Charging $0 To $5K for Strategy in 6 Months

[C]: Ah. Interesting. Okay. So, where were we? I was asking about like—

[M]: Logo.

[C]: Logo.

[M]: Yeah.

[C]: And it’s like, “What can impact the price?” And you answered that, right?

[M]: Yes.

[C]: Alright. Now you see, now we’re like busy arguing about something, now I can’t remember anymore! It’s like an old married couple over here! It’s like, “What are we talking about?” Okay. Alright. I think we got your role playing. I think I have some tips for you, but we’ll circle back to that later.

[M]: Okay.

@14:48

[C]: Okay. So we’ve established now that you charge 5,000 dollars to do strategy, and it really can impact the client’s business, which makes you feel good. It gets you a seat at the table so you’re not an “order taker,” you’re an advisor to the client.

[M]: Correct.

[C]: And I like that you stood your ground, so if they insist that this is not going to happen, what–how do you say it? So let me get back into the role play. Don’t break character now! Stop pointing to the screen like, “At this point—“

[M]: Well, I have to—

[C]: No! No!

[M] Because you’re breaking my process.

[C]: So what?

[M]: I’m just! Well, if you want to—

[C]: Improvise! Improvise!

[M]: But if you want a true example of what goes on, then…

[C]: Okay.

[M]: If you don’t…If you want something new, that’s okay. But if you really want to know what’s going on, then, this is not what’s going on!

[C]: It’s too much! It’s too much!

[M]: Okay. Go back to strategy then!

[C]: No! We’re moving on. I don’t even know what we’re talking about.

[M]: We’re talking about if I don’t—

[C]: We’re going to have to do some editing here!

[M]: If I don’t take them on, then—

[C]: Yeah, okay.

[M]: It’s deliverable only.

@15:45

[C]: So, so, get, get rid of me then. Let’s just say like: “Look, I really like you. I think I can spend 5 to 8 thousand dollars on the logo by itself, I’m just not really into this other thing. I just, I need to get this thing done, and we’ve had somebody do this before and it really got us nowhere. So, are you saying that you won’t take on this job?

[M]: Uh, see it—I would…delve into the why…

[C]: Go ahead.

[M]: Things went bad over there.

[C]: Stay in character!

[M]: Okay. I thought you were leading me somewhere else. This is bad. See? This is…

[C]: This is why Melinda never comes on the show! So that’s why she won’t come on the show anymore. Alright. 

[M]: Ooooookay. Well.

[C]: Yes?

[M]: That is—[Laughter.] Because I don’t feel that it would get you to your goal, that I’ll have to refer you to someone else that would take on a logo only, from the start.

[C]: Hmm, okay, that’s a bummer.

[M]: I would love to work with you, though. I would, truly.

[C]: I would love to get those referrals. Who are you gonna send me?

@16:49

[M]: I have a list. I’ll send you.

[C]: Are you checking it twice?

[M]: I’ll send you right after this call. Yes.

[C]: Alright. End scene! We’ll, we’ll stop it right there. Okay, so let’s get back to this whole thing. Uh, I’m gonna have to teach you how to say no. I’m gonna have to teach you how to do this without visuals, and so that you can be in the flow. A lot of this (okay, you’re relatively new still, relatively speaking), so soon you’ll be able to do this kinda over the phone while you’re driving to have Starbucks. It’ll be no problem.

[M]: And the initial call, which I took from you last time, was to qualify the price. So the initial one is that and then the second one is (just letting you know what I’m current doing) to get them on a Skype call or an in-person meeting if I am local. And that’s why I use visuals because I have nothing on my site. Because I lead with deliverables at the moment on my website, which is not going to be that way next month.

[C]: Good. You already know the task.

[M]: I already know. So that’s why I felt like instead of having things on my website and case studies that I’m gonna have them in-person and show them and talk them through it that…which so far has worked out for me to get to five thousand.

@18:05

[C]: Alright, so! I’m gonna say this because I’m gonna give voice to our audience that are watching: They’re like, “Oh, my God! I can’t believe she’s saying no to a five to eight thousand dollar logo!” How are you gonna handle that criticism? Like, what did you charge to do this, like, a year ago?

[M]: A year ago? I was charging…

[C]: Before we met.

[M]: The top one, which was a branding package, was $6300.

@18:28

[C]: Okay, so a year ago, you were happy with $6300. And now, just a year later, if somebody’s gonna offer you five to eight thousand dollars to do a logo again, and you’re like, “Hm.” How do you speak to that? Like, what has happened to you? So spoiled so fast.

[M]: Well, those people that are complaining, now they have a client! Potentially.

[C]: That you’re gonna give them

[M]: That I will give them.

[C]: And why would you do that now?

@18:53

[M]: Why would I do that now? Because of the reasons that I was telling you, that, as the client, one, I know that it’s not necessarily (I don’t know this for sure, but) it’s not necessarily gonna reach their goal, and so, if everything’s not in alignment as far as strategy and their goals and we’re not getting anywhere, we’re just checking things off a list, so it’s like: “Do you wanna have–do you just wanna check something off a list or do you want to be effective?” And I (now that I’ve tasted the greatness, I wanna be effective! Because to me, that’s worth more than money. It really is.

[C]: I see. So it’s almost like you took the pill and you entered into the matrix, and now you know it’s all fake. That’s not cheeseburger that you’re eating, it’s like code, and you can’t go back. You’d rather live in the raw, dirty world that we know, rather than go back to that place.

[M]: Yeah.

[C]: That’s interesting. Okay, so, there’s a lot of people in our group (in our pro-coaching group) who are still… (I don’t wanna use the word “struggling,” but it’s still a challenge for them to get to that place where they can charge five thousand dollars just for the thinking part. There’s only a handful. There’s about half a dozen of you guys so far that have separated out (and I know that there are a lot of people that think that, “Mmm, I charge strategy for all of that, but it’s all lumped together). So first of all, I want to say kudos to you for being able to do it, and also, kind of listening to the advice that I give you, and, a lot of people are like: “I’m doing it.” But they don’t do it the way that I tell them to do it, so then I’m like, “You’re not doing it.” Right? So some people still kind of mush it together and I don’t think they’re confident enough to separate it apart. Because once you separate it, you’re validating that there’s value there, and that they’re willing to hire you for that reason, and that’s excellent. So I have to ask you this question: What makes you so special? What makes you so different? Because I give advice out to strangers on the Internet, I give advice to the coaching group, one-on-one coaching…Why, why were you able to achieve what they weren’t able to achieve?

@20:59

[M]: That’s a deep question.

[C]: That’s what I’m here for.

[M]: I feel like it’s a simple answer though.

[C]: What is it?

[M]: I just did it. I just started.

[C]: That’s helpful. [Laugher.]

@21:10

[M]: Well, it is to those who are stalled. Just do the first small, very small step. Whatever that is. For me, it was: Learn how to do strategy. The second one, it was: Get someone to agree to let me do strategy for them for their company. One of them was my cousin! One of them was my good friend/client that I have worked with before. Uhh, another one was a previous client. Um, someone else was a friend, and, yeah, I think one other was a previous client as well, so, a lot of them were friends, they were family members, they were previous clients, that I felt comfortable with, and they agreed to, to let me do strategy for them. And with every single one of those, I got more confident with it. And then I realized, “Oh my gosh! There’s magic in this!” Like I, I was converted after that!

[C]: The skies parted and this ray of light came and you’re like, “Oh, it’s so warm in the sunlight!”

@22:08

[M]: But it really came–It came after every single strategy that I did for someone, I saw the difference that it made or the lightbulb that came on with them and the clarity that they had, and then I thought, “Oh my gosh! If this happened with the first person, just think about what will happen with the next, and the next! And, every time I did it, yeah! I got better, I changed my strategy document and my process as I went ‘cause I was seeing the needs, or I saw the roadblocks, or what was not necessary. Or where things got confusing and I straightened those out and, every time…Every time I do strategy now, I add something or I take something away because of what I’ve done previously, and now I’m…I feel confident in what I’m charging and I feel confident in even raising my prices because I see the impact that it’s making on the businesses that I’ve already worked with–and the people! It’s not just the business, it’s the (like, I had one client–and she’s the one that was my friend, she said, “You’re the only one that I feel got, who understands my vision.”

[C]: Mmm. Did she give you a hug?

[M]: Pretty much, yeah. She did.

[C]: Did she cry?

[M]: Uh, I don’t know about crying.

[C]: Alright. I’m gonna get you to “Do” status where they start crying and huggin’ you. Like, “Oh my God! You’re so good!” Alright, this is good. ‘Cause it can be cathartic. I just wanna say that. “Cathartic.” And we’ll put the definition right there: “cathartic.” Okay, so, you did a great job of explaining something, but you didn’t answer my question. I wanna get into your mind. I wanna crawl into this brain and say like, there’s some random dude that you saw on the Internet. And you come in, and you chat with me a couple of times, a little bit of coaching and I told you that you’re not doing strategy. And, you took it like a champ. You got like an iron chin because I smacked you and you were like, “Yeah, what else you got?” I’m like, “Oh, I got more.” And then, you get into the core framework, and you quietly go off and do your thing.

@24:03

[C]: It is a special somebody that can just take a little bit of information and even though it’s counter to everything that they’ve done before that moment, yet you’re willing to just move forward without sitting there and thinking, over-analyzing, over-thinking, and die a death of paralysis by analysis. You just did it! And, what, what, what’s in your personality, what’s in your background and your upbringing, your belief system that allows you just do it. Because that’s the magic. If I can figure it out with you, I can make a lot of difference to those people out there.

@24:42

[M]: Right. Okay. That’s deep. Hold on.

[C]: I’m gonna move you center to the camera and I’m gonna move out.

[M]: Are you gonna have music? Can you have music and…?

[C]: Just tell the people.

[M]: The people. Okay. First, it’s my beliefs. Because I feel that my accomplishments don’t define who I am. That who I am is, is not attached to what I do, or what I accomplish, or even the things that I fail with or fail doing. Um, that’s a first one that, that who I am matters to the one that matters most to me. Um, and so, that, to me, that’s my guiding light in life, and so that’s how I approach most situations and I’m growing (obviously I’m not perfect, but that’s…that’s my beliefs). ‘Cause I feel like we talked about thoughts influence behaviors, but even before that I believe it’s beliefs. Um, belief about who you are and why you’re here. Um, that’s the first one, it’s like the deepest! The deepest one! Uh, the second one is, I believe it is in my personality to just do things. Um, when I was sixteen, my cousin/piano teacher, he wanted me to start teaching piano and I was like, “I’m sixteen years old. I don’t even know piano that well. I’m not that great.” And, um, a lady called me two days later and she’s like, “Hey! I heard that you give piano lessons and there’s two–I have two kids I want you to teach.” And I was like, “Well, I do now.” So, I took that, that way of just accepting things as they come, like the crazy (you know) man on the Internet that I was standing next to, um, that when opportunities come to you, when things that you learn come up, that you just embrace them. Kind of like what Chris always tells us: Embrace and pivot. But you can do that in your own life. And I, I do that in my own life. I embrace what comes and then I move forward. So, if you want it at the deepest level, that’s what…

@26:42

[C]: Aren’t you scared?

[M]: Of what?

[C]: I don’t know. Most people are afraid.

[M]: I feel like this is weird ‘cause there’s just a voice coming in from the side! So you don’t wanna come back?

[C]: It’s okay! Just look right there. Just pour your heart out and, right into that camera. Look right down the barrel.

[M]: Say that question again.

[C]: Aren’t you afraid? Like, why can you do what few people have been able to do? Besides saying, “Yeah! I just did it!” Help ‘em out!

@27:08

[M]: Umm, there is fear there, but to me, for me, the excitement is…it overshadows the fear. And the other thing that I had mentioned to Chris before when he had asked me that, um, a big difference, too, for me this past year was, was being aware of what I’m thankful for, and that, um, what that looks like for me is sending two of my friends a gratitude list of three things I’m most thankful for every single day. Every single morning, no matter how bad our day was, no matter how bad we’re feeling, that we always send three things we’re grateful for. So one, it helps with accountability because you see that your friends are doing it, and we never bash each other if we forget, but it’s the fact that we see someone else doing it and then we do it as well. Um, the other thing is just sharing in gratitude and it changes your mind that you start actually looking for those things that you’re grateful for and that are good things instead of, um, I think are–it’s easy to get into that rut of naturally seeing what we suck at, and what went bad, and how someone treated us, and start blaming things, or people for what our life is right now, so doing the gratitude list has–I feel like it’s changed my brain, too, over the past few months since…I believe I started that like a couple weeks after I got coached by Chris. And that, coupled with just moving forward and doing it, and so when I, when I did the first strategy session with my client, I had to do my gratitude list the next day and so instead of thinking, “Oh, that went horribly, I did this wrong, and I should have done this, that I was just thinking of all the good things that came out of it. And I thought: “Oh my gosh! My client was excited.” And, they found out this about their business. And they did this and I was able to uncover this or make this connection, and so, I’m constantly now thinking in the positive light instead of the negative. So that’s a big one.

@29:03

[C]: That’s fantastic! That’s fantastic. So, you, you…how long ago did you graduate from school?

[M]:Ten years.

[C]: Ten years. Okay. So that means a couple of things. That means you can be pretty set in your rhythms in life for ten years and have a change like that [*snaps his fingers*]. Yet the only thing that’s stopping you is you. And that’s why I’m just so appreciative of being able to watch you grow, to see you take on things and just…you know, I’mma give myself some credit.

[M]: Go for it.

[C]: I’m just gonna go and do one of these things [*pats himself on the back*]. I’mma, I’mma say something here, is: People always ask me: How do you determine who’s gonna be on the show? ‘Cause obviously there’s a lot of people who reach out and say, “Chris! Help us! Help us! Critique this! Help me! Coach me! Mentor me!” But you see, I, I pride myself on being able to spot talent. And talent isn’t necessarily what you guys think. Some of you guys might think, “Talent? Well, she has a giant Instagram following,” or “She’s already a design superstar.” And that’s not the case at all. What I saw in Melinda, which is very rare, is, I put out a task for people to do. The task was to draw grids over logos. And, what Melinda just exceeded my expectations in such a way that I was thinking: “Here’s a person who took a little bit of an idea, a kernel, and made it blow up.” So, this is a lesson to all of you guys that that kind of spirit is rewarded whether or not you have a mentor or not. So I think that that’s the kind of attitude that you have. Give you a little bit and you just take it and you run. Nose down, head down, and you just bash with the barriers, and I just love that. And I love that you just said that you’re really excited about the potential of what’s gonna happen, and you didn’t focus too much on what you had to lose. And that’s the key thing in life. Most people think about what they have to lose; few people think about what they have to gain. That’s what you did. Excellent job there. Okay. Now that you’re just killin’ it (Killin’ it!), what do we think, the end of 2018, what are you gonna do in terms of your gross billings? ‘Cause we had said before (at the end of 2017) you wish you could get this, and that freaked people out. They were like, “What’s she complaining about? That’s a ton of money!” Yes, relatively speaking, it is, relatively speaking, but we have goals. We set goals, we smash goals, we go to our stretch goals, so what is your goal for 2018 in terms of gross billings?

[M]: A hundred and eighty thousand.

[C]: Woohoo! A hundred and eighty thousand! It was a hundred before, right?

[M]: It was a hundred before, until you told me to change it.

[C]: I did?

[M]: Yes, you did.

[C]: Shh! We’ll edit that part out. I didn’t say it.

[M]: Okay. Yes! It was.

[C]: A hundred and eighty THOUSAND. Boom! Now, I have to ask you a couple of questions. Back when you were going to–what school did you go to again?

[M]: Cal State Fullerton.

[C]: Cal State Fullerton, what up?! Cal State Fullerton! Did you think, in a year, you could possibly pull down a hundred and eighty thousand? Was that part of even your idea of what you could do as a graphic designer?

[M]: No. I’ve heard–well, in school, I did hear of people getting like hundred thousand rebrands, but that in my mind was for those top agency people.

[C]: Yeah.

[M]: Like, it wasn’t…it wasn’t anything that I thought I could necessarily do, or…

[C]: Like, out of reach for mere mortals, right?

[M]: Yeah.

[C]: Alright, so you’re closing it. You have a killer attitude. You just, now you’re in the process of redesigning your website.

[M]: Yes.

[C]: Excellent. You’re doing everything that you need to do.

[M]: Thank you.

[C]: Is there anything else that we need to talk about before we kinda get into some coaching stuff?

[M]: I wanna get into the coaching stuff.

[C]: You do?

[M]: Yeah.

[C]: Alright. We’re gonna get into some coaching stuff on the next episode.