How to Become an Intentional Entrepreneur For all the beauty of happy accidents, any artist will tell you that being intentional is a requirement for creative success. And what is self-employment if not making your life into a work of art? Watch your inbox for information about the upcoming teleseminar, Intentional Entrepreneuring, 101. Based on the three essential instructions in The Way of the Accidental Entrepreneur, the 18 participants in this three-month course will complete a plan of action for growing a just-right business. It's like spending a year in business school, only better, because you'll be with like-minded folks who are ready to walk their talk. The Way of the Accidental Entrepreneur and the related bonuses are required texts for this course. If you don't have your copy yet, you can order here. There are only about 60 copies left in the first printing, so don't delay! Paying It Forward You may not have realized it, but as a reader of this e-zine you are making a real difference in the lives of adolescent girls through contributions to Childreach, a program of PlanUSA. We started sponsoring a child in 2003, using a percentage of sales made through this e-zine. Soon we were so excited that we scrapped the percentage program and decided to sponsor two children regardless of how much or little we earned. Click here if you'd like to learn more about Childreach. And please forward this ezine to the accidental entrepreneurs in your life. Let's make business an overwhelm free zone. All I ask is that you forward the newsletter in its entirety and/or that you include the following paragraph and copyright line with live link if you reprint the article. This article originally appeared in the Authentic Promotion e-zine and is reprinted with permission from the author. Molly Gordon is president of Shaboom Inc., a coaching and training company that delivers hope, help, and hilarity to Accidental Entrepreneurs so that they can build a business that fits just-right. For more information, visit http://www.shaboominc.com. Copyright 2008, Shaboom Inc. All rights reserved.

Is your pricing strategy a stealth bomber?

Sometimes it pays to stay off the radar.

Certainly the United States Air Force thinks so. In the 1980s alone, the USAF invested some 23 billion dollars in the stealth bomber, an aircraft designed specifically to stay off enemy radar.

That makes sense in espionage or warfare. But as a self-employed professional, it's all about getting on your just-right clients' and customers' radar.

But how do you get there? And more importantly, are your prices keeping you off?

Are you flying below the radar of your just-right clients?
The surprising truth is that worrying about how much to charge keeps many accidental entrepreneurs flying below the radar of the very people they want to reach.

It starts out honorably enough. We want to avoid mistakes and unfairness, so we get preoccupied with the concern that our prices might offend or exclude anyone. And heaven forfend that anyone should think we were not worth what we charge.

And that preventive approach is precisely what keeps us off our customers' radar.

The remedy is to base your prices firmly in the problems you solve.

What do problems have to do with pricing?
You don't need to be a mind reader to know that a prospective customer has a lot more on her mind than whether or not to buy something from you. While you're worrying about whether your price is too high or too low, she's thinking about her daughter's D in History.

Your price isn't even on her radar.

You can try to compete for her attention, or you can join forces with one of the many things on her mind by speaking to a problem.

Speaking to problems gets you on the radar.
When you speak to your customer's problem, your work shows up on her radar. Let's look at a few examples of how three different professionals in three different fields can speak to that D in History that is troubling your customer.

A Parenting Coach
Is your child falling behind in school because you don't understand the adolescent brain?

A Massage Therapist
Is parenting driving you to distraction?

A Financial Planner
Even Einstein wasn't an Einstein in high school.

Some blips are more interesting than others.
Speaking to a problem gets you on the radar screen, but who has time to investigate every blip? To keep your customer's attention, you need to offer a solution.

Let's revisit our examples.

A Parenting Coach
Is your child falling behind in school because you don't understand the adolescent brain? Learn the six keys to motivating your teenager and watch their grade point rise.

A Massage Therapist
Is parenting driving you to distraction? You'll feel better and be a better parent when you take some time for yourself. Evening and weekend appointments available.

A Financial Planner
Even Einstein wasn't an Einstein in high school.

So maybe your child isn't scholarship material. That doesn't mean you should give up on his academic future. Start planning now for college tuition.

Until you've moved your customer to the investigation stage by offering an appealing solution, your price is irrelevant.

Only after your customer has decided that they want what you have to offer is price a consideration.

When problems don't count
There is one situation in which problem solving is not relevant to pricing, and that's when a customer is shopping for the lowest price. In this situation, she's not interested in comparing solutions except on the basis of cost.

If you're in business to deliver a commodity at the lowest price, you're probably reading the wrong ezine. ;-)

Three essentials of pricing that won't knock you off the radar
By now, I hope you are convinced of the importance of focusing on your customers' problems before you focus on prices. Still, there needs to be a connection between the problem and the price.

This section spells out how you make that connection.

Find out what your customers are worried about
When you are passionate about what you do, it is easy to lose sight of the other part of the equation: what brings people to your door.

If you're a parenting coach who is passionate about how non-violent communication transforms family dynamics, you probably aren't terribly excited about plumbing the depths of dysfunction.

But that's exactly what you need to do. Find out what the people you intend to serve are struggling with from their point of view. Rein in your enthusiasm for solutions until you are crystal clear about the problems they solve.

Sometimes you can learn this by asking your prospective clients. Often you will have to observe them, because not everyone wants to declare their troubles to the world.

Market to your customer's concerns, not your mom's approval.
Your mother is proud of your Boy Scout merit badges, not to mention that degree in psychology. But your customer just wants someone to get her teenager through high school.

Deliver the goods.
When you base your prices on the value of solving a problem, you'd better be able to solve it. That means not just offering a guarantee, but also being impeccable about how you attract customers. It's not likely that just anybody is going to reap full benefits from what you do, so don't market to just anybody.

Uh, what about pricing?
So when am I going to tell you how to price your work?

I just did.

Price your work so that you earn enough to deliver the goods. That means really thinking through what it takes for a customer or client to use and benefit from their investment.

It truly is all connected. The price you charge is not just a number, it's an integral part of the promises you make, the problems you solve, and your ability to deliver good work consistently.

Use the problem-solution-deliver approach to pricing and you can stop worrying about whether your prices are too high or too low.

And the beauty part?

You'll show up on that all-important radar.

Talk Back: I love to hear from you, and I read every email personally, even when I can't reply to all of them. Send your thoughts to letters@authenticpromotion.com. And if you prefer not to be quoted in a future article, just let me know.

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U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Molly Gordon, MCC. Copyright (c) Shaboom Inc.(r) 2008. All rights reserved. Visit our extensive archives at www.mollygordon.com .

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