How to Transition from FREE to FEE

Remember when I told you that you could attract clients to your business by offering a great free program, and then sell the paid program from that space? It really is a fabulous way to get yourself in front of your ideal audience, but a lot of you are thinking,

“Hey, Lisa, that’s awesome. But HOW do I make that transition?”

You asked, and I’m listening – I love helping you, and our community, to step into the greatness that you all possess. I’ve got some sage advice to help you move your business from FREE to FEE without making you feel icky about it. Because when it comes right down to it, isn’t that the underlying issue? You may not feel like you should be charging, or you are afraid of charging more than you’re worth. Let me tell you, THAT’S going to hold you back from being fully seen in all of your brilliance. That is going to keep you from sharing your delicious knowledge and passion with the masses who desperately need YOU.

Let’s look at some ways to move gracefully from free to fee with no guilt or weirdness around making what you’re worth.

You Do Not Equal Your Fee

First of all, let’s establish something that is so important for you to know – your fee and your value are not going to be equal. You are going to overdeliver because that’s what will build your credibility and leave them wanting more of your juicy goodness. My first paid program only cost $28! Twenty-eight bucks. The value I brought to my clients in that program was worth at least $500, but I charged $28. Why? Because it brought my message to many more people – people were willing to invest that amount.

It’s not about the value of your program as much as how much your clients value themselves. That’s why you bring them into your business with little bites at a time. Let them get their feet wet. The more they see what you deliver to them, the more they will want!

Because I deliver so much value to them at $28, they are much more willing to invest larger amounts later. So, it’s important to build value…let them know that this content is worth so much more than you are charging. Say to them, “Hey, this program is worth at least $500, but I’m going to let you in for $28.” A whole lot of people are going to jump at that opportunity. They are going to jump!

Now I hear you…I hear you saying, “How do I know that I am delivering a good product? How can I make sure I know what I’m doing, so I can overdeliver content, and make them want more?” Listen, this next tip is going to blow you away – it’s so good!

Become a Volunteer in Your Field

I want you to find someone else who is already successful in doing what you want to do – someone who is looking in the rearview mirror at the issues you are heading toward. Your current place in the journey is a distant memory for them, because they’ve already done the work to get through it. A mentor can be the difference between scaling fast and taking years to build your business. By hooking your caboose to their train, you are going to move forward so much faster, avoiding many of the possible pitfalls that they may have faced. You can achieve the same results in less time. Don’t waste your resources reinventing the wheel – it’s already been done. Show up and take notes instead of trying for years to come to the same place.

The best way to do this is through volunteering. Many of you know this story, but I need to share it, because it’s so relevant to this topic: I went to the same conference 42 times, once as a student, and 41 times as a volunteer. I was learning on someone else’s dime as a volunteer, getting more knowledge from the conference itself, as well as all of the behind-the-scenes knowledge that I never would have learned as a paying student. I learned how to scale quicker, and with more grace and ease.

You might think that’s crazy, but there are two big reasons to volunteer:

#1, You add value. You are a leader and a problem solver, and while you are gleaning knowledge from your mentor, you are also adding value to their work. You begin to collaborate with them, and together you accomplish more.

#2, and this is a juicy one, you get to see what happens behind the scenes. What? Mic drop…you are getting the details on how to run your own conference or workshop. This is SO valuable!

Now don’t get too big for your britches and think that your credentials mean that you are above being a volunteer. No, you’re not. You are serving a mentor with your greatness while they serve you with the processes that you need to learn. You can figure it out on your own; of course you can…but you can figure it out at lightning speed when you volunteer and learn by doing.

Celebrate Your Accomplishments

I want you to take a look at everything you have already accomplished in the last 6 months, year, or five years. Your “Done” list is way longer than your “To Do” list, and that is a reason to celebrate! Be grateful for everything you have done to get where you are right now, and use that gratitude to propel you forward, recognizing that you have tremendous value. You deserve to be paid for what you have learned and created through all of your hard work and investment in yourself.

What we celebrate gets repeated and that celebration is the fuel to your future. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude! Give yourself permission to be paid – that’s right…I said you need to give yourself permission to get paid for your work. Your free program has value, and the “pay” is that it drives people to your paid programs, but now it’s time to actually charge money. If you’re already charging, it’s time to scale – charge more.

I was hesitant to charge for my value when I started doing paid speaking. I was charging $3000, and then I increased it to $7500 – WHOA. That was a scary jump for me. I was so afraid that no one would hire me for that price. I was undervaluing myself – it wasn’t that the people hiring me didn’t think I was worth it – it was my own mindset around getting paid, and how much I thought I was worth. When you celebrate your accomplishments and victories along the way, you are increasing the value that you assign to yourself!

Tell yourself, “Of course I’m worth $5000 for this program – look at everything I have done to get to this point.”

Did you take courses? Did you invest in coaches and programs to do the work on yourself? Did you volunteer? Did you give away free online courses or an ebook? Did you implement all of the wonderful pieces of wisdom you gained over the years?

You did the work! You are the expert – celebrate that, and then give others the gift of doing the work on themselves by investing in what you have to offer them. Shower them with lots of value for their money. You are a gift to them. All of your work to get to this place is a gift to others who haven’t done the work yet. Share that gift.

Remember – this is always meant to be a beautiful dialogue, not a monologue. I love hearing your takeaways; your “a-ha” moments! What are some of the things you are going to celebrate this week? Where are you going to volunteer? I want to hear from you – what was your #BOL (breakthrough out loud)?

This is your community, and your tribe wants to celebrate with you! I believe in you. I love you. I want to celebrate with you, because we are a family. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

Spiritually and Abundantly Yours,