Enjoy this week’s guest post from Aubree Malick on how to have a booked out service-based business!
Want to know exactly what I did in order to build my successful service-based business that allowed me to resign from my teaching job within two months? I’m sharing what I did in order to have my services booked out with clients from the beginning!
Work on Your Mind
This is one of the best things you can do for your business. I can give you all the tangible things you need to scale your business, but if you don’t work on your mind, you will struggle to attain success. What you believe and say about yourself, your mind will collect evidence for. If you say things to yourself like “I’m not good enough, no one will ever hire me, I won’t succeed,” your mind will find things to validate those beliefs. It will be an uphill battle. I enjoy practicing gratitude and writing down my goals in the present, as if I already achieved it.
Hone Your Craft
You want to get really good at the services you offer. That doesn’t always mean that you are offering your services for free. What did that look like for me? Getting SUPER resourceful. I constantly preach that I am a full time student at the University of Google. Anything you want to learn: you can find an answer for it. I was listening to podcast episodes on my way to work, reading blogs in my spare time, watching Youtube videos, scouring Facebook groups, etc. When you are really good at the services you offer, you won’t have to spend all your time marketing yourself, because your clients will happily market for you!
Provide Amazing Customer Service
I know this seems very trivial, but it’s definitely worth mentioning. From the moment you start networking, you need to put your customer support hat on. With every interaction that I had, I made sure I went above and beyond. Even if they didn’t turn into clients, I made sure that I went the extra mile and I was friendly and professional. I can’t tell you how many times potential clients have come back to me after going with someone else that didn’t work out because they appreciated the value I provided even without an invoice attached. With my current clients, I am the same way. I go the extra mile, I am timely with my communication and give a personal touch to my work. My clients will always comment on that and it has made a huge difference in my business. Again, this was another thing that led to my clients marketing for me and referring me to others!
Adjust your Prices and Packages
Take a monthly audit of your prices. As you gain new clients and more experience, your prices should reflect that. When I started, my hourly rate was $20. But as I gained experience and provided my clients with fantastic results, my hourly rate increased as well. Also, make sure that your prices and your packages reflect the current work that you are providing so that you are attracting the right type of client and work that you want to be offering.
Be Consistent and Authentic
And finally, show up consistently. This is probably the most important one. When I was getting started with my freelancing business, before I had landed any clients, I was showing up. I was showing up in the course group that I was in, in Facebook groups where my ideal client was hanging out and showing up to get work done. Also, I was authentic to who I was. I didn’t try to pretend that I had a ton of experience. I was authentic, spoke to the skills that I did have, and reassured potential clients of my willingness to figure anything out. Clients hired me not because of my experience, but because I was honest, authentic and confident in who I was and the type of service I could offer.
Aubree Malick is a wife, boy mom and a former elementary teacher who took a huge leap of faith to start her own service-based business. After two months of growing her business, she was able to replace her income and resign from her teaching job, and she hasn’t looked back since! In addition to serving clients of her own and hosting the Mom with Purpose podcast, Aubree helps other service-based entrepreneurs scale their business by teaching them the systems and strategies they need to organize and automate their business so they can earn more and stress less. You can see more of Aubree at her website: aubreemalick.com.
The post How to Have a Booked Out Service-Based Business appeared first on Melissa Forziat Events and Marketing.