Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
If your service business has hit a revenue ceiling, the problem probably isn't your offer, it's your pricing. In this episode, pricing strategist and author Linda Hunt introduces the concept of the "minimum aligned price," the pricing floor below which you're actually paying your clients to work for them. Linda covers the three points at which service businesses start to show weakness: the pricing conversation, scope creep inside the work, and a lack of repeatable processes. If you've been bootstrapping your way through growth, this is the formula for building the business that scales with you.
In this episode of The She Leads Podcast, Adrienne Garland's guest is Linda Hunt, founder of Sum Solutions, author of The Money Conversation, and the financial architect known to the women she works with as the money clarity catalyst.
Linda makes the case that "I cannot afford it" is almost never the real objection. Clients always find the money for what they value, but a discount in that moment teaches them they were right to hesitate. She also walks through the cost of scope creep on a high-touch client and why a defined service process is what lets the work actually scale.
Linda introduces her free Perfect Pricing Formula and the principle that changes how women build service businesses: price your services from day one as if someone else were going to be doing the work, not you.
🧠 07:31 Why women run their businesses the way they ran corporate
🔧 11:38 Where a service business breaks: pricing conversation, scope creep, no process
💰 17:30 Why "I can't afford it" is almost never the real objection
📐 20:30 Defining how you deliver, even when it costs you the wrong clients
🧮 28:49 The Perfect Pricing Formula and finding your minimum aligned price
👥 36:05 Pricing as if someone else will do the work
🚀 39:28 Hiring before the work arrives, and what scales with you
Links:
The Money Conversation and a free chapter: moneyconversation.net
Links:
The Money Conversation and a free chapter: moneyconversation.net
Website and a free tool: sumsolutions.com
Reach out to Linda Hunt to calculate your floor and rebuild your packages around how you actually deliver the work.
Thank you to our podcast sponsor
Thank you to our podcast sponsor
Go From Expert to Thought Leader with the Genius Discovery Program.
Book Directly with Kent: http://talktokent.com
We're always seeking aligned sponsors.
⭐️ If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️
⭐️ If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️
Reach out to Adrienne: hello@sheleadsmedia.com
Visit our website: www.sheleadsmedia.com to learn about upcoming events or to work with me directly and get the clarity you’re seeking.
As a gesture of support for this podcast and sharing women's voices everywhere - I would greatly appreciate if you would take a moment and give our podcast a 5 Star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
By you taking this simple action, you are making a difference in sharing women's voices, thoughts and opinions.
One last thing - if you haven’t done so already, please hit the plus sign + to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
By you taking this simple action, you are making a difference in sharing women's voices, thoughts and opinions.
One last thing - if you haven’t done so already, please hit the plus sign + to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
XO
Adrienne
Adrienne
- (02:38) - 💼 Linda Hunt's corporate dropout origin story and the bookkeeper trap
- (07:31) - 🧠 Why women run their businesses the way they ran corporate
- (11:38) - 🔧 Where a service business breaks: pricing conversation, scope creep, no process
- (17:30) - 💰 Why "I can't afford it" is almost never the real objection
- (20:30) - 📐 Defining how you deliver, even when it costs you the wrong clients
- (28:49) - 🧮 The Perfect Pricing Formula and finding your minimum aligned price
- (36:05) - 👥 Pricing as if someone else will do the work
- (39:28) - 🚀 Hiring before the work arrives, and what scales with you
Creators and Guests
What is The She Leads® Podcast - Wealth Building & Business Growth?
The She Leads Podcast is where women entrepreneurs and business leaders get the real strategies behind scaling a business to one million dollars and beyond. Each week, host Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media, professor at NYU and Rice University, and business growth advisor, speaks with women who have actually built it: founders who broke past the revenue ceiling, executives leading thousands, and strategists rethinking how women build wealth, lead teams, and grow companies. Episodes cover business growth strategies for women, from pricing and hiring to leadership communication, AI and the future of work, networking and social capital, and the founder to CEO transition. If you're a woman entrepreneur building toward your first million or your next one, this is the show that meets you where you actually are: past the motivational fluff, deep in the work, and ready to scale.
Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.
Adrienne Garland:There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast.
Adrienne Garland:Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. I'd like to kick off today's episode with simple request. If you haven't done so already, before you listen in to this episode, please pause and take just two minutes to go over and give the show a five star rating and review. It's so important to share the journeys, wisdom, and lessons of the women entrepreneurs and leaders that we feature here on the She Leads Podcast. And the best way to do that is to rate, review, and share this show with anyone who's interested in seeing more women leaders in this world.
Adrienne Garland:Thank you so much for helping to share our incredible show with more people. Now onto my next guest. You are all in for a treat. Her name is Linda Hunt, and she's the founder of Some Solutions and author of The Money Conversation. Linda is known as the money clarity catalyst because she helps service based entrepreneurs, like me, rebuild their pricing, systems, and client communication strategically.
Adrienne Garland:She helps women build wealth through alignment, structure, and intention without stress. Welcome to the She Leads Podcast, Linda.
Linda Hunt:Thank you so much, Adrienne. I we were having a great conversation in the green room, and I'm super excited to to dive into the episode here.
Adrienne Garland:I am so excited too. And as, you know, as you were talking, I was like, should I hit record? Because everything that you're saying is such great stuff. So I wanna talk about it all today here. So let's let's get into it.
Adrienne Garland:Before we start, I would actually love to have you share your origin story because this is sort of where the work that you do came from. So take us back. Yes.
Linda Hunt:Yeah. Correct. You are you are right on the money. So I am a corporate dropout. I was in the corporate world and unhappy, and I was trapped so quickly.
Linda Hunt:Was traveling 95% of the time and got to know my limo driver well who owned his own small business. I found myself consulting from the back seat and I really loved I loved being able to help entrepreneurs and it fed my soul. If anyone's read The E Myth Revisited, it's a fantastic book. I had what Michael Gerber talks about an entrepreneurial seizure and I left. The first mistake that I made though, Adrienne, and I'm going to start with the mistakes, is I started an outsourced remote accounting services business because that's what I thought I was doing.
Linda Hunt:It's not what I was doing. I was actually helping with operations. And yes, I was doing the accounting, but I was selling the wrong services. I had a misalignment with who I was and the value that I was providing. And what was so fascinating to me is, and I'm not going to preface this saying I do love men, but accounting back then, you know, was very male dominated.
Linda Hunt:And here I am in accounting and they kept calling me a bookkeeper and I had so much more experience. Right? I had an MBA. I was in middle middle level manager in corporate. And you know, here I am being treated like a bookkeeper and I started to believe it.
Linda Hunt:And so that's one mistake. Then the second mistake I made is that I was underpricing myself because of the way I saw myself. So I was undervaluing my services. And that led to me not being able to pay my bills. I was not bringing enough money into my business and was completely stressed out.
Linda Hunt:And I was single at the time, responsible for myself, And you're always stressed. You're under nervous system duress. And what I recognized was I had to fix this. I'm not a salesperson.
Adrienne Garland:And I think most service providers were not.
Linda Hunt:I think you know, our service is our heart. It's our soul. It's our passion. Right? And it's very hard to put a value to that.
Linda Hunt:So I had to come up with a way, right, to get business that felt good to me. So I stumbled upon offering a baseline service, an evaluation that allowed a client to get a taste of me, experience what would be like to work with me. And then from that evaluation, I was able to quote the next set of services. And I found that business, I started getting the business. So I started getting confidence.
Adrienne Garland:Yes.
Linda Hunt:And then that, the next phase naturally led to the next phase of services. So I'm not going to tell you I wasn't uncomfortable. I wasn't nervous. I wasn't scared stating my rate at that time, but it started to work because I had a process that I was sticking to and following. And that is the origin story of how I show up for other service providers today.
Linda Hunt:I help them create that structure, create that container so that they too can feel confident in their business.
Adrienne Garland:I love it. This is so important for women that are sort of starting out to hear because I think so many of us you know, we we come out of the corporate environment because that's what we were trained to to do and trained to want to move into. It's it's sort of like that we were educated to go work in corporate and put our heads down and work really hard and be rewarded for it and love it and retire, and none of that happened for any of us.
Linda Hunt:That's correct. Absolutely correct. And, and the other thing I think a lot of women did incorporate is we did a lot of invisible work that wasn't seen, wasn't rewarded, was not rewarded. And yeah. And that's one of the reasons why I left, You know, it's like, didn't, but I didn't know enough to call it that at the time.
Adrienne Garland:Right.
Linda Hunt:But here's the other thing that translates into our business. So how we operated in corporate is how we operate in our business. So it's super important as a woman entrepreneur to create systems in your business so that everything doesn't default to you because we have a lot of fractional teams like, and fractional teams are fantastic. But what I'm finding with my clients is a lot of the work is defaulting back to the person who cares the most, which is you, the owner.
Adrienne Garland:And
Linda Hunt:that is because we need to ask a crucial question. And that crucial question is how do I not live here? What process can I create? So I'm not living here. And what I mean by here is in that process, because if it's administrative, hire an executive assistant to support you, but give them the process that allows you not to live there.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah, this is so good. You mentioned the eMeth Revisited by Michael Gerber. And I you know, talk about this all the time. I I teach entrepreneurship at NYU and at Rice University. But at NYU, one of the required readings is the E Myth Revisited.
Adrienne Garland:Book. Yes. Because it's absolutely classic. And It is. Yeah.
Adrienne Garland:And even what you're talking about with building systems that allow you to work on the business instead of in the business is part of that principle. And it's it's so important because when women are in corporate, we when we leave, we often, you know, assess our skill set and say, what can we launch immediately that we are experts in? And oftentimes, it's services, you know, accounting services, HR services, marketing services, etcetera. And we do. We get trapped because we launch the business.
Adrienne Garland:We are the expert. We don't launch the business and then hire five people to execute the work. We execute the work. We exhaust ourselves, burn ourselves out, feel like crap about ourselves. Can you tell I'm talking about me?
Adrienne Garland:And yeah. And then and then you don't know what to do because with a burnt out brain, you are not able to make these strategic decisions. And and You're
Linda Hunt:100%. 100%.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. And so so so many women, we know, this podcast has also sort of been going through the same sort of transition where Mhmm. You know, we're we're looking at women who have been able to put these systems into place, work on their business, and get to that million dollar mark and beyond. So many of us who are listening in, you know, we're we're on this journey. And so there's, you know, there's a part where we we launch and then we put our systems in place, and it almost requires a shift in identity from corporate to entrepreneur.
Adrienne Garland:And then another shift in identity when we get to that million dollar mark.
Adrienne Garland:Can you talk about what that looks like for service based businesses?
Linda Hunt:Sure. So one of the things, and sometimes it happens even before a million, right? Because as we're earning more or, you know, in our revenue, like we are earning, we're not talking about bottom line, we're talking about top line, but we are earning more. The systems that you started your business with, they need to go through evolution. Yeah.
Linda Hunt:Right. With you. So systems are dynamic. So I want everyone to kind of know that. It's not like it's one and done.
Linda Hunt:It's the core will stay with you. You're just going to refine as you grow and elevate. And that typically happens in stages. Think of like steps. So that's one piece of it.
Linda Hunt:The other piece of it is seeing ourselves, right? Holding ourselves. I'm trying to say holding ourselves, but I'm not quite sure that's exactly right. But we have to train, not train yet, support our nervous system to say, I am a million dollar business owner. Right?
Linda Hunt:Because if we don't think we're worthy, right. And this comes back to self worth for women. And especially for service providers, we tend to be people pleasers. We tend to over deliver in our services. Right.
Linda Hunt:So I talk about the three points where our business breaks. So our business can break in the conversation. So when we're talking to someone, say about our rates, I might say to you, Gee, Adrienne, the services that we're going be doing for you, that's going be $5,000 And you hesitate. Now, what's happening is I, because I'm coming to that conversation with my money story, I'm interpreting that as, oh my gosh, she's not going to go with me. And then I spill the silence.
Linda Hunt:Right. I give you, I either add something to, you know, the product or service, or I say to you, but I can do it for you for 4,000. Right? It's like, as women, we just said that that's a break in your business because you're not following your process. The second place, and it comes back to self worth.
Linda Hunt:It comes back to seeing ourselves as these powerful business owners. The second place it breaks is inside the work. You talked about this. Say someone's not paying us, or we have a high touch client and they're very, very demanding, and what we originally scoped out the services to be, we're doing 10 times more than that and we're not being paid for it. That is the second time it breaks because that is where the burnout happens.
Linda Hunt:Know this because please know everyone listening, I've done this, I've lived this, and it's not fun. It's not a good place to be. And you have to really set up some really strong boundaries. I always say, if you want to meet yourself, become an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur.
Linda Hunt:That's a good And then the third place that our business breaks is when we don't have a consistent process that we are following. So as service providers, I don't care what kind of service you have, 80% of it is repeatable. 80% of it you are doing across all of your clients. And what you want to do is write down those steps, broad strokes, and then write down how you need to deliver that in a quality way consistently. And then you price to that.
Linda Hunt:There are other components, right? Because we want to make sure that we're pricing to our capacity, our true capacity. This is how I work with. So yes, I am a numbers person, but what I'm really doing is I call myself a financial architect and a money clarity catalyst because I am helping women look at these three things and say, how do we do this differently to support and hold up the business owner, hold you up? Because that's redesigned what for myself.
Linda Hunt:And again, I didn't realize I was doing it until I started talking to other people. They're like, how are you doing that? And I'm like, oh, let me share with you. And then they, their business would change. So that's, so I went through a migrate, I went through a migration and evolution myself where, yeah, I was providing accounting services, but now I really go in and I can see where the business is draining your power drain.
Linda Hunt:And I call it leaks.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. It's leaks. Right. It's energy leaks. It's emotional leaks.
Adrienne Garland:And we were talking about this a little bit before as well. I think all of us can we can we can all understand the feeling of what it's like to not feel like, I I don't know what the right word is because some of these words I don't like, and that's why I'm searching for them. But to, you know, almost feel less than. Okay? And and like you you talked about with when you when you say this is what my pricing is and that uncomfortable moment of silence that we feel, and then we diminish ourselves.
Linda Hunt:Mhmm.
Adrienne Garland:You know, I've I've absolutely 100% done this. And I do find I'll say maybe something controversial. I do find that when working with other women that that it's actually real, that they that they say that's too much or I can't afford that. And it's so unfortunate. I definitely wanna hear your thoughts about it.
Adrienne Garland:It's unfortunate. At the same time, I also think that it's systemic because if these, you know, women business owners that that you're trying to service are in the same, you know, play sandbox, all of us are getting less, less, less. So it's actually true that they don't have that budget. Yeah. And so it then it forces you to maybe work with others that you don't necessarily wanna be working with because they have the budget.
Adrienne Garland:So it create yeah. It creates
Linda Hunt:this weird
Adrienne Garland:You're right. Dynamic.
Linda Hunt:Yeah, no, you're right. So I think there's two paths on that question. So let's go to the first path first where when someone says, That's too expensive. I don't have the money for that. I'm going to blow up that myth and say, we always find the money.
Linda Hunt:If we want to buy something, we find the money. Because I will tell you that when I shared earlier, I was having trouble paying my bills, but yet I always had my, got my hair done. Right. I like every month, because I I'm, I'm of Italian descent and I went gray very, very young. I have been coloring my hair for years and I always found that money.
Linda Hunt:It was like every six weeks that money fights. So I'm going to blow up that myth ladies, that we find the money. We will always find the money for what we value. Now, the other thing is that is really scared. What's happening is their nervous system is saying, Oh my gosh, this is the underlying belief, I can't invest in myself.
Linda Hunt:That's the belief happening there. So what I would recommend when someone says that is to tell me more about them. Because what's happening is there's not clarity. There's not clarity and sometimes it truly is budget. So instead of walking away, and this is where we have to be clear on our services, maybe you do a scaled down version.
Linda Hunt:Maybe there's a smaller way you can help that person because they might need A through Z, but what's the crucial thing they need? Do they only need A? So maybe you start there. So there could be a way to have the conversation and talk it through. I think as high achieving women, we want everything.
Linda Hunt:Like I know for me, want A to Z and I want it fixed tomorrow. I've learned that it's better to, it's not about being ready. Right. It's about what do I need right now? Right.
Linda Hunt:So, and it's so funny. I just, just before this podcast, I'm, I'm doing some planning and I've made, I made a strategic decision for my business that the direction we're going to go into and something came across my inbox this morning that could have distracted me. And it is a, it's something that will feed that future direction, but today it is not important. So I I've learned, like I've made an, I've made a note of it and I've put it aside. And as women, we do need to, because it's a shiny, shiny bulb, bulb syndrome.
Linda Hunt:We can, we can go in that direction. But having said that, I think the core underlying thing here that I want everyone to hear is that you have to be really clear in how you deliver your services. And what I mean by that is how you like, I'll share with you like our accounting services.
Adrienne Garland:Sure.
Linda Hunt:I, it's very simple. Like we don't allow our clients to touch their accounting file. And oftentimes, you know, sometimes they'd be like, well, we want to do this part. And then what was happening is, and then we would, we would say, so say they're, they're in there recording transactions and paying bills. And then we would go in and we would reconcile everything and give them their monthly reports.
Linda Hunt:What was happening is they were doing all the foundational work incorrectly. And then we'd have to clean it up. So this is early on in my business. So I wasn't getting paid to clean it up. They thought they were doing it right.
Linda Hunt:It wasn't my job to train them. So there was all of this misalignment happening. What I finally decided is, okay, I'm not going work with anyone who wants to touch their own accounting file. Who wants to be in their accounting file because they don't want to pay me to clean it up and they don't want to pay for the full service. So I had to define how I wanted to deliver my service and how I could do that with the the level of quality I wanted to provide.
Linda Hunt:And I had to hold that standard. So I had a lot of clients at that time who were touching their accounting file. And yes, there was a transition period where I went down because clients were leaving because I made that rule, clients were leaving. But I will tell you newer and aligned clients came in. So to your point, Adrian, you might be working with people who aren't ideal, but I want you to identify why.
Linda Hunt:Why are they not ideal? And then is it about your service? Then look at your service and say, how do I deliver quality? But I really want to work with this group of women business owners. How do I help them?
Linda Hunt:So maybe it's a scaled down version. Maybe it's a DIY program. Maybe it's something that's different. So it's just stepping back and maybe it's a group call. Maybe it's a DIY training and a group call.
Linda Hunt:I don't know. I don't know who the answer, but there are different ways to do it. But just center in, start with what do we want to call it? Your Your biggest and best plan, right? Like here's everything from A to Z.
Adrienne Garland:Your vivid vision.
Linda Hunt:Yes. I love that. Here's my service. And then you can pull out of the critical pieces that allow you to deliver quality service. You can create offerings from that.
Adrienne Garland:Hey everyone. For years I've been working with Dr. Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work. What do I mean by that?
Adrienne Garland:Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that. He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes. Dr, Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women. I am all about that, and you all know that.
Adrienne Garland:But in this case, I think Dr. Kent is an exception. He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery Program. So he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Dr. Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month.
Adrienne Garland:He also has a three month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speaking, and your signature story as a thought leader. I've known Dr. Kent for a long time. So believe me when I say that he has a ton of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So if you're interested in talking to him, you can go directly to talktokent.com, or you can send me a DM on Instagram at She Leads Media, or just shoot me an email over at hello@SheLeadsMedia.com.
Adrienne Garland:I love that. And it's, I think that it all goes back to how we are trained because we have this, you know, we layer in emotion into business, which is a good thing, but it can be a negative thing. So we, as people pleaser service providers, we wanna make the customer happy. And, you know, you hear messaging. The customer is always right.
Adrienne Garland:You know, if you service the customer and and do it, they'll be a customer for life. So there's there's a balance that has to be struck there. I do think that we get a little too far off and we go overboard. We over deliver. And Yes.
Adrienne Garland:Some and sometimes that that works to our advantage, but oftentimes it leaves us bitter because we are not getting paid our our value. And like you said, you know, you started to believe that you are a and there's nothing wrong with being a bookkeeper. No. To believe that you were just a bookkeeper when you had so much more to offer. I think so many people listening in can relate to that.
Linda Hunt:Yes. And the key there was I was offering more. And you just spoke to that so eloquently. Again, Adrienne, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but it's about going back to our services. If we have structure around our service delivery, we will not over deliver because the process will support us.
Linda Hunt:Right. You will be able to identify the scope creep. You will be able to identify when something's not included and then having the language to go back. Right. So I talk about this in my book, The Money Conversation.
Linda Hunt:Yeah. You will be able to go back and say to the client, we would love to be able to help you with that. And here's the fee associated. Now is every single thing you're going to go back and charge? Absolutely not.
Linda Hunt:There might be something that is easy and especially in our accounting services, build in, I know clients are going to ask for an analysis of, I don't know, say travel or mileage or whatever it is. We build it into that's part of our quality service. It's easy, we set up the account and then we set the process up to make sure that we can produce that report by a click of a button. So that's what I'm saying, it's about structuring the process to support it, to support the business. And yes, some say, some people say to me, but Linda, I don't know how to do that.
Linda Hunt:And I'm like, you know your business. I know how to think and structure. Let's meld our minds together.
Adrienne Garland:Let's come
Linda Hunt:up with a process.
Adrienne Garland:There you go.
Linda Hunt:Yes. My favorite. That's my favorite.
Adrienne Garland:I love this. I I also think that one of the messages that I'm hearing in between all of this too is, like, when it comes to pricing. And and pricing, we know, is an art and a science, and it's really what the value that the your customer perceives is the price that they'll pay. But I think that, you know, as you're sort of transitioning through, you you maybe start out as solopreneur. Maybe you have a virtual assistant or an assistant from the get go, which is great.
Adrienne Garland:I want to just kind of ask you, we know that if you take a look at, like, how much you need to to live and operate your business and maybe with one other person, that that's not enough. It's never enough. How so how does one think about how to price their services so that it's not wildly, you know, different than the market, but also that it can it there there's room and space, like you were saying before, to hold the ability to hire more people to help you so that you're not the you know, you're not in the business all the time.
Linda Hunt:Great question. That's a fantastic question. And I actually have a free diagnostic on my website. It is called the perfect pricing formula. And the reason why I call it that is because it helps you calculate your minimum aligned price.
Linda Hunt:And the minimum aligned price is the floor. What I mean by that is what you need to charge to sustain your business. And then yes, then we add some, you know, art factor, right? But this is, so what you want to do is, and the training and the download will walk you through how to do this. It is the floor.
Linda Hunt:If you're charging below that, you're actually paying your clients to work for them. But oftentimes what I find is most people are charging, they're charging what they need, but just what they need. Right. And it's not getting them to the next level. Right.
Linda Hunt:So awareness is key. So go and calculate that number. Right. And then the next step is then designing the business, right. To help you extrapolate to that next, that next session, that next level, so to speak.
Linda Hunt:So there's a, and there's a couple of ways. I mean, I work with clients all the time to do stuff like that, but I also have a pricing diagnostic coming out that, that will show you where the pricing, what to focus on, what to focus on.
Adrienne Garland:This is so important. I think as women do transition from solopreneur to bringing other people into the business and then trying to figure out, you know, how do I adjust my pricing when I've been out in the market at a certain level. How can somebody adjust that price? What does that what does that feel like from the let me just finish my question. Sorry.
Linda Hunt:Oops.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah.
Linda Hunt:Where it's going? I was like, I wanna answer.
Adrienne Garland:It's all
Adrienne Garland:good. So, as as the entrepreneur transitioning from, you know, being a solo entrepreneur into having more people in the business and their pricing is at a certain level, how do they communicate to the market not only outwardly, but also how do they sort of embrace that? Because you talk about, you know, not being stressed about things, being able to hold this. So what is that almost like two step process to increase the prices?
Linda Hunt:Yeah. So so really broad strokes though because it it is unique to everybody, but one of the things is when, so say you have a team and it depends on the kind of service that you have. You're not just pricing. So, so this is where package pricing comes into place. Right.
Linda Hunt:It's like value based packages. It's one of the things that I recommend it's, it's, We don't want to charge by the hour but you start with that. One of the core elements of any packaging is you're going to start with true capacity and you're going to start with what do you need to be charging at a minimum. So that's a component of it. And then typically, yes, you want to know what the market's doing, but I'm going to go back to how do you deliver your services?
Linda Hunt:So how are you delivering your services? Service providers there is a time element and you want to structure that to support how you deliver services. So are you in HR? Is that your? No, no.
Linda Hunt:You mentioned HR businesses before I was going to use that as an example. But basically if you're providing, so say you
Adrienne Garland:are providing
Linda Hunt:services for them and you're offering a package. So in very broad strokes how I would design something like that is let's say the offering is we're going to do a handbook. So you're going to do a handbook for someone. Well you know as an HR provider, and I'm making this up, that you can customize a handbook for someone in four to six hours. So you're going to develop your package based on an hourly rate for four to six hours.
Linda Hunt:And then you're going to add a factor on top of that, which then adds the intrinsic value. And here's the thing, It may take you four to six hours, but it might take someone else ten to twelve because you have the expertise. So let's just say those four to six hours that you charge for simplicity's sake, 600 an hour. So it's $600 I would then maybe, as simple rule of thumb, one and a half times, two and a half times. And then that is the cost for the, or the price for a, so let's just say it's $3,000 $3,000 for a handbook.
Linda Hunt:And then what you want to do is when you're going back to the client, okay, so I heard you say that the client will, you know, that they have to perceive the value, right? And the client's always right. Clients do not want to buy ours. They want to buy a transformation and they want to buy a result. So if the pain point is they really need this handbook and they need it implemented into their organization and you're solving that problem for them and then you clarify that for $3,000 you will get this handbook and the templates, or I'm going to walk through your leadership team on how to implement this for $3,000 You've just solved their pain point.
Linda Hunt:So when we talk about our pricing, we want to talk about the transformation, the result. Because I can guarantee you people will not question because they understand, they have clarity around what they're receiving and that is what they are buying. Now there's also an opportunity there that those, that leadership team might need ongoing support. So you could then say, here's level A, right? With just the initial, the basic.
Linda Hunt:And then you could say, but here's level B that includes six months of support. And then you price that. So it's thinking about it modularly.
Adrienne Garland:Yes.
Linda Hunt:Yeah. So does that answer your question?
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. So I think what I'm trying to get at here is not so much, you know, how are you pricing your services now? But as as one transitions from a, you know, like a solo Yeah.
Linda Hunt:So, okay. So you're trying to get to like, how do you get that extra cash in your business? Is that that's so that you can hire a team and expand, right? Yes. So, so there, there there's a couple of things to do, right?
Linda Hunt:It really depends on what you're bringing on. Are we coming at it from the angle of I want to bring on another person who can provide services? Yes. So when I did this in my accounting firm, I was already, you already want to price your services, you already want to create your package, right. As though someone else will be doing the work.
Linda Hunt:I, you don't
Adrienne Garland:That's key.
Linda Hunt:Yes. Yes. Yeah. So basically I created a package that included, let's say the accounting, the bookkeeping level, right. And then I included the month end close and then the package was like, you know, monthly accounting support services, whatever.
Linda Hunt:But it was always designed in a way that there was, I could delegate a piece of it. Okay. Now, and I think you're asking this question. It's like, I didn't design the package based on what I would be paying. Well, I did design the package.
Linda Hunt:Like you have to think about it. If I, If I hire someone to do this piece of it, so let's just say for simplicity sake, my monthly fee was $2,000 a month. And then in order to have a bookkeeper, right. Support me so that I could get more business, you know, bring in more business and do higher level work. So instead of $2,000 being available for me and the business, it's going to be 1,500.
Linda Hunt:Right? And then let's just say after that $500 goes towards business expenses and then I have a thousand dollars to pay myself. You kind of have to look at your packages and how you're pricing them as to currently pricing them as to what, where the money gets allocated in percentages. Right? Like, so let's just say 50 per, let's just say 40% of it's going to go to labor for hiring somebody.
Linda Hunt:Let's just say, you know, 30% goes to covering expenses. 30% goes to maybe, you know, a growth fund. And then the rest of that goes to say paying yourself. So then it becomes a numbers game. How many clients, like if I do this right now and I hire somebody, what am I gonna, where, how much money do I have?
Linda Hunt:How many more new clients do I need to bring in? So then it becomes the chicken before the, cart before the horse, the horse before the cart. Some people will go ahead and just hire and then get the business. Right. Other people will want to get the business and then they're working all the time and then they bring somebody on.
Linda Hunt:I prefer the first because you need to have the time to train that person and get them on board so that they're able to operate effectively. They're able to operate effectively and you're not holding their hand. So I would say to you that it is a planning thing but you also can start to line up two or three clients. How I used to do it is I would hire part time. I would hire part time and then I would have two new clients.
Linda Hunt:I would try to have two new clients coming in when I hired that person. And then that person would start on the two new clients. And then as that person, as I had confidence in that person and they grew in their role, I then delegated more and then the flow started to work, if that makes sense.
Adrienne Garland:It does. And I think that that what you're talking about now, really pricing your services from the get go as if you have a team is the move. And I think that's maybe where sometimes women go awry is that they launch the business by themselves, maybe hiring a virtual assistant and not thinking in a team way, it's because we are you know, we're we're conditioned to find the coupons, save the money, you know, bootstrap.
Linda Hunt:Yes.
Adrienne Garland:And Yes. You can bootstrap with other employees. I And think that's the difference maker sometimes between the the way that men start businesses and the way that women start businesses. Men just automatically assume that they are gonna be a growing business, and they they staff up, and then they they almost price accordingly because they have to.
Linda Hunt:They have to.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. And it's it's actually a great way to think. It's just that we are super cautious, and we don't want to fail. So we keep ourselves small, unfortunately.
Linda Hunt:Yes. Yes. But the min so again, that minimum aligned pricing, that perfect pricing formula, that formula is so simple, but it that formula will allow you to add team members. Right? Because there's the personal component and then there's the business expense component.
Linda Hunt:So there's the personal desired salary, the business expenses. Because I go back to that formula every time I'm going to up level. Say I'm going to add something new. There's two ways to add people on, but if I'm adding on a new, say, offering, something that's different, I'm going to go back to that minimum line price and I'm going say, Okay, I need to expand my team because I don't know, I need a pricing coach. That's what I need.
Linda Hunt:So I would go back to my minimum line price, add that into my business expenses. And then it's like, oh, okay. So across the board, this is what our new package rate's gonna be, or this is our new minimum aligned price. So that's the so you get a new floor. So that formula grows with you if you just have to think about it.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. I love that. So I I think that this is something that all of us need to do is go to the the perfect pricing formula and calculator on your website and get the book and and read the book. So how can people get in touch with you?
Linda Hunt:Sure. So so if you're interested in the book, the money conversation, you can go to the moneymoneycom moneyconversation.net. If you're interested in the perfect pricing formula, visit me at my website, Sum Solutions, sumsolutions.com.
Adrienne Garland:Amazing. And we will put all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us here today and for helping us know that we're probably pricing ourselves a little bit too low. So let this conversation spur you to at least calculate what your floor is and raise your prices. Ladies, thank you so much for spending time with us here on the She Leads Podcast, Linda.
Linda Hunt:Thank you. I enjoyed the great conversation. Thank you.
Adrienne Garland:If this conversation moved you, inspired you, or made you think differently, please take a moment to leave a five star rating and review. It's not just about boosting the show. It's about amplifying the voices of women entrepreneurs who are leading with vision, building with purpose, and shaping what's next. We need more of these conversations in the world right now, don't you think? And if someone came to mind while you were listening, someone who matters to you, send this episode to them.
Adrienne Garland:If there's something on your mind about leadership, legacy, or what's next, I want to hear it. Head to sheleadsmedia.com backslash voice and leave a voice memo or note. Your insight might just help shape a future episode. Make sure to follow the show and come back next week for more conversations you won't hear anywhere else. Thank you so much for listening.