Fight the good fight
A very talented friend of mine is a makeup artist, and she, recently, was grumpily bemoaning people who expect her to work her priceless magic for free. And that’s understandable: she spent money on her education, on her supplies; she’s passionate about what she does…but besides the joy she gets making someone over, she’d also like to pay her rent and eat every day.
I’m self-employed and I see the same kind of people who expect me to work miracles and help them change their lives, but don’t want to pay what my services are worth. Tedious. Those people should hire certified life coaches, I suppose, since they’re clearly more interested in talking than doing.
But it’s also rather depressing, since I’d argue people like that are more interested in sabotaging their goals, than achieving them. When I want to get my makeup professionally down, I pay an artist for her time, talent and experience. If I want someone to invest time and energy in helping me achieve my dreams, I’ll find the best coach and pay her what her experience is worth. I always suspect that people who haggle are not-so-secretly pleased to be able to say, “Oh, well I would have changed my life, and become the writer I always wanted, but it’s Carlota’s fault, she’s too expensive. I tried, but oh well!” And that’s a shame.
But my other point, is for other small business owners: if you’re not getting the clients you want, instead of blaming clients–which is pointless–create in your head an image of your ideal client, and figure out how you’re going to reach him or her. Create a strategy to penetrate this market and demonstrate that your services are worth their money and interest. Because one path will cause you to drive yourself crazy with frustration and anger. The other path, will let you grow and improve your business, as you start putting your brand in front of people who realize how quality you are, and are eager to pay for access. Both ways are, of course, difficult, and frustrating and exhausting and will, at times, make you want to crawl under the covers and weep. Sorry to depress you, but them’s the facts. Yet, in the long run, one path will eventually reward you for all that blood, sweat and tears. The other, will just cause you to give up on yourself and all you could be.
It is very hard to fight the good fight to achieve your goals. Don’t delude yourself: it’s brutally hard. People who say it isn’t are liars. But the alternative is so much worse.
