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3 things I used to believe about business

If you missed it, last week’s episode was the 5 things I used to believe about Fitness. So, I figured I would just continue that theme this week but with business.

I think as humans we should always be challenging our beliefs and philosophy whether in life, fitness or business. There are things that I believe to be true now, that in a few years I might disagree with or see through a different lens.

As far as business goes, this is more true than you know. The three things I believed you needed in order to be successful are more painful for me to reveal than the fitness side of things. 

I can’t put my finger on why, but these are almost more embarrassing for me. But we’re here doin’ the thing anyhow.

The three things I’m about to dive into are what I believed for probably the first two years of building my online business. They frustrated me to the depths of my soul and I also failed at all of them.

Here we go.

Number 1 – I thought your freebie was EVERYTHING

I spent so much time focusing on and trying to come up with a freebie before anything else.

But you know what the problem is with that?

And wait, I guess I should reiterate that there is no one size fits all for business. So maybe a freebie is what you need right now. But when I was starting out, it most definitely was not. And I don’t believe it to be of high importance when you’re starting out.

Stick with me.

If you have a small audience and no data from that audience, but your freebie is supposed to be of high value to your ideal client…how are you supposed to create the perfect freebie for humans you don’t even know yet? And after you create that freebie…what does the email sequence lead to? Right?

Because after all the point of a freebie is to get people’s emails, nurture that list, and then up-sell to whatever your service or product is.

Sooooo why would we create a freebie, that might not even in line with the eventual higher ticket offer? Or might not even REALLY be what the ideal client is looking for?

You get what I am saying and how that can be a bit backwards?

I want you to grasp that I am not saying you DON’T EVER need a freebie or that freebies are not valuable. They are. You will need one. But I believe it is not the best use of your time or energy when just starting out.

If you missed it, I did an episode on building your offer pyramid and you’ll find in that episode that your freebie is in fact last on the list. The comes after you’ve gotten people results, received feedback and testimonies, maybe created some content for those people and really figured out what they would be willing to give you their email for.

Listen to episode 32 here

That’s belief number one – thinking freebie is everything and that my business would depend on it. That is #FALSE. I am just now, in year 5 of my business, developing my freebies and aligning my offers so that I can sell more passively through email.

Let’s move on to NUMBER 2

Oh man. Number two is still kind of embarrassing for me. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t figured it out yet and am aware of how beneficial they could be for my business. But I also just hate this platform, so it puts a bad taste in my mouth too.

Number 2 – Facebook ads are a necessity

When I was starting out, everyone and their mom was using Facebook ads. And so I did too. But I wasted money and time stressing over how to create these ads for a freaking 20 day challenge that was barely making me money in the first place.

This is where I REALLY stress to my fitsPRO Biz Clients that ESPECIALLY when you’re starting out, you need to stick to organic growth via ONE SOCIAL media platform. Nurture the shit out of that audience with free content, be consistent, and learn to sell.

THEN you can hire someone for paid advertising or if it’s within your wheelhouse you can do it yourself.

It is also ideal to have a freebie or webinar that people are being led to via facebook ads.

I’m not against it. I just won’t do it until I have some systems set in place.

Which would look like – a Freebie that leads to an email sequence that leads to an up-sell to a mid-priced product.

THEN, and only then, will I pay or advertising. Perhaps I will have a different view on that in 5 years. Haha who knows?

But man, paid ads did not treat me well. The results were discouraging. And during a period where I had 5-10 hours a week to work on my biz that wasn’t making real income online yet…I was SO BEYOND frustrated with this notion that paid ads were a necessity. They just aren’t fam.

So if you believe that now, let go, and move on. Use your time and energy wisely, ALWAYS. But especially when you’re just starting out.

That leads us into NUMBER 3

Now, this can be controversial. And I do think it depends on the person.

BUT, number three is that…

Number 3 – You have to charge low when starting out to build confidence and a reputation

While I am a personal fan of grit and doing things for free to gain experience when you’re first starting out, I do not think that about RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS.

I did two VERY time and energy demanding internships while in college and the year following graduating college because I needed experience and was happy to do it for free. I was still figuring out if I wanted to be a strength coach or maybe continue on to PT school. So, I worked 20-25 hours a week on top of working and going to school for FREE. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.

But we’re not talking about internships my friend. We’re talking about YOUR BUSINESS.

If you want to charge low or do something for free in order to do a beta test, that’s 100% fine. Get results, feedback and some testimonies so that you can now market your offer at a higher ticket price.

As I’ve stated before, I don’t think you need to do high ticket coaching. But I think you need to be charging what your services are worth.

That’s up to you, my friend. What is your time worth? What are the results you’re going to get your clients, worth? Where do you want to be in the market? That’s where we find your pricing. We actually have a perfect pricing guide inside FitsPRO Foundations because pricing can paralyze so many entrepreneurs and it just really doesn’t need to.

Yes, I have more experience now than when I started. I’m more efficient. I know more. I am a better coach.

But my coaching was 100% worth more than $99/month when I started out in 2015. I was doing myself a disservice by undervaluing my time and my expertise. I charged what I saw other people charging. And, I also charged what I WOULD PAY.

HEAR ME NOW – you are not your customer. Your customers are not paying with YOUR WALLET. You don’t have the problem your customer needs solving! So you might not be willing to pay that amount for your service, BUT YOUR SERVICE ISN’T FOR YOU!!!

Man I freaking wish someone yelled that at me in 2015. I am thanking myself on behalf of you for yelling that at you.

Sure, you can increase prices down the road, and that is to be expected. But that doesn’t mean you start by under charging. You’re not going to attract the people you want to work with. You’re going to resent clients because you won’t feel compensated for your time and energy, and you’ll be discouraged because of it.

Charge what your service worth FROM THE GET GO. 

With that, you also need to know what the hell you’re doing for your clients. So you don’t get to charge up the b-hole if you don’t have a system or process in place that you KNOW is going to work for your clients and deliver on the promise of your offer. You feel me?

There is more to price than the price. I am simply encouraging you to not believe the lie that held me back in my first few years of biz. The light that you have to charge low when you’re starting out in order to build confidence and a reputation.

That’s just false. If you want some confidence, DO THE DAMN THING and deliver on your promise. Do a beta group or test if you need to. Then charge what your service is worth, from day 1.

If you believe any of those now, be free my friend. Be free and build your empire without paid marketing or undervaluing yourself or spending your entire work week on a freebie that might not even serve your ideal client. Okay?

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