Breaking the Hourly Rate Barrier

They make it sound so easy – just create an info-product, or a replicatable product.

The reality is much harder.

The problem is, if you sell services, or products that have to be set up, you lock yourself into an hourly rate barrier – you can only do so much in the hours of the day, and if you have an hourly rate, you cap out when the working hours are filled. You hit the styrofoam ceiling.

So you need to find a way around it. Take on more clients simultaneously, automate part of the process, package a do it yourself version, create informational or training packets, etc.

But doing that creates its own set of issues:

• You now have to work to create the resources for the automation, package, or informational product. And you don’t get paid for that right away, so if you are already maxed out on time and money, where are you going to fit in product development?
• Creating each one is a lot more work than it looks like – you have to create the product, the packaging, the marketing, and the instructions. A LOT of work!
• Selling it isn’t as easy as it sounds either. Everybody and their dog has a training packet or membership site, or something exactly like what you are trying to develop. It takes smart marketing, persistence, and time to get them to sell.
• You have to differentiate them. Because everybody and their dog has one, yours has to be different, or all the marketing in the world won’t help. Making it different and desirable means you have to approach it creatively. Often more difficult than it sounds.

Still, if you can get it developed in a creative manner, and start marketing it well, there are potentials to use automation to deliver surprisingly sophisticated services, or to assist you in adding an extra layer of personalization to what would otherwise be just another book spread out across a lesson platform, or another dime a dozen training pack.

It is worth considering this early on in your business – then you can begin assembling materials as you go along, instead of having to create them cold when you suddenly realize that the day in which you’ll hit the ceiling is closer than you thought.

The right website can be a huge asset in all of this – both in providing the creative approach, and in delivering it in a unique and effective way. We are learning that just about anything is possible, and for far less than anyone would have ever thought just a year ago.