A Book, Every Creative Entrepreneur Should Read
Apr 08, 2019Hi... it's Nancy here... I had a long stretch of working sun up to sun down and I did myself in. I got sick with an awful cold and couldn't get out of bed for a few days. As I always try to look for a silver lining, I found myself benefiting from this down time, by actually reading a book that I purchased a few weeks ago and just hadn't been able to "get around to". The book is called "Win Without Pitching Manifesto" by Blair Enns. This books helps creatives, who sell ideas, strategies, problem solving and art... it's so hard at times to put structure and rationalization around what to charge for your services and where to focus and this book definitely shines a wonderful light on this.
I am grateful my body slowed me down, so that I was able to take a look at this book. I certainly had some business shifting, "aha!" moments and I urge you to read it as well!
“We will see ourselves as professional practitioners who bring real solutions to our clients’ business problems. We will seek respect above money, for only when we are respected as experts will we be paid the money we seek.”- Blair Enns
The book urges readers, that in order to be effective you need be a focused expert in what you are offering. Meaning that in order to be the best and expect to be paid accordingly, you NEED to be an expert. Many people spread themselves thin and learn a little bit about everything and are unconfident about their offerings. They have to "sell" their services, rather than have the confidence to say "this is what I do, here are my results, am I what you need and is this a good fit?". I love this, because everyone always says, focus on one thing or STAY focused, but when you are a creative, that can be soo incredibly hard, especially when you desire another income stream and are losing patience to get there.
By becoming an expert at this one thing, you can single out the competition and bring the best version of you to the table. My aha moment was that, I, myself had dabbled in everything Social Media and Digital Marketing... I took a 15 hour certification on Facebook Ad Mastery, I learned how to set up email campaigns, put together webinars, do sales/lead pages, sales funnels, opt-ins, create digital products (such as online courses, e-books, pdfs and more), basic graphic design, build websites... I could keep going. I learned a little bit about everything, which is similar to my musical talent as well... I play the guitar, the piano, at one point the violin, but I play all of them just okay. By focusing in on one thing, the thing that you are truly drawn to and passionate about, you will find clarity and you will find your expert calling.
This is one of those things where you have to use your heart and not your head. You have to dig deep and learn about yourself, to figure out what this is. For me, after taking a personality test (check out: www.16personalities.com), I found out that my brain is 100% awesome for being a product manager. I absolutely LOVE to oversee projects and conduct the orchestra, but I do NOT love to do the individual tasks. I am a Project Manager. I feel that my journey of learning about everything social media/digital marketing, has given me the incite that will help me be a better project manager and my 10 years of experience leading teams, running multi-million dollar businesses and operations, starting a service business from scratch and growing to six figure sales... makes me an expert Project Manager. I know what to expect, how long things should take and I know what tools can be used to streamline processes and I know how to lead teams.
I have ridden the merry-go-round for about a year now, dancing around what it is that I should become an expert on and it is right here in front of my face the whole time. This feels so freeing and inspirational to me, as I feel I have had a timer go off (DING!) I am ready to come out into the world and wear this expert badge and continue to forge forward, kicking butt and continue to help people like I always have, but with this confident solidified focus. I can continue to learn and build and become the best project manager, I was always mean to be.
Additional takeaways from the book!!
“Expertise is the only valid basis for differentiating ourselves from the competition. Not personality. Not process. Not price. When the client has few alternatives to our expertise then we can dictate pricing, we can set the terms of the engagement and we can take control.”- Blair Enns
The author talks about how you want to replace "presentations" with conversations.
“Practitioners do not present. Stars do not audition.”
I love how the author talks about shifting from having to put on a big presentation to sell... to being more like a doctor. A doctor does not do a big presentation on what he thinks he can do to help, he collaborates with you and asks you questions, to see what help you need and he diagnoses what might be going on... If you hire him, he will then prescribe a solution and then follow up to ensure everything is okay.
There are 4 phases in client engagements
- Diagnose the Problem or Opportunity
- Prescribe therapy
- Apply therapy
- Reapply therapy as necessary
“A good client will begin to relinquish control once he has the confidence that the expert practitioner knows more than he does, or has the tools to learn more. Formalized diagnostic processes are such tools.”
The author talks about three phases of selling:
1. Help the unaware
- Inspire the interested
- Reassure those who have formed intent
“The very best salespeople are respectful, selective facilitators of change. They help people move forward to solve their problems and capitalize on their opportunities. The rest talk people into things.”
“We do not begin to solve our clients’ problems before we are engaged. … Doctors charge for MRIs. Accountants charge for audits. Lawyers charge for discovery. And we charge for our diagnostic work as well … our clients pay us to write proposals via a phased sale that begins with a diagnostic.”
The author talks about being "selective" with who you work with. It is better to have a small amount of high-quality clients, you can give proper time and attention to. Address issues of money early on. Your services are expert services and you work hard and invest time, energy and focus into them. You deserve to be paid for this. Be transparent with what you charge and refuse to work at a loss. You must make money that will make you feel good about the time, effort and expertise in what you are doing.
“We must price our upfront work, right up to the first creative deliverable, in big round numbers that end in zeros, and thus clearly imply that our pricing for these services has little to do with the hours it takes to deliver them. For the reapplication work that follows, we are free to charge by the hour.”
In conclusion, this book was great, I highly recommend checking it out, if you are a creative and are stuck trying to figure out where to focus :-)
**Additional takeaway... people will innately try to take control, if they feel that you are not capable of what they expect. If you feel a client trying to take control, you need to get on the same page and stay confident, if you feel what you are doing is the best and you need to stay the course to see the results your clients desires than you need to have open communication about this. People will always try to take control, then are angry at you when things do not work out.... stay in control. You are hired because YOU are the expert :-)
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