Is success scary? Am I afraid I’ll have zero impact? Am I a fake? How can I explore everything I’m interested in? How can I best share my gifts without going against my ideologies or values, which are something akin to, “We all do better when we all do better.”

Small Price Tags Can Equal Big Success

There’s this big thing I’m seeing that a lot of people are missing. While everyone else wants to raise their prices and be ultra-lux-exclusive and high-end, I’m looking more toward micro-price tags and micro-content with maximum value and impact. Think Allie Bjerk and Kim Garst-styled businesses. My friend Rachel Chamness also has a really affordable membership and reasonable session prices.

Instead of only offering one big, overwhelming, and challengingly expensive offer, I want to go to a cut-down, to the point, and affordable model for many different products and services I provide.

I don’t think that interest or motivation are only based on price tags. I’m kind of tired of hearing that they are. So many people are hungry for the info but don’t have thousands to invest at the moment. They don’t want to take out a loan or max out their credit cards. Or maybe they can’t because their credit cards are already maxed out. They don’t need another program at all and they certainly don’t need someone trying to convince them to fork over upwards of $10K in some cases. I don’t want a hard sell; I want a no-brainer. I don’t want to take food off of anyone’s table and I don’t want to be the cause of someone else’s financial hardships.

But that doesn’t mean I have to give it away for free; it means that I can attach a reasonable price-tag and serve many and not only a few. But—and there is a but here—the small price tag is for the one-to-many model. It’s not for one-to-one.

via GIPHY

McDonald’s As A Part Good/Part Bad Example

There are people quietly using this model all over the place. I mean, look at McDonald’s. While I wouldn’t consider McDo’s values or ethics to be the greatest, they are cheap and popular and they do listen to their customers’ requests. For example, they’ve added healthier options, as well as more trendy requests like Paleo burgers and vegetarian options. Affordably.

Anyway, MacDo isn’t the exact example that I’d like to replicate; I’m just using it to prove a point. They’re some pretty rich mo-fos and their ethics are in the toilet about some things, wouldn’t you say?

While there are some things that are 100% worth the extra cash—business class airfare from Europe to the US, for example—sometimes you just have to fly economy. You still get to the same place in the same jet, you just don’t get the extra service, which is nice but unnecessary in the end. (My hubby’s a pilot. We get really good deals sometimes. And why did I feel like I needed to explain myself?)

Incidentally, me feeling like I had to explain myself about flying business class is a big part of the conundrum. You see, we all want to be bloody filthy stinking rich. We want to bathe in cash and throw it around like rock stars. We want to be rock stars.

BUT if anyone else makes it big time, then the general public all of a sudden wants all that person’s gifts for free, or so it seems. Let someone else pay that person their money. I’m only the little guy, so I can’t afford it. is the mantra I hear. And, Why does he want my money? Doesn’t he have enough anyway? Can’t I have his stuff for free?

Um. No. You can’t have it for free. That person also deserves to make money. Of course, that person should do so consciously and with an eye on ethical interaction with the market place and society.

OK. I’ve gone off on a tangent and I want to back it up a bit.

Here’s the deal: If you prefer to model your business off of a lower end pricing structure or even accept donations for your work, that’s your choice. You, yourself, have to stick to your ideas about money, earning, and value.

You can still go after $10K months and 6-figure launches—you’ll just have to have a bigger fan-base. Work toward attracting your ideal audience either way.

How The Grateful Dead Is A Good Example

I love the example Seth Godin used in his book, This Is Marketing: The Grateful Dead. When the Grateful Dead toured, they encouraged their fans to record the concerts and share their music with their friends. They mostly made their money off of concert tickets, merch, and album sales. Now, if you know anything about the global sensation the Grateful Dead is and how loyal their fans are, you’d see how that model can work wonders for a business.

This is what Forbes had to say about the Grateful Dead:

Though I doubt they have ever thought of it this way, the Grateful Dead just provided one of the best examples of how to make an enormous amount of money off a very valuable brand while providing an authentic experience, all the while never forgetting who they really are and what they stand for. Thinking back, I’ve been to plenty of concerts and other events whose organizers could learn a thing or two from how they Dead pulled this event off so flawlessly.

For many of us, THIS is the goal and what we work toward every single day. Providing an exceptional and authentic experience for our audiences, honoring our values, and adhering to our ideas about helping others in a conscious and ethical manner.