Ep. 38: 7 Mistakes I Made on the Road to Side Hustle Success – Idea Validation

Shannon Mattern is a pricing expert and creator of The Package Matrix™ Method that helps freelancers, fractional execs, consultants, agencies and service providers stop undercharging, overdelivering and overworking by using pricing, proposal and sales strategies backed by behavioral economics and sales psychology.

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[/et_pb_audio][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″]Yesterday, I shared with you that the second biggest mistake I made was going it alone for too long and not joining a mastermind group to support my business journey. You can listen to that episode here.

Today, I’m sharing the third biggest mistake I made, which is not validating my idea and creating a product that my audience wasn’t ready for.

I started with a free 5-Day Website Challenge that teaches how to build a WordPress site from scratch to grow an email list. Then I built a course called WP*OMG – Operation Marketing Genius which teaches how to build an online course or membership site and how to create all the marketing sequences to automate getting people into the course.

Sounds like a logical next step, right? WRONG. I miscalculated. It launched to crickets. People need more help after they build their first site. There was too big of a gap between where my people are RIGHT NOW vs. where they will be when they need to create an online course or membership site or sell something.

They need to hone their services, develop their brand, and grow their list. They weren’t ready for OMG – even though they said they wanted it. I went too far past where they were.

So if you want to make sure that you don’t make the same mistake, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Pat Flynn’s book, Will It Fly. Just go to www.shannonmattern.com/willitfly and you can buy it on Amazon.

It will walk you through all the steps of idea validation so that you don’t launch to crickets like I did.

In fact, I’m reading the book right now and walking through the exercises to re-validate a few of my offerings based on where I’m at in my business right now and decide whether to keep them, revise them or let them go.

Tomorrow, I’m going to share the 4th biggest mistake I made on the way to side hustle success, not sleeping enough.


Today’s pep talk is brought to you by Bluehost. Go to www.shannonmattern.com/bluehost and get 36 months of web hosting for just $2.95 a month. That’s less than one trip to Starbucks a month – and if you’re anything like me, you’re at Starbucks more than that!

Then you can sign up for my Free 5 Day Website Challenge at www.shannonmattern.com/5day and I’ll show you step by step how to get started building your new website for your side hustle.
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Pricing, Proposal & Sales Strategy For Freelancers, Fractional Execs & Consultants

ANCHOR HIGH™ PODCAST

Pricing Strategy for Service Providers & Consultants

If you sell your expertise and hands-on implementation, deliver solid work and have happy clients – but you’re maxed out and feel like you’ve hit an income ceiling, this show is for you.

Each short episode breaks down how pricing psychology and proposal strategy influence prospects’ decision-making and helps you rethink everything you thought you knew about how much you can really charge for your services and expertise.

THE PACKAGE MATRIX™ METHOD

The Package Matrix™ Method is a pricing framework built on behavioral economics, sales psychology and a decade of results. It strategically designs a value-based decision for your clients, so you stop pricing based on what you think they can afford and start pricing based on the value they can create by working with you.

How It Works ⟶

ANCHOR HIGH™ CERTIFICATION

If you’re a business coach or consultant who’s an expert at helping your clients grow their businesses and reach their goals – but you don’t have a strategic pricing and sales framework to help your clients confidently close more proposals at higher prices (without working harder), our Anchor High™ Certification program might just be the missing piece of your coaching methodology.

Learn More Here ⟶

ABOUT SHANNON MATTERN

Shannon Mattern is a pricing expert who helps Freelancers, Fractional Execs, Consultants and Creative & Professional Service Providers stop undercharging, overdelivering and overworking by using pricing, proposal and sales strategies backed by behavioral economics and sales psychology.

She helps other business coaches and consultants integrate her pricing and sales methodologies into their coaching, group programs and consultancies so they can help their clients make more without burning out. 

She’s also the founder of Web Designer Academy, where she has spent a decade helping women web designers move from undercharging to premium pricing, and where she developed the offer framework now used by service providers across industries.

Topics

90 DAY REVENUE ROADMAP

Increase your income without rebranding, niching down or adding more services or skills.

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