An second part to the conversation between ChooseFi community member Tallis, who teaches dance classes in retirement facilities, and Pop-Up Business School founder Alan Donegan, to help get Tallis’ side hustle off the ground.
- Precursors to this episode: Episode 30 and Episode 56.
- Tallis gives an update on her side hustle to-do list.
- Client feedback: the questions you ask impact the results you’ll get.
- What is the best way to sell Tallis’ dance classes to the retirement facilities.
- Tallis continues to wonder how to best monetize her service?
- Tallis hopes to facilitate workshops to train dance-class teachers.
- Alan and Tallis previously discussed securing sponsorship, potentially from pharmaceutical companies.
- Currently, Tallis’ dance class is endorsed (and paid for) by the American Parkinson’s Disease Association, so classes are free for participants.
- Could Tallis collect a fee from participants?
- Most important considerations right now: how is going to pay, and how much to charge?
- Different payment models can impact clients’ commitment to the classes.
- Training an organization to facilitate its own courses will pay significantly more than providing courses directly to individuals.
- How can Tallis decide on a price for her workshops?
- People equate cost to value: if you charge too little, they’ll think the product isn’t valuable.
- Alan recommending contacting potential clients (retirement communities) that are well outside her target geographical location in order to practice her pitch and get feedback on potential pricing.
- Pricing has a lot to do with confidence.
- Successful business models have repeatability.
- Marketing is rarely starting from the ground up: find other businesses in a similar space, or businesses that are doing something that you think would be really effective the space you’re targeting and start there.
- Pitch tip: don’t allow your voice pitch to go up when giving your price. Use a statement tone that sounds confident – even from beginning to end of your sentence.
- What’s up next: get feedback from local contact about other offerings.
- Go big! Don’t offer your service to just a few potential clients.
- Expect that it’ll take 1-5 months to get the program from start to point of sale.
- The only way to know if your business will be successful is to ask people to buy; before that moment, feedback is hypothetical.
- Tallis is part of the Des Moines ChooseFI local group – contact her there.
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