An overseas director from Samsung’s Miami office flew to Trinidad and Tobago to thank me in person. (I’m sure she was doing some market analysis too)

Anyone else would have kept going.

But I passed…

…On contracts. One certain revenue. On success beyond what I ever  imagined.

Money 💰 is 💰 important.  I love having it.  But it doesn’t mean a better life.

Hear me out. 

7 years ago, I worked across too many different time zones: Europe, North America, Caribbean.

I worked day and night, bended every single time to a client’s will.

And I served and served as a corp comm strategist, crisis manager, PR counsel to CEOs.

But there was a cost I paid.

The Price Of Success 

1.  I  began to feel guilty for taking time off.
2. Chased the next milestone instead of enjoying today
3. Attached my worth to my work and the revenue that flowed in.

Until I saw a different…

That’s why I became an online entrepreneur….

I was drawn to the concept of earning repeated, recurring via a product and service, just by building  product pages powered by systems and automation.

The journey to now took far more work than I anticipated.

And I learned the long  hard way – ohhh the stories I have to tell that can save you time and money.

But I was clear with what I wanted:  A business  that existed to support my life—not to consume it.

→ 🧠 And its foundation wasn’t about producing more or serving more.

→ ️️️️ It was  about stopping the trade of my time for money, it meant learning  the ropes of having an online business.

→  It meant relearning product, pricing, profit margins and asking 

That’s what I want to talk about in this  3️⃣-part series on bringing more money into your business.

I’m no guru. But I have made lots of money and I  invested well when I did.

I’ve also had to  depend on those  investments to see me through when money was not coming in as fast as I thought it would, and my cash flow dried up.

I want to  share the new principles that are making a BIG difference as I build my path toward building another seven-figure business.

This road has been long but so fulfilling.

I know some of what I’m about to share  will help you too.

First, I want to tell you about my coach who made all  the difference with my mindset.

I Set My Money Mindset With The Right Coach

I can’t begin to tell you how much having the right coach can change everything about the way you view—and move through—whatever issue you’re facing.

Having one now, working with me one-on-one is a game changer.

My advice?

Get one with a real track record. Someone who’s a few light years ahead of you, who’s achieved what you want to do and someone you vibe with—someone who listens as much as she speaks.

I found one to help me with my scaling plan. Her name is Lorrell Lane. (more on her over the series)

What Is Your Freedom Number?

My what, sis???!!! I speak English, not tongues.

I had never heard of it. 😂 LOL.

But the freedom number wasn’t about a revenue-cost model (we’ll get to that later in Part 3).

She wanted something deeper… ⬇️ ⬇️

… A fundamental understanding of how much I wanted Forward Forty to make during each launch period—based on the life I wanted to live.

And that’s where it got interesting.

She didn’t just want a number.

She wanted to know what hitting my freedom number would mean to me.

Of course, I had a list.

🏋🏿‍♀️ Going to the gym in the morning—and not having to rush back.

🍳 A long, homemade breakfast I could actually sit down and enjoy.

🗓️ A workday that started at 10 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. (except during launch seasons, when all bets are off).

🔐 No work on Sundays—because I need a full day where my laptop stays closed.

✈️ Two digital nomad trips a year—to work from somewhere beautiful twice a year and feel alive.

👨🏽‍🌾 A 3 x week  gardener—because the land my  bungalow sits on is a monster

💲 Consistent investment in high-yield savings—to make sure future me is just as secure as present me.

📈 12 months of emergency funding—to sleep at night knowing crisis in handled

My coach didn’t make me dive into my hard numbers right away. (We’d get there.)

What she wanted to do was open up my mindset—

—To hinge the work we were about to do to the quality of life I wanted for myself.

Saying “I want to make more money,” wont work.

Instead…

“I want to live/work differently—and here’s what that looks like,” is better.

Later, yes, we crunched formulas.

We’re making sure  sure my inputs and outputs aligned.

But the list, the checklist had everything to do with pricing—and nothing to do with it at all.

YOUR PRICING PATH BEGINS 

Bet you’re starting to see how mindset lays a peculiar kind of foundation for what’s AHEAD and it’s a another mindset map.

PRICING your goods and service has nothing to do with your  feelings …

… You know, the mind trap you fall into when you start thinking about how → great you are → how wonderful your work is → how much time you spent in university or design school to do what you do now. BLAH. BLAH. BLAH.

My coach gave me another hit-it-out-of the-ball-park line.

“STOP Policing Your Value.” 🛑

In other words Lorell wanted me to stop basing my prices on  any perceived value I had in my head about my worth.

I got what she said almost immediately.

To police my value also meant  I’d start policing my client’s wallets and adjust my product prices accordingly.

“We are human, our very existence has value,” she said.

Adding: “Your idea of your value and the worth of your work is being buried today.”

Here’s what I need you to take away. ↓↓↓

✅ Pricing your work has to be grounded in reality—not in how you’re feeling about yourself on any given day.

✅It’s never about if you feel worthy or not or your perception of your value.

It isn’t about calculating your income based on whatever client projects or sales are coming through the door either.

 You’ve got yo  stop hosting a cash flow reality drama every month.

 It starts with a formula.

Pricing Is A Formula Not A Feeling

And that formula is based on a few concrete things:

→Cost of inputs

→Time spent

→Demand

→Value delivered

→ Sales

→ Margins

We’ll get into the actual breakdown next week. Notice on that list I did not add feelings.

Final Takeaway About Pricing Your Goods and Services  

Let’s end with a question.

Are you paying yourself twice? Have you included your fees in your pricing?

My guess is Y-E-S.

You’ve included your worker bee fees.

You’re the one that’s designing , writing, building the templates, making the art, consulting etc.  

So sure you costed that as an input.

BUT…

…You also run the business, you’re the CEO.

So are you paying yourself your worker bee fees and your Queen beee fees? 🐝 👑

These are two separate inputs

And your Queen Been 🐝 👑  fees will need to be included in your formula, which we’ll get to next week.  

Pricing is the key to having  a successful business without sacrificing your life.

I’m not saying you can’t give leeway, that you can’t budge on budgets, that you can’t  make exceptions for those clients who have been with you in the trenches, your Day Ones, or even those with whom you see potential for growth side -by side.

But you can’t start your pricing  from there.👌

Pricing is a formula, not a feeling.

Oh, and I’d love to chat more. 

Comment below with any questions that you may have or just the word “clear”  if my words actually served you and gave you some clarity today around how you  price ypur goods and services.

Here’s to working from a place of passion, peace and profit.

Whenever You Need Help….