Could You 10X Earnings by Providing 10X More Value?
Recently I saw a tweet that said:
“If you want to earn 10X more...
Ask yourself, how can you provide 10X more value?”
And that got me thinking. Could you actually provide 10X more value?
My short answer is no.
I think this is just Twitter “like bait”, but OK, let’s play along…
How Can You Provide More Value to Your Clients?
I’m going to take for granted that:
You’re doing excellent work
You deliver according to the brief
You’re 100% reliable
If not, start there to provide “minimum viable value”. Without these three, nothing else matters.
Let’s assume that you can’t deliver more value by improving your work.
It’s already as good as you can make it. Am I right?
How can you provide more value? There are a few little things you can do above and beyond your job.
You could take a greater interest in your clients’ work. Set up Google Alerts for relevant information. When you find an article that might be of interest, forward it. “Hey, I thought you might want to see this…”
If you’ve done award-worthy work, find an appropriate awards show and pay the entry fees. Most industries have their own marketing and communications awards. There are also shows like the Summit Awards. We entered and won numerous times there. Many clients love public recognition.
You can pay more attention to them personally—gifts at Christmas and birthdays, bringing coffee and sweets to meetings, for example.
This is all very nice, but it won’t 10X your earnings.
How to 2X Your Earnings
Raise your rates a bit.
Get more work from your best clients. You want to be their on-call resource for your type of work.
Cut out your bad clients. They drain you.
Use that time to find better clients while building niche expertise. More on niches here.
That could 2X your earnings.
What It Really Takes to 10X Your Earnings
Face reality.
You can’t 10X your earnings doing the same things you’re doing now for the same clients.
You can’t 10X the number of hours you work.
You’re not going to get 10X more innovative or efficient overnight.
Here’s what it takes to 10X your earnings.
You Need Clients Who Have 10X Budgets
This is a simple rule: bigger clients have bigger budgets. 10% of their budget is more than 100% of a small-client budget.
You have to work your way up the food chain to be a credible supplier/partner to these clients.
You want to be in a position where they give you one project after another without competition. They can rely on you, they’re happy with your work, and they will pay you well.
That is much more lucrative and an easier life. But you have to earn your place at that table.
Here’s one way to grow your business faster and build up your portfolio to attract bigger clients.
You Need Niche Expertise
Experts get paid more. If you’re seen as an expert in a marketplace or a technology, you become a “go-to” person. You’re the one they call because you’re recognized in that group.
Clients expect to pay more for expertise. To them, it’s worth it. They have no time or patience to mess around with amateurs.
Be an expert. Demand more and get it without question.
Sell Strategy and Consulting Before Implementation
Clients pay for guidance. You’ll get paid more if you can credibly answer the question, “What should we do?”.
You’ve solved the problem by providing direction. Then follow up with implementation and see the project through to success.
That combination is a big step above just doing the project.
Leverage Your Expertise with Industry-Leading Partners
Here are some quick examples.
If you are a top web designer, you could partner with leading IT companies that don’t offer in-house design services. The same works for writers.
That’s how my previous small agency partnered with a 300-person IT company to land big projects. They had tried designing in-house. It was awful. We became their design and writing partner and landed national projects together. It worked!
Not long ago, TikTok consultants could write their own tickets. Big companies saw the trend but didn’t know how to respond. If you had TikTok expertise with a portfolio to back it up, you could have been their partner.
Today, if you’ve developed expertise in any AI-related field, your earning capacity will be limitless, at least for a while.
There’s lots more about growing your business in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.
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