How to Master Your Fees (and How I Created a Multi-6-Figure Business from Zero)

Below are the mindset + mechanics that built my business—and the practical fee-reset framework I’m teaching in this month’s masterclass, on January 15th.

Confession...

Truth be told: early in my business, my fees were entirely arbitrary.

I had to give my services a cost, so I chose fees that I could say out loud without throwing up from anxiety. I also did a quick check on industry ranges for my services and picked numbers based on feeling.

*Not recommended.

Unfortunately, because anxiety was my main barometer for fees at that time, I did myself a severe disservice by not mining down into things like my business overhead expenses, taxes, client transaction fees, payroll fees, cost of materials, and more. I was simply desperate to know that people would pay to work with me at all and I wanted to get yeses.

With great fortune, and the focused support of my business coach at the time, I got yeses immediately.

My company took off fast and new clients were joining my roster weekly. Results started piling up, referrals started pouring in, and I found a way to create an ongoing, consistent enrollment strategy that worked for me.

As I got braver, my fees got stronger, but I still wasn’t doing the math.

"Success"... but at what cost?

My business cleared over $100k in year one, over $250k in year two, and $400k in year five.

However, I had no budget, no parameters, and no reasoning for my fees in the first 5 years of business.

My wake-up call came at year five. I couldn’t figure out why I was making great money, but I wasn’t seeing the results of the money in ways I wanted to. Where was it all going?

I started really looking at my fees with professionals. I hired a professional bookkeeper, CPA, and financial advisor to support me as the business expanded, and I had an alarming realization: I was hemorrhaging my hard-earned money without realizing it. Money was coming in, but a whole lot of it was going out.

Fees Vs Feelings: Application Prompts

Now that I’m eight years into my business, I see how fundamentally critical it is to have a clear and simple understanding of your fees and price points, no matter if you provided services or products.

Fees shouldn’t be based on feeling. They should come from your set vision and clear data.

For example, when a customer pays you, it breaks down like this:

Customer fee

- cost of materials/overhead

- transaction fees

- bank fees

- taxes

= net pay

Then, if you take payroll, you factor in payroll fees for your state.

So what do you actually get net with your fees? And is that something you’re ok with?

APPLICATION

See the prompts below for your own application:

1. What are your actual overhead costs for your business monthly and annually?

2. For products, what is the cost of materials, shipping, and transactions?

3. For services, what are the expenses you cover in your fees? (Materials, journals, swag, gifts, special guests, books, etc.) So how much is actually “yours” to take to payroll?

4. What are your current transaction fees on sales? List out taxes in your state/country (sales and payroll), money exchange fees, bank fees, applications/platforms (PayPal and most credit card companies take ~3%), etc.

5. What makes your product/service unique and/or superior to competitors? What can your customers count on from you? This substantiates whatever your fee is, especially if you’re on the higher range of your industry standards.

Any sustainable business comes through a foundation of financial knowing.

If you want more of this goodness, register for my upcoming masterclass on January 15th on Mastering Your Fees + Knowing Your Value.

I’ll be back in a couple weeks with a new topic and even more practical advice and practices for your business and wellbeing.

Your Upcoming Elevated Entrepreneur Masterclasses

We have virtual events you can register for per event, and all are welcome to join.

For paid members, these are free.

January 15: Masterclass — Mastering Your Fees + Knowing Your Value
January 30: Free Virtual Happy Hour — “Finding Everyday Magic”
February 12: Masterclass — Proposals + The #1 Tool to Increase Yeses

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