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What Are You Worth?

Lesson 31 from: Command the Fees You Deserve

Ilise Benun

What Are You Worth?

Lesson 31 from: Command the Fees You Deserve

Ilise Benun

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Lesson Info

31. What Are You Worth?

Lessons

Class Trailer

Day 1

1

Class Introduction

14:12
2

The Big Ideas: Your Mindset

17:20
3

Deciding Your Goals

20:17
4

Do You Have What It Takes?

12:40
5

Overview of the Top 5 Marketing Tools

21:43
6

Tool #1: Your Elevator Pitch

21:00
7

Tool #2: Effective Networking

22:29

Lesson Info

What Are You Worth?

Lesson twenty eight what are you worth so there's the wrong way to think about what you're worse and there's the right way to think about what you're worth and the wrong way is the way most people think about it which is here some quotations really live quotations from people who say to me my clients refused to pay what I'm worth right? And that could be because you've asked them to pay what they're what you're worth and they say no or because they have no idea what you're worth but I think this mentality of my client's refused to pay what I'm worth is the wrong way to think about it and I will tell you what the right way is another variation on it is why can't I get my clients to pay what I'm worth? And this is connected to getting word of mouth or taking what comes along because again, if you don't go looking for the people who are in a position to pay what you think you're worth, then the people who find you you can't change what their ability to pay is and I hear that in these quot...

ations that you're trying to basically ask people to do something they're usually not in a position to dio right and so that needs to be understood in a way what I said in session one applies here which is that these are pricing problems with marketing solutions right these air not pricing problems there are marketing solutions which have to do with going out and finding the people who can pay and this is wrong because your value as a person has nothing to do with the value of your services and this is especially challenging I think for creative professionals because you're doing something that you love and you really enjoy it and it's very personal to you for the most part which is fine, but when it comes to the business side when it comes to the pricing side, I encourage you as much as possible and this takes time to separate yourself from your work work to be as objective as you can about what you're doing and not care if possible not care what anyone thinks of it. You do your best job and that's all there is to it but that's not your value as a person hopefully you're value as a person comes from much more intrinsic and essential things, not the value of the work that you produce. All right, so try to separate those two things if you possibly can and again it doesn't come immediately it takes time. Also, your pricing has nothing to do with your value it has nothing to do with the value of the work that you do even your pricing has to do with the value that your clients get from the work right, we were talking a little bit about this in session to zane was telling us about value based pricing, which I will ask him to reprieve a little bit later when we talk about it again, but the idea is that the value of your work is not about the work itself it's not about the time it takes you it's not about your years of experience even which is not to say that those things aren't important, but what's really most important when you're pricing is what is the value to your clients and what are they willing to pay that's the thing to focus on it's a mind shift again it takes time I don't expect you to get it right this second that's why we want you to have any time access to this so you can listen over and over and over repetition is kind of an amazing thing sometimes so as I said before, all of this is not a pricing problem it's a marketing problem or a pricing problem with a marketing solutions. So what is the right way to think about it? So I propose that you khun say to yourself where can I find the prospects who can afford my services and pay what I need to earn, not what I'm worth, not what I want to earn what I need to earn another variation on that and once I've found them how do I find out what they value and sell it to them for a fee that is fair to all right? We're not trying to gouge anyone we're not trying to get as much as we possibly can we're trying to figure out what is fair what is fair to them on what is fair to you and that usually requires a conversation and a negotiation and that is something that a lot of people seem to fear is the conversation about money we talked about that in session to also so again where can I find the prospects who cannot afford my services and pay what I need to earn? And then once I've found them how do I find out what they value and sell it to them for a fee that's fair to all all right so that is the end of this lesson so we're going to go to the exercise and what the exercises is this question it's another one of these what would you do if a prospect only has half the fee you think a project is worth? What would you do let's put that question in the chat room and talk first to our friends on the couch the question is what if a prospect only has half the fee you think a project is worth what would you do? Raina? I couldn't think of a few things um one way would be to maybe offer a partly payment in the beginning and then a delayed payment later if that is an option. Um, another one would be to scale back what my involvement in the project iss or find ways to make that basically reduce the value so that it matches more closely with what they can afford. Absolutely. I love those ideas. What else goes again? There's no right answer for any of this, right? We have to be creative and come up with something that is fair to everyone and make sense according to what you have on your plate at any given moment and what goals you're trying to achieve. Justin, I guess I thought that if so, if I'm working on something helping somebody create educational content on, but they're selling it somehow take a percentage of their sales? Absolutely. Why not realty or if it's just happens to be a project? It's a simple project. Just mark down like, say, like let's do one camera operator and no audio guy. Only god, like, figure out a solution, tio, but only if it's worth working with working with the client and that client that I want to work with exactly the same you wanna add anything? Absolutely. A bit of a combination of both of those probably added maybe a retainer like a monthly fees, which is more affordable too, so that next month don't have the money they can, so spread it out, spread it out exactly. I like that idea. Do we have other answers in the tavern? We do, and people are recognizing both what saying and justin said there because christian says, well, I would try and change the scope, but if they can't and I did, but then I would say no to the project, abberline says yes, she would allow a payment plan. Wendy would say I'd offer half the services that they want. I'm going to pay the price on lt sanders says. We'll negotiate the work you can do for the fee that they have, which I guess is the same thing is changing the scope, but yeah, it seems to be the payment plan. It seems to be the most popular that people would try. I have a couple other ideas actually also you could offer to adam vais on the project and maybe bring in someone who can do the actual production of whatever it is at a lower fee, and you supervised even perhaps that do you have to do all the work that needs to be done at your rate, or can you grow your team? So that maybe that is an offering you make other people also who may not be able to afford it now I want to share something that jeffrey's mention because this has come up a number of times and I know at least you have very strong opinions on this but I think this is mainly what this course is about because he same well in the real world they will simply find somebody else because it's a buyer's market so we're getting back to that fear thing that if you do ask what you want they're going to walk away so you compromise so that is always an option but I think it is important to at least start asking for what you want and um again I would make the point that you're marketing is the way you separate yourself out from everyone else because even if it is a buyer's market, you have to emphasize the quality that you bring to the table and that essentially you get what you pay for. So if they find someone else, then you will always be available in case that doesn't work out raina example for that just happened to me ahead a client ask the multiple proposals from different people I gave mine he ended up going with somebody else and I asked why and he said it was a pricing issue a year later he came back to me and now works with me and it's so happy, and I am really glad I did that. And I didn't change my pricing, because now I feel like he really sees the value in, appreciates it, absolutely. But were you afraid in that moment to say, I'm sorry, this is what it costs. No, not really good, good. And again, you know, I was talking in session to a little bit about this core, this strength that you have to develop, and the pipeline, the marketing pipeline that supports it, so that you know that you don't need that one or that one. You have plenty to choose from. That is really the key to the trust that you have in yourself, that no matter what, even if you lose this one, if you lose that one, you can figure it out.

Class Materials

bonus material

Ilise Benun -- Command Your Fees Workbook.pdf

bonus material

Ilise Benun - Chapter 1 - Creative Professionals Guide to Money.pdf
Ilise Benun - Do You Have What it Takes Quiz.pdf
Ilise Benun - Jill A Case-Study.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Rashida B.
 

I wasn't able to catch this during the day, but I stayed up literally all night for three nights watching the replays. AMAZING. This definitely goes up there with the best of the best and most useful Creativelive courses ever. Pricing isn't the most exciting topic in the world. However, Ilise was passionate about the subject and her enthusiasm made this not only interesting but fun. I loved how she infused it with her vast knowledge and real world examples. Her guests were just as interesting. This was all around GREAT!

Steve-O
 

Helping others help themselves. Ilise Benun is clear and well-organized. The methods she shares are easy to understand while honest and straightforward in approach, stating from the git-go that work on my part is required. Ilise draws on her own experience as well as the methods and experience of other professionals in this course. She welcomes us into a proven plan for successful growth embracing an attitude of progress rather than perfection and attraction rather than promotion. This is my kind of mentor!

TxWhimsyArtist
 

Oh wow! My favorite course to date! Ilise's expertise was tremendously helpful. Thanks to Ilise, I'm not "stuck" any longer and I'm so excited to implement the wealth of knowledge I've gained from this master Marketing Mentor. This course is well worth the cost at any price!! Thank you so much Ilise!! Tammy@GammysHouse.com

Student Work

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