Cracking The Billable Hours Ceiling

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 by: C.J. Hayden

How many of you made as much money as you wanted to last
year? Don't be shy; raise your hands. Hmm, I don't see too many hands
out there. What would you say is the cause of this gap between your
goals and your earnings?

While you could certainly name the economy or
inadequate marketing as the culprit, I'd like to suggest a third
alternative. It may be the constraints of the billable hours model that
keep you from your financial goals.

Let's face it, there are only so many hours you can
actually bill to clients. For example, the national average for
consultants is 22 billable hours per week. You can only raise your
rates so high and still find enough customers. And if you spend more
time on marketing, that's less time you have available to bill.

But there's a way out of this trap. No matter what type
of business you're in, you can use intellectual property to crack the
billable hours ceiling. Here are just some of the ways to start tapping
into this resource today:

1. Package your process. What if every time you began
   work with a new client, they paid an up-front fee before you spent even
   one hour with them? If you sell a process rather than your time,
   clients will pay for access to your previously developed materials.
   Examples are workbooks, forms, assessments, surveys, games, self-paced
   programs, and train-the-trainer packages.
   

2. Give a class. When you assemble a group of
   people to learn together, you can earn more per hour than working with
   them separately. Classes can be given at your office, at a rented (or
   borrowed) facility, on the phone, or on the web. Your market for
   classes is not just your clients -- think about what you could teach
   your colleagues as well.
   

3. Record a tape, CD, or video. The simplest way
   to make recordings is to capture your live classes or speaking
   engagements on audio or video. Make your unedited recordings available
   immediately on the web or by phone. More polished recordings can be
   made with the help of a local studio or editor, or you can learn to do
   this yourself with the right equipment.
   

4. Write a white paper, workbook, or booklet.
   Short publications like these are easily within your reach, even if you
   don't consider yourself a writer. A simple 20-page booklet might have
   as few as 4000 words in it. If you've written four articles to promote
   your business, you've probably already written this much. These are
   perfect formats for e-books, which cost you nothing to print.
   

5. Author a book. This might seem an impossible
   task, but if you write one page a day, five days a week, at the end of
   a year you'll have a full-length book. If writing isn't your strong
   point, find an editor, ghost writer, or even a co-author who has the
   skills you lack. You don't have to wait until your book is finished to
   start selling excerpts as articles and white papers.
   

6. Market other people's products. If you don't
   yet have your own product, don't let it stop you. You can begin earning
   passive income by selling other people's books and tapes, becoming a
   re-seller for software or assessment tools, licensing someone else's
   process, or joining affiliate programs.
   

Any of these products can be marketed in conversations with
prospects and clients, in your standard marketing kit, in mailings or
newsletters, on your outgoing voice mail message, and on your web site.

If you've been counting on hourly fees for your entire
income, you may be surprised at the impact developing your intellectual
property will have. It will add not only to your revenue, but also your
professional credibility. And in poor economic times, you will find
that prospects who hesitate to pay for personal service will still
purchase classes and information products.

About the Author

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Since 1992, C.J. has been teaching business owners and salespeople to make more money with less effort. She is a Master Certified Coach and leads workshops internationally. Read more of her articles at http://www.getclientsnow.com

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