It's My Birthday!

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Happy birthday to me.

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Holy smokes guys, I am 45.

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And that feels really hard to believe

because most of the time I feel like I'm

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25.

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So welcome to this episode of the She

Needs Profit Podcast.

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I'm your host, Sam Varner.

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And today we are celebrating my birthday

really quickly, but I want to talk about

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milestones and about how much

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they can either be a motivation or a

deterrent.

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And honestly, birthdays can be that,

right?

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I think all of us have had circumstances

where there's been a wildly anticipated

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birthday on the positive side.

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And then potentially as we start to get a

little bit older, we start to dread

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birthdays or start to think about all

sorts of different things when we're

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having a birthday.

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But this year in particular, my goal is to

really, really focus on

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all that I have achieved in 45 years

because it's not insignificant and I don't

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look at it very often.

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Me, like many of you, have a hard time

looking at the wins and evaluating

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everything I've accomplished instead of

onto the next, onto the next, onto the

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next.

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And so I always think that if I can get my

head in the game, right around my

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birthday, I do a couple of things that...

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I think going forward into the next years

will be beneficial.

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So first and foremost, I try and look at

everything I have accomplished.

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So when it comes to business stuff, I'm

constantly looking at how many podcast

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episodes have I done now?

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How consistent have I stayed in this

project of a podcast?

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How many clients have I helped?

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How many people's business have I had a

hand in?

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their growth and their development and

their change, right?

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It's pretty amazing if you start to think

about things from that perspective.

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Now, if I start to think even farther

back, right, into the before the business

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times, what were all the things that I

accomplished at that point?

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We don't give ourselves credit often

enough for everything that we are

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accomplishing.

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That can be on the business front or the

personal front, but there are...

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is a lot to show for the work and the time

and the hours that we spend day in, day

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out, growing and building and bettering

ourselves.

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And I want to encourage you today on my

birthday that even if your birthday is

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nowhere soon, it is worth making a list of

all the stuff you're doing, all of the

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accomplishments you've had in the course

of your life or maybe the course of this

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month or maybe the course of this year.

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It doesn't really matter, but...

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Taking the time to actually evaluate what

we're doing right, what we've achieved, is

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a different motivation, a different way of

feeling great about ourselves and allows

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us to see the depth of growth that we've

had over time.

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I forget, I am a very driven person.

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I am a very plan the next thing, get the

next thing accomplished.

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And I can often be discouraged when those

things in the future aren't going the way

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that I want them to go.

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This is the best way I know to get myself

back into a place of appreciation and

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valuing myself and not kind of just

shitting on the fact that I'm still

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working on things, I'm still trying to

grow things, I'm still not where I want to

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be, but I am so much farther than what my

five years ago person thought she could

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accomplish.

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On my 40th birthday, did I have any

fathoming?

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that I could be here today, I absolutely

didn't.

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But she did it.

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That girl worked her ass off for five

years and has been able to build something

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really significant, has been able to

deepen the relationship she has, has been

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able to lean into friendships, has all

sorts of trips and adventures and just

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experiences over the last five years that

have shaped who I am today.

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So instead of...

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dreading that next birthday and feeling

like, whoa is me.

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I want you to lean in, get a little bit of

my enthusiasm today for the love and, you

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know, embrace the fact that getting older

means we're getting smarter, we're getting

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wiser, we're getting more experienced and

we're not done yet.

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So with that, the best birthday gift you

could give me without a doubt is to go

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into wherever you listen to your

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podcast and leave me a rating or review.

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That's all I want for my birthday.

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Toss me some words of love or

encouragement or honestly criticism.

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I am open to hearing what you want to hear

on this podcast, what you don't want to

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hear any more of or what you need more of.

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Either way, I am open to the feedback and

the best way for you to do it is by

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leaving me a rating and review.

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So please fulfill my birthday wish today,

leave me a rating review and we will talk

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next week.

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Welcome to the She Needs Profit podcast.

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I'm your host, Sam Varner.

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You know, in my 15 years of business

experience, I've noticed there are three

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things required to create a thriving

business.

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Sales, visibility, and profit.

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And yet most business owners find

themselves overworked, overwhelmed, and

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underpaid.

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If you own a private practice or are a

service -based business owner, this

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podcast is for you.

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On this show, I give you the tools,

strategy, and coaching,

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to run a profitable business and share

stories and insight from people who are

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right there with you.

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Let's dive into today's episode.

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So it is time.

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I'm going to coach you real hard today.

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This is your host, Sam Varner of the She

Needs Profit podcast.

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And today we're talking about the thing

that you are all avoiding.

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Raise your rates.

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I can with certainty say 95 % of you

listening need to increase your rates for

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your business.

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Yep.

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That's it, right?

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I guarantee,

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that you could be making more money

without doing anything other than just

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raising the rates for the service that

you're already confidently selling.

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And so often I hear the idea that like,

but what if I lose a client?

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What if something happens?

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What if people don't like me anymore?

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What if, what if, what if?

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Here's the reality.

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You are not a charity.

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You are not a 501C3.

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You are...

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a for -profit organization that you are

intending to build wealth through.

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If you do not charge what your time is

worth, what your knowledge and expertise

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is worth, you are doing yourself a massive

disservice.

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And this is something that I have a client

who we have been dealing with this on and

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off for probably a year.

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And as you guys probably know at this

point,

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I am very much a no bullshit kind of

coach, right?

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I am gonna tell you what it is.

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I don't beat around the bush.

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I don't try and make it gentle.

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Now, that might sound really harsh, but I

think it's important that you have people

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in your lives that are going to tell you

the truth and are gonna tell you it in a

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way that there is no confusion.

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So I'm gonna tell you the story of this

client who is...

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first started out when we very first

started talking with a slightly different

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business model than what she is currently

operating.

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And that original business model was more

of a coaching and wellness space business

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model.

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And she was working really, really hard on

all of the backend of that business and

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not working at all on the sales.

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And that is a secondary problem, right?

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We talk about that one regularly.

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When we started coaching together, one of

the first things I said was, hey, I think

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you can make more money by doing this

thing that you're already an expert in.

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And it is a way that you can also impact

the same people, the same audience that

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you are driven to impact.

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But you can also create a real robust

business that generates wealth.

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And in that moment,

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She was bought in, she saw that.

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We then over time worked and worked and

worked to create the backend of that

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business, to work on how do you deliver

the service?

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How do you charge the service?

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How do you structure a business that looks

like this, that is different than what is

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the traditional model in her industry?

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Over and over and over again, I kept

saying these rates need to be higher.

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Yeah, but I don't think the client can pay

that much.

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I push back, yes, I think they can, I

think they will, I think that the service

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you have is critical.

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And we went a couple rounds on that topic,

right?

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Then I came at it a slightly different

angle.

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Listen, the reason you can charge the

rates that I'm saying is because you have

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years and years of experience.

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Your knowledge in exactly what these

potential clients are going through and

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your knowledge in how to solve that

problem.

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is unique and is just unique to you.

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And people are willing to pay for the

solution they're seeking.

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And I think we lose sight of that.

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I think we throw a number out there and we

think that's what we should charge, right?

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But the reality is you can charge what the

market will bear.

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What the market will bear is what somebody

will pay to solve a problem.

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And depending on the severity or the

impact that problem is having on their

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lives,

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is how much somebody's willing to pay.

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They want a solution now.

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They want a solution quickly.

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They want a solution that actually gets

rid of their problem.

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And if you have the ability to do that,

and this comes from, this can be in you

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are a coach that can solve that sales

problem and get them to the point of

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making money.

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Or it can be you solve the problem of I

want,

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beautiful nails and I wanna be able to go

into the salon and have X experience and

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be able to do that regularly, that's also

a problem.

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There is no bigger problem, smaller

problem.

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The potential client has a problem and you

are the solution.

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And the sooner you embrace the fact that

your unique skills and abilities are

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exactly what somebody is looking for and

you just need to actually make sure that

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you're out there in front of them,

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the easier it is for you to raise your

rates.

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If you're starting to feel resentful from

your clients, it is because you're

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charging too little.

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If you are realizing how many hours you're

spending per client and you're making no

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money, you're not paying yourself, you're

not setting aside money in an account to

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invest within your business, you can't

afford to outsource the help that you

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want, you can't afford to get a coach like

me,

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all because you're not making enough money

and yet you're still working a full work

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week, you need to raise your rates.

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And I can go on and on.

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I hope that you can identify yourself in,

yes, I am part of the crew that needs to

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raise my rates.

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Yes, it can feel very, very scary to do

that.

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It can feel like you're going to lose

clients.

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And sometimes we actually raise our rates

with that exact intention in mind.

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When you get to the point of capacity, you

do not have the ability to service any

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more clients, that is the best time to

raise your rates.

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The reason is that will eliminate some of

those clients to be able to pay your new

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rate and you won't have as many clients.

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Yeah, simple, right?

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It is absolutely critical that you know

how to evaluate whether it's time to raise

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your rates.

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Let's pretend you've been listening to me

for a while.

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Let's pretend you implement every single

thing that you hear on the podcast, in

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which case you get a gold star, good job.

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Let's pretend you've raised your rates

regularly.

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You might be saying to yourself, I

probably can't raise my rates again.

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I'm probably at the top of what I can

charge for what I'm doing.

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I want to challenge you, look at it again.

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If you haven't taken the time to evaluate

your profit margin when it comes to each

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service that you're offering,

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How much time, how much effort does it

take for you to generate that?

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And is that profit margin reasonable?

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Are you happy to make that amount of

money?

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Once you've paid for everything you need

to pay for to create that for the client,

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are you happy with that amount of money?

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Are you happy with your take -home pay?

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Are you paying yourself anything?

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Are you paying yourself a living wage?

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Are you embarrassed to tell people what

you're paying yourself?

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All of those are a fantastic indication

that you need to raise your rates.

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My client, this last, I think in the last

two weeks, came to the conclusion, having

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run her numbers, looked at everything that

is encompassed in each one of her

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products, realized she needs to raise her

rates.

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She needs to increase what she's charging

for clients based purely on how much time

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it's taking her to deliver her service.

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you can have a lot of reluctance around

this move as a business owner.

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There can be a lot of fear.

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There can be a lot of angst when you're

thinking about doing this or even just

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hearing me tell you, you should be doing

this.

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And this is the number one reason I'm

gonna plug really hard right here.

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And I don't do this very often.

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You need a coach.

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You need somebody.

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And I'm gonna suggest perhaps me as you

are here listening to this podcast.

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You need to reach out to me and get help

around, do I need to raise my rates?

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What should my rates be?

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And how do I go about it in a way that I

feel confident and ready and not scared

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and graspy?

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It is no joke.

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You are sitting on thousands and thousands

of dollars in your business because you

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haven't done this yet.

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And if you haven't done it and it's

because you're nervous, then reach out and

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I can help you.

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Figure out exactly how to do that so that

you are actually bringing those thousands

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and thousands of dollars into your bottom

line revenue.

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I hope this is the talk that you needed to

hear.

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I hope you're going to go back to that

spreadsheet, plug in some new numbers,

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feel a little bit scared, reach out for

help from me if you need it, and raise

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your rates.

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Until next week, we'll see you then.

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And that's this week's episode of the She

Needs Profit podcast.

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If you like what you heard today, connect

with us on Instagram.

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at Sam the Profit Coach or leave us a

review in your podcast player.

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Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter

packed with more profit tips.

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The link is in the show notes.

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See you next week.