Episode description

077R | 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.