When you sell a service you perform personally, your revenue is limited by the number of hours in each day. After all, you can only fit so many appointments into the day, and you have to eat and sleep sometime.
One way to raise your income ceiling is to hire additional people to work with you. Your staff may perform the same services you do for clients, or they may provide support to you so that you have more billable hours.
Marketing your services in new ways can increase your income while you work the same number of hours. For example, instead of performing the actual service, offer group consulting to do-it-yourselfers. Each member of the group pays a lower rate than they would pay for your undivided attention, but you make more per hour.
This works well in fields where the basic skills can be taught, but performing the service may be time-intensive. For example, a publicist could work with a group of similar clients help them develop effective press releases, then teach them how to follow up with media on their own.
Offer a seminar to share your knowledge with others. Your audience might be from your target market, or you might offer continuing education or other learning opportunities for others in your profession. You may present in your local area, or take your seminars on the road.
A new way of teaching that eliminates the need for travel is through teleseminars and Webinars. Teleseminars are courses presented over the telephone. Webinars may be strictly Web-based or they may combine Web and telephone presentations. You can teach students all over the world without leaving your office.
Keynote speakers may receive $2500 – $10,000 or more for a one-hour speech. After honing your speaking skills and material through teaching, you can have a highly marketable talk. Just a few days each month spent traveling and presenting could increase your annual income by $50,000 or more.
All of the ideas so far have still involved getting an hour’s pay for an hour’s work; however, that hourly rate may be much higher than your normal rate. If your typical rate is $200 an hour, but you have 75 people each paying $39 for a one-hour teleseminar, you will gross $2925 for that hour. Even after expenses, you may net $2000 or more. The first time you present it you will invest time (perhaps as little as two or three hours) to develop the content, but subsequent presentations will require little or no preparation.
If you really want to explode your earning potential, you need to go beyond these ideas and create products that provide ongoing income. Write a book or ebook. Record your speeches and teleseminars and sell them on CD or as audio downloads. Create a membership Web site where members get access to your articles, teleseminars and other resources for a monthly or annual fee.
Look for new ways to package and market your services, and you will find many opportunities to increase your profits.
