Blow the lid off your potential

The headline of this blog is directly borrowed from Jim Connolly.  You’ll see why I chose it shortly.

When I wandered over to Twitter, one of the first people that caught my eye, was Jim Connolly from the UK. His About You on his blog says: “Jim Connolly has worked in marketing for 23 years and had his own successful marketing business since the mid 1990’s.  Jim is known worldwide for his ability to help businesses make massively more sales and boost their profits.” But what I noticed about him on Twitter was that he was remarkably approachable and friendly. After that initial introduction, I made his blog a frequent landing place.

At one point, when I commented on his blog and talked about pricing issues I was having with getting my new Design Resumes website launched, he suggested that I read his post, How to get your fees or prices right in three steps. Pricing was such a hurdle for me. I had stayed at lower fees than the rest of the industry based on Midwest pricing. He advised researching your competitors ( I call them colleagues) and offered a free guide to do that. Then he said I should go one better.

My unique brand is that I offer the Face-to-Face model. My services page tells you, “Face-to-face appointment: Create your resume in our Central Wisconsin office. Even if you live across the country, if you want to combine your appointment with a mini-vacation, to ski at Granite Peak or visit Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, we can make it happen. Our lodging partners would love to provide you with great accommodations. As many of my colleagues, I offer a virtual experience if you want to stay in the comfort of your own home or city. Virtual resume experience: If you would like to remain in your location, Julie works virtually to create the same high quality, excellent resume and provide the same career management services. You save transportation costs and can continue your normal lifestyle. When I realized this made me unique, I had the key to my pricing strategy.

Jim’s advice continued: “Finally, you need to set a price or fee that accurately reflects an attractive proposition for your new, highly valuable service.  You achieve this by using the exact same technique used by all marketing professionals –Test, measure, test measure! This is more that I still need to digest and learn, but I know where to get the advice on how.

As I said, I have been a student of Jim Connolly’s through his blog for over a year. I can’t tell you how much I have gained from his advice – which he gives very freely to everyone. Last week, I decided to take it a step further and ask him what his Motivations Masters Class download would cost if the 5.75 GB was converted to USD. He gave me a ballpark which was incredibly reasonable. I processed through the link on his website and found the amount was $9.71 in USD, not much if you consider that I have already gained multiple life-changing and business-changing tips. I just switched from DSL to high-speed download so I just downloaded the class this morning. I listened to the first of the three parts. I took notes. I’m not going to tell you everything that’s in it, actually, I won’t know until I listen to all of it. But I can tell you that I gained valuable take-aways that will change the way I look at things. And I’m not done listening.

As Jim told his story of how he began, I was inspired. I am in the process of a major change in my life, which will radically change my business, Design Resumes, and I need support and help right now. You’ll find out soon what that change is but for now, I’m saying thank you to Jim for all the tips and strategies and support he has given me in the last year. You can count on seeing me over on his blog listening to him guide and lead those of us who want to be our best.

I’ve been my own worst enemy for years and I have decided that it is time to change that. You’ll be able to hear me talk about how in future blog posts. For now, go visit Jim!