Episode 243: 5 Tips For Getting Started with VIP Days Regardless of Your Niche, Industry or Experience Level with Sarah Masci

October 19, 2022

As a service-based business, you may have considered offering a VIP day for your clients! There are a variety of benefits to VIP days for both business owners and their clients. In today’s episode, Sarah Masci joins us to share how she got started with VIP days and a few tips you can take to get started with them.

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Sarah is the founder Day Rate Mastery™, an online company that teaches creative service providers how to work less and make more with a streamlined “day rate” business model. Years of running a traditional design business, filled with scope creep, inconsistent timelines and overlapping client projects, eventually resulted in classic burnout– becoming the catalyst that sparked Sarah’s desire to create a better process. Since its inception in 2019, Day Rate Mastery™ has helped thousands of freelancers rediscover joy in their work and the freedom they’d lost along the way.

Adding VIP Days to Your Business

Sarah Masci accidentally developed her first VIP day after a past client came to her with a list of tasks and projects she wanted to do, but Sarah didn’t want to build out a line-item invoice for the work. Instead, she offered up a day rate to get everything done that she could from that list.

The Benefits of a VIP Day

This new offering brought to light so many benefits for both Sarah and her clients.

As a designer, you get to create a catch-all price for your clients and focus on the project for a shortened timeline of one day. For the clients, they’re offered a quick turnaround for their needs and have instant gratification.

VIP days also allow you to charge a premium for your work—fast, good, and expensive. It also allows you to build out boundaries for your VIP days to avoid scope creep.

VIP Days Work for All Entrepreneurs

Since launching her course, Sarah has found that VIP days work well for all service providers—designers, social media strategists, copywriters, tech specialists, course designers, podcast managers, summit managers, health specialists, and more!

There are so many different approaches to VIP days, which allows for you to make it work for your business. You decide the transformation you want to offer.

Building Your Own VIP Day Offer

If you’re ready to explore what a VIP day offer could look like in your own business, here are a few steps you can take to get started:

  1. Stop overthinking it. It’s easy to imagine what it could look like, but overthinking it can hold you back.
  2. Don’t commit to an entire day of something that doesn’t light you up.
  3. Start with a lower price and build confidence as you raise your rates.

Encouragement for Offering VIP Days

Now that you have the right approach in place to your VIP day offering, the next thing to do is sell them. VIP days are hard to sell to a cold audience when you’re just getting started with them. Sarah’s encouragement is to offer it to an existing client, as you already have that built in trust with them. This could be a current or past client, but either way, see if there is an opportunity to offer it to them. Otherwise, look for referrals and connections, as there is a referred trust there.

Catch the Show Notes

Get to Know Sarah (2:30)

Benefits of VIP days (8:45)

Who Should Offer VIP Days (12:40)

Tips for Getting Started with VIP Days (18:00)

Selling VIP Days (27:07)

CONNECT WITH SARAH

www.sarahmasci.com

www.instagram.com/sarahmasci

Grab the Freebie: www.sarahmasci.com/brandstrategy

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Review the Transcript:

Bonnie:
Hi friend, and welcome to the brand strategy podcast. A show created to equip you with the inspiration, encouragement, and clarity. You need to build the brand of your dreams. I’m your host, Bonnie Bakhtiari, brand designer, strategist, and founder of the Illume Retreat from sustainable strategy to heartfelt encouragement. Each episode is designed to equip you with the tools you need to chase after your dreams, because you deserve a brand that empowers you to do what you love, connects with your dream clients and offers a deep sense of fulfillment along the way. So grab a cup of coffee and join me on this journey. Won’t you

Bonnie:
Friends. Welcome back to the brand strategy podcast, where today we are talking about five tips for getting started with V I P days, regardless of your niche or your industry or your experience level with the incredible Sarah Masci. If you have not connected with Sarah before, I’m excited to be able to introduce y’all in this way, because I was telling her before we started recording, I think of her as kind of this, like this expert with all things, you know, V I P day related. And she’s actually the founder of day rate mastery, which is an online company that teaches creatives, just like you and me, how to work less and make more money with a really streamed line day rate business model. I’m really excited for us to dive deeper into this conversation because since its inception in 2019, Sarah and the work she’s done with day rate mastery has helped thousands of freelancers rediscover joy in their work and the freedom that they’ve lost along the way. So I know there’s some great stuff for us to dive deeper into here today. And Sarah, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for sharing your time and this conversation with me today. Yeah.

Sarah:
Hey Bonnie, I am so excited to be here. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for a while now, and can’t wait to dive into all things VIP days and day rates with your audience.

Bonnie:
Mm, love it. Well, let’s just dive on in and if you’re up for it, um, I, I would love it. If you could share just a little bit more about who you are, this incredible business that you’ve built and really kind of like what, what attracted you to this, this business model of VIP days to begin with?

Sarah:
Uh, yeah, so it, actually, the whole thing happened by accident, um, especially the VIP day part, but I’ll just kind of like back up on my story a little bit here. Um, since I know you have a lot of designers listening in and I am a fellow, um, brand strategist and web designer, but I didn’t actually start there. So my story started back in 20, uh, 2005 when my 17 year old was just a baby. And I knew that I wanted to, I just hated like that soul sucking corporate job that I was in. And I hated that I didn’t have hardly any time at all with my son. And so I kind of dove into this whole online world and trying to figure out like a way that I could stay at home and still make money and still help, you know, contribute financially.

Sarah:
And so I tried a whole bunch of different things along the way, and I started a lot of random like businesses chasing like shiny objects, all of that stuff from about 2005 to 2010 or so. Um, and then like around 2010, I realized that the reason I had kept like starting all of these businesses was essentially because I loved the idea of bringing brands and businesses to life. Um, like I loved that whole process of creating the brand and doing the design work and all of that kind of stuff. And so I was like, why do I keep starting all these companies? And then getting bored and then starting another company. And then I was like, I should just start doing this for other people. And then just become an actual designer. Um, because I did not have a degree in design. I have my, uh, bachelor’s degree is in marketing.

Sarah:
So I was pretty good at running a business, but, um, self-taught in the whole design world. And so that was like 2010 to 2012 that I really got into branding more like just graphic design at the time. I didn’t quite understand brand strategy, um, until a few years later. But, um, just by doing all of those businesses over the years, I had accumulated quite a network of other online business owners who I had met along the way. And so when I really got into going all in on my branding and design business, I suddenly had a ton of clients. Uh, and I wasn’t charging enough because I had imposter syndrome because I was a self-taught designer. I didn’t think I was worthy of charging higher prices. So I had all of these clients who wanted my services yet. I wasn’t charging enough. And that’s really what contributed to the burnout that I experienced kind of over and over again from like 2015 until 2018, which was when I accidentally discovered this, uh, day rate business model.

Sarah:
And that was pretty much, uh, the issue was like, I, like I said, I had all these clients and I was juggling them every single day, working on anywhere from four or five to up to 10 clients at any given time and just kind of multitasking through the days, every single day. And I had, at this point I had four young boys and so I was like squeezing work into every pocket of my day. And, um, so I received an email in early 2018 from a client who I had. I had done her branding like the year before. And she reached out to me and I had already done her. Like I had started, I had done like a one pager website for her mm-hmm and she reached out and she was like, Hey, I could, I could use your help with a few things on my website.

Sarah:
And she basically just kind of like, uh, you know, brain dumped, like all of these things that she wanted help with. And she was like, how much would it cost for this? And how much will it cost for this and this and this and this. And I was like, I don’t have the time to sit here and itemize create like a custom proposal and itemize this thing and nickel and dime her for every little thing. So I was like, well, how about you just pay me for a day and we’ll get it all done in a day. And so she loved the idea. We did that. We got it done in a day and it was truly like the best design experience I had had as a web designer because she paid me in full right at the beginning. Then we worked together for a full day.

Sarah:
We got everything done and then I didn’t have to, it wasn’t like hanging over my head. It was done. I didn’t have to think about it again unless she wanted to pay me for another day. And so that’s when I realized I was like, this there’s something here. Like this is a great model and I need to explore this a little bit more. And so that’s pretty much what I did through 2018 was just diving deeper and deeper into this idea of doing VIP days. And I was still juggling projects and retainer clients and all of that as well at the beginning. Um, but eventually I got to the end of that year and realized that this was all I wanted to do going forward. And so that’s when I kind of announced to my email list, uh, my very small email list at the time, but I let them know that if they needed to work with me, this was the only way that you could work with me. And I called it my book me for a day program. And so, yeah, I’ve never looked back. That was, that’s kind of how the whole thing started.

Bonnie:
Wow. That is such an amazing journey. And I love that this is something that you just kind of stumbled into. Like, I think that, you know, well, that’s, that’s a part of my story in the sense of, you know, I kind of stumbled into this business. I never really set out to become an entrepreneur. I just kind of, you know, mm-hmm, got into it. yeah. And I think a lot of people can relate to that of coming across something like you’re out there, you’re hustling, you’re doing other things. You’re exploring ideas. You’re, you know, being scrappy and trying to figure it out and you just kind of come across something that has a lot of potential. And I love that this model of V I P days was that for you. And I know that now, you know, of course through over the years, I know you’ve, you’ve taught so many, I mean, gosh, like probably thousands of service providers over the years through different programs and through trainings, how to apply this to their businesses. But what is it about V I P days that, that you see being so advantageous and potentially game changing for the people that choose to implement them in their businesses?

Sarah:
Oh my gosh, there’s so many, there’s so many benefits actually on both sides. I think a lot of people see it from one side or another and they think, well, how will V I P days benefit me as a service provider, but there’s also so many advantages on the client side as well. So, I mean, I guess a few, um, just to kind of go through a few of them, the obvious is that you’re getting your work done in one day, as opposed to stretching it out over those long drawn out timelines that were so used to doing, especially in the designer space, you know, that six week project that turns into six months or in some cases it turns into over a year, just depending on, you know, all of that back and forth with your client and waiting on content and then getting revisions and, you know, just all of that back and forth.

Sarah:
So the, the benefit of this model is really that you, as a designer, get to get to focus for one day and, um, get like the, the whole project done in one day or maybe, you know, two or three days, really just kind of, depending on, depending on the scope of the project. So I guess that’s one thing to note is that it doesn’t have to only be one day you can actually sell multiple days to one client for a bigger project, which I’ve done many times. Um, but yeah, so it’s that quick turnaround and it’s great for the client because they don’t wanna wait for their stuff to get done either. We’re living in a day of instant gratification and everybody wants their stuff done yesterday, you know? And so this is an opportunity for people to work with you and get that faster turnaround.

Sarah:
It’s also a great model for us as like the service provider to be able to charge higher, do like your ch you can charge a premium for a V I P day because of that faster turnaround you’re, you know, not only like, I don’t know if you’ve seen that, like that chart where it’s like, here are, here are your three options. It can be good. It can be faster, it can be cheap, but you can only two. And so this is like where you wanna be. You’re really good at what you do, and you can deliver fast, but it’s the opposite of cheap. It’s going to be premium or expensive. And so that’s another benefit on the service provider side. So what else it comes with another great part of it is that it comes with built in bound boundaries. So if you’re one of those people that struggle with people pleasing and scope creep, and you hate to say no to your clients, you, when you start working in this model, it suddenly like puts this container around your work.

Sarah:
And it almost turns it into like a productized offer. And so when the client comes back to you asking for something that’s out of scope or something, that’s like unreasonable, you, you don’t have to be the bad guy to say, no, I’m sorry. I can’t do that. All you do is say, well, that that’s not, you know, that’s not what this model entail. Like, that’s not what this offer entails. That’s not part of this, the V I P day, you know, model or whatever. So you really do get those built in boundaries that kind of come come with the whole package. Um, so yeah, yeah, those are just a few things, but like I said, there, I could probably go on and on forever.

Bonnie:
Like, I love that I’m listening to all of these benefits and just getting so excited because there’s so much possibility to implement a V I P day as a service offering and allow that to fit into, you know, all sorts of businesses, all sorts of seasons of life, working with, you know, all kinds of different scenarios. But I’m curious in your experience of, you know, showing so many freelancers and so many service providers, how to implement this model, what are some of the industries or niches, because I can see how this would work so well for like graphic designers, brand designers, web designers, but is it just limited to designers or who else can benefit from this?

Sarah:
Uh, yeah, definitely not limited. So when I first started teaching the model, I was really coming from that designer perspective, being a designer myself and understanding fully like what designers are struggling with, what are the designers pain points and how did I overcome those pain points with the VIP day model? So when I set out just like start talking about this and teaching people, it really did kind of stick into that. Like it was really, you know, graphic web brand designers. However, I’ve realized over the, since I launched, uh, my course back in 2019, I’ve realized that this can be applied to literally like any service based business, coaching businesses, consulting businesses, truly anyone who does anything to help other people can apply this in one way or another. So the big ones that I tend to see most and that I support and help the most are yes, designers, copywriters.

Sarah:
We have a lot of copywriters who are implementing this model, um, social media, content, marketers. So people who do social media management for other business owners, they can batch, you know, months of content in one day and sell that as a V I P day, I actually hired someone, um, a couple years ago to do that for me, she spent a day and mapped out nine months worth of content for me in one day. And it was amazing to, you know, wake up one morning and start the project and go to bed with nine months worth of pillar content to be, to be able to like drip out over, of course she didn’t write all the content, but she gave me all the pillars and, you know, topics and all of that. So that was amazing. That’s amazing. Yeah, it was really awesome. And so then some other things are like tech specialists.

Sarah:
So people who specialize in any type of tech systems, maybe you’re like a click up specialist or an air table specialist, or maybe you help people set up their, um, email marketing service provider or, um, dub Sodo, right? We have a ton of people who do, who will work with their client for a full day and set up their entire automation systems inside of dub Sodo or honey book or something like that. Other people do course design or course setup. So maybe you’re, um, someone who specializes in helping people set up their course inside of teachable or member vault. So you could be, you could do a V IP day for that podcast managers, summit managers. Like the list is endless when it comes to service providers, but we’re also seeing people in like the health and wellness space doing not necessarily a full eight hour V I P day doing like health coaching, because I feel like that might be a little intense, but you could totally do like a four hour VI IP day that maybe starts in the morning with like some goal setting and some strategy.

Sarah:
And some like, you know, I, I mean, just like kind of getting clear on the person’s physical health wellness goals, et cetera, and then maybe you break for lunch and then you come back with an action plan, a nutrition plan for them, a workout schedule, um, that kind of thing you can totally do in a day. I actually have another, um, student who just came, she just sent me an email to let me know what she had created for her VIP day. She is a dog trainer and she used to do, she used to sell dog training packages that were like you, she would come out to the house for one day a week, you know, for six weeks. And at the end of six weeks you had a trained dog. Well, she compressed her six weeks into one day. And then she spent, you know, six hours with the dog and was able to train the dog, completely train the owners on what they needed to know in order to maintain, you know, the, the behavior of the dog. And she said it was amazing to like, just get paid in one day, paid for one day for something that otherwise would’ve taken six weeks and how much better off the owners were to have that all done in one day versus waiting, you know, a month and a half for their dog to, to be trained. So lots and lots of different niches. I really, I haven’t come across any type of niche or industry that this can’t really work for.

Bonnie:
Mm that’s awesome. And I’m over here, like wondering if someone, some dog trainer in my area does a V I P day, because you’re right. That sounds so fantastic to have that, that kind of result in such a relatively short amount of time. Yeah. Obviously I’m convinced over here. I’m like, well, you know, I have to be honest in the past, I’ve definitely hired people, um, through a V I P day offer. And it’s been, it’s been amazing, so many different ways that that can, you know, be something that as an entrepreneur yourself, you are utilizing not just selling, but also hiring folks who offer this. Yeah. But I would love to know what kinds of tips or advice do you have for getting started? Like I know that people who are listening today, the wheels are starting to turn. They’re kind of thinking, okay, well, what could this look like for my business? Are there any steps that you recommend as people begin that process?

Sarah:
Yes. Um, the biggest one I recommend is not like overthinking this and procrastinating on just getting started with it. So it’s something that everybody hears about and they’re like, oh, this is amazing. I would love to do this for my business. I, you know, it just sounds awesome. Right. And then they sit there and they overthink and they try to come up with their like perfect V I P day offer. And like all of what is it gonna include? And like how many revisions and how much of this and, and all of these things. And I would say just don’t number one VIP day should not be, does it’s it’s not like a package, right. It’s, you’re selling a day and you don’t need to guarantee any deliverables. You guarantee your time and you’re expertise. And you’re dedicating an entire day to someone to get done, whatever is on their priority list.

Sarah:
Right? So like, you kind of will sit down with your client and find out what are their priorities, and you’ll help them figure out what, you know, the order, which things need to happen and what should be their priorities. And you’ll work through that list from the top to the bottom. You don’t, and, and, you know, if you work the faster you work, the more you get done. But if the client asks for a million changes and revisions along the way, well, then you’re just not gonna get as much done. And so that’s where a lot of those boundaries come into play. Like I said, but, um, back, go backing up a little bit. So tip number one is just like, do it messy, get started. Next time someone comes to you and they have like a random punch list of things they want you to do for them, or they’re asking how they can work with you.

Sarah:
Why not just go ahead and, and let them know that you’re testing out this new model and it is a brand new offer for you. It’s not something that you’ve done before, so it’s not perfectly polished, but you’re testing it out. And you think it’s an amazing opportunity and it aligns with whatever it is that that client is asking for. And would they like to try it out with you? You could maybe offer them a special like beta pricing model just to kind of kick things off and test it out and see how it goes. I definitely wait undercharged for my first few, um, and raised my prices pretty quickly thereafter when I realized, you know, how much I was able to get done in a day, but don’t be afraid to like, just kinda start out low and test it out and see what comes out of it.

Sarah:
So I guess as like my first tip don’t, you don’t wanna like commit an entire day of doing something that doesn’t light you up. So that’s really tip number two is make sure whatever it is that you’re offering to someone to do in a day. Isn’t like, you’re, you know, that work that you really don’t enjoy doing, or that makes you stressed out or anxious, like as a designer and working with so many designers, I know many designers get exceptionally stressed when it comes to designing logos, right. They might love the Des the brand strategy process. They might love like the colors and the typography and the graphics and the images, but actually designing a logo, stresses a lot of people out. And so don’t like offer to do some like fancy custom logo design in your V I P day, because that’s just gonna be a stressful experience for both you and your client.

Sarah:
Um, on the flip side, maybe you’re a web designer, but the, a lot of the tech parts of like the web design might stress you out too. And so you really wanna look for ways to offer the things that, that you come most naturally to you, and feel like the most in flow with you. Do you know what I mean? Like it’s gotta be worth that you feel really good and confident about because that otherwise is just gonna be a stressful day for, for everyone. Um, so yeah, so that’s another tip. And I, I already talked about like really starting, starting with a lower price and just building up your confidence over time, as you slowly, and kind of incrementally raise your rates, the more VIP days you do, the more confident you’re gonna get. And so you’ll feel better raising your prices over time, as opposed to starting out at, you know, $2,000, $3,000, having never done a V I P day before, and not really knowing what you’re getting into, you’re just gonna feel more pressure.

Sarah:
It’s just gonna feel like a lot heavier, and you might have more anxiety leading up to the day because you’re not really sure how well you’ll be able to perform during the day. Like, are the ideas gonna come to you or are you gonna sit there and like paralysis all day? So, um, I’ve had many students kind of start out too high and then have a really hard time like selling it because they don’t have that confidence in their ability to do it. And so when they get on a discovery call, it’s kind of like, they don’t have anything to back up, like they, that they’ve done this before and that they know what they’re doing, and that there’s a process and all of that. So those things all come with time over time, the more you do, you can charge more, you’ll have processes in place, you’ll have systems set up and workflows, and you will be able to, you know, have that confidence to sell those higher price to be IP days, but just getting started doing it, messy, testing it out when you don’t have anything in place yet. Um, don’t be afraid to just be, you know, be honest, be truthful with your potential client, letting them know that this is a new thing, and you would love to try it out with them. So those are just kind of a handful of tips for people getting started. But the biggest one, the biggest takeaway I want everyone to kind of go away with is like, don’t overthink it, don’t sit on it and try to figure everything out before making that first offer, because otherwise you’ll just procrastinate forever.

Bonnie:
Mm that’s such fantastic and actionable advice. And I really appreciate you breaking that down for us. And I think that one thing that really resonated with me is that encouragement, that piece of advice to just do it messy, just get started because I can relate to that as a designer, that tendency to want to make sure that it’s perfect can be this, this actually self-imposed, you know, procrastination technique that we are implementing. And I see this with, so, so many designers that I’ve worked with over the years, and when we commit to just showing up doing it, you know, sending the email, publishing the page on our site, talking about it on social media, whatever that thing is when we commit to doing it, even if it’s not perfect, it can just give us so much permission to actually step into trying something new. And what I love about that, Sarah, is that you not only give that encouragement and share that advice, but through day rate mastery, you’re actually showing service providers and designers exactly what to do and how to set up those, those V I P days. So there’s not that process of trial and error, right?

Sarah:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I mean, the other thing is like, we definitely want people to do it messy and try it out because kind of like what you were alluding to, like, we learn so much from our mistakes that we make at the beginning. Right. So if we do it, we take that action and we nobody’s, you’re not gonna have a perfect VIP day every single time. I mean, I, of course, like my first few were kind of like a little sketchy, you know, like the first one was actually amazing, but then I definitely had like some sketchy ones throughout and I was like, oh, like, I need to add that to my contract. Oh, I need to update my contract with that information, you know, but those are things that you only learn those things by making the mistakes. It’s not something that you’re gonna know right off the bat.

Sarah:
Um, and you just, like I said, you just kind of pick that stuff up as you go along and you improve and get better and better. And we do have, yes, we absolutely have the shortcut inside of my courses and programs and all of those, you know, templates and everything for getting started, but we still do encourage everyone to get themselves out there. Kind of like dive into the deep end head first and just go for it. Don’t overthink it because we find that the faster you get into action, the more momentum you’re gonna get as you build this, like model out for yourself,

Bonnie:
That makes so much sense. And so as a PI, as kind of a final piece of advice or encouragement to the folks that are listening today, who are ready to get started with this, is there, I kind of have a specific question here. Is, is there a space that you recommend or an opportunity that you recommend they implement or they go after in order to kind of pitch this to someone for the first time, is there a place or, you know, an existing relationship or anything that you recommend to folks who are just getting started with offering and testing out day rates?

Sarah:
Yeah. I highly recommend testing it out with an existing client, if possible, because you already have that trust built in with that existing client. You’ve worked together on a bigger project. Maybe, maybe it’s a, um, a client who’s coming back to you asking you for something new. Um, so definitely I would go to your existing client list first. Maybe, hopefully if, if the way it happened for me was those ex that existing client came to me in need of something. And it was like a perfect open door for me to say, Hey, let’s try this. And then a couple weeks later, I had another client who I had worked with, come to me and say, Hey, I just started this new website. And I, I tried to do it myself, but obviously I’m not a designer. And I would love for you to help like refresh it and make it better for me.

Sarah:
And that was another like perfect opportunity for me to say, you know what? I just started offering these VIP days. And I think your website refresh is a perfect, like a perfect, you know, job for a one day intensive. And so those were a couple of clients who already knew me, liked me, trusted me, had confidence in my ability. And so that was really the best way for me to get started. And I, I definitely recommend that for anyone else. Who’s looking to start, if you don’t have a repeat client, um, the next best would be referrals because that is more kind of borrowed trust that you have with your referral clients. So letting people know that, like letting people know, like people you’ve already worked with letting them know you’re doing this, and if they know of anyone who is in need of X, Y, Z type services.

Sarah:
So those are kind of like the two main places to start. Um, and then of course, like connections would be like your third one. It’s just like reaching out and making connections and talking to people, letting them know. I think it’s really hard to kind of sell this as a cold sales process. You know, if you’re just posting on Instagram every day and you’re kind of like talking to no one in particular and you’re just posting and hoping this, someone sees it and comes to you. I think that’s definitely a little more stressful than when you have that, that network already, that you can kind of lean on for getting started.

Bonnie:
That makes so much sense. And I, I love that this can be something that people can start implementing using existing relationships or connecting with people because personally that feels a little less intimidating than like, you know, I don’t know, creating this really in depth, long form sales page for it. And, you know, creating all these marketing emails and making it this like big official launch, like actually just going and talking to a past client or connecting with your network and starting those conversations and saying, Hey, I I’m doing this. Just like you were saying, that feels easier. That feels more approachable. And just like you said, it’s, it’s way more relational.

Sarah:
Yeah. Yeah. We definitely, we do not recommend you worry about like a sales page or a work with me page or any like fancy, you know, nothing special. Like at first, when you’re first getting started, I think it’s really best to do like three to five test clients before you even worry about setting up any kind of sales page or work with me page. Um, and you can ha, like you said, you build that you have those relationships. And so it’s really like sending an email like, Hey, um, I’m working on this new thing that I thought you would be a great fit for. And here’s what it looks like. And it’s really just like a bullet list or an outline, or kind of a general overview of what you’re thinking. And that’s all it is. It’s an email it’s, it’s not even, it doesn’t even need to be like a Google doc or anything at this point.

Sarah:
Like, just keep it really casual, keep it simple, because you’re gonna learn from each of those test clients, what your real VIP day offer needs to look like. Mm-hmm . Um, and so you don’t wanna have to like, do the work with me page or the sales page twice, right? You just wanna test it, figure out what works. And then after, you know, what’s working, that’s when you can kind of go back and look at everything, what worked, what didn’t work, what do you wanna keep? How can you refine it? How can you optimize it? And how can you set up those workflows and systems and the structure to create this really like irresistible, um, work with me page that gets people excited to want to book and hire you, you know, for your, for your official VIP days, going forward.

Bonnie:
That is fantastic advice. And wow, Sarah you’ve shared so much in terms of actionable tips and suggestions that people can utilize right now that people can get started with, you know, today, tomorrow this week. And I’m really grateful for that. I would love to know where can people connect with you online if they wanna keep learning from you. If they just wanna get to know you a little bit better, or if they want to join your program and work with you?

Sarah:
Um, yeah, so I’m all over online. Uh, if you just Google Sarah Massey you’ll find me like everywhere. Um, but I guess my website, uh, Sarah massey.com is a great place to get started. I do have a free, like 15 point checklist for everything you need to know to really like, make sure you have kind of what you need in order to go out there and do this. It’s just a really good first step for you. So, um, I can share that checklist with you, Bonnie, if you wanna link to it for everyone, they can check that out. And, um, actually at the time of recording this, we are putting together a brand new, um, VI I P day certified expert program. So, uh, one thing, uh, I don’t know if we talk, I don’t know if we were recording when we talked about this, but how like VIP days are everywhere right now, everyone is offering them and it’s kind of becoming this really like popular service, right?

Sarah:
And so it’s getting harder and harder to stand out as a VIP day provider. And so with this new certification program, you’re gonna be able to be officially a V I P day certified expert. You know, we’ve got the whole certification program, we’re just finishing all the details, but you’ll get that certification badge that you can then use on your website and on your social media profiles and in your bio. And so it’ll just feel a lot better to be a VIP day certified expert rather than just another person selling VIP days. And so that program is launching. I’m guessing it’ll be already launched by the time you guys are hearing this. Um, so you’ll be able to find information about that on my website as well.

Bonnie:
Amazing. And for those who are tuning in, as always, we’re gonna have all of this information along with the show notes and a transcript of today’s conversation over on the website at brand strategy, podcast.com. If you go there and click on the latest episode link, you’re gonna find everything, including that incredible freebie, that checklist that Sarah has created for you, and that she’s so generously sharing. And of course, we’re gonna be sharing more about how you can connect with Sarah and how you can work with her through her program or through her certification training. So, Sarah, thank you again for coming on the show, having this conversation with me and sharing really the life changing magic of what VIP days can bring .

Sarah:
Yes. Thank you so much, Bonnie. This was such a great conversation and, um, so happy to be here. Thank you again.

Bonnie:
Absolutely. And friends who’ve been tuning in today as always incredibly grateful for you, incredibly grateful for you tuning into this episode. And I encourage you to go check out the show notes, connect with Sarah and grab that free beat. And as always, I’m gonna be cheering you on from Waco.

Bonnie:
Thank you so much for joining me today. Friends, before you go, I would be so grateful to receive your feedback on the brand strategy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or the podcast in general has helped you grow your brand. I’d really appreciate it. If you left us a review in iTunes, your positive reviews enable the brand strategy podcast to continue to grow and reach like-minded creatives. Just like you. Thank you for all your support and encouragement as together. We pursue building brands with purpose and intention until next time I’m cheering you on from Waco.

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My name is Bonnie – I’m a brand designer, strategist, and writer which all adds up to one eclectic conglomeration of qualities that enables me to serve you well! Past clients have dubbed me "the Joanna Gaines of brand design," and I've had more than a few call me a dream maker, a game changer, and a design wizard (my Harry Potter-loving heart didn't hate that one, let me tell you!). At the end of the day, I'm a big-hearted creative who will get teary-eyed as you share the heart behind your business; who will lose sleep over the perfect font pairings and color selections to bring your brand to life visually; and who will work tirelessly to empower, encourage, and equip you to share your work with the world intentionally. 

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