If you want to make more money, OR if you want to earn the same money but take more time off, there’s only one thing you need to do.

You need to increase the value of your work to the level where people will pay you more for it.

That’s it, that’s the secret.

What could you do to increase the value of your time?

There are four ways to increase the value of what you do, gain leverage, increase demand, increase your perceived value, or grow your expertise.

You can gain leverage when one hour of your time produces an amplified result. Examples of improved leverage include:

• Automating routine tasks.
• Outsourcing or delegating lower value tasks.
• Developing methodologies or processes so that others can do (much of) what you do with minimal supervision.

Leverage is how big law firms and consulting companies make money. The partner sells a job, and lots of junior-level team members deliver the value.

When you increase demand you can increase your prices. Your higher prices will scare some folks off but will attract others! Examples of increasing demand include:

• Becoming more well-known, speaking, writing, etc., for bigger audiences.
• Using advertising or outreach to bring in more leads increases the demand for your services.

Increasing demand is beneficial if you have unused capacity. It also helps to bolster your confidence, making it more likely you will ask for good value for your services.

If you increase your perceived value, or the perceived value of your solution, in your prospect’s mind, you can charge more. Some examples here include:

• Telling a better story about what you do can increase your value. Look up J. Peterman for a classic example.
• Improving your positioning increases your perceived value. “Strategy Consultants” earn higher fees than “Branding Firms” even though both deliver similar value to their clients.
• Selling your services based on the value you create, instead of the time it takes or other measures, is another way to increase your perceived value.

Increasing perceived value is an opportunity that most established firms can utilize. If you’ve got happy clients and good case studies think about how you can use those assets to position your solution as less risky and more impactful than other options.

When you get better at what you do, people will pay more. So growing your expertise is a solid strategy for making more money. You know what you need to do on that one!

What are you going to do?

Any of these strategies will increase your earnings; which one do you want to work on now? Working on all of them is not a viable strategy. Pick one and go for it!

P.S. I’m curious, can you think of other ways to increase the value of your hours that I didn’t mention? Hit reply, and let me know. I’d be grateful if you improved my thinking about this!