Coaching Call with QA Consultant Preshant Bellad

QA Consultant Preshant Bellad joined me on Ditching Hourly to discuss value pricing for monthly QA services. Jonathan, We perform ongoing QA activities like testing, creating automated tests, breaking the app, etcWe do the above for requirements that are planned per 2 weeks iteration/sprintFor this client, I have been billing an average of 200 hours per month based on the features to testSome of the feature testing does get completed in the same month, and few are carried over to the next monthI cannot estimate what features my team would test in the coming month hence I am not able to derive a success metricCan you pls suggest how to calculate the success metric for this situation so that I can move to value-based pricing month on monthly basis?PreshantPreshant's Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashant-bellad/ https://pristineprotech.com/ ----Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things link: Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time? Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space? Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours writing another custom proposal? Book a one-on-one coaching call with me and get answers to these questions and others in the time it takes to get ready for work in the morning.Best of all, you're covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don't feel like it was worth it, just say the word, and I'll refund your purchase in full.To book your one-on-one coaching call, go to: https://jonathanstark.com/callI hope to see you there!

Reuben Swartz - Anti-CRM For People Who Hate Selling

Founder of Mimiran, Reuben Swartz, joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about the unique client relationship management needs of solo consultants and shared the novel approaches he took when building his “anti-CRM”. Reuben’s LinkedIn Mimiran CRM Jonathan on Reuben’s Podcast ----Have you ever thought about starting a podcast but gave up because it seemed too hard?I’ve got good news for you:If you can run a Zoom call, you can host a podcast.In my 5-Day Podcast Challenge, you will learn exactly what to do (and more importantly NOT do) to get your podcast off the ground in as little as five days.The next session of 5DPC starts this Monday, October 10th. Registration closes Sunday at 11:59pm ET, so time is running out.Stop thinking and start doing. You could be inviting guests to your new show in less than two weeks.ENROLL IN 5DPC NOW »I hope to see (and hear) you there!

Paul Swail - Getting Paid To Uncover Value With Roadmapping Engagements

Serverless expert Paul Swail joined me on Ditching Hourly to share how he uses paid diagnostic engagements to help land large projects without the pressure of conducting a single sales interview. Paul's Links: https://serverlessfirst.com/ https://twitter.com/paulswail

Dr. Jason Troyer - Bootstrapping from Academia to Authority

Dr. Jason Troyer joined me on Ditching Hourly to share the details of his journey from tenured academic to authority entrepreneur. Jason’s Links: https://www.jasontroyer.com/ https://www.griefplan.com/

Dre Beltrami - Shut Up And Listen

Dre Beltrami returns to Ditching Hourly to drop her patented iconoclastic worldviews. This time around we talk about Google+, Pinterest, search vs feed, stealing longtail keywords, and for the love of god, just shutting up and listening. Dre's links:thesolopreneursociety.com

The Pricing Seminar

Hello Dear Listener! I’m here to let you know that registration is now open for The Pricing Seminar. You need to know that TPS is not a DIY video course that you download and maybe someday finish watching. No, it’s an interactive online workshop where you will learn by doing.  That’s right, there’s homework and people to help keep you accountable to doing it. As a group, we walk through the process of conceiving, researching, designing, marketing, pricing, and selling to clients who are anxious to buy.So if you’re ready to finally start getting paid what you’re worth, enroll now before it’s too late. Lessons start Monday, and folks from over the world are already connecting in the private community.Go to https://thepricingseminar.com to enroll now. It only takes 60 seconds to sign up. That URL again is https://thepricingseminar.com.I hope you’ll join us!

Jason Resnick - Masterclass In Pragmatic Email Automation

Email automation guru Jason Resnick joined me on Ditching Hourly to geek out about serving subscribers more effectively with less effort.We ended up chatting for 90+ minutes, and Jason gave a master class on leveraging basic email automation techniques to create outsized results for your audience and your business.If you have a mailing list, this is a must-listen episode. If you don’t, it’s time to start :-)Jason's links: Jason Resnick NurtureKit Double Opt-in

Employee Mindset

Reverse Interview with Peter Mobley of Geogram

Geogram President Peter Mobley reached out to ask if he could come on Ditching Hourly to interview me, and of course, I said yes. I'm not sure that's what happened but it was a unique conversation :-)Peter's links:  Geogram hello@geogram.com

Generalist vs Specialists: Music Edition

Coaching Call with Voice Coach Adrian Goldner

Vocal coach and acapella group leader Adrian Goldner joined me on Ditching Hourly to brainstorm ways to package and price his expertise in more profitable ways. Unfortunately, I forgot to click the record button so I'll have to recap our conversation on my own. Whomp whomp :-(Anyway...Here's Adrian's background:- He's a vocal coach, certified in something called the CVT method- He runs an acapella choir group and makes a modest monthly income from membership dues and gig fee percentages- He has a handful or private vocal students who are not pros and mostly just sing for fun- He works a few hours per week teaching vocal lessons to students in a private university- He prefers working with pros than with beginners, so the university gig and the lessons for hobbyists are not particularly satisfyingOne of Adrian's biggest questions was how to take this patchwork of experiences and increase his fees through value pricing. He said that most buyer expectations for something like private vocal lessons is that the student would pay a fixed amount per lesson, and that the amount would be fairly low. He couldn't imagine justifying even doubling his lesson fees, never mind 10x-ing them.We talked about a few different business models that might make sense for someone like him. He didn't want to scale by hiring employees or starting a school or anything like that. He wanted to stay solo, and remain fairly hands on with his clients.So, the business model that felt like the best fit was the Authority Model. In general, the Authority Model has an MVP product ladder that looks something like this: - $50000+ Project (value priced custom engagement)- $5000 Roadmap (diagnostic with recommendations and execution plan)- $500 Call (one-off short paid consultation)The trick to the Authority Model is that you have to become the “go-to” person for solving an expensive problem for a very specific niche market, who ideally has a high degree of buying power. Adrian couldn't really get his head around the idea of value pricing a 1-on-1 vocal project, so the example I used to illustrate was this:Sting (former lead signer of the Police) can no longer hit the high notes in their smash hit Roxanne. So, he has to perform the song a couple of whole steps lower than the original. It's noticeable and it sounds weird. Kinda like a bad cover band. I betcha this drives Sting nuts.So...How much do you think Sting would pay to be able to go back to singing Roxanne in the original key?$50,000? $100,000?Maybe, maybe not... but it's a reasonable hypothesis.If Adrian wanted to pursue this particular angle, his positioning would look something like:“I am a vocal reconditioning coach who helps aging rock stars hit the high notes like they were 20 again.”With a positioning statement like this, it would be easy to make a list of ideal clients, and it would be easy to justify five-figure fees.The hard part would be creating a reputation for reliably delivering the kind of results that they crave. _ASIDE: Note that creating a reputation for delivering results is a _very different type of problem_ than trying to convince a singer in a local bar band to pay you $50,000 to increase their range by a fourth. A small increase in range simply isn't worth that much to a singer in a local bar band. So if you can't understand how value pricing could unlock huge profits for you, it might be because you're not imagining big enough clients._At this point it occurred to me that there probably are people who are already well positioned as "vocal coach to the stars" so I started thinking about what would make Adrian different. The thing that jumped out at me immediately was his experience with vocal groups, not just individual singers.This more focused target market immediately created a Rolodex moment for me with groups like Pentatonyx and BTS and Blackpink.Maybe Adrian could even combine the "hit the high notes like you're 20 again" with "voice training for vocal groups" and start out with a laser focus like:“I am a vocal reconditioning coach who helps old school boy/girl bands hit the high notes like they were 20 again. Unlike other vocal coaches, I specialize in the unique challenges of integrating multiple voices in harmony.”Adrian lit up a bit at this proposition because he immediately felt uniquely qualified to excel at this very specific intersection of niche market and specialized expertise.Is it a viable market position?I don't know, but there are ways to find out.As homework, I suggested that he research the number of groups who would fall into this niche, find out where they hang out to talk shop or who they listen to for advice, and to look for any other vocal coaches who serve the high end of the market to study what they're doing and how he (Adrian) would be considered meaningfully different by his ideal buyers.He said he would try that and report back.Keep your fingers crossed and stay tuned! I'll let you know if I get an update.

Fancy Dams

Michael Lynch - I Regret My $46k Website Redesign

Michael’s Links I Regret My $46k Website Redesign Tiny Pilot Michael’s Twitter

Japanese Maple

Mind The Gap