I’m going to break the rules right now and share a secret with you.
Before I do, I should mention that I’ve always had a rebellious streak.
I like pushing back against authority figures.
I like to ask why.
I like to challenge the status quo.
I like to forge my own path, even if it’s a lot harder and takes longer.
I’ve always viewed rules as recommendations, rather than laws set in stone.
On the other hand, I’m not a total rebel anarchist nonconformist. Especially when it has to do with something I am not an expert in, like business. Although I’ve been in business for myself for 13 years and have taken high end boutique business courses as well as quick, cheap business courses, it’s still not really my area of expertise.
I have a knack for thinking on my feet and I do my best work “in real life,” working with people face to face, which is partly why I had such success for so many years as a yoga teacher. That and all of my experience in theater and improv.
I struggle with most of the other aspects of business, like marketing, maintaining a website, and getting sales.
They are exhausting to me.
And no matter how many biz courses I take, I might understand the mechanisms that drive business and sales, but my business still struggles to stay afloat.
Here’s where I’m going to break the rules. I’m going to show you what’s happening behind the scenes in my business, with no filter and nothing hidden behind a curtain. I’m going to tell you what’s not working and what I’ve decided to change, as well as some big plans I have for the future.
Ever since moving and transitioning the bulk of my biz online, I have been floundering. Even though my programs are better than ever before, I can’t seem to translate that into people wanting to do them. So either I’m not offering something relevant or something is off in the way I am offering these programs.
Here’s the truth: I know my programs are amazing. I know they are life-changing. I know they have incredible value.
How do I know? 2 ways.
First, I created them from my own experience.
I spent the first year of my daughter’s life so consumed by parenting her and trying to keep her alive and not go totally crazy, that I stopped taking car of myself. I wasn’t eating as well, I wasn’t moving my body as much, I wasn’t listening to my body as much, and I wasn’t doing anything just because I loved it.
After a year of depleting myself entirely and sacrificing my own needs on the altar of motherhood, I realized I needed to make some changes. So I rediscovered how to take care of myself, one simple action at a time.
These slow steps towards a healthier, happier, less stressful life ultimately gave birth to my Create Your Self-Care Toolkit program and my signature program, Conscious Healthy Mama Essentials.
I know these programs work because I have firsthand experience.
Second, other people have had positive, life-changing experiences, too.
One mama said, “As much as I’d like to be Super Woman, I’m just me, some Mom. Working
with Naomi in her Conscious Healthy Mama programs has helped me to love myself a bit more and be the Mama I want to be even during those times of juggling every ball and then some.
The tools provided in the class have often come up as solutions in my brain during some of my deepest, ‘I need to help me!’ times as a mother.”
Another mama said, “Working with Naomi is one of the most powerful things I have ever done for myself. Participating in her Essentials course helped me make all of those desires and things
about my pre-mom life that I missed and always dreamed about reincorporating into my life, a reality.”
Even non-moms have loved this work, “With type A propensities, I’ve had to learn to be sweet to myself and really get that this stuff takes time. The ongoing coaching and access to the
course materials after the program were important components for me,and they provided the support I needed to create lasting change.”
It’s not just me. This shit works.
And yet, it also doesn’t.
I mean, yes this helps people change their lives. But it’s not working as my business.
It could be my marketing. It could be the tools I have. It could be that I am a one-woman operation who has minimal help and I need more and I am actually working on that, but it’s taking time.
Or it could be the pricing.
(and now I’m really spilling the business beans, so listen closely)
In every business course I’ve ever taken, I’ve been encouraged to price programs high. Price to the value of what I am offering. Price to the value of what these programs are worth. Price high enough that people say, “oof…that’s expensive, but I need this. So I’m in.” As one of my former business mentors said, “if you don’t have enough skin in the game, you won’t really be willing to do the work.”
She’s right. I know exactly how that feels.
And so I’ve done that. I’ve priced my programs comparatively to what I see others doing similar work pricing their programs.
Here’s the problem: Moms don’t like to spend money on themselves.
This is in part because moms value the needs of their kids, their partners, their parents, over their own needs. Most moms place their own needs as LESS IMPORTANT than the needs of everyone else in their lives.
And with “self-care, wellness, empowerment” type programs like mine, which have less “tangible” results (known in biz as “soft results” — like I don’t tell you that you’re going to lose 10lbs, but you’ll feel healthier and less stressed out), moms don’t see the value because it’s not as concrete. The results of my programs are less measurable.
This is why I’ve had people say, “oooh, this program sounds like exactly what I need but we have so many expenses right now I can’t afford it.” And then they go off and join the Whole 30 program. Or a yoga teacher training program in Bali.
I recently chatted with another mom who also leads self-care programs. She also recently had a program fail to launch and has struggled to build her business, even though everyone who has done it has experienced positive results.
We commiserated over the challenges of convincing our fellow moms that self-care has value and came up with some possible strategies to help support the success of our respective businesses.
After chatting with her, I realized that even though I know my program has great value, not everyone does. I haven’t given it enough time to grow and expand naturally. Instead, I just took the regular business advice to price high and find the right people who’d be willing to shell out that amount of dough.
It’s not working.
One of the biggest no-no’s in business is to start at a higher price and then reduce it. The idea is that lowering my price after offering it at a higher price makes it look like my program isn’t really worth much.
Really, I was just building too soon. These programs need to be test-driven more and experienced more. These programs need to be more inclusive instead of exclusive — exclusivity is a big strategy in most business courses. Make your program be super valuable and also super exclusive — you only have access if you pay this much.
I see the logic there.
I also see a lot of moms suffering.
So I’ve changed my pricing model for my signature program. And I’m looking for ways to make all of my programs more accessible, more inclusive, and more supportive.
Hopefully in doing this, I make it possible for more moms to learn the tools, systems, and skills that have helped me live a life that makes me feel whole instead of empty.
This is where you come in, though. I need your feedback. I need your advice. I need your willingness to try something that might be challenging and empowering.
I’m taking a huge risk. I am doing one of the things that every business mentor I have ever had has advised me NOT TO DO. I’m lowering my prices to make my programs more inclusive, instead of raising them to make them more exclusive.
And to top it off, I’m doing this in the middle of launching one of those programs. So people have already seen the initial rate.
This could be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
Or it could be the best thing I’ve ever done.
It’s a risk worth taking though because at the end of the day, these programs are for you. I’d rather been transparent and honest about my business, my choices, and my life. It doesn’t really serve me or you to hide this “behind-the-scenes” stuff that I struggle with.
If I can make my self-care and empowerment programs for my fellow type-A, busy mamas more accessible and more supportive, that’s what matters the most.
If you’re interested in checking out my Conscious Healthy Mama Essentials program, the next group launches on October 15th. I’d love for you to join in.
If it’s not for you but you know someone who needs this, I’d love it if you’d pass along the info for this program to her.
