Oh, hello! Yes. Welcome! Another Q & A Tuesday. Q: Today's question comes from Gee and Gee writes: "How do I find the time to plan for next level sh-t, if I'm overwhelmed with my current sh-t?"
A: This is a great question because it's something that many of us can experience when we go through a big growth spurt in our business. You know it's flattering once people find out how good you are and then everybody starts knocking at your door, and they want a piece of the action, right. It presents an interesting problem, though. You've got a lot more work and a lot more opportunities than you have time to handle.
What I want to talk about today is the importance of sacrificing short-term revenue for long-term gains. Wha what? That sounds mother "bleep" crazy! I know, I know but hear me out. Here's an example from my own business. Earlier this year I turned down over a hundred thousand dollars in revenue from my Adventure Mastermind program. Now in that program, there's only a set number of slots and we had a lot more people that wanted to give us money. I had like 20,000 per pop than we had space for but I already had my year planned out. I already had other commitments and it's really important for me to deliver the top-quality service in coaching that I'm known for. So sacrificing some short-term revenue allowed me to deliver outstanding results from my current clients, stay on top of my game and as a result, I have many people coming back year after year.
So I know when you're first starting out, this can seem really scary or even impossible but trust me, it's not because in business nothing is more important than your reputation. What I don't want to see happen for you is for you to start pulling in all this amazing business but then you say yes and bite off more than you can chew and start just falling off the wagon; in terms of, quality and service and customer care.
So when you've got all these opportunities coming your way but you need time and space to plan for your growth, you have to create it. Here are two strategies that you could put in place right now that'll help get you there. First strategy is to know exactly who your ideal client avatar is. These are the people that you do your best work with.
So for an example, one of their qualities may be that they pay what you ask them to pay. You don't want anyone trying to haggle you down. You don't want anyone who's known as a pita. In other words, pi-ta (noun) - pain in the ass. So if they don't fit into your ideal client avatar, someone who you really should be working with; you say no!
Number two is a really smart strategy that I see so many people not implementing, and it is to have a waitlist. When you let people know that you're full right now but you can work with them in like a month or two, and you say, "Would you like to get on my waitlist?" It's a very deep psychological trigger, people always want what they can't have. So you're actually going to create more desire for your products and your services when you put this in place.
And here is an extra little tip, if you want to get that revenue in now you can always ask clients for a deposit to hold their spot for that next round when you can take them on. So the key point here is, "Don't be afraid to sacrifice short-term revenue for long-term gains."
So Gee, that was my A to your Q, hope you enjoyed it! If you like this video, like it and share it with your friends. And, if you're not yet on the newsletter list, come on over to marieforleo.com and jump on it! Thank you so much for watching and I will catch you next time
