Speaker 2
So, so a couple of things I want to throw in there. And I know you agree with this too, but LinkedIn, you know, that's the way. Oh, yeah. Can be the modern equivalent done right of reaching out to people that already know you and already trust you. That's, I'm glad you used to trust work because that's what I always tell people is I said, you know, your target market should be people that already trust you because you really are going to go out to them and say, here's what I'm doing. You know, got any ideas for me. You're not necessarily pitching them. Maybe if they're a perfect fit, you'll pitch them. But a lot of what you're doing is just talking to people every single one of us knows somebody who needs you. And so a lot of times you're just talking to people so that they can go, oh, you know what? I just had a conversation with Phil yesterday and he was telling me that he needs this. And so, you know, five times a day, you got to be doing that, you know, early on, if you're going to get, you know, in any kind of momentum going, you know, particularly when you're just getting started and you don't have this rock solid offer and website and all that kind of stuff. Let's talk a little bit about pricing. I know a lot of people struggle with how to, you know, especially when they don't have a track record, they don't have, you know, all kinds of case studies that can prove that they get, you know, the results. So you know, how do I go about, you know, finding what would be the right price? I mean, am I just saying, well, how much do I think people will pay me? Am I looking at industry guides? I mean, how do I go about pricing my service?
Speaker 1
Well, either of those are valid, but I like to do this instead. I like to figure out how much do I need to make them on? So let's do round numbers here because I like round numbers. I need to make $10,000 a month. I want to work $100 a month. That means I need to charge $100 an hour. Now that being said, here's the thing. You're not working every time, every hour. So I would say take that and double it. And that should be your price. So $200 an hour should be your start. If you want to make 10 random month and you'll be lucky if you work 50 hours a month. Now that's not to say you're not going to do $200 a work, but you're going to do 50 hours of billable time. Think of an attorney who before they make partner has to do their own research, has to do their own outreach, who has to do their own marketing, who has to still answer their own phone, who has to answer their own email, who has to go to networking events. That's you. That's you. So 50 hours of billable time a month would be awesome. And that will get you there. But it's hard. It's hard to get there. So I would tell you, you know, Dan Rome said to me, John, I was at an event that they 800 CEO read years ago. And Dan Dan's advice for everybody starting out was two words. Second mortgage, meaning it's going to be expensive. Right? It's going to be expensive to get started. And don't be disappointed by that. Just know that until you get a cooking, that's why I don't recommend you leave with zero clients. Take your job, use that as your capital infusion in your business and start freelancing, start moonlighting, start getting, you know, some clients that my first coaching clients were at five in the morning or at 10 at night because they were in different parts of the world. That's how you started out. You got to be willing to hustle it a little bit at the beginning. I mean, this whole hustle culture, once you get to a certain point, you don't have to work ads hard, but you still got to work hard. Always. So start out. People that know you, people that trust you, people you can talk to, figure out you're not really right. And then here's the thing. It's okay to negotiate. It's fine. You don't have to hold that rate. But if you start at $100 and then negotiate down, you get $75. They started $200 and then negotiate down $50. You're still getting $150. So that start high. All right.
Speaker 2
So I've got a few clients. Actually, things are starting to fill up. I'm feeling a little stressed because I'm working on, you know, a lot. What's my first hire? You know, how do I kind of take it beyond, you know, just me and the time that I've got, because let's face it, that doesn't scale. Yeah.
Speaker 1
So where are you weakest? What part of your business takes the most of your energy? If you hate sales, well, you probably shouldn't go into business for yourself. But that if you do, because no matter what you do, it's sales, maybe in sales, right? Right. But beyond that, you need to hire a money person, CFO, a CAO, whether it's part time or full
Speaker 2
time. Somebody has
Speaker 1
sent out your invoices, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, or someone that isn't you to hound dog someone who didn't pay the invoice. Because I hate that. I don't know about you, but I hate being the beggar. I don't really. Hi, John. You still owe me $112. Hi, John. Still $112. Right.
Speaker 2
I hate that. So tip for you. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that.
Speaker 1
I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I
Speaker 2
hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate that. I hate it. I hate that. I hate that. Sometimes people learn best by what not to do. So what are a handful of common things that you see mistakes that you see people fall into when they
Speaker 1
get started? Don't partner too soon, first of all. Stay by yourself. I've had more failed partnerships than I can tell you. Both relationships as well as business wise because we go too fast. I get happy years. People get happy years and they're like that's perfect? No. Stop. Is this really perfect? does this just feel good? So everybody's got to bring your own clients. So the next mistake that I've made is putting people on payroll too soon. Somebody who does what I do does not double business. I still have to manage that. Yeah, that's a hard thing. That's money that I don't get that they get, which is really paid. They are getting paid for me to mentor them. That's a big mistake. So don't do that. And then I would say probably the third big mistake is don't save for your taxes. Take that money, put 33% aside. You make a dollar, you put 33 cents aside, make a hundred bucks to put 33. I'm still paying my taxes from early in my career. Later, I'm better, but I'm still paying early career taxes because I just I didn't have that sensibility about me. I'm like, Oh, I'll make more money. Sure you will. And then you have lean times and then the IRS loves you and they'll call you every day. No, don't do
Speaker 2
that. Yeah, it's I think human nature for a lot of us that, you know, money's in the bank. We're going to spend, you know, every bit of it. But if we put it in, if we take it out as a bill, you know, every month, you know, it's like, well, I don't have that money anymore. So I better figure out how to do it with less. So absolutely right. So let's I was quite often like to look ahead. Are there any things trends, changes that you see coming that that are going to impact this industry or this way of going to work?
Speaker 1
Well, AI, of course, is going to change the whole game. AI will make things faster. You're not going to be replaced by AI. You've been replaced by somebody who knows AI. So start to learn the AI now, whether it's Grammarly or chat GPT or video editing or insert your thing here, use AI and get used to it. That's the biggest trend. Stay on top of that. And then you know what, that could be something you add to your arsenal. Don't gin up a business and say, Oh yeah, I'm an expert. You're lying. You're not.
Speaker 2
Well, we both have been around long enough to remember all the people that built their business as Twitter experts. Right. And so it's not the platform. Fundamentally, what AI does for fundamentally, what we are here to do hasn't changed. AI just gives us another set of tools in order to do that. But if you're not, you know, providing strategy context, you know, it's just a bunch of lousy tools. And frankly, in two or three years, it'll all change. So that's right. Absolutely. 100%. There's a whole lot of snake oil being sold under the AI get rich bucket right now. But you know, don't fall prey to it. So Phil, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the duct tape marketing podcast. You want to invite people to connect with you somewhere or certainly find out where they can grab a copy of zero dollar consultancy.
Speaker 1
Sure. So go to ZDC for zero dollar consultancy book.com. That's the easiest place to get it. And find me on LinkedIn. Spell Gerber Shack. You'll find me G. E. R. B Y S H. A K. Just find awesome.
