One of the chapters in my new ebook on getting sh*t done is called Charge More. And if you’ve ever taken a class with me, this should come as no surprise.
“Raise your prices” is practically my battle cry!
Still, I’m sure there are some people who will read that chapter (maybe even you) and feel like they can’t charge more for one very simple reason.
You want your work to be accessible.
Now, I’ve talked about this idea before. But it’s such a common excuse for not raising prices that it’s always worth revisiting.
First, your work isn’t accessible to anyone if you are too burnt out from from undercharging to continue making it.
Your work isn’t accessible to anyone if you go out of business because you never made a profit.
But beyond that, the key to making your work accessible isn’t to price everything absurdly low.
Instead, the key is to design work for different price points.
And this strategy works no matter what you’re selling.
In my jewelry business, I sell $35 rings and $1000 necklaces. And pretty much every price point in between.
Here at Designing an MBA, I have classes that cost upwards of $300, an online mentorship program that is over $100 a month, and offer one on one coaching for $450. But I also just released my new ebook at $29, to give more people a chance to learn from me.
Designing for different price points is essential if you want to keep your work (or at least some of your work) accessible, while still building a profitable business.
There are a few reasons for this.
The biggest one is that the more things you can sell at a higher price point, the less overall sales you have to make. Which means less time hustling and more time creating work you love.
Let’s go back to jewelry as an example.
Let’s say the only thing you made were $35 rings. If your goal is to bring in $100k in revenue, you have to sell 2,858 rings in one year to make that happen.
That’s a lot of customers to convince and a lot of rings to package and ship.
Now, let’s say that you added in a mix of other products: $120 earrings, a $450 necklace, you get the idea. And with all those other price points, your average sale becomes $180.
Now, you’d only have to make 556 sales to hit your $100k revenue goal.
That’s over 2000 less orders to package and ship and 2000 less people you have to convince to make a purchase.
So having a greater range of prices is essential because it ultimately creates less work for you.
But it’s also good for your customers, because you will always have customers who want more.
Yes, there may be customers for whom a $35 dollar ring feels like a stretch. But there are also customers who love your work who would gladly pay $500 to own a fabulous, one of a kind necklace.
And while there are some people for whom $29 feels like a big investment for an ebook (but hey, it comes with an audiobook too), I know there are many of you reading this who will happily pay hundreds of dollars to work with me on a more personal level.
By selling at multiple price points, you get to serve everyone in your audience.
You can keep your work accessible for some people, while still ensuring that you bring in the revenue and profit you need to support your art and your business.
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Want to know why charging more is actually the secret sauce to getting things done in your business? Be sure to check out my new ebook, Try It & See: How to Get Sh*t Done While Overanalyzing Everything. Here’s what one person had to say:
“It’s Megan’s trademark combination of densely packed practical advice and softly delivered tough-love. I kept thinking “uh-oh, I think she’s talking about me…” Absolutely recommended.”
-Janet Taylor, Household Art