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From Corporate Salary to Solopreneur Pricing: The Mindset Shift Nobody Teaches You · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: If you left corporate to start your own business, there's a good chance you're still pricing like an employee. And in this episode, we talk about why so many Solopreneurs undervalue their services, and how shifting from charging for time to charging for transformation can completely change your business. Plus, Joe shares a powerful story about a man, a hammer, and a $10,000 lesson that perfectly captures why clients aren't paying for minutes, they're paying for the years of experience behind them. You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for anyone on the solo business journey, whether you're just toying with the idea, taking your first bold step, or have been running your own show for years and want to keep growing, refining, and thriving. I'm Carly Ries, and along with my co host Joe Rando, we're your guides through the crazy but awesome world of being a company of one.
• 0:53
  As part of LifeStarr, digital hub dedicated to all things solopreneur ship, we help people design businesses that align with their life's ambitions so they can work to live, not live to work. If you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the place for you. But if you want real world insights from industry experts, lessons from the successes and stumbles of fellow solopreneurs, and practical strategies for building and sustaining a business you love, you're in the right spot. Because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. No matter where you are in your journey, we've got your back.
• 1:26
  So Joe, this is not our first pricing soundbite episode. We've actually had, quite a few on pricing at this point of just us talking about it, especially when we're talking about the Solopreneur success cycle. And I think one of the things we haven't covered is sometimes Solopreneurs don't price their services correctly because maybe they lack confidence or maybe that's the perception of why they undersell and and maybe not even realize it. But I think a big reason we're starting to really hone in on our audience. We're talking to people that have left corporate, had the experience, and they're leaving corporate to go out on their own.
• 2:05
  I think people still price like they're an employee. They price their time instead of pricing outcomes like a real business owner. Would you agree with that?
• 2:16
  Joe Rando: Well, I totally, 100% agree with that. When you think about what businesses do, I remember talking to a guy years ago, and he owned a law firm. And I was just kinda curious with him. He just kind of became a friend. And I said, well, how do you mark up your people?
• 2:34
  You've got these lawyers working for you. How do you mark up the time you know, what you're paying them versus what you're charging? And he gave me a number like three x. And I was like, wow. But, you know, when you look at a law firm, there are lot of expenses. It wasn't crazy, but it was like, I was surprised at first. And I think a lot of people coming out of corporate, the idea of taking what they were making per hour and multiplying it times three or more is kind of just beyond what they can imagine doing.
• 3:04
  Carly Ries: Well, I feel like in corporate, you're rewarded for, time spent and responsiveness on things, and then amount of effort you put in, and how visible that effort is, and making sure you're standing out. And so when they become a solopreneur, it's like, is this hourly rate fair for my experience? Instead what they should be thinking is the value for the problem that they're solving. Because otherwise, you just get into these time based traps that you're just so used to being in the corporate ladder where there are salary limits, or performance reviews, and all of that. But now as a business owner, you really have to wear a different cap.
• 3:42
  Joe Rando: It all comes down to one key aspect that you need to think about when you're deciding what your service or product is worth. And to me, the word is transformation. What is the transformation that the customer or client is gonna see before and after, and what is that worth to them? And if it's worth x, and you charge, 50% of x or whatever, 75% of x, you're a great deal, and that number may be really large. Now, when you're getting started, you know, you're probably gonna go a little easier on this, not just walk out and sell your services for a thousand bucks an hour.
• 4:22
  But that kind of thinking will free you to be more comfortable with pricing that's significantly better for your bank account.
• 4:31
  Carly Ries: And I think some people surprise themselves, like, if they provide that value, and people are like, wow. That's so helpful. That's so great. And you're like, it took me ten seconds because that's just something that you know how to do. I'm gonna ask you to tell a story in a second, but it took me ten seconds, but really it's ten years of experience that's coming in those ten seconds.
• 4:48
  So Joe, please tell the hammer story, because it's my favorite story.
• 4:51
  Joe Rando: I'm assuming this is the story of the guy with the hammer?
• 4:54
  Carly Ries: Yes.
• 4:55
  Joe Rando: Okay. I mean, it's an allegory or whatever you wanna call it. But, the story is this guy, there's a ship engine or something. It's a big giant engine, and it's not working, and nobody can fix it. And this guy is the world expert, says I can fix it.
• 5:11
  And he comes in. It's gonna cost $10,000 for him to fix this engine. And they say, okay. That's definitely worth it. Go do it.
• 5:18
  And he walks in with this little hammer, and he taps on one spot on the engine. Then he goes to another spot, taps there, and taps at the third place, and boom, the engine's working. And he said, well, that's $10,000. And they said, that was just thirty seconds. You didn't do anything.
• 5:33
  He goes, you're not paying me for the time I spent tapping. You're paying me for the time it took me to learn where to tap.
• 5:39
  Carly Ries: Yes.
• 5:40
  Joe Rando: And that is really what it's about. It's like, you know you might know how to do something that you can do it, pretty easily, but there are probably ten thousand hours of experience underlying that.
• 5:52
  Carly Ries: And I mean, you need to reference not what should I charge per hour, but what is the cost of the problem continuing for the client, like if they keep experiencing it. And the other thing is, I tell you all the time, if I'm in a room full of marketers, I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much I need to learn. I'm nervous. There are so many people that are better at this than I am. But if I'm in a room without marketers and people that need marketing help, I am the smartest person alive.
• 6:17
  Like, if you get to your target audience, what you provide is so incredibly valuable, you just don't see it sometimes because you're surrounded by it, and by others in the field.
• 6:29
  Joe Rando: Can I take a little tangent for a second? Because I think what you said at the beginning of that analysis was important too, that when you're in a room full of marketers, you don't you feel like you know all, you find these things that people are better at than you. But we have an ability to look at the world and see, Oh, this person's better than me at this, and this person's better than me at this. And we build this composite that makes us feel like, Wow, I'm really lacking, but if you compare yourself to one person, they might be a genius at X and you're a genius at Y.
• 7:03
  But if you go around finding the geniuses all around you, you'll start feeling pretty bad if you don't kind of step back and go, hey, wait a minute. Because that's another thing that people can do. They can say, Well, I'm not the greatest marketer in the world, or I'm not the greatest this in the world. And so I really shouldn't be charging that much money. But in the reality, you've got your thing that you're great at.
• 7:23
  You know, I just look at people like my wife, she'll talk about the fact that she's not really good at math, but she's a child therapist. She goes in and she takes a little I mean, she's a child whisperer. She just gets with a little kid, and boom. There's a connection instantly. And probably there aren't that many people in the world that have that skill at her level.
• 7:47
  It's crazy. But, so she's not good at math. So what? She's a genius at that.
• 7:53
  And that's why I think we all need to keep that in mind because that's another thing I think that holds us back from feeling our worth and being confident in pricing properly.
• 8:02
  Carly Ries: Well, it's so funny because another friend of mine, in terms of pricing properly, he's in sales and he something he tells people all the time is that a lot of times people are afraid of the no. And so what they're saying is really, when they're afraid of the no, they're protecting the conversation, but not the business. So they don't want that let down of like, oh no, they said no, but they don't have the business in mind. They have that conversation in mind where it's scary to get the no, but you have to keep your entire business in mind. And I thought that was real. I've never heard that before.
• 8:36
  Joe Rando: I think it's great, but it leads to something we don't wanna talk about today, which is knowing how to sell. Because that no is not really no, it's basically an objection that you can then say, why do you say that? Why do you think, why do you feel it's too expensive? And you can then walk through. We won't talk about it today, but that is such an important thing.
• 8:56
  And, another thing that people should really consider is that a lot of people out there aren't comfortable with the low price leader. I'm one of those people. I don't look for the lowest price. I always look for that price that seems like somebody's got something valuable.
• 9:13
  I know there are folks out there that see, everybody else is charging a $100 and this guy's charging 10. They're like, great. They're usually sorry because it's not good, but they do it anyway. But, a lot of people will perceive you as more valuable if you price yourself higher because it looks like you're gonna have the capacity to deliver a good solution.
• 9:33
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, those are just our 2¢ today. I think moral of the story is that if you're leaving corporate or thinking about it, one of the hardest things to do is just change your mindset and your mental model around all this stuff because corporate does not prepare you for pricing strategies as a solopreneur. So if you wanna build that sustainable business, it's not necessary if you work the hardest.
• 9:57
  It's just you need to learn how to price the outcome, not the input, what you get.
• 10:02
  Joe Rando: I just wanna toss out a resource that people should consider using, and it's Alex Hermozi's 100,000,000 Dollar Offers. It's a book, but he gets you thinking about things . I have some notes here because I didn't wanna blow it. Dream outcome. Right? What is the dream outcome that your client has? If you can look at that and say, is the dream for them? Write that down. Then say all the potential problems that the customer will see in achieving that problem, either things that they just think your solution won't work for them or that just they won't be able to do it, list those, and then develop solutions that address those fears, that bring the dream outcome and address the fears. Now, when you think about presenting that product and you think about how, you've thought about the customer's perspective, it's a lot easier to price it higher because you've just generated so much value in that transformation we talked about from things are not good now, and afterwards, things are gonna be great.
• 11:01
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Great point. Well, listeners, as always, thank you so much for tuning in. You guys, Joe and I were asking for some reviews, and we've been getting them, and it's awesome.
• 11:11
  And we so appreciate it because
• 11:12
  Joe Rando: Thank you.
• 11:13
  Carly Ries: The more reviews we get, the more solopreneurs we can reach, and that is our ultimate goal. Truly, we just love helping one person business owners. So continue to do that, and subscribe on your favorite podcast channel, including YouTube, and share this episode with a friend because it's important. And we'll see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone.
• 11:37
  In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.