I don’t have all the answers.
(Despite hosting a podcast built around my ability to answer everyone’s questions.)
Like every other “expert,” I make plenty of mistakes in my own business.
And I’ve made a bunch of them in the last nine months.
Because I believe in transparency, vulnerability, and sharing what I learn I figured I’d break it all down for you here.
I was frustrated with my business last summer.
In retrospect, “impatient” may be a better description.
Over the past few years I had built a strong business helping creative entrepreneurs grow their businesses and had structured it in a way I enjoyed.
Over a three-year span I had transformed my revenue from being 90% generated by consulting clients to being mainly driven by scalable info products.
The majority of my revenue came from my Skill Sessions membership through which about 500 members paid me an annual fee for access to my Skill Session videos and monthly group coaching calls called Jam Sessions.
That membership had grown over several years and I gradually raised the price for new members.
What started as a $120 per year membership fee went to $150, then $197, then $350.
It was a solid six-figure revenue stream for me with the vast majority of members renewing each year and continued revenue growth.
And yet…
I felt the quality and value I shared wasn’t accurately represented (in a variety of ways – not just the price point) and that I never quite monetized to the level I could (or should).
Frustrated that I couldn’t crack the code (or maybe wrongly assuming I hadn’t?), I sought out help.
For the first time in my life, I hired a business coach and made a significant investment in him.
Maybe he could help me see what was missing?
I started working with him in May and that first few weeks were a whirlwind of revelations.
He challenged me, questioned me, and confirmed a lot of what I had believed (and ignored) for a long time.
The look of my website, marketing materials, and brand was nowhere near the caliber of what I had to offer.
My habit of taking on all sorts of projects for clients (copywriting, Facebook ads, newsletter writing, etc.) was muddying my message and distracting from what I most wanted.
And I was undercharging.
When I told him people often refer to me as “generous,” he said that just means I’m not charging enough.
(I didn’t 100% agree with that, but it made me think.)
I immediately took steps to change how I operated.
I narrowed my niche to focus on helping businesses get clients from their content, hired a designer to do a rebrand, built a new website (it’s coming soon), and stopped taking on any projects outside of content strategy work and my Skill Sessions membership.
Then, there was the pricing component.
I started to raise my prices significantly and hoped to attract a more established customer base though a combination of my new and improved focus, branding, and pricing.
But…
As I raised my prices, I felt the need to increase the value of what I offered for those prices.
This meant no longer just offering access to the Sessions and coaching calls, but adding 1-to-1 elements to many of these packages.
Elements that don’t scale.
Elements I didn’t always enjoy.
Elements that were STILL underpriced.
And they sold well.
The initial enthusiasm of these higher-priced sales felt great in terms of revenue, but I quickly realized I had changed my business model in the process.
I had gone from a highly scalable offer where I did the same amount of work no matter how many members I had, to an incremental amount of work with each new buyer.
It quickly became clear I was on the fast track to trouble – a business model I didn’t enjoy at best and burnout at worst.
So I kept tweaking the offer, raising the prices, and trying to find my way to the right mix to increase my revenue without driving myself crazy.
Then, a few months ago, hopped up on my mantra to sell premium products at premium prices to premium buyers, I raised the price of my Sessions membership.
By a lot.
I went from $350 a year to $999 a year (or $99 a month).
And not just for new members.
I implemented the price change for existing members when it was time for them to renew as well.
That’s right – I told members who had paid me somewhere between $120 – $350 a year for several years that if they wanted to continue to get my stuff they’d now have to pay $999 a year.
I’m not proud of it, but I did it.
I added additional elements to what they would get (including more access to me which again was not going to be scalable in the long run), but it was still asking loyal customers to almost 5x their investment.
You can guess what happened next.
A few upgraded to the new price point, but the majority said, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Somewhat surprisingly, most members were not angry about the price change – they were sad they couldn’t afford to continue.
Which made me sad too.
(And proud of the quality of product I had been giving them.)
Many said they hoped to join again down the road.
This sucked.
Not because they were leaving (and I was losing money), but because I genuinely loved working with them.
People who wanted to work with me – and who I wanted to work with – were moving on.
That’s not a great business model, regardless of the economics.
Meanwhile…
I got some new clients at the higher price point, but it wasn’t necessarily the right clients – or at least not ones I felt were a great fit for me.
Which brings me to a week ago.
Nine months into this experiment and a couple months into the membership price raise, it clearly wasn’t working.
And I don’t just mean in terms of revenue.
While my revenue is down from a year ago over the past couple months, it’s not actually down that much.
I still believe the higher price point model could potentially work over the long term.
But I’m not enjoying it.
I don’t want fewer clients – I like helping a lot of people.
I don’t want to do a lot of 1-on-1 work – I prefer it when many people can benefit from the time I spend helping an individual.
And I don’t want to price myself out of working with people I enjoy working with.
I came to a realization:
My pursuit of a business model that could grow my revenue to new levels led me to discard one that made me – and my customers – happy.
The irony of this is I’ve ALWAYS optimized for happiness over money throughout my life.
(Which has always led me to earning more money by the way.)
Once I had this realization, I retraced my steps to figure out how and where I got off track.
Looking back at it, I’m not sure my business coach ever fully understood my business model – or what I enjoyed most about it.
It’s not his fault – I’m not sure I even understood it at the time.
A lot of the advice he gave me was right, but I don’t believe it was right for me.
There are infinite ways to succeed and the path I chose wasn’t leading to the type of success I want.
But the great thing about business (and life), is you can always change.
Or change back.
As I retraced my steps, I asked myself an interesting question:
Instead of choosing to raise the price of my membership nine months ago…
What if I had chosen to lower it?
What if instead of chasing fewer, higher-paying clients to grow my revenue I had taken the opposite approach and gone after more lower-paying clients?
Might that approach ultimately lead to not only more revenue, but a business model that’s more scalable and aligned with who I want to serve and how I want to serve them?
It might.
So I’ve decided to find out.
I’m lowering the price of my membership and making it even lower than it was before the big price increase.
And more flexible.
You can now get an annual Skill Sessions membership for just $99 a year.
That will get you access to my entire Skill Sessions archive and the six new ones I produce each year.
It’s the lowest price it’s EVER been.
And if you want access to my monthly group coaching calls (formerly called Jam Sessions and soon to be called Office Hours), I’m going to offer that separately as part of a $299 annual membership package that includes access to the Skill Sessions as well.
Even that is lower than the membership was a year ago.
(I’ve also renamed my membership to the Clients From Content Program.)
My current members will no longer get an email when their membership is up for renewal asking them to pay 5x more money to keep it.
Instead, they’ll get an email inviting them to continue at their current rate and in some cases pay significantly less than they currently pay to continue on as a member.
And all those former members I turned away the past few months with my big price hike?
I’ll reach out to them and make sure they’re aware of the new pricing if they want to come back.
Needless to say, I assume my retention rate will improve.
But more importantly, my enjoyment of my business will improve.
And the number of people I can help will improve.
And who knows?
My revenue just might improve as well.
I’ll let you know nine months from now.
Want to come along for the ride?
Join my Clients From Content Program here.