Running a client-based business can be a rollercoaster. One minute youโre riding high on that big project you just won. The next, youโre dog cussing your chosen profession and questioning why you ever agreed to work with that unreasonable client where itโs Never Enough.ย
Donโt point fingers at the client who hired you. That dumpster fire is most likely your fault. And if things always go south with clients, youโre either the worldโs most unlucky entrepreneur, or youโve got some flaws in what youโre doing.
I speak from personal experience. I kept blaming clients when projects would end in frustration. It was after some serious reflection about 8 years ago that I realized we were the problem, not out clients. The good news, your frustrations are most likely caused by one of three things (or possibly all three) that you can fix.
Problem 1: You lack focus.ย
Youโre offering every possible service to everyone in the world. Youโre constantly jumping between vastly different projects. Itโs impossible to scale a business thatโs doing something entirely different each day. This is a stressful way to work that leaves you and your clients frustrated with mediocre results.ย
Problem 2: You charge hourly.ย
If you price hourly, you own a job, not a business. Hourly pricing penalizes you for becoming more efficient and frustrates your clients with surprises on invoices. You want clients focused on the fantastic end result youโre going to provide, not how many hours are on your invoice.ย
Hourly pricing associates you with low-level expertise. You wouldnโt pay a CEO, CTO, CMO, or any other C_O position hourly. The only people paid hourly in an organization are the lowest level employees. Why position yourself like the people that are most replaceable and the least appreciated?
Problem 3: You donโt charge enough.ย
Itโs better to pass on a project than cut your rates. I know itโs tempting to agree to cut your rates to win a project, but a client who starts the relationship negotiating for discounts isnโt someone you want. Theyโll eat up your bandwidth and make it hard for you to deliver when a great client with money does come along. Youโre better walking away and aggressively pursuing new business thatโs a better fit.ย
Discounted projects rarely have happy endings. You start to regret your decision and resent the client. They start to feel neglectedโbecause you are neglecting themโand everything blows up in your face.ย
Productize around a solution to get scale.ย
The first step to curing the above maladies is repositioning your business around a solution. What are the people hiring you looking to achieve? What do they believe hiring you will help them do?ย
Define the problem youโre solving and reposition your entire business around this solution. Make it easy for someone considering your business to see how hiring you will take them from where they are today to where they want to be in the future. Ask yourself the following questions if youโre struggling to narrow down your focus to a specific target client and problem.ย
The Good
- Which clients have been most pleased with what you provided in the past?ย
- What was the problem you solved for them?ย
- What did each project have in common?ย
- Are there more people out there like these people?ย
- Can you get the same results for these other people?ย
The Bad
- Which projects did you hate the most?ย
- What did each awful project have in common?ย
- What did the clients of these projects have in common?ย
Going through these questions will help you vocalize the difference between good and bad clients and projects. Define the bad and then cut them out of your life like a pesky weed. Focus your time, attention, and efforts on attracting the good. It really is that simple. Donโt overthink or overcomplicate this step.ย
Now develop a product that solves the defined problem for good clients. Donโt offer hours or services, build a product around the solution theyโre seeking. Products are easier to sell, are paid for in advance, and can be systematized for consistency. All of these facts lead to a service business that can be scaled.ย
A product in this case doesnโt mean something you can hold like a new pair of Jordans. Itโs more of a shift in how you position your offering. We want to go from a focus on what youโre giving (time, services, etcโฆ) to painting a picture of what the client is getting (the wonderful end result theyโre seeking).ย
As an example, letโs pretend you’re a writer that specializes in blog content. Rather than offering hourly writing services for blog posts, build a โBlog Growth Systemโ that guarantees one high-quality blog post each week. Youโre still offering the same thing (writing), but youโre selling peace of mind and results rather than hours. Clients will be thrilled knowing that they donโt have to worry about their blog, and youโll be able to enjoy a scalable business model that generates recurring revenue.ย
Just be warned…
The service business gods have a way of knowing that youโre trying to focus and theyโll test your resolve. The second you commit to a niche and say youโre not going to discount your new product, theyโll send a project in your door that goes against everything youโve defined. Itโll probably be a large client that looks a lot like those bad clients you defined above. Theyโll want you to take on services that donโt fit your focus, but they have a big fat budget to give you if you discount this first project to prove yourself.ย
Will you have the resolve to turn the project away, or will you cave to the pressure? I wonโt tell you to say yes or no. The decision is yours and I empathize with the need to put money in the bank and food on the table. I honestly understand if you decide to accept the project.ย
That said, keep in mind why youโre reading this article in the first place. Youโve struggled with bad clients and the inability to scale your business. Maybe itโs time for a change. Productizing around a solution could be the magical shift that takes you from owning a frustrating job to running a scalable business.ย
Iโd say itโs worth giving it a shot.ย
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