8 minute read
Grow your WEALTH In 7 Days!
By Caitlyn Menzel
Today’s article is for the self-employed… It’s no secret that the cost of living is on the rise, pair that with debilitatingly high interest rates, the wildly desperate search for non-existent staff, and our clients becoming more frugal as a result of the current financial climate… so where does that leave us?
Yes, we have to ‘charge what we are worth’ and yes, we have to cover our costs, but we work too hard to not be getting ahead. Are you throwing your money away on shit you don’t need? Are you getting the most out of your business? When was the last time you actually looked over your bank statement? I bet it’s been a hot minute. Some of you are killing it, rolling in cash, and I bloody love that for ya, but if you’re feeling the pinch and wanna get wealthier, keep reading.
This is one task my coaching clients will be working on for the beginning of 2023… how to grow their wealth, so let me give you seven days of #richbitch tasks!
Day One – GET REAL with your financial sitcho!
Priority numero uno, face your financial situation and what’s actually happening money-wise in your life and business. Not facing your shit and burying your head in the sand ain’t doing nothin’ for your finances.
The second part of this is get very clear on your businesses running costs (AKA the bottom line) and also in your personal life. How much does that break down to every month, every week, every day/hour if you want to go that far. “WHAT YOU TRACK EXPANDS” and your money will not be expanding if you have no idea where it’s going.
LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE THING has gone up in price in the past twelve months, like, everything; petrol, postage, import costs, rent, rates, manufacturing, and mortgage rates… EVERYTHING! Have you adjusted your service menu relative to that?
As you complete this task, trim the fatty bits out of your budget and get rid of the things you don’t need. It’s a shock to see where your money is going sometimes.
Day Two – SELL IT BACK!
Got a stack of products on your shelves that you literally don’t sell? Those dust-collectors that just occupy space? You don’t love them, your staff hate them, they literally just sit there as dead money? Contact your supplier and sell that shit right back to the peeps you bought them from!
Most product companies will buy your products back for around 20% less than what you paid for them, meaning you have more room on your shelves for stuff you actually use and endorse, and you have more money to invest into other products with your supplier. (That’s a great way to ask for the buy back too!)
Also, when switching product companies did you know that most will swap out your products onefor-one, or buy back the existing companies’ stock and credit you? Hell yeah.
Day Three – DON’T TEMPT ME WITH A GOOD TIME!
This one is simples… go through your PayPal account, go through your app store, and unsubscribe to all those tempting emails that get dropped into your inbox. You have no idea how many random apps and weird sites your money will be connected to. $4.99 a month may not seem like much, but times that by ten apps and you’ve got yourself two nights away in a boujee hotel every year. I quite literally found $980 of annual costs on random stuff I wasn’t using. Wild.
Day Four – SHOW YOUR MONEY THE RESPECT IT DESERVES!
Okay, okay. So here I am gonna get a little woo-woo on you here.
Firstly, watch your dang mouth and your language around money. Focussed on cancellations? What do you think you’re manifesting. Focussed on gaps in your appointment book? Where is your energy being directed? Where your focus goes, your energy flows.
Here’s the thing about respecting money… money is energy, and it needs to be constantly moving and flowing. What message are you sending your cash?
Do you have coins all through your car? Receipts floating around the bottom of your handbag? How about notes all crunched up and shoved in your wallet? LOL. What is that saying about money? “You treat me with disrespect, so I am gonna disrespect you” comes to mind!
Have a coin jar, bank your cash notes, or use them to buy something. Flatten out your notes in your wallet and file your receipts or bin them if you don’t need them any longer. Come on, it isn’t rocket science! ...actually, it’s quantum physics this universe stuff, but you get what I mean.
Day Five – I HEART FREEBIES!
Don’t we all love a good freebie? Well, why the fuck are you paying for testers, basin use products, salon use things? Why are you paying for education with a company you spend thousands of dollars a month with, as well as use, promote and endorse THEIR PRODUCTS? Stop pulling my leg and negotiate a better deal.
If you’re selling someone’s products and they aren’t giving you the tester to be able to use on your clients, to enable that sale, and to provide that value to your people, there is something extremely wrong with that picture.
Also, if you aren’t getting 100% mark up on all your retail products, time to change it up. That’s gross by the company.
Day Six – PRICING FOR PROFIT!
For god’s sake, PLEASE STOP PRICING YOURSELF BASED ON OTHER PEOPLE!! Your costs, your wage, your people, your products, your shop, your life, your goals, your training, your knowledge, and your skills are SO DIFFERENT to all of your competitors, so why are you comparing your prices and pricing yourself on theirs?
You know that bottom line I told you to work out right back on day one? Let’s use that to build our service menu.
As a business owner, and someone wanting to grow and evolve and keep your doors open, you NEED TO dig a bit deeper and actually understand your per hour, per minute and per person running costs. From there, we need to add in your product costs into each service and add your profit. THEN and only then will we have your service pricing.
I get it, it’s complex, but it’s NECESSARY. I could bet you any money that if we sat down together and worked through my pricing method, you would be in shock horror about some of your services and their lack of profitability. More often than not, when I do this breakdown with my clients, more than 30% of their services aren’t profiting. What that means is you’re not even working for free; you’re PAYING YOUR CLIENTS to have your services.
A completely unsustainable business model.
Day Seven – BEAST MODE!
Here we go with an actual sales strategy… every single person comes to your business because they have a PROBLEM. If their hair, face, body, life was perfect, they wouldn’t be coming to you. Once you get your head around that you’ll fly through this.
When your customers enter your business, they are ready for your advice, your knowledge, and the services that they have booked for, but is what they have come in for actually what they need? Do they need something else or together? Do they need extra services and products?
Example - client has booked for a half head highlights but she’s almost top-deck because her underneath hasn’t been foiled for 6 months, she can’t see the back of her head so does she even know how bad it is? Have you grabbed the mirror and showed her? “Babe, I think we are well overdue for a full head of highlights today, let me show you the back of your hair” and then actually show her.
I get that we work within time constraints, but can you fit in those extra highlights? Can someone else on your team help you? Can you move your next client a few minutes later? Can you just foil at super speed?
That’s easily $100 upgrade for most salons. Let’s say you can upgrade $50 for 5 clients that week = $250 per week = $13,000! That’s not something to turn your nose up at! Go deeper, ask more questions, get to the bottom of what they really want and make that happen.
There is so much more to increasing your wealth and bettering your business, but I hope I helped you today. If you would like a copy of our extended e-book ‘88 Days of Growing Your Wealth’ get in touch with me, @CaitlynMenzelCoaching