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The Value of Writing for Others with Kimanzi Constable

The Value of Writing for Others with Kimanzi Constable – 060

September 1, 2015 by Kirk Bowman Leave a Comment

Kimanzi Constable has gone from delivering bread to becoming a full-time writer. He writes for cool places like The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fox News. He has self-published over 100,000 copies of his books including, Are You Living or Existing? If you follow him on social media, you know he is a huge Taylor Swift fan.

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From Delivery Driver to Author

  • What is the most important thing you can share about pricing?
    • Make sure you charge enough.
    • His first business was covering vacation routes for independent bread distributors.
      • He delivered bread for Sara Lee and every day he saw a person who was not in uniform.
      • The distributor explained the business and that he could never take vacations.
      • The distributor helped Kimanzi get started before he quit Sara Lee.
    • He was charging a ridiculously low rate ($20/hour).
      • One of the drivers pulled him aside and told him he was not charging enough.
      • He said that Kimanzi had to charge at least $250/hour if he was going to be self-employed.
    • He found a way to create value for the regular drivers.
    • As soon as he had done a few routes, his calendar filled up for the year in a matter of days.
    • He had no expenses because he used the equipment of other drivers.
    • He paid attention to a conversation and started a business because he heard a need.
  • What have you learned about perceiving and filling a need?
    • The luck of being in the right place at the right time with your eyes open led to success.
    • If he were trying to manufacture that situation, he would look and listen to what people say they need.
    • After 12 years, his mentor was muscled out of his distributorship.
    • The company could force them to do whatever it wanted.
    • In 2011, he did not think he would have a business much longer, so he started journaling as a way to vent.
    • After a summer of writing, he realized he had a lot of good stuff.
    • Even though he had not thought of publishing, he heard of Amanda Hawking‘s success and decided to create an ebook.
  • What are some takeaways you have learned about pricing?
    • Depending on how you price, you are going to attract certain kind of customer.
    • If you try to price low, you tend to attract people who are needier, more clingy and more demanding.
    • When you raise the price, you attract a person who understands the value and considers it more of an investment.

Being Selective About Your Customers

  • Amy Robles: What criteria do you use to select your customers?
    • He will not work with just anyone.
    • He wants to work with a firestarter.
    • Some previous customers would drag him down, but he worked for them simply because he needed the income.
    • Once he created a foundation, he decided to work with people who have tried 5-7 things without success, but are still trying.
    • If he can give them guidance, he can get them to do incredible things.
    • He does not work with people who nickel and dime or who ask a bunch of questions.
    • Michael Port describes the Red Velvet Rope Policy in Book Yourself Solid.
    • Before he gets on the initial phone call, he researches the person to see what they have been doing.
    • He asks questions about what he finds to see if they come up with excuses.
  • How do you balance the tension between income and being selective?
    • If you are starting out, you should have a solid foundation of income–a day job or other business–so you do no have to take customers with whom you do not want to work.
    • If you do not have that solid foundation, know what you should expect.
    • You should still do your best to filter, whether it is your research or a questionnaire.
    • Do not work with people who do not pay you, pay you late or give you a lot of hassle, as they can derail you.
    • You can be more selective if you have a solid financial base first.
    • It is smart to establish an emergency fund Do not turn your dream into a nightmare.

The Value of Your Knowledge

  • What do you think of the current state of online business?
    • There is a lot of stuff designed to upsell to something more expensive.
    • One of his customers joined a $12K program that offered some basic stuff, and then upsold to a $30K program.
    • Another customer was told to use Fiverr for jobs and contract out at a higher price.
    • He writes about how these consultants and courses are a waste of money.
    • If you just stop doing the busy work and focus on building and creating value for the audience, your progress will be much better than spending thousands of dollars on “solutions.”
  • How do you determine the price for a course, coaching or speaking?
    • For coaching, he has four price points based on the number of sessions.
    • Books prices are set by the publisher.
    • When he was self-published, he wanted to a price of at least at $5.
    • He considers his courses as a funnel.
    • When the first course is complete, there is an upsell to The Transition Club.
    • Then there is an upsell to one-on-one coaching.
    • Amanda Hawking always wanted to price books where they were not too low or too high. $5 could be found in your jeans pocket.
    • He tested pricing and found $5 was the sweet spot.
    • In 2013, the publisher took over, and the books are now $9 for the ebook and $15 for the paperback.
    • Disney is an example of lowering the price and increasing profit.
  • How can you be intentional about creating value for a customer?
    • He prices based on value, not an hourly rate.
    • He taught a course about ways to successfully self-publish your book for $97.
    • His students were going to teach similar courses at four times the price.
    • There were a couple of speeches where he was just happy to get paid and took less than he could have.
    • This year, he started pricing based on how much value he would give the audience at a specific conference.
    • To price a speaking engagement, he looks at:
      • Type of conference
      • How big it is
      • Who the sponsors are
      • What topic they want him to talk about
      • Location of the conference (US or International)
    • Alan Weiss talks about the “funnel” idea in his video, The Accelerant Curve.
    • Be intentional about creating value for your customers by putting yourself in their shoes.
      • Ask what would have helped you the most.
      • Ask what they could consume to get the desired results.
      • Ask how can you do it without the fluff.
    • Something practical, simple and actionable is what he tries to create for his customers.
    • He asks for feedback through his mastermind meetings.
    • Simple is hard.
  • Jody Maberry: How do you create options for different market segments?
    • It comes down to research:
      • Talk to people in different segments
      • See what other people in the segment were doing
    • How much time do you get directly with the consultant?
    • If you want more one-on-one time, it will be a higher tier (price).
    • If you just want the information, the price point will be lower.
    • Charge more money for access to the person, his knowledge and experience.
    • Access can be used to segment.

Writing for Different Online Mediums

  • What is the value of writing for social media, blog posts or a book?
    • Social Media
      • The posts are valuable lead generators.
      • A business-related post should make people want to click to find out more.
      • He uses Twitter to connect with people.
      • Facebook and Instagram are where he adds value and makes people want to click to learn more.
    • Blog Posts
      • These posts are your conversion message.
      • It is a place where you can prove that you will add value.
      • Your blog should offer more value than any other place.
      • It is the place to get people to know, like and trust you.
      • You can showcase your value and talk to your audience.
    • News Articles
      • Articles are a place where you can try to get potential customers to click to your blog.
      • The how-to can be supplied on your blog.
      • They hire you when they get to the implementation stage.
      • Be intentional about the value to the reader as well as to yourself.
    • Books
      • Books are where you get in-depth.
      • You are not limited by the number of words.
      • The audience is different from the people who read the articles.
      • You can take a person through a journey, and provide a lot of value.
  • Joe Rodriguez: How do you gauge the value you create?
    • Even before he started all of these things, the value was either his life experience or research.
    • For his first book, he wrote about what he understood very clearly.
    • When he started coaching, he had already gone through it.
    • He knew the value was there because he had been there.
    • Life experience should be priced accordingly.
    • Without life experience, if you were very passionate about it, you can research to find out everything you can.
  • What is one of your best stories about creating value for a customer?
    • One person had a website that was completely different from what he wanted to do in his heart.
      • After his first session, he got clarity about what he wanted to do and wrote a book.
      • The book is called, Flip, and Kimanzi helped him price it higher than Amazon suggested.
    • Abby Unger was a flight attendant, but she could not fly anymore.
      • She opened a business teaching others how to become flight attendants.
      • She more than tripled her prices for the life-changing course and is busier than ever.

About Kimanzi Constable

  • Website: KimanziConstable.com
  • Twitter: @KimanziC

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