3 Simple Systems that Stop "Feast-or-Famine" Cycles and Create Reliable Income - Christine Kane

I was chatting with one of my Uplevel Academy clients last week. She stood up straight and tall and said proudly…

“My store made $42,000 in sales last month! It’s the best month we’ve had since we opened our doors!”

Then, she slumped down a bit and whispered, “But don’t tell people. I don’t want to seem like, you know”¦”

Seem like what?

A bragger?  An asshole? Greedy? A strong business-woman?

I didn’t slap her or anything.  But I did give her my “look” that says, “Come on. No more playing small.”

When it comes to money, the business owners who call themselves “soulful” or “passionate” sometimes struggle with their own abundance and success when they create it.

This is partly why I’m teaching “The Money Class” webinar next week. (Yup, it’s a totally free training – with bonus videos you can access right away.) I have a lot to teach on the subject!

For now, consider this:

Your purpose here on this planet is to serve and do this thing you’re so amazing at.

But the purpose of your business”¦

“¦is to MAKE MONEY.  That’s what businesses do.

Until you own this fact, you will struggle with money in your business. You’ll continue to experience what we call “feast-or-famine” cycles and all the frustration that accompanies them.

Can you really change this?

Totally!   Let me show you an example from my business:

Here’s a screenshot of a receipt from someone who purchased my Uplevel your Life Program…

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

This purchase happened without me doing anything. I could be sleeping. I could be hiking with my dog. Hubby and I could be entertaining friends.

Here’s another receipt – from the same exact student – who obviously liked the program she got.  At this point, she’s willing to spend more money – and join me in my Uplevel Your Business Program”¦

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

A year down the line – here is the same student, signing up to become a client…

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

I didn’t have to obsess over her finding me.

I didn’t have to call her up with those annoying, “Just checking in!” phone calls.

In fact, I didn’t even THINK ABOUT her.

She was empowered enough to choose to become my client on her own.

Most of my clients go through some sequence like this. They find me. They build a relationship with me. Then they make the choice to buy from me.

Wanna know what they almost never do?

  •  They almost never arrive at my site for the first time, whip out their credit card, and say “Sign me up for the most expensive thing you got!”
  •  They almost never call my team and ask if they can please pay up to $20K for a year of masterminding with me.
  • They almost never meet me at a networking event and write me a check on the spot.

I’m betting your clients are the same way.  They are not out searching for ways to spend money…

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

No one is trying to find ways to spend money on you.

So why do we set up our businesses as if this is what prospects do?…

  • We fire-hose them with information about our services on our websites.
  • We blurt out our prices without a clear strategy for how we make an offer.
  • We don’t get clear on who they are and how exactly we can help them.

So how do you change this age-old pattern that leads to feast-famine-overwhelm-panic and all things between? You create simple systems. For instance, Jen is an Executive Coach and corporate trainer. When she came to Uplevel Your Business LIVE, she was attending networking events to market her business. She confessed at the time that when she met a potential client, she’d run home and “re-invent the wheel.” She’d write a whole new set of emails and follow-ups, send them, make calls, rework the follow up calls, and then spend an exhausting amount of time going back and forth on the phone.  She would then write a proposal and start the back and forth all over again.

Then she started Upleveling her Business.

This meant she started creating systems, sequences and strategies for finding and selling to potential clients. Did it make a difference?  Well, she had a six-figure month last year once all these systems and sequences were up and working for her.  (And she’s now one of our Uplevel coaches who helps our clients do the same thing!)

So yeah, it made a difference!

What’s a System? (A Definition that Won’t Make you Feel Like a Robot)

Here’s how I teach my clients and students what a system is”¦

A system is simply how you complete the sentence, “Here’s how this works”¦”  Or “Here’s how I do this”¦”   (Remember that. We’ll come back to it in a second.)

(…And Stop Using Words that Make You Feel Like a Pig)

The reason many of us resist systems is pretty much the fault of marketers. It’s the way they talk!

Everything’s a “funnel,” or a “blast,” or some word that either blows something up or sucks it down – and takes the humanity out of the service we entrepreneurs all do. “Send the email blast!”  “Get the prospect into your funnel!”

Gross. That’s all. Just gross.

(Here at Uplevel World Headquarters, my team is forbidden from using these terms. Period.)

 

3 Simple Game-Changing Systems for your Business

There are three “here’s how this works” systems you need in place to make your business run –  even while you sleep, vacation, work-out, network, serve clients or play with your kids”¦

System #1 – How people find you
System #2 – How people subscribe to you
System #3 – How people buy from you

 

System #1: How people find you

Some of my current clients tell me they had been fans of my music before they became coaching clients – and then they’ll share some embarrassing story of my guitar string breaking on stage and me making a stupid joke. (Not an unusual occurrence.)

Some of my current clients will tell me that they downloaded my eBook -and followed my emails for a year or two – and only “just now” decided to sign up.

And then, some will tell me they happened to see a video – and got on the phone to ask about working with me and became a client within days of “finding” me.

Everyone has their way.

But none of these ways are random. (No more than the rain that finds itself swooshing from a roof, into a gutter, into a container and through an irrigation system is random.)

In my business, everything was created, first, out of a total knowledge of my ideal client. (Yes, even as a musician, I knew who my fans were and were not. It helped me turn down certain performance dates – or choose titles of my CD’s!)

Then, it was set up as a sequence that would create trust over time.

I don’t have to cajole or convince anyone.

I don’t have to remember each person who ever met me.

My systems do the work for me.

INSIGHT:   To build a system for how clients find you, first know their pain points, their dreams, their doubts and the mistakes they make. Also, know your value and the results you deliver.

System #2: How people subscribe to you

Did you notice anything about my examples of current clients?

In all of them, I’m not in a hurry.  I don’t have to be.

I’m not desperate or needy. I don’t have to be.

I also don’t have to be inauthentic, cheese-y or sleazy.

In other words, I don’t have to “react” to the state of my business.

That’s the biggest problem with the feast-or-famine cycle.  You’re always reacting to the current state of your business – whether you have no income and take on a slew of non-ideal clients because you have to make some kind of money”¦

or whether you’re slammed with clients and don’t have time to hire someone, and half-ass the service you deliver.

And in the “famine” times, you invariably end up discounting your pricing.

Not being in a hurry means that once a prospect gets on your list, you let the system take care of them. This is why I don’t have to waste my time or energy on icky time-consuming marketing tactics or pushy sales sleaze.

I know who my ideal client is.

I know who I am.

I know that the most valuable person is the one who raises her own hand. I don’t have to get grabby.

And I know that my systems are all set up around that philosophy.

Once Jen got all of these things in place, she was able to do that, too. When someone asked about working with her at a networking event?  She simply answered, “Okay, here’s how I do this”¦”  No more blurting out prices or reacting in the moment. The system does the work.

INSIGHT:  When someone gets on your list, you now begin to build a relationship with them. Don’t try to rush to “close” them. They will become a more valuable client if your systems create trust.

System #3: How people buy from you

It’s not uncommon to see posts like this daily in our Uplevel Academy private groups:

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

 

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

 

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

 

3 Simple Systems that Stop Feast-or-Famine Cycles and Create Reliable Income

 

These don’t happen because I give these business owners magic fairy dust or because I have the perfect hypnotic words to manipulate someone.

I share sales scripts. I teach email sequences.  I teach you how to educate your prospect from the minute he finds you.  It’s not only fun – but building your systems is a high-level service. Those who can’t be bothered often can’t get (or keep) clients.

It’s also the opposite of  what most entrepreneurs do.  Most entrepreneurs create their product, write their book, or make their whole program – and then?  It’s like, “holy crap, how am I going to sell this?”

When you leave selling til the very end, you let panic be your core energy. And panic is NOT a good core energy when it comes to selling. (Or have you noticed?)

When you’ve got a system for how to sell, you don’t have to panic. You build your service and messaging around your system.

And since you already know your ideal client’s dreams and doubts and fears – this part is actually fairly simple.

(The reason my clients are so stunned in these examples is that they had, for years, made selling a very difficult and complex thing. It doesn’t have to be.)

INSIGHT:  When you start with the end in mind, you let your intention and offer guide the sales sequence.  Begin with your offer, and work backwards from there.

If you’re ready to learn exactly how to create these systems that will make your selling and marketing a lot easier…

“¦then join me in The Money Class. You can start right away with video #1!

 

ONE COMMENT ADD A COMMENT
  • Ramona King

    This is what I love about your program…it helped direct me to serve potential clients authentically. I think many of us have the intention but don’t know how to translate that into action. I know that was my struggle. Most recently, I used questions (GAQ) from my Uplevel your Business program and maintained the desire to cultivate a relationship that serves my client powerfully. Uplevel Your Business, Uplevel Your Life, and Gold Mastermind have given me tools to engage in relationships with my first high paying client. The trick to these programs is believing in yourself to do the work you’ve been called to do. Only you can do what you do in the way you do it. I’m learning again and again… these programs work powerfully when I allow them to uncover my potential — via guidance and systems –and unique powers through imperfect action and faith in who I am and am called to do. Step by Step training and tools continue to uncover an Upleveled me.