Last night, I was a guest speaker on @Jill Hart's "Monetise your mission" mastermind inside her Client Acquisition for Coaches Community, and that is where I met the absolutely fabulous @Soph Newman. (I had my daugters school sports day and so I was a bit rushed and I forgot to post about the live, but I'll pop a replay up for you all soon.) We got into a great discussion about exactly this. How crucial it is to understand what every single minute of your time is actually worth. Sophie form the Good Girls Guide to Money has written a brilliant piece called Undercharging Isn't Generosity (It's Protection). If you have ever stared at a draft invoice, felt your chest tighten, and knocked £50 off the price before hitting send, you need to read her work. She hits on a massive truth that every entrepreneur needs to hear: what we love to call "generosity" is often just our anxiety buying insurance. We undercharge so nobody can accuse us of being greedy, and we disguise our people-pleasing as kindness. Sophie breaks this down into three specific traps that are quietly costing your business: - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿-𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗿 - You get paid for a one-hour session but give them two hours, a follow-up, and extra resources you stayed up until midnight creating, just to ensure they can't possibly be disappointed. - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 - You flinch and drop your own price before the client even has a split second to reply. Most of the time, they weren't even going to flinch—you discounted the price just to avoid your own uncomfortable feelings. - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝘅 - The old, broken script that making good money and doing meaningful, helpful work cannot exist in the same room. As Sophie points out, there is absolutely nothing pure or helpful about being broke. Before you drop a price or throw in an extra freebie again, Sophie recommends asking yourself a simple gut-check: "Is this generosity coming from my Soul, or from my Role?". True generosity leaves you feeling steady and gives from an overflow; "role" generosity completely empties you out just to keep you feeling safe.

There is a lot of noisy, terrible advice out there from so-called “experts.” They will tell you to guard your knowledge, lock your expertise behind an expensive paywall, and only give people a crummy, low-value “lead magnet” to get their email address, so you can send a string of automated sales letters to them. Let me tell you the honest truth: People who give you that advice are usually just doing it because they are more interested in making a quick sale than actually helping you. Giving what you do away for free could be one of the absolute best things you ever do for your business. And I don’t mean a half-baked PDF that barely has any value. 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳. I know we all have bills to pay and money to make. But if you want to build a real, sustainable business using the skills you already have, you need to understand one fundamental rule: 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆, 𝗶𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. When you chase money, it’s elusive. But when you focus purely on helping people and providing massive value straight away, people will literally queue up to pay you. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 1. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 This is a hardwired psychological trigger in all of us. When people feel like they have received a massive amount of value or taken a lot from you, they feel a deep-seated urge to give something back. We all naturally crave balance. If you genuinely help someone solve a problem without holding your hand out for cash immediately, they are going to remember you. They will want to repay that value when the time comes. 2. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 People need a chance to see what you are actually like before they commit their hard-earned cash. Giving it away for free gives people a risk-free way to find out about you, see how good you are at what you do, and start to trust you. People are also creatures of habit. Once someone has used your service for three weeks or so, it becomes so much easier for them to stay loyal to you than it is to go off and find a stranger to do the exact same thing. Napoleon Hill used this exact method to fill an entirely empty apartment block. He gave people six months rent-free, while the neighbouring block was struggling to find a single tenant. His competitors thought he’d gone mad, but once his tenants moved in and built a life there, they stayed. He achieved a 100% occupancy, whilst his competitors were still struggling years later.

I don't know if this is going to be of any value but here's what I've been reflecting in the last few days. Just before I write this, I read @Christy Sanderson's post and I wanted to add up on that. In our biggest struggle lies our greatest gift and essence. And we can turn pain into purpose. We tend to look at life as problems or challenges and yes we build skills and resilience and we push through and we cry and scream and all that 3D stuff we do, but from a spiritual perspective, perhaps all this is happening for us to unlock our gifts and talents. When I notice all the patterns and events in my life, I also notice that the people who come to work with me are all those who are going through the same thing I went through months or years ago and I know exactly how to guide them out of their dark tunnel. In my pain, the light emerges and my gift to humanity appears. Some people call it the silver lining, I like to call it "the gift". Perhaps this post is just an invitation to look at our greatest struggle right now (past or present) and see how we have a gift there, a skill, a talent that can genuinely help others.

After seeing @Elizabeth Hadzic 's post, it occurred to me that we all have some really useful FREE tools that we use on a regular basis. Given that our most valuable commodity of time is so precious and the research in finding these FREE resources takes time, Let's help our fellow members and share any free tools that you personally use below, with a simple heading like: Free PDF Tools https://www.ilovepdf.com/ Make a fillable PDF. https://www.sejda.com/pdf-editor The only criteria is it has to be fully functional and usable with no watermarks etc, or free trials. Add them in the comments below as you think of them. List as many as you like, but do check it's not been listed already to avoid duplicates. (I will remove duplicates)

Do we arrived back just after midnight last night, and our 18yr old had decided to lock us out of all four doors and was not answering his phone or the doorbell ringing... Ot me shouting up into his open bedroom window. Eventually when we do get in we are welcomed with the delightful aroma of cat deposits and a few wet patches on the carpets along with teenager dishes and empty cat food tins piled high in the sink which I clear this morning before the cleaner arrives (but then they didn't). But it's law to clean the house before the cleaner arrives apparently. This afternoon that I was just walking through the hallway whilst looking up at my son who was walking down the stairs and I didn't see where I was going and I accidentally stepped on a bundle of kittens, then mum angriiy attached herself to my leg and starting hissing and clawing me frantically... 🙀 Luckily for me, I had jeans on but one claw was stuck in the back of my leg. I felt so bad, but Yuki and her kittens are all checked over, happy and fine and manma has now forgiven me...😻 I also have an intention to prosecute for speeding on my desk to sort out amongst a load of other really not fun paperwork. And now my laptop has decided to do this, it's frozen and I have calls to make on it... 😞 I'm gonna go to work and make a wooden sign, and come back with a more positive mindset... Urgh. 😖 Mondays ..! (I usually love them!) Welcome back Adam! 😂 Hopefully your start of the week is a lot more productive than mine today, but however, your Monday is going, if yours is not going so well then maybe seeing this will make you feel a little better knowing that in other people's gardens it's not always a bed of perfect roses!