111. Stop Selling Hours, Start Selling Results: How to Make More Money Working Less

Is it even possible to slow down and make more money as a done-for-you service provider? Because when you look at your business now and actually add up the numbers, you run out of hours in the day. But what if slowing down is actually how you make more money? Not in spite of it, but because of it.

I know that sounds backwards. Especially when you're drowning in client work, working all the time, and still not meeting your income goals. In this episode, I'm breaking down why the hustle harder approach is keeping you stuck at your current income level, and what to do instead. 

Because you can have income AND freedom. It's not opposites.

Ready to see where you're leaving money on the table? I'm offering a limited number of free 45-minute business audit calls, get yours below! ↓

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Andrea here, your host and passionate business coach and scaling strategist for soulful service providers and coaches. Welcome to another episode of Solepreneur Scaling Stories. Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of your fellow entrepreneur's business to see what actually went into scaling it?

[00:00:22] Andrea Elibero: Well, you are in for a treat 'cause that's exactly what we are doing here. In each episode, we will be uncovering the truth of the lessons and the stories behind what it truly takes for sold entrepreneurs to scale their businesses intentionally. I'm hoping that their stories will help you to unlock the true potential of your business so you can create your own soulful, abundant, and aligned laptop lifestyle through intentional scaling.

[00:00:46] Andrea Elibero: So whether you're just starting out on your scaling journey or you're a seasoned entrepreneur seeking inspiration, this episode has something incredible in store for you. Are you ready to rise, grow, and create a business that fully supports your dream life? Well, let's dive in. [00:01:00] Before we begin, make sure to hit that subscribe buttons.

[00:01:03] Andrea Elibero: You never miss an empowering episode filled with real stories and soulful insights.

[00:01:10] Andrea Elibero: Welcome back. Okay. Today we are going to answer a question that I hear a lot, which is, is it even possible to slow down and make more money as a done for you service provider? Like, how can I do that? Because it doesn't make sense to me. And here's the thing, right? Is that like you want to work 20 hours a week and you also want to make eight K, 10 K, 12 k, whatever, and

[00:01:41] Andrea Elibero: when you look at your business now and you actually add up the numbers to how to do that, you run out of hours in the day. But what if I told you that slowing down is actually how you can make more money? Not in spite of it, but because of it. I know, I know. That sounds backwards. That sounds impossible, [00:02:00] right?

[00:02:00] Andrea Elibero: When you're like, wait, I am drowning in client work. I'm working all this time and I'm not. Meeting my income, right? Like how was this even possible? Stick with me because by the end of this episode, you're going to see exactly why this hustle harder approach is keeping you stuck at this income level and burnt out.

[00:02:18] Andrea Elibero: And if you're still growing, why growing this way is going to lead you there. And then I'll tell you what to do instead. Okay, so let's talk about math. Not a math girly here, however. We can do it for this. So bear with me in case I get my numbers wrong. So let's say you have eight clients. Each of these eight clients pays you $500 a month.

[00:02:38] Andrea Elibero: That's $4,000 a month, right? But for each of these eight clients, you're working 40 hours a week. So your calendar is packed to the RI and that 40 hours a week is only client work. It's not any work on your own business. It's not your marketing, it's not anything else. Only client work. So now you're like in addition to that, right?

[00:02:59] Andrea Elibero: [00:03:00] So you're doing the client work, you're working all of this time, you're making $4,000. Like, okay, this is cool. Like it's more than I made in my nine to five. But now you're doing all this switching back and forth like constantly. 'cause it's so many different clients, so many different tasks, so many different platforms and all that switching is really exhausting.

[00:03:16] Andrea Elibero: So you're like, okay, if like my first goal is to hit 5K, then I just need one or more client, and then maybe one more after that I can hit six K. That's the answer. More clients, but. It doesn't work, right? Because when you add more clients and then you add all the different things that you do for them, like their email, social media, project management team, like whatever, right?

[00:03:41] Andrea Elibero: And now it's even more mental energy 'cause you're switching between more. Different roll, more different tasks throughout your day. And it's like you're trying to cook four different meals at one time in the same tiny kitchen, right? You're like, okay, I'm gonna make pasta over here, stir for over here, I'm gonna bake a cake over here.

[00:03:59] Andrea Elibero: [00:04:00] And now somebody's asking you to change their recipe and they want something different. So this is not the path to a sustainable business. And there's research behind this. There's research that shows that context switching like this reduces your productivity by up to 40%. So this 40 hour work week within it, you might only be doing 24 hours of actual productive work.

[00:04:24] Andrea Elibero: And then you add to that, right? You have other time, like this is just your billable hours, right? You have other things you need to do that you're not. Billing your clients for, so now you're working way more. So you think that you're like, okay, I'm making $40 an hour, 50, whatever. But really it's a lot less than that when you add in all of these things, and so.

[00:04:46] Andrea Elibero: You know, in addition to that, a lot of things my clients tell me is that they want freedom. This is not freedom, right? You are like working, working, working, and this is not the freedom lifestyle that you set out for. So this is why [00:05:00] taking on more clients is not the answer, and this is why the math doesn't math.

[00:05:05] Andrea Elibero: So it's not about any of that. the big thing here, right, is that if you want. A business that is sustainable and that is slow. Your income cannot be tied to how much you work your income. The shift is to have your income tied to how well your business is structured. And don't worry, I will explain.

[00:05:30] Andrea Elibero: So, you know, a lot of us have grown up or have had other jobs that are hourly based and we pride ourselves and it makes sense, right? Like, okay, I understand how much I'm making, I, it makes sense. I feel like I'm earning this right. And that's an employee mindset, you know, it makes sense, right? Because when you're an employee, you're earning your salary by the hour.

[00:05:49] Andrea Elibero: Whatever. But as a business owner, it's that model that's keeping you limited. So when you're selling hours or when you organize things by hours, you're [00:06:00] capped by time. There are literally only so many hours in a week. So if you're selling things at, you know, even 85, $90 an hour, you're still capped. I was capped as an OBM selling things at 85, $90, you know, in these hourly retainer packages, and I was capped around like eight to 10 K in that area.

[00:06:18] Andrea Elibero: So yes, that's a decent amount of money, but not worth the burnout and the stress. Anyhow, that's a different podcast episode. So all of that to say is that. Structuring your business based on hours and having it just on that is the quickest way to burn out. So what if, what if instead we change how we think about it, right?

[00:06:45] Andrea Elibero: We change how we think about our business structure. And what if instead of selling hours or tasks. You sell results, you sell transformations, and you do it through your own signature framework. You sell your expertise, which you have. You sell an [00:07:00] outcome, right? Because your expertise doesn't have a time limit because.

[00:07:04] Andrea Elibero: The better you are at something, the quicker you do it anyways, so you're penalizing yourself as well. So think about, right, so like if I hire you to set up my marketing, my email marketing funnels, why don't, I don't care how long it takes you, it's not any better if you take 15 hours versus five, right?

[00:07:20] Andrea Elibero: What I care about is in the end, my email funnels work and, that's it, right? That you delivered on what you promised. So your value is not in how much you work, it's not in the hours, it's in the results, it's in the transformation that you provide. And it's this shift in thinking that really allows you to slow down and make more money because now you get to stop trading time for dollars, and you get to start packaging your expertise into offers that your clients pay for based on outcomes.

[00:07:52] Andrea Elibero: And that's just happier for everybody. So I know you're thinking, right? You're like, okay, that sounds nice. That's a nice theory. But for my [00:08:00] type of business, it's not gonna work. I beg to differ it will work. So I'll give you a couple, of client examples. So I had one client who came to me with nine client, nine of clients of her own, you know, doing all of the things for all of the clients, charging like 25, 30, 35 an hour, I dunno, something like that.

[00:08:17] Andrea Elibero: So, scattered tasks, right? No clear boundaries. and she had all these clients and her income was actually pretty low in spite of that, be because her business was inefficient, you know, and she was getting frustrated with it. She was getting resentful, and so instead of just having her business, you know, be structured in that way.

[00:08:41] Andrea Elibero: We shifted and she actually shifted to become a launch strategist. She has a signature framework for exactly how she helps her clients launch. She packaged everything up into a clear offer instead of doing all of the things for all of the people, and guess what? She works 20 hours a week as she wanted, and she doubled [00:09:00] her income.

[00:09:00] Andrea Elibero: So no longer are her days chaotic. It's actually more peaceful and predictable. She has clear boundaries now built in because of this framework as an extra bonus, which is amazing. So all she did, and I don't wanna say all she did, like minimizing it 'cause yes. It's a process, but she changed her business structure and she's so much happier as well.

[00:09:23] Andrea Elibero: And so it's really, really cool to see. And I'll give you one other example, which is my client S and her transformation, which was really interesting. It was not primarily about the money, which did increase, but it was actually about her life because before we worked together in expansion, my one-on-one coaching, she

[00:09:42] Andrea Elibero: was really struggling to take off any time. She was really trapped in this hourly retainer model that I keep talking about, and every day she was, you know that she was away from working meant she was losing income. So she had been running her business for a number of years and really wasn't able to [00:10:00] really take a decent amount of time off.

[00:10:02] Andrea Elibero: But last year she took a two week trip without her laptop for the first time since starting her business and. So in addition to the money now, she is less anxious. She takes her morning slow. She's able to be in the moment, and she really was able to let go of this mindset that she learned through her corporate life, which was grinding.

[00:10:22] Andrea Elibero: Hustling, right? And so she doesn't feel like she has to do that anymore. That identity was lifted away, which is amazing. And this is what happens when you build a business with the right structure. You both make more money. And you slow down and you get your life back. So I'm going to tell you how to do it.

[00:10:40] Andrea Elibero: Okay. I'm gonna walk you through three structural shifts that make this possible Shift. Number one is having a signature framework over hourly tasks, packaging up your expertise into a repeatable system. Is the key here. And it can be for anything. It works for anything. You just [00:11:00] need to have a clear process.

[00:11:02] Andrea Elibero: And in this way it really simplifies everything, right? Because when you have a framework, clients are paying for outcome, not ours. You have now natural boundaries because you get to lead the process instead of being reactive to whatever gets thrown at you. And this is a huge part of what I do with my clients through my expansion program, is that we build out your signature framework that's so aligned to you and your unique magic and the things that you love doing.

[00:11:30] Andrea Elibero: And this positions you as a strategic expert instead of this task doer where you do all the things for all the people. So number one is framework Number two is premium positioning instead of being everything to everybody, so your client's paying more. With less chaos. So if you have, let's say, three clients at $2,000 each, that's $6,000, right?

[00:11:55] Andrea Elibero: I did that math, right? And that's a much easier business model [00:12:00] than 10 clients at 500 each, right? Because now your mental load is reduced because now you're able to focus better, and then you're able to do that with the framework combined, right? Then. E, everything gets to flow so much more simply, and it doesn't mean that you're stuck at three clients right at the six K because everything is so simple and flowy.

[00:12:20] Andrea Elibero: You get to. Grow, and it's a much easier way to do that than having a bunch of lower paying clients. So when you position yourself around your unique magic, this thing that you're naturally incredible at, you attract better fit clients who value your expertise and will pay you for it because you make it so clear what that expertise is that they're excited to do.

[00:12:44] Andrea Elibero: So. So one is framework two is premium positioning, and number three is having clear offers over a reactive service menu. So again, stop doing whatever you need and start focusing your offers around specific [00:13:00] transformation specific results. When you have predictable delivery, you get predictable outcome.

[00:13:06] Andrea Elibero: That's a lie. When you have predictable delivery, you get predictable income. That makes much more sense, and that means a more predictable schedule, and that means space and freedom, right? So this is again, what I worked together with with. My clients in expansion. We redesign your offers from the ground up, and it is a simple step-by-step process.

[00:13:29] Andrea Elibero: We are not throwing away all of your entire business. We're shifting it slowly so your nervous system doesn't freak out. But we do really amazing things, uh, help you identify your unique magic, create your signature framework, shift how you position yourself so you get to work with these more premium clients in a more flowy simple

[00:13:46] Andrea Elibero: business. Because again, it's not about working harder, getting more certifications, adding more and more services. It's not about more and more and more and more. It's really about simplifying. It's about restructuring what you already do so it [00:14:00] supports the life that you want. So if you are listening to this and you're like, okay, Andrea, that's cool.

[00:14:05] Andrea Elibero: I'm sold. This sounds amazing, but I don't know how to actually do this in my business from my specific situation. Yes, I get it. And if you're like, listen, I wanna chat with you, I wanna work with you, but I wanna chat with you or maybe I don't know if I wanna work with you, whatever the case is. I have free business audit calls.

[00:14:23] Andrea Elibero: And so what we do is we spend 45 minutes together looking at your current business structure, and I will show you exactly where you're leaving money on the table and where your business model is kind of keeping you trapped in this little cycle that you're in. And then the first things that you can do to start to fix this immediately.

[00:14:38] Andrea Elibero: So we get to map out what your business looks like. To, you know, do what I just explained here and get your life back and you know, if expansion feels like the right fit, great, we can talk about it. But there is no pressure here. The call is valuable whether you work with me or not. You're going to walk away with clarity on exactly what needs to shift.

[00:14:57] Andrea Elibero: Today, these calls are free, but [00:15:00] they're very limited because obviously I'm serving my paying clients. So check out the link in the show notes to grab your spot so you don't have to wait forever to do that. And so what I want you, with all of that, what I want you to walk away with today is that slowing down and making more money is

[00:15:20] Andrea Elibero: not, they're not opposites. It's not some weird, far off dream that only works for other people. It's a hundred percent possible. I have done it, I helped my clients do it, and you can do it too. You can have income and freedom. Okay, so that is all that I have for you today. Um, so I'm looking forward to seeing you in our business audit in expansion and in the next episode.

[00:15:45] Andrea Elibero: So I'll see you guys next time. 

[00:15:47] Andrea Elibero: Thank you so much for joining us today. I really hope you found inspiration and insights from today's episode. You know, scaling your business [00:16:00] intentionally and from the inside out is a transformational process, but I'm here to support you every step of the way. Head on over to dancing leaf solutions.com/resources for free tools to help you do just that.

[00:16:12] Andrea Elibero: And thank you again for being a part of the Solepreneur Scaling Stories community. Your presence and dedication to growth inspiring me every day.