We map out a simple system solo consultants can use to stop feast-or-famine cycles: a paid discovery, a cash flow core offer, and a premium anchor that reframes value while protecting margins with clean payment plans and firm start dates. We share pricing rules of thumb, boundary language, and the calendar tactics that turn projects into predictable income.
• three-offer stack that reduces revenue volatility
• paid discovery as fit check and scope clarity
• cash flow core as productized service with payment plans
• premium luxury or speed offer for price anchoring
• reverse-engineering annual goals into start dates
• calendar-based billing and work-stops-on-failed-payment
• when to require pay in full versus plans
• aligning expenses to monthly cash flow not annual renewals
• monthly revenue targets and small pricing lifts
• tracking warm conversations and conversion rates
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Welcome to Market.
I'm Serena Off Block.
This show is made for soloconsultants who want to get
booked out without burning out.
If you've ever thought, I justwant this to feel easier, you're
not alone.
Around here, we focus on simple,sustainable growth that actually
fits into your life.
So growth feels doable insteadof overwhelming.
(00:55):
Yes.
Okay.
So thank you for joining metoday.
Today we are talking aboutprofit leaks and predictable
cash flow when you are a soloconsultant, which can be pretty
freaking hard, like being ableto build your business in a way
that you always know what'scoming in, but there are some
(01:17):
strategies.
I've racked my brain trying tofigure out how to not have those
highs and lows.
So I'm so curious to hear aboutyour strategies with that.
Everyone's gonna be curious.
Can you introduce yourself tothe audience?
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Sure.
I'm Erin Morgan, and I'm a coachand catalytic business
consultant who works withcreative solopreneurs and with
creative teams to really supportthem in smoothing out revenue as
our first step in order to putthe systems and structures in
place that we need in order toscale and grow a company.
(01:54):
So I I love to work withmarketing teams and with
creatives because my brain sortof thinks that way, but it also
thinks in systems.
So it's a cool merger of all ofmy skill sets.
Yes.
So very fun.
Thanks for inviting me.
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
I mean, I'm so so I'll give some context to the
people who are listening.
I saw you on LinkedIn and I waslike, predictable cash flow.
That is what you focus on.
That is what you talk about.
Please, please, please come onmy show because that is what I
hear most on sales calls.
Is like, that's what's hurtingme.
(02:29):
Is I could be like rolling indough one month and then it's
dead the next month.
Right.
Right.
So let's start from thebeginning.
What are some strategies, likehigh-level strategies that
someone can put into place to beable to stop having to deal with
(02:50):
that roller coaster?
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Okay, so the first thing I always recommend is to
have multiple offers.
I like to have multiple wayspeople can work with you.
And a lot of the creatives Iwork with will start out by
creating proposals and sendingover a proposal about how
they're gonna work with theclient.
(03:12):
And I I eliminate that.
That's like one of the veryfirst things I eliminate with my
clients.
We actually do paid discovery toproposal as the way that we
structure that.
So we first have a paiddiscovery offer, then we have
whatever the core offer is.
I call this your cash flow coreoffer.
This is the thing you reallywant people to buy.
(03:35):
It's the most common way thatyou can deliver your services
and meet most of your clients'needs.
And then ultimately it does havethe cash flow piece built in on
the back end because of the waywe design it.
And then I'll often have them dosome kind of either a luxury
offer or a fast offer, some kindof an offer to put at the top of
(03:57):
their offer stack that allowsthem to charge a really high
number and charge a really highprice.
Right.
So whenever I teach offers, sothis is our first strategy, is
get your offers in order.
So we have our top offer, ourhigh price, we have our cash
flow core offer, and then wehave our paid discovery offer.
And using those three as corefor each client, as long as we
(04:18):
have those three things set up,we're more well positioned to
create the cash flow that ourbusinesses need us to create.
Doesn't mean you couldn't haveoffers four and five.
But what we're really looking todo is get things as standardized
as we can.
And so that's the first thingthat I would have somebody do is
to create those three offers.
SPEAKER_01 (04:37):
Okay.
Love that.
So I just want to on to what yousaid about paid discovery.
So I also teach somethingsimilar, a gateway offer that
you need to have a natural entrypoint to be able to diagnose and
identify what exactly needs tohappen for them to reach their
goals.
And then you can prescribe themwhat offer would make sense.
(05:00):
So I love that.
And then you have what theywould naturally upgrade into,
would be the next offer.
And then on top of that, youhave the luxury or fast offer.
So please tell me what is thedifference between the luxury
offer, which I'm assuming it'smore of a high ticket and
personalized one, versus thefast offer.
SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
Yeah.
So with something like that, Ialways come back to time quality
and cost essentially or how webuild offers.
So with a high price top of yourof your offer stack, the first
purpose is that I want you tosay a number that tells the
person who's speaking to you ona sales call what expense it is.
Whoever setting that sellingcontainer is really key.
(05:45):
So let's imagine that it's a$10,000 offer.
We'll start there.
Great.
So we know that the prospectwho's talking with you might
really want something that issuper high quality, right?
This is a luxury kind of offerwhere they may want add-ons.
They may want just a differentlevel of your time and
attention.
(06:05):
So imagining custom handlettered fonts versus a font you
buy on Creative Marketing,right?
So there could be elements thatreally make it more bespoke,
more luxury, but you could alsouse the concept of speed as a
speed offer.
So imagining your website in aday, website in a week kind of
(06:27):
offers where the client isactually going to get the result
really, really fast.
Um they're gonna pay a lot, butbecause they want, they want the
speed and that bespoke highquality element, the price goes
up.
So you're balancing your time,quality, and cost with all of
your offers.
But having that, that top levelone that you say first in a
(06:48):
sales call really helps to setthe selling container and helps
to guide the conversationtowards your cash flow core,
which is ultimately what youwant.
I like to say price it so thatif they say yes, you'll be like,
Oh my, oh my gosh, yes, yes, anddon't expect to sell it.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Yes, okay, okay, that makes sense.
So it's like an intensive wherethey're getting a lot of your
time and attention.
It's and it's it's anchoringyour other price.
So it's like directing to thatcenter offer.
That makes a lot of sense.
(07:23):
Okay.
And you want it to be higherprice than you actually need it
to be in order to push peopleover to that middle offer, but
also make it like a hell yeah,when you do actually sell that
offer.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Okay, that makes so much sense.
I love that.
Okay.
So let's talk a little bit aboutyour like that middle offer.
(07:48):
How do you identify what thatshould be?
And is it super standardized theway like you'd think of it as a
productized offer versusbespoke?
Because you said, like, yeah,you cancel out proposals
immediately when you startworking with a client.
SPEAKER_00 (08:04):
Right, exactly.
So what I try to do is try toget it to as much of a
productized service as I can.
And the reason that I love theoption of paid discovery is that
if you're on a call withsomebody and what you're hearing
doesn't actually match your cashflow core offer, they're either
needing different things ortheir timelines are different.
(08:27):
It gives you sort of anopportunity to get the first
step moving with your paiddiscovery and then knowing that
you can craft more of a proposalidea on the back end, but you're
really just going to becustomizing your cash flow core
offer, making a couple keychanges.
So I like knowing that that's anoption on the board because
(08:47):
sometimes when you're on a calland they're asking for things or
sharing things and you're like,I just doesn't quite fit.
That's your ace in the hole.
Sell your paid discovery andthen you can work it out on the
back end.
Yeah.
So our cash flow core, the firstthing I want to always work
back.
I like to, I like to do moneymath, honestly.
We work backwards.
And love money math.
(09:09):
Right.
Let's say that on average, youcharge about$5,000 for your cash
flow core offer, and you knowthat you want to make$100,000 in
a year, right?
So this is pretty easy math,partly because I can do it in my
head.
So we know that we need to sell20 of these over the course of
the year in order to get to our100K mark.
(09:29):
So the first thing I'm gonna askis my ideal client, what's their
cash flow and their businessmost likely to look like?
And depending on that targetclient that you like to work
with, let's imagine that a$5,000offer for payments of$1,250 kind
of match for them from a cashflow perspective.
(09:49):
They they could take thatpayment plan of$1,250 four
months in a row.
They're not gonna default on thepayment, it's gonna match and
align.
So what I would say is, okay,well, let's make our cash flow
core offer a$5,000 offer, butwe're gonna sell it as four
payments of$12.50.
And those payments are gonnabill on a calendar day, not
(10:09):
based on deliverables, not basedon project completion timeline.
It's okay, we're starting, it'sthe 16th of the month.
So you're gonna be billed on the16th of the month, 1250 for the
next four months.
It's a payment plan, notmilestone payments.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so when we do it this way,what it helps you to see as the
(10:30):
service provider is you can thenlook at your calendar and you
can start to see the start datesthat make sense based on your
availability and your life.
Maybe there are certain timeswhere kiddos are off from school
in the summer and you have somegap weeks that are just kind of
a mess, and you're like, I don'twant to start a project that
way.
Yeah.
Or, you know, holidays, etcetera.
So now you're looking at yourcalendar and you're saying,
(10:52):
where are the 20 start datesthat make sense for me to offer
this cash flow core offer toprospects?
And when you do that, whatyou're also doing is you're not
stacking the work in a way thatit's all of the work at the same
time and then that fallout atthe back end when all the
projects complete at the sametime.
So then when you're on a call,you're saying, okay, well, I
(11:14):
actually have a start datecoming up next Tuesday.
Terrific.
If they want that start date,that's their start date.
If that doesn't work, well,what's the next one?
And so you're actually fillingstart dates and also creating
essentially a waiting list asyou're doing it.
I love this.
Yeah.
So this is how this is like thethis is a very broad and general
way of describing it.
(11:35):
But whenever we look at ourmoney goals, if we can reverse
engineer them into how many ofmy cash flow core do I need to
sell in the course of this yearin order to hit that number,
well, then we're also able torelax a little bit because it's
not our only offer.
We have paid discovery that thenwould move people into cash flow
core.
We have paid discovery thatmight move them into something
(11:57):
that is more bespoke.
We also might occasionally sellour top package.
And so I like to build whatwhenever I build an offer stack,
I need to ask how many of thisoffer would I need to sell to
hit my money goal?
So let's imagine that$10,000 toplevel offer.
Well, if you're trying to make$100,000, then over the course
of the year you need to sell 10of them.
(12:18):
Well, if it's a speed offer,suddenly you can start to see
how it would fit in around yourcash flow core.
You can start to build out thatall of your all of your offers
could potentially get you toyour goal.
And so it makes you much, ithelps be more relaxed when
you're selling them because youdon't want to take it.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
I can absolutely see that because like let's let's
make this an action.
You can go through your calendarright now and color code the
days that would be start daysfor that main offer.
So you know exactly when theyare, you have them in your
calendar, you can look them upreally quickly, and you can also
(12:57):
announce, hey, I have an openinghappening then, and that's my
next one.
So that will spark some interestin it.
And then, like if you if andwhen you fill those out,
everything else is a plus.
The paid discovery is a plus.
The bonus, like the luxury offeris a plus.
SPEAKER_00 (13:16):
Yes, exactly.
And and that helps you to relax.
The other really interestingthing it does when you choose
those start dates and reallyclaim them is it changes how you
show your confidence level whenyou show up on a call because it
becomes this is how I work andthis is the way we do this here
at our company, less of like, doyou want to work with me?
(13:38):
It has this confidence builderthat is so elevating for you.
So I actually had a client once.
What she would do when she wason calls is she would pull up
her booking calendar.
She had it in a visual format.
It was easy for somebody to seeit on a video call, but she
would literally show them andthey could see all the dates
that were booked.
(13:59):
And she used it to positionherself as someone who was
really in demand.
But there was always that waslike one date that was
available.
Do you want it?
And they could see that if theydidn't say yes to it, they were
gonna wait another six months toget her.
And so it made good sense forthem to fill in that.
Yeah, that's brilliant.
What booking link did she use?
I'm curious.
Oh, she was a super crazy,amazing builder of systems.
(14:21):
So I think at the time she wasin ClickUp, and so she had built
something sophisticated for herthere.
SPEAKER_01 (14:26):
Yeah.
Yes, I love all of this.
I work very similarly, and Ilove like my best learning
moments happen when I'm likesuper aligned with someone, and
I just see what is the onelittle thing that they do
slightly different than me, andsetting those start dates that
pre-setting those start dates issomething that I'm not doing now
(14:48):
that I really am like, huh?
I do that.
SPEAKER_00 (14:53):
Yeah.
And it also can be a neat.
I don't do it, I don't ask for aton of numbers and data and
tracking.
I think they're reallyimportant.
But for creatives, sometimesit's a little bit overwhelming,
especially when you're justreally trying to get things
going and get that consistency.
So, what that also will do foryou when you put those start
dates in is it puts you moreinto command of your business
(15:17):
and it helps you to relax toknow, okay, if I have two start
dates coming up in the month ofMarch, how many people do I need
to talk to in order to fillthose two?
It's just two, right?
It's basic math.
And you're not trying to figureout how am I gonna book 20
clients this year.
That's not the focus.
The focus is how do I book mynext two clients and how many
(15:38):
people do I need to talk to inorder to do that?
And so it really simplifies itand makes it more of a, okay,
what's my very next step, mynext best step to take here, as
opposed to how am I gonna solvethis whole big revenue problem
for the year?
SPEAKER_01 (15:51):
Yeah, yeah.
And that's it makes it so mucheasier if you just like break it
down into how many warmconversations do I need to have
and do like track, trackridiculously so you know what
your conversion rate is.
And you can eventually, as youdo this for a while, you're
going to know exactly how manywarm conversations you need to
(16:12):
have in order to fill thosespots.
Becomes easier and easier.
Exactly.
Okay.
I want to go back one stepbefore I go forward one step.
Okay.
So back one step for my gatewayoffers, I have a rule of thumb
that I like that 10 to 25% ofthe cost of that core offer is a
(16:33):
good price tag for the gatewayoffer because it is low cost
enough that it's a why notprice, but it's high enough that
you're validating that they canafford that main offer.
What is your rule of thumb foryour paid discovery?
SPEAKER_00 (16:50):
I usually go with something that reduces the
objection.
So, for example, if I'm we'regonna stick with our 10, five
stack, our core offer beingfive, I would probably try
something in the neighborhood of897-ish.
It's kind of the internetmarkety price point.
(17:11):
Yeah.
I I like that number becausewhat I will do with that number
is say, and if we work together,if after this session we end up
working together, then I'llapply what you paid to your to
your working relationship withme, whatever that ends up
looking like.
I like to push the paymentforward because it becomes no
(17:34):
risk if their intention is to dothat.
I do the same thing.
And if their intention is totake your great idea and go off
and do it themselves, then atleast you got paid something
that you're like, well, yeah,for 90 minutes, I just made 900
bucks.
That's not bad, right?
So I kind of quantify it thatway.
Another way I'll sometimes do itis I'll make it the first
payment in the cash flow coreoffer so it just slides right
(17:55):
through and stays very, veryeven.
So oh gosh, this is amazing.
And depending, and this is thisis very business dependent, but
sometimes the thing that youactually need to start your
project is an intensive anyway.
So in that particular case,really all you've done is
stripped that intensive out, putit at the front, had them pay
for it, and then pushed it backinto the pro into the project.
(18:17):
So it's the same difference.
Yeah.
So those are that's usually whatI'll do.
SPEAKER_01 (18:21):
I have worked many, many different ways over the
past six years of building mybusiness, trying to figure out
what really works.
And I have found that doing thatgateway offer first before
absolutely every project hasmade the project go infinitely
smoother because absolutely nowI have well, and at least in
(18:44):
mine, I interview all of thestakeholders involved.
So I get all the information Ineed from them.
They are heard and applied tothat strategy that we're going
to move forward with.
And I also have just like agreat understanding of what I
need to say in the projectitself in order to make it a
(19:09):
well, fuck yeah, that wasamazing.
I'm gonna work with you again.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
Yeah, in my business, I use it as my
intensive as the front endbecause there are people who,
and this is in a in a new trusteconomy, there's this erosion of
trust in coaches.
And so what I love to do is putthat at the front and say,
listen, I'm gonna, it's gonna belike drinking from a fire hose
when you do this intensive withme.
I'm gonna give you everythingI've got.
And then if what you ultimatelydesire is support and
(19:37):
accountability and then beingable to tweak our plan and work
the plan together, then you cancome into a coaching
relationship with me.
And amazing, we've gotten areally firm, firm start and a
great foundation.
And if not, take all the goodideas we generate and go off and
do what you want to do.
And if I'm not the coach forthem, then I'm not stuck in a
six-month relationship where I'mworking with somebody I don't
(19:57):
like and they're not workingwith me if they don't trust that
I'm the right person to supportthem.
And so that's always workedreally well for me as well, even
in a consulting kind ofrelationship.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
And you make a great point that I just want to
emphasize like, this is anopportunity for you both to see
if you vibe and you want to worktogether.
Uh, there has definitely beenpoints in my business where I
started working with someonelike, God, this is not the vibe
I want to be around all thetime.
But why did I have to work everysingle person that I work with?
(20:28):
I'm like chatting with.
I'd be I'd go have a beer with.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (20:33):
If I don't have a black wire with my client,
they're probably not my yeah,exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
It's so much better now.
And it's the reason people arestarting businesses like to
enjoy their work and work withwho they want to, work when they
want to.
And this allows you to find thepeople that you'd want to hang
out with.
You get to pick your coworkers.
Totally.
(20:58):
Okay.
So now that we talked aboutthat, I want to scoot on forward
(22:03):
and talk about the cash flowelement.
So you talked about two specificthings that I want to highlight,
and then I want to know ifthere's anything that we haven't
talked about yet.
So one was payment plans.
So you have like predictableincome during those payment
plans.
And the other one is choosingthe start dates.
(22:25):
So you know when new clients aregoing to come in.
What else do we need to knowabout this?
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
So I think that one of the cool things about that I
didn't actually say aboutpayment plans that I that I
really like is because of theway they're structured, I will
always say if the payment fails,the work stops.
Right.
So that's one of the importantthings that puts a boundary in
(22:56):
place.
And it also helps to protecttimelines as well.
Because that I think one of theplaces where profit really
starts to leak is when timelinesrun over.
And so if you are in a positionwhere you've planned out the way
that your projects flow, thosetimelines, those start date
(23:17):
timelines are really great foryou because you can say, okay,
this is a four month project.
This is how the timelines go.
And you can control how the workstacks, but you also know that
if somebody doesn't pay, youjust stop until those.
Payments pick up again.
So that's a kind of a protectionfor you.
(23:37):
But it also then allows you togive a really clear idea from
the very start of this is thetimeline for our project.
And because the way your startdates are structured, you can
say with lots of integrity tothe client, we need to stay on
track.
And if for whatever reason youdon't think that this timeline
is reasonable, let's just choosea start date that's a few more
(23:59):
weeks out.
And I can give you some pre-workon the areas where you might get
stuck.
So a lot of times with websiteprojects, this will happen that
people need to get their photosdone.
They need to schedule thosephotos, or they, you know, are
working with a copywriter andthe copy isn't ready.
Well, that's fine.
And what I will have you do ishold the spot with that first
(24:19):
payment deposit and then chooseyour start date.
And that's when the remainingpayments will begin.
So that's just it's it's allabout trying to figure out how
do I put boundaries andstructure and standards around
the way that I work so that it'sclear up front.
And I will often have people gothrough more detail with a with
a prospect on exactly what theboundaries are so that there's
(24:42):
fewer surprises at the end.
So that's one of the things Ilove.
I love to add.
SPEAKER_01 (24:47):
Yeah, that question popped into my head too, because
I do know some people who do thesame sort of structure as you
have like the payment planshappen before the start day.
Like it needs to be paid in fullbefore the start date.
Other ones, it happens duringthe project.
(25:09):
And then other ones will do anextended that go beyond the
project.
So I was curious where you standon that and what risks we have
with each of those.
SPEAKER_00 (25:19):
Yeah, exactly.
So the ones where I like to haveall the money up front is like,
for example, with a photographerwho's going on location to do a
shoot.
Before you get on the airplaneor before you get in your car,
you want to know they're gonnapay the bill because all of your
front-loaded work is there.
So I'll often suggest that theyget the pay in full before
something like that.
(25:40):
The same with your discoveryoffer.
I won't do a discovery offer ifit isn't paid in full before we
do it.
So anywhere where you're gonnadeliver that intensity of value.
So that could be true also forthat like top-level offer with
payment plans that run beyondthe term of the program or the
term of the contract.
(26:00):
I don't love it, but there arecertainly I would call them to
be their special circumstances.
It's somebody who says, I reallywant to work with you, but I
can't do 1250.
Could we do$1,000 a month andit's five payments?
I would in those cases say,Well, yeah, let's make that
work.
And I would make sure thatbefore the final deliverables
(26:23):
are turned over, that that finalpayment has been made.
Yeah.
So whatever, you know, whateverbusiness you're in, that makes
sense.
If it's something where you'redoing retainer work and it's
sort of that there's theopportunity for you to work and
not be paid for the work if thepayment declines, those are the
ones I love actually having thepayment plans for because it
(26:43):
just keeps everybody inintegrity.
The work stops if the paymentfails.
So I like to, I like to have thestandard there.
And then I like to be open tonoticing what people are
bringing to you most frequentlyas the objection.
Because then the objectionsstart to define the tweaks that
we want to make.
So it's not that you get on onesales call, somebody says that
(27:06):
that the payment term doesn'twork, and you just abandon it
and and go try somethingdifferent.
It's like enough data here thatwe can really see what the
objection is, and then we canmake the the strategic shift.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (27:19):
That's good to know.
Is there anything else that weshould be thinking about when
we're looking at how to steadyour cash flow?
SPEAKER_00 (27:30):
I think that the the this is like unpopular advice
because everybody loves to savemoney.
But you know how all thesoftware companies, all these
amazing softwares that we needto, you know, run our businesses
are like save 35% if you payannually or you know, you get
two months free.
Don't do it.
Not early on when you don't havea ton of extra money sitting in
(27:54):
the bank.
I like things that are alsocadenced payment plans because
otherwise I had a client, thispoor sweet client.
She started her business, tookall the advice, needed all these
softwares, bought them all onannual plans.
And the following year, she justgot completely slammed with all
her software costs hitting inApril.
(28:15):
And she hadn't been budgetingfor the next year because she
was lean in her in her overallprojects for cash flow.
She had just gotten started anddevastating when she got hit
with that, versus having thesmoothness of the payment plans
from those companies as well, inaddition to her own smooth cash
flow.
So that's kind of I know it'sunpopular because everybody's
like, I'll save money.
SPEAKER_01 (28:35):
It's like I like payment plans too.
Because you can you have ageneral idea of how much you're
gonna make a month, but youknow, those annual plans will
sneak up on you during likequarterly taxes or whatever.
SPEAKER_00 (28:50):
Yeah, right, exactly.
And a lot of people don't whenyou think about annual and how
do I how much money do I want tomake this year, it can be so
overwhelming.
And so I really love withpayment plans and that type of
thing to be able to come up withwhat does my monthly need
actually?
What how do I meet my monthlyneed?
(29:11):
And that will sometimes allowyou to say, well, if if four
projects at this price allows meto hit my monthly cash flow
goal, what would happen if Iupped my pricing?
So I only needed to do threeprojects and I would hit my
goal.
Yeah.
It's like those little tweakswhere the difference between a
couple hundred dollars probablyisn't that big of a difference
(29:32):
for the prospect, but for you,it can make a huge difference.
So I always like to try to getit down to what does it cost
every month to run my businessin my life, as opposed to
looking at those great bigrevenue numbers, but we got to
start somewhere in order tounderstand.
And some people find it betterto dream big, start with a big
number and then break it down asopposed to the more granular
nitty-gritty of the monthly.
(29:54):
So we can do it either way.
SPEAKER_01 (29:55):
Yeah, yeah.
For myself, I prefer monthly twobecause then I can think in
terms of how many conversationsdo I have to have this month,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (30:06):
But you're thinking of it in terms, you have a sales
mindset already.
The way you're approachinggetting getting clients is very
much a sales mindset.
And so sometimes when people aregetting started and they're
uncomfortable with thoseconversations, that becomes a
really good opportunity to playin the big picture world of oh,
I'll just get all these clientsand where are they gonna come
(30:26):
from?
So it's very sales mindset.
I like that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:29):
That is true, and that was definitely me at the
beginning.
It's sales, I think it hits youover time.
Like you realize sales iseverything, like literally
everything in life is isselling, and it's absolutely it
can be a service too, becauseyou're supporting someone and
you're helping them figure outhow to solve their problem.
SPEAKER_00 (30:51):
Sales is love, baby.
SPEAKER_01 (30:53):
Yeah, it's the truth.
It took me a long time torealize that.
Yeah.
All right.
Is there anything that we missbefore we wrapped up?
SPEAKER_00 (31:01):
No, I think this is a great conversation.
Definitely some good places forpeople to dig in a little and do
some work in their own business.
Awesome.
So, how can people work with youand find you online?
unknown (31:11):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (31:11):
Just go to aaronmorgan.com and there's an
opportunity to have an intensivethere.
So that's the way I alwaysstart, right?
So that's my my my gatewayoffer, as you call it.
But if it's just somebody you'dlike to get to know me first, I
hang out over on LinkedIn.
And so that's where most of mycontent is and where I you know
DM and have conversations withpeople.
So come and follow me there orsend me a request and we can
(31:33):
continue.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (31:38):
Um if this episode made things feel a little more
doable.
I'd love to help you take thenext step with the booked out
blueprint.
It's a practical, low pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it outalone.
(32:02):
If this episode made things go alittle more doable, I'd love to
help you take the next step withthe booked out blueprint.
It's a practical, low pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it outalone.
Welcome to Market.
I'm Serena Off Block.
This show is made for soloconsultants who want to get
booked out without burning out.
If you've ever thought, I justwant this to feel easier, you're
not alone.
Around here, we focus on simple,sustainable growth that actually
fits into your life.
So growth feels doable insteadof overwhelming.
(00:55):
Yes.
Okay.
So thank you for joining metoday.
Today we are talking aboutprofit leaks and predictable
cash flow when you are a soloconsultant, which can be pretty
freaking hard, like being ableto build your business in a way
that you always know what'scoming in, but there are some
(01:17):
strategies.
I've racked my brain trying tofigure out how to not have those
highs and lows.
So I'm so curious to hear aboutyour strategies with that.
Everyone's gonna be curious.
Can you introduce yourself tothe audience?
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Sure.
I'm Erin Morgan, and I'm a coachand catalytic business
consultant who works withcreative solopreneurs and with
creative teams to really supportthem in smoothing out revenue as
our first step in order to putthe systems and structures in
place that we need in order toscale and grow a company.
(01:54):
So I I love to work withmarketing teams and with
creatives because my brain sortof thinks that way, but it also
thinks in systems.
So it's a cool merger of all ofmy skill sets.
Yes.
So very fun.
Thanks for inviting me.
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
I mean, I'm so so I'll give some context to the
people who are listening.
I saw you on LinkedIn and I waslike, predictable cash flow.
That is what you focus on.
That is what you talk about.
Please, please, please come onmy show because that is what I
hear most on sales calls.
Is like, that's what's hurtingme.
(02:29):
Is I could be like rolling indough one month and then it's
dead the next month.
Right.
Right.
So let's start from thebeginning.
What are some strategies, likehigh-level strategies that
someone can put into place to beable to stop having to deal with
(02:50):
that roller coaster?
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Okay, so the first thing I always recommend is to
have multiple offers.
I like to have multiple wayspeople can work with you.
And a lot of the creatives Iwork with will start out by
creating proposals and sendingover a proposal about how
they're gonna work with theclient.
(03:12):
And I I eliminate that.
That's like one of the veryfirst things I eliminate with my
clients.
We actually do paid discovery toproposal as the way that we
structure that.
So we first have a paiddiscovery offer, then we have
whatever the core offer is.
I call this your cash flow coreoffer.
This is the thing you reallywant people to buy.
(03:35):
It's the most common way thatyou can deliver your services
and meet most of your clients'needs.
And then ultimately it does havethe cash flow piece built in on
the back end because of the waywe design it.
And then I'll often have them dosome kind of either a luxury
offer or a fast offer, some kindof an offer to put at the top of
(03:57):
their offer stack that allowsthem to charge a really high
number and charge a really highprice.
Right.
So whenever I teach offers, sothis is our first strategy, is
get your offers in order.
So we have our top offer, ourhigh price, we have our cash
flow core offer, and then wehave our paid discovery offer.
And using those three as corefor each client, as long as we
(04:18):
have those three things set up,we're more well positioned to
create the cash flow that ourbusinesses need us to create.
Doesn't mean you couldn't haveoffers four and five.
But what we're really looking todo is get things as standardized
as we can.
And so that's the first thingthat I would have somebody do is
to create those three offers.
SPEAKER_01 (04:37):
Okay.
Love that.
So I just want to on to what yousaid about paid discovery.
So I also teach somethingsimilar, a gateway offer that
you need to have a natural entrypoint to be able to diagnose and
identify what exactly needs tohappen for them to reach their
goals.
And then you can prescribe themwhat offer would make sense.
(05:00):
So I love that.
And then you have what theywould naturally upgrade into,
would be the next offer.
And then on top of that, youhave the luxury or fast offer.
So please tell me what is thedifference between the luxury
offer, which I'm assuming it'smore of a high ticket and
personalized one, versus thefast offer.
SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
Yeah.
So with something like that, Ialways come back to time quality
and cost essentially or how webuild offers.
So with a high price top of yourof your offer stack, the first
purpose is that I want you tosay a number that tells the
person who's speaking to you ona sales call what expense it is.
Whoever setting that sellingcontainer is really key.
(05:45):
So let's imagine that it's a$10,000 offer.
We'll start there.
Great.
So we know that the prospectwho's talking with you might
really want something that issuper high quality, right?
This is a luxury kind of offerwhere they may want add-ons.
They may want just a differentlevel of your time and
attention.
(06:05):
So imagining custom handlettered fonts versus a font you
buy on Creative Marketing,right?
So there could be elements thatreally make it more bespoke,
more luxury, but you could alsouse the concept of speed as a
speed offer.
So imagining your website in aday, website in a week kind of
(06:27):
offers where the client isactually going to get the result
really, really fast.
Um they're gonna pay a lot, butbecause they want, they want the
speed and that bespoke highquality element, the price goes
up.
So you're balancing your time,quality, and cost with all of
your offers.
But having that, that top levelone that you say first in a
(06:48):
sales call really helps to setthe selling container and helps
to guide the conversationtowards your cash flow core,
which is ultimately what youwant.
I like to say price it so thatif they say yes, you'll be like,
Oh my, oh my gosh, yes, yes, anddon't expect to sell it.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Yes, okay, okay, that makes sense.
So it's like an intensive wherethey're getting a lot of your
time and attention.
It's and it's it's anchoringyour other price.
So it's like directing to thatcenter offer.
That makes a lot of sense.
(07:23):
Okay.
And you want it to be higherprice than you actually need it
to be in order to push peopleover to that middle offer, but
also make it like a hell yeah,when you do actually sell that
offer.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Okay, that makes so much sense.
I love that.
Okay.
So let's talk a little bit aboutyour like that middle offer.
(07:48):
How do you identify what thatshould be?
And is it super standardized theway like you'd think of it as a
productized offer versusbespoke?
Because you said, like, yeah,you cancel out proposals
immediately when you startworking with a client.
SPEAKER_00 (08:04):
Right, exactly.
So what I try to do is try toget it to as much of a
productized service as I can.
And the reason that I love theoption of paid discovery is that
if you're on a call withsomebody and what you're hearing
doesn't actually match your cashflow core offer, they're either
needing different things ortheir timelines are different.
(08:27):
It gives you sort of anopportunity to get the first
step moving with your paiddiscovery and then knowing that
you can craft more of a proposalidea on the back end, but you're
really just going to becustomizing your cash flow core
offer, making a couple keychanges.
So I like knowing that that's anoption on the board because
(08:47):
sometimes when you're on a calland they're asking for things or
sharing things and you're like,I just doesn't quite fit.
That's your ace in the hole.
Sell your paid discovery andthen you can work it out on the
back end.
Yeah.
So our cash flow core, the firstthing I want to always work
back.
I like to, I like to do moneymath, honestly.
We work backwards.
And love money math.
(09:09):
Right.
Let's say that on average, youcharge about$5,000 for your cash
flow core offer, and you knowthat you want to make$100,000 in
a year, right?
So this is pretty easy math,partly because I can do it in my
head.
So we know that we need to sell20 of these over the course of
the year in order to get to our100K mark.
(09:29):
So the first thing I'm gonna askis my ideal client, what's their
cash flow and their businessmost likely to look like?
And depending on that targetclient that you like to work
with, let's imagine that a$5,000offer for payments of$1,250 kind
of match for them from a cashflow perspective.
(09:49):
They they could take thatpayment plan of$1,250 four
months in a row.
They're not gonna default on thepayment, it's gonna match and
align.
So what I would say is, okay,well, let's make our cash flow
core offer a$5,000 offer, butwe're gonna sell it as four
payments of$12.50.
And those payments are gonnabill on a calendar day, not
(10:09):
based on deliverables, not basedon project completion timeline.
It's okay, we're starting, it'sthe 16th of the month.
So you're gonna be billed on the16th of the month, 1250 for the
next four months.
It's a payment plan, notmilestone payments.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so when we do it this way,what it helps you to see as the
(10:30):
service provider is you can thenlook at your calendar and you
can start to see the start datesthat make sense based on your
availability and your life.
Maybe there are certain timeswhere kiddos are off from school
in the summer and you have somegap weeks that are just kind of
a mess, and you're like, I don'twant to start a project that
way.
Yeah.
Or, you know, holidays, etcetera.
So now you're looking at yourcalendar and you're saying,
(10:52):
where are the 20 start datesthat make sense for me to offer
this cash flow core offer toprospects?
And when you do that, whatyou're also doing is you're not
stacking the work in a way thatit's all of the work at the same
time and then that fallout atthe back end when all the
projects complete at the sametime.
So then when you're on a call,you're saying, okay, well, I
(11:14):
actually have a start datecoming up next Tuesday.
Terrific.
If they want that start date,that's their start date.
If that doesn't work, well,what's the next one?
And so you're actually fillingstart dates and also creating
essentially a waiting list asyou're doing it.
I love this.
Yeah.
So this is how this is like thethis is a very broad and general
way of describing it.
(11:35):
But whenever we look at ourmoney goals, if we can reverse
engineer them into how many ofmy cash flow core do I need to
sell in the course of this yearin order to hit that number,
well, then we're also able torelax a little bit because it's
not our only offer.
We have paid discovery that thenwould move people into cash flow
core.
We have paid discovery thatmight move them into something
(11:57):
that is more bespoke.
We also might occasionally sellour top package.
And so I like to build whatwhenever I build an offer stack,
I need to ask how many of thisoffer would I need to sell to
hit my money goal?
So let's imagine that$10,000 toplevel offer.
Well, if you're trying to make$100,000, then over the course
of the year you need to sell 10of them.
(12:18):
Well, if it's a speed offer,suddenly you can start to see
how it would fit in around yourcash flow core.
You can start to build out thatall of your all of your offers
could potentially get you toyour goal.
And so it makes you much, ithelps be more relaxed when
you're selling them because youdon't want to take it.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
I can absolutely see that because like let's let's
make this an action.
You can go through your calendarright now and color code the
days that would be start daysfor that main offer.
So you know exactly when theyare, you have them in your
calendar, you can look them upreally quickly, and you can also
(12:57):
announce, hey, I have an openinghappening then, and that's my
next one.
So that will spark some interestin it.
And then, like if you if andwhen you fill those out,
everything else is a plus.
The paid discovery is a plus.
The bonus, like the luxury offeris a plus.
SPEAKER_00 (13:16):
Yes, exactly.
And and that helps you to relax.
The other really interestingthing it does when you choose
those start dates and reallyclaim them is it changes how you
show your confidence level whenyou show up on a call because it
becomes this is how I work andthis is the way we do this here
at our company, less of like, doyou want to work with me?
(13:38):
It has this confidence builderthat is so elevating for you.
So I actually had a client once.
What she would do when she wason calls is she would pull up
her booking calendar.
She had it in a visual format.
It was easy for somebody to seeit on a video call, but she
would literally show them andthey could see all the dates
that were booked.
(13:59):
And she used it to positionherself as someone who was
really in demand.
But there was always that waslike one date that was
available.
Do you want it?
And they could see that if theydidn't say yes to it, they were
gonna wait another six months toget her.
And so it made good sense forthem to fill in that.
Yeah, that's brilliant.
What booking link did she use?
I'm curious.
Oh, she was a super crazy,amazing builder of systems.
(14:21):
So I think at the time she wasin ClickUp, and so she had built
something sophisticated for herthere.
SPEAKER_01 (14:26):
Yeah.
Yes, I love all of this.
I work very similarly, and Ilove like my best learning
moments happen when I'm likesuper aligned with someone, and
I just see what is the onelittle thing that they do
slightly different than me, andsetting those start dates that
pre-setting those start dates issomething that I'm not doing now
(14:48):
that I really am like, huh?
I do that.
SPEAKER_00 (14:53):
Yeah.
And it also can be a neat.
I don't do it, I don't ask for aton of numbers and data and
tracking.
I think they're reallyimportant.
But for creatives, sometimesit's a little bit overwhelming,
especially when you're justreally trying to get things
going and get that consistency.
So, what that also will do foryou when you put those start
dates in is it puts you moreinto command of your business
(15:17):
and it helps you to relax toknow, okay, if I have two start
dates coming up in the month ofMarch, how many people do I need
to talk to in order to fillthose two?
It's just two, right?
It's basic math.
And you're not trying to figureout how am I gonna book 20
clients this year.
That's not the focus.
The focus is how do I book mynext two clients and how many
(15:38):
people do I need to talk to inorder to do that?
And so it really simplifies itand makes it more of a, okay,
what's my very next step, mynext best step to take here, as
opposed to how am I gonna solvethis whole big revenue problem
for the year?
SPEAKER_01 (15:51):
Yeah, yeah.
And that's it makes it so mucheasier if you just like break it
down into how many warmconversations do I need to have
and do like track, trackridiculously so you know what
your conversion rate is.
And you can eventually, as youdo this for a while, you're
going to know exactly how manywarm conversations you need to
(16:12):
have in order to fill thosespots.
Becomes easier and easier.
Exactly.
Okay.
I want to go back one stepbefore I go forward one step.
Okay.
So back one step for my gatewayoffers, I have a rule of thumb
that I like that 10 to 25% ofthe cost of that core offer is a
(16:33):
good price tag for the gatewayoffer because it is low cost
enough that it's a why notprice, but it's high enough that
you're validating that they canafford that main offer.
What is your rule of thumb foryour paid discovery?
SPEAKER_00 (16:50):
I usually go with something that reduces the
objection.
So, for example, if I'm we'regonna stick with our 10, five
stack, our core offer beingfive, I would probably try
something in the neighborhood of897-ish.
It's kind of the internetmarkety price point.
(17:11):
Yeah.
I I like that number becausewhat I will do with that number
is say, and if we work together,if after this session we end up
working together, then I'llapply what you paid to your to
your working relationship withme, whatever that ends up
looking like.
I like to push the paymentforward because it becomes no
(17:34):
risk if their intention is to dothat.
I do the same thing.
And if their intention is totake your great idea and go off
and do it themselves, then atleast you got paid something
that you're like, well, yeah,for 90 minutes, I just made 900
bucks.
That's not bad, right?
So I kind of quantify it thatway.
Another way I'll sometimes do itis I'll make it the first
payment in the cash flow coreoffer so it just slides right
(17:55):
through and stays very, veryeven.
So oh gosh, this is amazing.
And depending, and this is thisis very business dependent, but
sometimes the thing that youactually need to start your
project is an intensive anyway.
So in that particular case,really all you've done is
stripped that intensive out, putit at the front, had them pay
for it, and then pushed it backinto the pro into the project.
(18:17):
So it's the same difference.
Yeah.
So those are that's usually whatI'll do.
SPEAKER_01 (18:21):
I have worked many, many different ways over the
past six years of building mybusiness, trying to figure out
what really works.
And I have found that doing thatgateway offer first before
absolutely every project hasmade the project go infinitely
smoother because absolutely nowI have well, and at least in
(18:44):
mine, I interview all of thestakeholders involved.
So I get all the information Ineed from them.
They are heard and applied tothat strategy that we're going
to move forward with.
And I also have just like agreat understanding of what I
need to say in the projectitself in order to make it a
(19:09):
well, fuck yeah, that wasamazing.
I'm gonna work with you again.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
Yeah, in my business, I use it as my
intensive as the front endbecause there are people who,
and this is in a in a new trusteconomy, there's this erosion of
trust in coaches.
And so what I love to do is putthat at the front and say,
listen, I'm gonna, it's gonna belike drinking from a fire hose
when you do this intensive withme.
I'm gonna give you everythingI've got.
And then if what you ultimatelydesire is support and
(19:37):
accountability and then beingable to tweak our plan and work
the plan together, then you cancome into a coaching
relationship with me.
And amazing, we've gotten areally firm, firm start and a
great foundation.
And if not, take all the goodideas we generate and go off and
do what you want to do.
And if I'm not the coach forthem, then I'm not stuck in a
six-month relationship where I'mworking with somebody I don't
(19:57):
like and they're not workingwith me if they don't trust that
I'm the right person to supportthem.
And so that's always workedreally well for me as well, even
in a consulting kind ofrelationship.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
And you make a great point that I just want to
emphasize like, this is anopportunity for you both to see
if you vibe and you want to worktogether.
Uh, there has definitely beenpoints in my business where I
started working with someonelike, God, this is not the vibe
I want to be around all thetime.
But why did I have to work everysingle person that I work with?
(20:28):
I'm like chatting with.
I'd be I'd go have a beer with.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (20:33):
If I don't have a black wire with my client,
they're probably not my yeah,exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
It's so much better now.
And it's the reason people arestarting businesses like to
enjoy their work and work withwho they want to, work when they
want to.
And this allows you to find thepeople that you'd want to hang
out with.
You get to pick your coworkers.
Totally.
(20:58):
Okay.
So now that we talked aboutthat, I want to scoot on forward
(22:03):
and talk about the cash flowelement.
So you talked about two specificthings that I want to highlight,
and then I want to know ifthere's anything that we haven't
talked about yet.
So one was payment plans.
So you have like predictableincome during those payment
plans.
And the other one is choosingthe start dates.
(22:25):
So you know when new clients aregoing to come in.
What else do we need to knowabout this?
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
So I think that one of the cool things about that I
didn't actually say aboutpayment plans that I that I
really like is because of theway they're structured, I will
always say if the payment fails,the work stops.
Right.
So that's one of the importantthings that puts a boundary in
(22:56):
place.
And it also helps to protecttimelines as well.
Because that I think one of theplaces where profit really
starts to leak is when timelinesrun over.
And so if you are in a positionwhere you've planned out the way
that your projects flow, thosetimelines, those start date
(23:17):
timelines are really great foryou because you can say, okay,
this is a four month project.
This is how the timelines go.
And you can control how the workstacks, but you also know that
if somebody doesn't pay, youjust stop until those.
Payments pick up again.
So that's a kind of a protectionfor you.
(23:37):
But it also then allows you togive a really clear idea from
the very start of this is thetimeline for our project.
And because the way your startdates are structured, you can
say with lots of integrity tothe client, we need to stay on
track.
And if for whatever reason youdon't think that this timeline
is reasonable, let's just choosea start date that's a few more
(23:59):
weeks out.
And I can give you some pre-workon the areas where you might get
stuck.
So a lot of times with websiteprojects, this will happen that
people need to get their photosdone.
They need to schedule thosephotos, or they, you know, are
working with a copywriter andthe copy isn't ready.
Well, that's fine.
And what I will have you do ishold the spot with that first
(24:19):
payment deposit and then chooseyour start date.
And that's when the remainingpayments will begin.
So that's just it's it's allabout trying to figure out how
do I put boundaries andstructure and standards around
the way that I work so that it'sclear up front.
And I will often have people gothrough more detail with a with
a prospect on exactly what theboundaries are so that there's
(24:42):
fewer surprises at the end.
So that's one of the things Ilove.
I love to add.
SPEAKER_01 (24:47):
Yeah, that question popped into my head too, because
I do know some people who do thesame sort of structure as you
have like the payment planshappen before the start day.
Like it needs to be paid in fullbefore the start date.
Other ones, it happens duringthe project.
(25:09):
And then other ones will do anextended that go beyond the
project.
So I was curious where you standon that and what risks we have
with each of those.
SPEAKER_00 (25:19):
Yeah, exactly.
So the ones where I like to haveall the money up front is like,
for example, with a photographerwho's going on location to do a
shoot.
Before you get on the airplaneor before you get in your car,
you want to know they're gonnapay the bill because all of your
front-loaded work is there.
So I'll often suggest that theyget the pay in full before
something like that.
(25:40):
The same with your discoveryoffer.
I won't do a discovery offer ifit isn't paid in full before we
do it.
So anywhere where you're gonnadeliver that intensity of value.
So that could be true also forthat like top-level offer with
payment plans that run beyondthe term of the program or the
term of the contract.
(26:00):
I don't love it, but there arecertainly I would call them to
be their special circumstances.
It's somebody who says, I reallywant to work with you, but I
can't do 1250.
Could we do$1,000 a month andit's five payments?
I would in those cases say,Well, yeah, let's make that
work.
And I would make sure thatbefore the final deliverables
(26:23):
are turned over, that that finalpayment has been made.
Yeah.
So whatever, you know, whateverbusiness you're in, that makes
sense.
If it's something where you'redoing retainer work and it's
sort of that there's theopportunity for you to work and
not be paid for the work if thepayment declines, those are the
ones I love actually having thepayment plans for because it
(26:43):
just keeps everybody inintegrity.
The work stops if the paymentfails.
So I like to, I like to have thestandard there.
And then I like to be open tonoticing what people are
bringing to you most frequentlyas the objection.
Because then the objectionsstart to define the tweaks that
we want to make.
So it's not that you get on onesales call, somebody says that
(27:06):
that the payment term doesn'twork, and you just abandon it
and and go try somethingdifferent.
It's like enough data here thatwe can really see what the
objection is, and then we canmake the the strategic shift.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (27:19):
That's good to know.
Is there anything else that weshould be thinking about when
we're looking at how to steadyour cash flow?
SPEAKER_00 (27:30):
I think that the the this is like unpopular advice
because everybody loves to savemoney.
But you know how all thesoftware companies, all these
amazing softwares that we needto, you know, run our businesses
are like save 35% if you payannually or you know, you get
two months free.
Don't do it.
Not early on when you don't havea ton of extra money sitting in
(27:54):
the bank.
I like things that are alsocadenced payment plans because
otherwise I had a client, thispoor sweet client.
She started her business, tookall the advice, needed all these
softwares, bought them all onannual plans.
And the following year, she justgot completely slammed with all
her software costs hitting inApril.
(28:15):
And she hadn't been budgetingfor the next year because she
was lean in her in her overallprojects for cash flow.
She had just gotten started anddevastating when she got hit
with that, versus having thesmoothness of the payment plans
from those companies as well, inaddition to her own smooth cash
flow.
So that's kind of I know it'sunpopular because everybody's
like, I'll save money.
SPEAKER_01 (28:35):
It's like I like payment plans too.
Because you can you have ageneral idea of how much you're
gonna make a month, but youknow, those annual plans will
sneak up on you during likequarterly taxes or whatever.
SPEAKER_00 (28:50):
Yeah, right, exactly.
And a lot of people don't whenyou think about annual and how
do I how much money do I want tomake this year, it can be so
overwhelming.
And so I really love withpayment plans and that type of
thing to be able to come up withwhat does my monthly need
actually?
What how do I meet my monthlyneed?
(29:11):
And that will sometimes allowyou to say, well, if if four
projects at this price allows meto hit my monthly cash flow
goal, what would happen if Iupped my pricing?
So I only needed to do threeprojects and I would hit my
goal.
Yeah.
It's like those little tweakswhere the difference between a
couple hundred dollars probablyisn't that big of a difference
(29:32):
for the prospect, but for you,it can make a huge difference.
So I always like to try to getit down to what does it cost
every month to run my businessin my life, as opposed to
looking at those great bigrevenue numbers, but we got to
start somewhere in order tounderstand.
And some people find it betterto dream big, start with a big
number and then break it down asopposed to the more granular
nitty-gritty of the monthly.
(29:54):
So we can do it either way.
SPEAKER_01 (29:55):
Yeah, yeah.
For myself, I prefer monthly twobecause then I can think in
terms of how many conversationsdo I have to have this month,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (30:06):
But you're thinking of it in terms, you have a sales
mindset already.
The way you're approachinggetting getting clients is very
much a sales mindset.
And so sometimes when people aregetting started and they're
uncomfortable with thoseconversations, that becomes a
really good opportunity to playin the big picture world of oh,
I'll just get all these clientsand where are they gonna come
(30:26):
from?
So it's very sales mindset.
I like that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:29):
That is true, and that was definitely me at the
beginning.
It's sales, I think it hits youover time.
Like you realize sales iseverything, like literally
everything in life is isselling, and it's absolutely it
can be a service too, becauseyou're supporting someone and
you're helping them figure outhow to solve their problem.
SPEAKER_00 (30:51):
Sales is love, baby.
SPEAKER_01 (30:53):
Yeah, it's the truth.
It took me a long time torealize that.
Yeah.
All right.
Is there anything that we missbefore we wrapped up?
SPEAKER_00 (31:01):
No, I think this is a great conversation.
Definitely some good places forpeople to dig in a little and do
some work in their own business.
Awesome.
So, how can people work with youand find you online?
unknown (31:11):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (31:11):
Just go to aaronmorgan.com and there's an
opportunity to have an intensivethere.
So that's the way I alwaysstart, right?
So that's my my my gatewayoffer, as you call it.
But if it's just somebody you'dlike to get to know me first, I
hang out over on LinkedIn.
And so that's where most of mycontent is and where I you know
DM and have conversations withpeople.
So come and follow me there orsend me a request and we can
(31:33):
continue.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (31:38):
Um if this episode made things feel a little more
doable.
I'd love to help you take thenext step with the booked out
blueprint.
It's a practical, low pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it outalone.
(32:02):
If this episode made things go alittle more doable, I'd love to
help you take the next step withthe booked out blueprint.
It's a practical, low pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it outalone.
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