I’m in the process of changing the way I receive payments in my business. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never had the guts to do it.
I was afraid I’d get a lot of kickback from my students and prospective students would be more hesitant to sign on with the new system.
Two of my star pupils!
For those of you who don’t know, I own a music lesson business where I give guitar lessons.
The industry standard for a while has been such that you pay a certain amount for each weekly lesson. If you have 4 lessons in a given month, you pay for 4 lessons, and so on.
I’m switching to a flat monthly amount. In addition, I’m changing over to automatic debit verses getting paid each month by check.
The reasons for wanting to do this are several which I won’t get into here. But, the interesting thing to me was how much of a struggle it was for me to implement this change.
Why this was difficult for me
It really came down to fear. I was afraid of kickback. What I eventually wrapped my head around was that if I could highlight the benefits for my students and confidently tell them this is what I’m going to be doing, they would be fine with it.
If fact, I had 3 new students start last week and, when it came time to talk about money, I told them how it was structured and they were fine with it!
I’m continually reminded how running an effective business is directly tied to personal growth. I can tell you, in the past 6 months, I have thought a whole lot more than I ever have before about how I relate to others.
I have also seen firsthand how a healthy outlook makes a difference, even for the bottom line.
Question: Is there anything you’re doing right now that is spurring on your personal growth?
That’s pretty cool and interesting to me Michael and I can relate. If we are confident about what we are proposing most times people receive it in a positive way. It’s like an experiment I read about once – they offered people something two different ways to see the difference in response. To one group they said, “You wouldn’t want _____, would you?” and most said no. To the other group they just offered it saying something like, “Have a _______” and most people did! That amazed me and makes me always stop and think about how I am “offering” something. And to answer your question – there are days that EVERYTHING I do spurs my growth!
Ann, sounds like an interesting experiment. It’s amazing how a subtle (or not so subtle) change in the way you position something makes a big difference.
That is awesome news, Michael. I’m sure since things are more and more automated now, it will be less of an issue with people as well. The Queen and I are our daughter’s “guide” in the therapy we’ve been doing with her the past two years and the therapist is continually teaching us how to work with her at home. Right now, we are actually “studying” the elements of a story – to get her to be able to listen, tell, re-tell and relate to others discussions so she’ll be more ready developmentally. We are using a certain structured system, so it’s always a challenge to learn those things, but in the end we end up learning so much as well. Hey, and maybe it’ll help us be better storytellers ourselves!
Thanks for giving us an insight into your business mind!
Sure thing, Michael! Hugh, yeah I think I’d be interested in that class as well. 🙂 I find the craft of telling a good story very interesting. There’s a real art to it.
Great to hear the news Michael. I have found the path of entrepreneurship and self-employment full of personal growth. They go hand in hand. The further we push ourselves in our business, the more we grow – and at the same time, the more we study personal growth, the more courage we have to push ourselves in our business. Keep pushing forward !
Matt, very true. Glad to hear business has done the same thing for you.
Thanks for the input!