This is part 3 of a series documenting my attempts to make money on the internet… if you want the whole set up you can find it HERE, and if you’re curious how I earned my first dollar (and also 10 more after that) go HERE.
2 dollars. That was my goal for February.
In month number one of my income making experiment I shattered all my hopes and dreams and came in 1100% over target. That’s a lot of pressure to be taking on as I headed into my second month.
Did I make it? Well, before I let that cat out of the bag….
A few 2 dollar thoughts…
Businesses make money, or at least they try to.
And there was something really interesting that happened when I started thinking about my goal of making money.
Just after I outed myself as someone who was hoping to actually build an online business… I got some really interesting emails. Emails offering me work. Some of it was related to what I wanted to do… but most was stuff that I had never thought of at all before.
I had a handful of bloggers write to me about starting a side business designing graphics (because apparently my pics are super fly), a few local artists contacted me about possibly writing sponsored content, and some offers were completely out of left field (I’m looking at you brother and your crazy language translation project…).
But they all offered the potential of money.
And that left me with two thoughts:
- When you put something out into the world things really do start happening.
- I had to decide whether I just wanted to make a side income, or whether it mattered to me ‘how’ I was making that side income.
What counts as making money ‘on the internet’?
I initially set up these goals with the idea of making money on the internet.
But what counts and what doesn’t?
Do the money workshops I’ve been doing count? They happen in person, but they wouldn’t have come to be without the blog.
Does financial coaching count as money earned ‘on the internet’? What if I Skype with people… that’s kind of internetty?
And does it really matter?
Does it matter if I make money designing graphics for bloggers, or by writing credit card reviews?
I honestly don’t know.
How I made 2 dollars in February: things got personal…
Part of the reason I ask is because in February I started working with my first official paying client.
In anticipation of my higher money goals later in the year (see above), I’ve started to test run a few services with some friends. Most of that is happening for free (because I’m very much figuring it out, so they’re paying me in patience)… but one friend and I entered into a more official relationship.
A first client feels as big as a first dollar earned.
We had one session in February and have continued to work in March!
As a side note, getting on the ground and starting to work with people one on one (or even in small groups in my workshops) has really been awesome. I really like writing and creating content for the blog, but the thing that gets me the most jazzed about personal finance is sitting with people and helping them truly connect to the material… not just understand it, but incorporate it into their lives. It’s pretty freaking cool.
How do you pick a price?
Remember when I was terrible at setting the price on my debt workbook… so I just sold it for a dollar?
Turns out I’m no better at pricing out a money coaching.
But with the goal of being transparent throughout this process I’ll let you know how I was thinking.
The reason that I’ve held back on offering financial coachings to people at large (even though I like it so much) is that I’m working hard to gain a certification in financial planning, and I’ve decided that I don’t want to officially offer that service until I have that accreditation.
It’s something I feel is important so I have the confidence to know that I’m not talking out of my ass, and that I’m giving you good advice on something that’s really important.
Looking into the future, I have absolutely no idea how to price this kind of coaching.
I feel incredibly strongly that financial planning services should be available to people who make low incomes, but it’s really hard to figure out a price point that both values the service and makes it accessible.
I will have to give the final price a really good think, but for now I stuck to what I know.
I’m a singer, and I’ve taken lessons and coachings all my life.
This was a financial coaching by a coach just starting out.
In the music field I’d expect to pay around 40 dollars for a session.
And a price was born.
Boiling down the numbers:
So this month the goal was 2 dollars.
I almost made that in the first few days, when I sold a few more copies of my debt workbook, and then with the extra coaching we came in at:
- Debt Workbook: $1.45 (cost of making money .65 cents in Gumroad fees)
- Coaching: $38.54 (cost of making money $1.46 – in PayPal fees)
- Total: 39.99
On the one hand… not a lot.
On the other hand… almost 20 times more than I had hoped for.
Things I learned:
This month was all about questions. I’m still not sure if purists would consider my coachings ‘on the internet’ earnings.
But what I’m beginning to learn is that sometimes when you start charging money for something… you realize that what people want to pay for isn’t always what you’re selling. And you can either stubbornly stick to your guns and hope to find an audience… or you can pivot and try to find that magic place where ‘the work you enjoy’ meets with ‘the thing that people are actually willing to spend money on’.
Which for some of us complete business novices… will probably take awhile.
I also learned that things don’t sell if you don’t promote them… even really cool debt workbooks that only cost a dollar.
Note to self: add advertising to the to-do list.
Do you guys remember your first client? Any tips for setting price (keep in mind that I’m trying to fit the impossible goal of supplying a personalized experience at a mass produced price… and still put food on my table…)? Advice needed 🙂
