It is difficult to determine when our intuition is guiding us to make a business decision, or if we’re acting out of desperation.
Let us say, you do not want to make any hasty moves.
While there is a chance that you’ll get some kind of reward, that is more than likely not the case.
Sure, you do want to be quick when making choices and not take too long.
That’s another blog for another post.
You do want to at least ensure you’ve got some logistics in order.
What kind?
Have you tested the new service or product you’re offering?
How do you know if it’s something you will want to keep up with indefinitely?
Sometimes when we’re hard up for cash we think about offering something new to our existing clients and new ones here on out, usually something “easy”.
For instance, if your goal is to provide seo for homecare clients, you may think that offering a social media management service is easy and going to make everyone win.
Your client’s goal is to get more leads, in most cases (unless they really want to hire more staff members – like caregivers in this example).
If they want leads, is social media the best way to get there, especially if you work in seo?
If they want to hire more people, then sure, maybe posting hiring ads is a nice service.
But do you really want to spend time creating graphics after graphics?
Even if you hire, can you afford the expense?
What you can do is try it out for three months pro-bono with your top three clients and see if (1) it works, and (2) you see yourself keeping it up.
If you’re bored or miserable and already leading to burnout, then you need to change things up.
How much are you going to charge?
In an act of desperation, we tend to shoot high and think the number will save our bottoms from going under.
Not so fast.
Think $10,000 a month is a lot?
Could be, but it may not be.
What you need to do first is grab ahold of your finances right now.
If your income is low, you may not be managing it well enough and could risk losing any additional income.
For many people in business that score big and get high-paying clients, they tend to see bright lights and start investing in software, hiring new positions, or paying off debt.
Then a month or two down the line, money is gone because the clients left, or money is tight again because they didn’t make the same growth in income – no new clients.
It is crucial to make sure that you are charging fairly for yourself, not just for the value of the service.
Be sure to look at your current finances and see if there are spending habits you need to reassess before jumping in.
If and when everything looks well enough, you can find the sweet spot price tag that sits very well with you.
At this point, you know what service you’re going to offer and how much you’re going to charge.
You’re ready to make some decisions.
However, here we must turn back around on that part about intuition and hasty decisions.
Intuition does not tell you to do anything that causes any suffering.
If you felt like cold-emailing old clients about your brand new offer and it felt cringey or shameful afterwards, that was not from your gut.
If you felt confident and excited to work with them again, and about your new offering, then you can say that it was sent from a deep calling.
When we are desperate, we say things we don’t mean.
We panic and act out from a tense place.
We tend to ruminate on whether we made the right choice versus trusting that we’re on the right path and in control of the situation.
You may have done it.
We have.
Some kind of alarm goes off in us and we think it’s an emergency.
Do yourself the favor and process that initial emotional response before making any moves.
At least write out what could be going wrong and start seeking help from other experts.
Still, when seeking help, use your intuition.
Even that plays a role from the very beginning, not just when you take action.
You want to be steady and easy-minded before you get yourself in a deeper hole.
Be calm.
We all go through it.
And many of us get out of it.
Trust in yourself and your abilities to use this challenging opportunity to grow instead of being stagnant in the same ways.
Execute better and better every time.