Believe it or now, we’re halfway through the third quarter of the year, mama.

Which means that Q4 is just around the corner.

Which means that it’s just about time to start thinking about 2021. 

Now, you might be thinking, Um, Lauren, PLEASE. I can barely keep up with the constantly changing landscape of 2020, and there is NO POSSIBLE WAY I can start thinking about a WHOLE DIFFERENT YEAR. 

I get it. I do. 

But the thing is, 2021 is going to show up whether or not you plan for it, and the one thing I can promise you is that if you DON’T plan ahead, you will DEFINITELY not hit your goals.

I do ALL of my big picture planning in the fourth quarter. I look at everything I want to accomplish in the next year, start figuring out the calendar, and then work on creating interim goals that move me to the big picture objectives. Then I can figure out the specific tasks that go into the smaller goals, which feed into the bigger targets I’ve set for myself. 

And yes, OF COURSE things change along the way. Sometimes, a global pandemic forces you to rethink things.

Let’s say that you need to come up with $6000 in the next 45 days. When you need to make money fast, what will you do?

Here’s a hint: this is math.  

1. Look at your current offers and pricing
2. Do the math.

Maybe you currently offer a retainer package for $1000/month, and you know that the work generally takes you about 20 hours to do.

So, you’d have to sign on 6 clients at $1000 each, and be able to fit an extra 120 hours of work into your month. 

Will that work? 120 hours a month is about 27 hours a week — on top of whatever you’re already doing. 

That might be hard. 

So… could you come up with a different offer based on your current skill set? Can you figure out something you can do that delivers $2000 worth of value for your clients — and that takes you about 10 hours a month?

You’d only need to sell 3 of those. 

And they’d only add an extra 7 hours of weekly work to your schedule.

Now, you might be thinking, Lauren, for the love of all things chocolate, I don’t have a service I can offer for $2000. And if I did, I CERTAINLY would not know how to sell THREE of them.

To which I say, If you absolutely had to figure out that $6000, I bet you’d get pretty darn resourceful. When you need to make money fast, you do what you need to do.

Buuuuut, as long as the need isn’t totally urgent, what if you put some planning time in? What if you sat down and decided, Okay, one of my goals is to HAVE a $2000 service to offer. 

• You can charge $2000 or more to build a funnel.
• You can charge $2000 or more to write an email sequence.
• You can charge $2000 or more to do a brand overhaul.

So, how can you get from where you are now to offering those services?

This is the difference between working ON your business — actively planning for your growth and figuring out how to hit your goals — and working IN your business, where you’re just doing the client work, head down. 

Next week, we’re kicking off a LIVE goal-setting challenge in the Free Mama Movement Facebook group. 

You’re going to have access to all of my BEST strategies for setting REAL goals that move you towards the things you really want to achieve, and you’ll learn how to break each goal down into the specific, concrete, actionable steps you need to take. 

If you do the work you’re going to be READY for whatever crazy thing 2020 throws at us, and you’ll know what to do when you need to make money fast.

Are you in?

Head over to THIS THREAD in the Facebook group and drop a gif to show me that you’re in!

P.S.We’re kicking off the week together, starting on Monday! Yep, from now on my Facebook Lives will be on Mondays at noon central, not on Thursdays! Mark your calendar so you don’t miss it. See you in the group! 

P.P.S. – Did you see this week’s episode of Free Mama TV? It fits perfectly with this blog post, it’s all about becoming an expert – which is something else you need to consider when you need to make money fast!