Learning to Earn a Living

Service & Livelihood as an Entrepreneur

Learning to earn a living as an entrepreneur is not as easy as it sounds. Some people think all entrepreneurs are good at attracting money. Not the case. Some entrepreneurs are just creative folks with great business ideas. This is such an important topic I spend a whole session on it in my Mentored for Momentum Course for professional organizers. This past weekend, I was reminded myself of the importance of earning a living.

Service & Marketing

Modern marketing teaches us about speaking to the pain points of our ideal client. What is the transformation your ideal client seeks that your service or product can provide? To make marketing feel not so icky, not quite so “I hate to promote myself” kind of feeling, today’s marketing gurus teach us to speak directly to our client. Focus on the transformation your service can provide and not on selling.

That sure sounded good to me and that direction has had an impact on the way I market. I was bitten hook, line and sinker many years ago when first introduced to the “provide service and the money will come” concept. At the time I was already a seasoned entrepreneur and struggling to market my business in way that didn’t feel like I was always trying to sell something. I felt like I was. So I switched up my strategy and started to focus on resolving my clients’ head ache and heart ache. The head ache is what makes them angry and frustrated.  The heart ache was what made them sad.

The Need to Earn a Living

Even teachers can need a lesson reminder from time to time. This past weekend my lesson was “even the most creative and service oriented amongst us still need to earn a living”. It came from one of my favourite YouTube influencer couples Boho Beautiful.  This is a couple who filled up their YouTube channel with hundreds of free logo classed and guided meditations. I followed them for years from their free material before it occurred to me to buy a program or their membership.  In addition to their YouTube free content, they fundraise for animal shelters when on the road with their business and provided support to ailing dogs while travelling in Nepal.

In their June 2023 monthly member checkin, Mark Spicoluk asked the question “Why do we do all this?” His answer was “to provide service and support the family”. Hmmm, support the family.  That’s right; even the super successful, millions of follower types on YouTube still have to remember at the end of the day, they have to earn a living.

The Balance

As with so much in life, balance is necessary. Modern marketing is about providing service. We are looking for the know, like and trust factor that we can resolve the headache and heartache of our ideal clients. AND it is about earning a living and supporting ourselves and our families. It’s good to be reminded to provide service and focus on the transformation our clients need. There is  also nothing wrong with making money while we are at it.  “The last time I checked, we all pay the same price for milk” is one of my favourite expressions with my mentoring students.

So, if you are an up and coming entrepreneur, focus on providing great service. And, remember, it ok to earn a living.

If you are one of my idea clients, you ought to expect to receive great service from us entrepreneurs.