In Part 2 of this Coaching Corner episode, I answer Tori’s question about how she can find the time to go to therapy and do the necessary work on herself to improve how she shows up in her business.  My recommendation for Tori to find more time is to drop some of the clients she’s taking.  The fastest and easiest way to do this is to raise your prices. 

What Should Your Price Increase Be?

I suggest you raise your prices by at least 20% , if not more. Let’s go through the math so that you have a template for figuring out how many clients you can afford to drop. We’ll use Tori’s numbers for example. She charges $65 for a Brazilian wax. Right now on average she brings in about $15,000 per month which is about $3,750 a week and each week she sees about 60 clients. 

So here’s where we get to have fun with the math. If she does a 20% increase on $65 that’s an additional $15-so we’re gonna do our price increase to $80. So now in order to reach our $3,750 a week at the $80 price point, she only needs to see about 47 clients per week. Instead of 60 clients a week, she can drop up to 13 clients a week and still be making the exact same amount of money.

Now obviously your numbers will look different, but I just wanted you to see an example of what raising your prices might look like. The point I’m trying to make here is that by raising your prices you can have more time to work on your business and keep your sales the SAME.  You can afford at that price point to drop 20% of your clients. That’s gonna free up some time, is it not? That could free up an entire day. What would that do for you? You could get some office work done, you can rest, you’d have time for therapy, etc.  

I’ll give you a bonus tip. Sometimes after a price increase, clients don’t drop off because the demand for you is so high. So if you find yourself still working more than eight hours a day, the next step is to pull back on hours you want to work-those are now your operating hours. They can be whatever you want, 9 to 5, 9 to 12, it doesn’t matter. Whatever is reasonable for you.  Any client who wants to book outside of those hours, has to pay an additional “after hours” fee on top of your service fee. You can charge whatever you want. I’ve had people charge $20, $50, even $100 for an after hours fee. Because there is a cost to coming in and working more. It affects your body, your health, your weight, having to pay for childcare, having to order food instead of being able to cook a home cooked meal, not being able to grocery shop, etc. 

Tori says: “I think my problem is like, I just give so much to my clients. I’m moving, and I’m about to be living two blocks away from where I work. And I already told some of my clients, ‘I’ll be right down the street if you need me.  I got you, I’ll be here.’ Why did I do that? My dad hustled his way out of the back of his truck, and he was paving and sealing people’s driveways. And now he has a multi-functional business and people value him and look up to him. And they respect him. He could be as sick as a dog and he still goes to work. So I feel like I’m trying to get approval from him to be like, ‘Hey, I can be just like you’.”

I resonate with that so much. I thought if I out-earned my dad, then I would have a different relationship with him. So I out-earned him, and he’s still the same person. So again, this is great conversation for a therapist!  Your business is a direct reflection of you. We don’t have anybody else to blame for the successes or failures of our business. We call the shots and we sign the paychecks. So if you’re unhappy with your business, it’s YOU that needs the work to get to a great place where your business is just your business. Imagine if you felt worthy, deserving, happy, and joyful, whether business was good or not. Then you just look at what the data is telling you in the business. The data is what informs your decisions on what the business needs, not what you need emotionally. It’s a powerful place to be.  

Work With the End Goal in Mind

Tori tells me she really enjoys teaching people how to do sugaring as well and maybe one day she will switch her business model to being an educator or online coach/mentor.  This is a pretty common goal for beauty biz owners, and what I have to say is this-you have to work with the end goal in mind and be very intentional about where you want to take your business. Look at the end goal that you want, if you want to be all in on education-then don’t hire out a team right now. Don’t keep building out this other business model, instead just laser focus on what’s going to get you to this goal quicker, faster, easier, or better. There’s probably a lot of things that you’re doing that you’re like, “Oh, well, I want to get the physical location established and then I can step away and work on being an educator”. It usually takes several YEARS to get your business where you can be an absentee owner, to then focus on something else. Instead, you could just decide that  “Ok, I’m only working two or three days a week so that I can focus solely on education and build out the education business model. So I can step away from being a service provider and having a service based business and fully step into being an educator.” If that’s the end goal, make decisions based on that end goal. 

Episode Highlights:

• What is an “after hours” fee and how to use it to cut back on the hours you’re working.
• How working on yourself affects how you show up in your business and allows you to make informed decisions on what the business needs.
• What I would do if I found myself in a position where I was a burned-out, people pleasing biz owner.
• How to work with the end goal in mind.

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