup, no work on Fridays.
I want to have, I was going
to say a monthly massage just came into my mind that probably wouldn't be on
my non negotiables, but it could be, maybe it should be. But if you
don't name what success looks like, if you don't even know what your non negotiables
are, your hours, your income, goals, then you'll always be chasing
(13:33):
more because you don't know if you've got enough. Maybe if I never check
my accounts, I won't know. Actually I'm earning 20k a month and
that's beyond what I need. But I'm still chasing because I've got to make more
money, more money, more money. So being on top of your numbers and knowing how
much you want and need is a really important part of this. It's not about
the money. And yet it absolutely is about the money. Okay,
(13:54):
so your vision of success then. I want to talk about offers and
I want to talk about clients. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much,
but if we talk about the offer design, this is really crucial because the offer,
the service, the product is, is where time comes
into play. Energy, pricing, everything, right? So
thinking when you're coming up with offers, don't just go, oh well, so and
(14:16):
so does a course or says that you should do courses or
oh, it's all about the, the big programmes or workshops or
it's got to be one to one coaching. No, it's got to be group coaching,
all these shoulds or copying other people's models. Think
about how much time and energy does this offer actually take to
deliver? Because you might be saying yes to something, let's say with a
(14:38):
corporate, a B2B. Oh my gosh, they're paying me so much money. But what you're
then offering them within that money is way beyond. If you
actually spread that out over all the time you're going to take and energy and
the compromises and being away from family, whatever it is with
travel and so on, the cost will be way higher and it might not
be worth it. So how much time and energy does it actually
(15:00):
take deliver? Probably more than you think. Can
you deliver this at your best or are
you always feeling stretched because you've squeezed in too much? Right. You're offering too many
calls too often and it's getting in the way of other things. Are you
pricing in integrity with
where you want to be, with the value you're delivering And I know that's a
(15:21):
really tricky thing to put your finger on, or are you pricing out of
fear and thinking, oh gosh, I can't possibly charge more than that, who am I
to? And so on and
one interesting. And I think I've heard people talk about a sort of the saviour
complex and it's easy to think, okay,
do my clients need me? And you might think, yes, they do, I'm the expert,
(15:45):
you know, I, I need to give them one to one and lots of feedback
on their model and I'm the one they're paying to work with and so on.
But the truth is they're super smart. The people I work with, they
get a lot of insights themselves. I give them prompts and frameworks and so
on. But of course as we know from coaching, if you've had any experience of
that, the best, you know, commitment, motivation,
(16:09):
buy in comes from, you know, coming to your own
conclusions and developing your own
ideas that really work for you. That's the whole point. Your definition of success
and my favourite moment are in a group call, for
example, or the WhatsApp chat where the members
are helping each other and give sometimes better feedback
(16:31):
than I could have done. And that's a bit humbling, but isn't that amazing? So
if I think I'm the saviour and oh my gosh, I have to give them
500 hours of one to one time with me or I have to be there
and give them all that support and I have to check everything they
do and so on, then that that's locking them
into this dependency and unfortunately for you means you have to be
(16:52):
there over delivering all the time. So try to be honest with yourself and think
do they actually need you and do they actually need
you to pack the programme full of all this stuff that doesn't
exist yet. You have to develop the perfect workbooks and this, that and the
other. Or can you create a model where they're getting what they need but with
a much simpler, more stripped back
(17:14):
skeleton and, and gives them what they need without all
the stuff and all of you.
So rather than, you know, thinking oh, it's all about the hourly coaching and as
much of time with you as possible. It's packages, right?
Generally in coaching it's much more powerful and
valuable to have an end goal, to have a
(17:36):
purpose, to have something you're working towards with on your side
boundaries, maybe with some exercises in between if you want to and
so with prep but then things for them to do in between the calls and
apply what they're learning as well rather than just sort of open
ended consulting and just you keep talking working
indefinitely. You have a productized service, you have a really
(17:57):
clearly defined scope, you have certain outcomes and that's going to be
completed at a certain date. And rather than maybe
totally bespoke customers projects for
everybody, you and maybe this takes time, you have experience of what actually this
looks like but you eventually develop a flagship programme that has
standardised templated onboarding set and start
(18:19):
dates, finish dates, material. You work through series
of workshops that you offer instead of creating a new type of workshop for every
single client. Okay, so that's offer design and
then finally clients I'm seeing this is quite a long episode so I hope it's
worth the listen as I go over what I usually do but, but it's really
important when you think about the clients you're working with. And I have a client
(18:41):
checklist. Message me, you can message me Anna Essie Lumberg on
Instagram or Anna Lumberg on LinkedIn. You can also
email me let's say podcastonestipoutside.com and
I can send you this checklist, but it's considering, of course, there's a
big picture, B2B versus B2C.
It's do they value your expertise?
(19:04):
Do, are they aware of their problem? Are they willing to
pay to solve that problem? You know, do they respect
your boundaries or are they going to demand, expect that you answer
them at, you know, the drop of a hat every night, every weekend and
so on? Do they pay on time? Do they do
the work? Do they trust the process? Yes.
(19:26):
It's not about just getting more clients, right? It's getting the right clients. And that
means yes. You might say no to some people, some people might be turned off
themselves, but you will deliver so much better value for the
right clients. They will rave about you, they'll be happy to pay. You
can increase your prices, you'll be happy delivering the work. You'll become known
as the expert in this thing. Right? Clients will see you more as a
(19:48):
strategic partner. You're the expert, so
you know what the
requirements are. You know the best approach. In my experience,
a series of three workshops covering these topics
is the best approach. Because a one off lunch and learn is not going to
make any difference. Or in my experience, you know, with a new client, I'll
(20:09):
usually start with a four month coaching container and we work on
XYZ things. You're the expert guiding them.
Don't be too, you know, wishy washy and said, oh,
we can do whatever you want because then hang on, but I'm paying you to,
to advise me here so that that doesn't work in your favour.
Okay, so what's your vision? Big
(20:33):
picture. As well as the tangibles of practical parameters, hours,
fees, non negotiables. Offer design and
really thinking about what your clients need, but also what it
takes for you to deliver. And then speaking of
clients, really the right clients who are going to value your
expertise, respect your boundaries and be like the
(20:56):
dream clients who pay you without complaining and they do the work and they get
amazing results. So if your current model
isn't supporting your vision, it's not your fault. It's just likely that you've built,
you know, what you were told would work. You followed some kind of blueprint from
someone else. You've hobbled together.
What's the word? Cobbled together. I think I'm after this kind of
(21:16):
Frankenstein model. But it's okay,
it's no one's fault. And it's amazing that you've even got this far by yourself.
Right? But it's never too late. To recalibrate and go, hang on,
stop. This was not the reason why I quit my job and actually come back
and and design or redesign something that reflects
your actual goals now and who you are now and who you want to be
(21:37):
in the next few years, not maybe who you were a few years ago. You
know, I started my business 10 years ago. My lift looked very different than 10
five years ago. So what's your energy, your priorities now
and for the next season of your life? And that's what lets you work
fewer hours, earn more, and protect your peace
without sacrificing the impact that you want to have. Okay,
(22:00):
thanks for listening and I'll see you next week. Bye for now.
If this episode has you thinking that something needs to shift, whether that's
streamlining how you work, redesigning your offers, or finally building the
business that you actually wanted when you started, let's talk about what's next
for you. We can look at where you are, what you want these next few
(22:21):
months and years to feel like, and whether one to one support or the business
accelerator would be the best fit. Just book a
call@onestepoutside.com call. It's a
simple conversation to explore what would make the biggest difference for you right
now. That's onestepoutside.com call.
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