I used to be a freelancer. I know many other people who are currently freelancers who are just not happy. They do all kinds of custom jobs and spend a big chunk of their time just figuring out what somebody wants them to create. And the problem with that is that they cannot charge for those hours where they are hashing out what kind of project is going to be made. Not only that, as after the project is done, they end up putting way too much time into it and end up making a lower hourly rate than they’ve thought when they negotiate at the price. A temporary solution to this is to instead of being a freelancer, offer a service-based membership site. I’m going to explain to you in a minute what it means to have a service-based membership site, how to price it, how to package it, and why you should not continue on doing it forever.
[audio:A3-BecomingAChore.mp3]The idea behind a service-based membership site is if you are a graphic designer, you might only be charging, say, $25 for every graphic that you create, but wouldn’t it be a lot better if you offered some kind of a “logo of the month” club, where you charge people, say $25 a month, and for $25 a month, they get access to 10 different logos that they can go and change on their own.
Instead of maybe charging somebody one-off $25 one time for one logo, you are charging them access to this member’s area, and in the process, you’re building up all these logos that in the past, you only could just throw away in the trash because this other person had exclusive rights to them. So, both people win because the buyer wins, because they see, “Oh well I get 10 times as much stuff,” but you also win because you’re building a long-term business, not just working per hour.
Now if you do this, here’s what you do, package it into some kind of a monthly offer. For example, they get 5 or 10 new logos a month for each and every month. Not just one or two, not just pick and choose, but they have no choice, they have to get this big lump to get their package and then you just justify why that bigger package is worthwhile. And then the more you do it, the more you can increase your price because at first, it seems like, “Well, I used to charge $25 per logo. Now, it’s $25 for 10,” but in the future, you can bump it up to $50, plus once per month, you will customize a logo for them. And now, it’s almost a no-brainer offer because now it’s they get $5 per logo plus you customize one for them anyway. Now, you just doubled your hourly rate and you have all these other logos that you dripped out to them that is just already done. And finally, the membership site is better, the content is better because you do it once and it plays out over and over. Those pre-made logos that people can design and customize on their own, you do those once and they will play out for all future subscribers.
If you do a lot of freelancing and you’re looking towards creating your first membership site, consider making it a service-based membership site where you package up these deals and get people on a recurring income stream instead of a one-time payment. But it’s very important that you look into a way to remove yourself from the equation in the future. For example, just maybe you start off where they get the customizable logos plus the one that you make on your own, but in the future, phase yourself out and they purchase it into a membership site with only logos they have to customize on their own.
If you’re trying to make your next membership site or even just thinking about it, go right now to www.membershipcube.com to find out the easiest, best, and fastest way to create a membership site of your very own.