This is different from the service you are going to offer – here you decide how it is going to be packaged.
It’s about getting paid for a service.
And later about the additional income you can produce by turning your service into products – making money while you sleep.
First things first.
Are you going to sell blocks of time?
You’ll need to research how much your competitors charge.
By completed projects?
Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
You’ll need to develop another skill set, perhaps more important that the talent you offer.
Estimating reasonable time frames to complete projects.
Don’t worry. In the beginning you’ll underestimate the scope of your project and the amount of time you’ll need to devote to it.
What will your rates be?
If you are just now starting out and are breaking into the market, you’ll want to charge less for your hourly rate for those clients who buy for price.
One way of breaking into the Gig Economy is to affiliate with other independent contractors.
Consultants or freelancers who have already established their businesses and may need to either turn business away or find talented people like you to subcontract the projects out.
You’ll want to cultivate a few seasoned businesses in your community or online to help fill the weekly income gaps while you build your own business.
Many times you can offer them additional services they don’t or can’t provide to their already established clients or customers.
Is there a draw back?
You will be offering your talent and expertise under their umbrella brand, so once you break even with enough coming in to pay for what is going out, you’ll want to pivot to your own brand.
While practicing my craft 60 minutes each day I became obsessed with storytelling and pitching that story.
Story Telling Capital
Disruptions derail our critical plans. Learn to make healthy, wealthy and wise choices for living, loving, working, playing, investing & retiring in a world turned upside down.
AnyWired didn’t help me much other than by telling me what to do, not how to do it.
While practicing my craft 60 minutes each day I became obsessed with storytelling and pitching that story.
One of Daniel Pink’s Best Sellers
Somewhere along the way I stumbled upon Daniel Pink’s book, “To Sell is Human.”
I remember him from this Free Agent book.
I had borrowed his premise when I wrote about one of my lifestyle groups “Permanent Temporaries.”
Anyway, here’s a take away that helped me as I struggled with my business name(s) and more accurately my network of enterprises.
I hope it helps you.
First the pitches, and how I used them.
The Pixar Creative Process
1. The Pixar Pitch.
Once upon a time …
Every day …
Because of that …
Because of that …
Until finally …
2. The Twitter Pitch. (Two Sentences)
3. The Subject Line Pitch. (For Your Email)
4. The Rhyming Pitch.
5. The Question Pitch.
6. The One-Word Pitch.
Write a fifty-word pitch.
Reduce it to twenty-five words.
Then to six words.
Then to one word.
Example One: Pristine
1. The Pixar Pitch.
Once upon a timethe story of the Wild West celebrated a spirit of adventure. Starting over with new beginnings full of promise. Fueled by dreams of striking it rich. We have a rich history of mining and panning for gold nuggets in the West. Making a life based on ingenuity, resourcefulness and self-reliance. Whenever travelers meet each other on the road, they swap info about the places they came from and ask questions about places they’re going.
Every day we followed the rules. Go to work. Keep our nose to the grind stone. Marry our sweat hearts. Raise our children. Save for their college education. And, finally retire sometime off into the future to a glorious second half of our life.
One day everything changed: Employers shipped our jobs overseas. We worked longer and longer in jobs we couldn’t stand. But, at least we had a job. But the stress piled on. And on.
Because of thatwe had to escape. If only for a vacation. There’s nothing quite as all-American as a road trip, especially in the West, where a wealth of culture, natural beauty and excitement unfolds before you. What is it about traveling back to nature? Where you feel most inspired? Where the yellow aspen do that shimmering dance beside the deep green of the lodge pole pines.
Because of thatwe notice our predicament when we return to work. Are we who we really, really are when we keep our head down with our noses to the grindstone? What about those expansive western skies? The majestic mountain peaks? The rushing babbling creeks and brooks? The taste of salt in the air along the coast?
Until finallywe wake up and realize we don’t live in a vacuum any longer. We make a commitment to ourselves. We can make healthy, wealthy and wise choices for living, loving, working, playing, investing and leaving a legacy in vacation communities where we feel most alive.
Leading source of news about the Western region in the spirit of sharing knowledge that makes travel so enjoyable.
2. The Twitter Pitch.
Short and Sweet
The great thing about living where others spend their vacation is the year round quality-of-life. Winter in the mountains and summer at the beach.
3. The Subject Line Pitch.
Nobody can follow your passions for you. Choose to live anywhere you want.
4. The Rhyming Pitch.
Changing Seasons. Changing Reasons
5. The Question Pitch.
Do you know how to fix your leaking bucket list?
6. The One-Word Pitch.
Write a fifty-word pitch.
Qual·i·ty of life — the degree of enjoyment and satisfaction felt in everyday life. “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” Henry David Thoreau. Follow your passions. Live, love, work, play, invest and leave a legacy anywhere you want from the Desert to the Mountains to the Sea and all the Pristine Rivers, Lakes and Islands in Between.
Reduce it to twenty-five words.
Live, love, work, play, invest anywhere from the Desert to the Mountains to the Sea and all the Pristine Rivers, Lakes and Islands in Between.
Then to six words.
Live. Love. Work. Play. Invest. Leave a Legacy.
Then to one word.
Pristine.
Example Two: Thrive
1. The Pixar Pitch.
Once upon a time the pace of life flowed through us like a slowly meandering stream. We felt secure. Our plans needed little tweaks here and there. Our futures required little thought.
Every day we followed the rules. Go to work. Keep our nose to the grind stone. Marry our sweat hearts. Raise our children. Save for their college education. And, finally retire sometime off into the future to a glorious second half of our life.
One day everything changed: The old rules no longer worked. Employers shipped our jobs overseas. Even the white-collar, professional jobs found cheaper homes. Most people missed the warning signs until it was too late.
Because of that the decisions we made based on the old rules are not be enough to protect us from high-risk consequences that threaten our current and future livelihoods.
Because of that conventional wisdom fails to protect us. While we still we have our life-time of dreams and plans, the perfect storm of economic, political, technological and social forces has its own set of unrelenting cycles of boom and bust that threaten us.
Until finally we wake up and realize we don’t live in a vacuum any longer. Disruptions happen. We have to learn new ways to make ourselves valuable, marketable and in demand in a world turned upside down.
When we do we can make healthy, wealthy and wise choices for living, loving, working, playing, investing and retiring at critical turning points in our life-time.
2. The Twitter Pitch.
See how ideas and innovation are changing your world, for the better. Take advantage. Live, love, work, play, invest & retire.
3. The Subject Line Pitch.
Is it over yet? 8 proven ways to weather the next perfect storm
4. The Rhyming Pitch.
Anticipate and thrive while others barely survive
5. The Question Pitch.
Are you ready for the next 5 years, no matter what?
6. The One-Word Pitch.
Write a fifty-word pitch.
We don’t live in a vacuum. Disruptions happen. We have to learn new ways to make ourselves valuable, marketable and in demand in a world turned upside down. When we do we can make healthy, wealthy and wise choices for living, loving, working, playing, investing and retiring at critical turning points in our life-time.
Reduce it to twenty-five words.
Disruptions derail our critical plans. Learn to make healthy, wealthy and wise choices for living, loving, working, playing, investing & retiring in a world turned upside down.
