Money mistakes. Running your own business gives you lots of opportunities to make them… from setting money goals to managing cash flow to pricing your products or services…
Today I want to introduce you to Tony Tiefenbach, the Income Acceleration Expert. Tony specializies in helping entrepreneurs transform their businesses and go from offering $50 products or services to creating and filling high dollar programs and trainings so they can work less, help more people, and become experts in their fields.
Tony & I met a couple of months ago at a mastermind retreat and I managed to get him to clear a bit of time on his busy schedule for a quick interview on my blog today.
Tell me a little bit about your background and what motivated you to start working with entrepreneurs.
I started selling consulting about 17 years ago in the commercial real estate industry. I nearly starved to death for almost 4 years trying to sell "real estate services". But, as soon as I stopped selling "real estate" and started showing business owners really simple and cool ways to make a lot of money and live a better lifestyle, my business exploded. Real estate was only the VEHICLE for providing that value, it wasn't what I sold. Moving on to work more exclusively with entrepreneurs was only a natural progression from this same strategy. Except now I have a LOT more tools in my tool belt, besides real estate, to help business owners prosper.
I've always been drawn to the drive and ambition of entrepreneurs. Instead of being the typical job holders, they are out there blazing a trail, being unique, and creative. I repsect that mindset. I identify with the risks they are willing and eager to take. I work with entrepreneurs because I respect what they do; I identify with it. I love conscious entrepreneurs because they truly want to bring good and transformation to the world. Transforming lives is first, making money is second. But you need the money to transform more lives, so these go hand in hand.
So you focus in on one specific area of a business–fixing the money issues. What is the biggest mistake you see entrepreneurs making in their businesses?
Well, everyone tells me they want to make "more money." Well who doesn't right? But one of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is not really identifying exactly HOW MUCH money they want to
make and WHY that is important to them.. "More money" sounds good on the surface, but money for money sake has no purpose or meaning.
What does more money represent to you? What is lacking in your life that you feel more money could bring? Give money meaning.
Secondly, having a specific target amount of money makes it much easier to devise an accelerated action plan to get there!
Just saying "more money" it like saying "I'm going WEST", when a travel agent asks you where you want to go on vacation. West could be your neighbors house, a nearby town, California, Japan?
The problem is you don't know whether you need to walk, ride a bike, take your car, hop a flight… Each of those destinations would take a different strategy and plan to get there most effectively.
In reality a lot of entrepreneurs I meet are trying to walk or ride a bike when they have a jet parked in the back yard. I love teaching people how to fly the jet!
If you could share one tip with my readers that they could put their profits into overdrive what would that be?
This is an easy. There are only two ways to quickly accelerate your cash flow…. leveraging partners and leveraging your pricing.
These two strategies go hand in hand as far a payoff goes. It is much easier to find one partner who can introduce you to thousands of prospects, than it is for you to take the time, money and energy to connect directly to those same thousands of prospects.
Same is true in for leveraging your prices and charging more for your services. Selling on $5000 or $10000 program, believe it or not, is much easier than selling hundreds and thousands of lower priced products.
The real magic happens when you COMBINE strategic partners with leveraged pricing strategies.
Thanks, Tony, for taking time to "chat" with me today on the blog!
Want to learn more about how you can charge what you're worth and confidently claim your value in a crowded marketplace?
Join Tony & me for a free teleseminar tomorrow, April 10th at 4pm Eastern (3pm CST, 2pm MST, 1pm PST). A replay will be available after the call so don't worry if the time doesn't work for you.
Just sign up and we'll send the details for the live call and the replay. https://michelleshaeffer.com/transformwithtony/
Some great tips Tony, quite awhile ago I was asked what my main goal was and funnily enough I responded ‘to make more money’ and the guy I was talking to smirked and said “your going to need a better goal than that” He asked me exactly how much I wanted to make and how I was going to make it, he then told me to right it down and keep it with me at all times. 4 months later… everytime I get up in the morning I look at that bit of paper knowing that I will achieve it. Can’t wait for the webinar.
– Jamie
Yes, I agree the subconscious mind needs some specifics. My client has been using this affirmation “I am financially free” for the past three years. She got it from a guru. There is nothing wrong with the affirmation except she created the reality that was familiar to her subconscious … a repeat of her past financial freedom. She came to me because things were not going exactly as she planned … she made money and was in the flow and then her clients stopped paying her. When she told me the affirmation, I asked her – what does financial freedom mean to you? What does it feel like? What does it taste like and how much disposable income, savings and investment do you need to have for your financial freedom? We are off to a good start.