Is Your Side Hustle Leaving Money On The Table – Here’s How To Check

As a side hustler, I’m always looking for ways to maximize a deal and make more money but something occurred to me the other days and made me realize that even though I’m always trying to maximize profits that I could still be leaving money on the table.

The problem with this is that it may not always be easy to spot, and believe me it took me a lot of time to learn some of these things and in some cases, I learned them in very painful ways.  I’ll share more on that in just a little bit.

So if you’re not familiar with the phrase, leaving money on the table, it basically means that for every deal or sale you make there is almost always a way you could be maximizing your earning potential.

One thing I want to point out up front is that you will never get all the money off the table, because some clients could always pay more than others.  Your goal is to get as close as you can to that line as possible.

I also want to mention that I am in no way at the top of my game when it comes to this and I’m always learning how I can improve things and go to that next level.

So in this article I’m going to share some simple methods you can use to check to make sure you are not leaving money on the table.

Leaving Money On The Table The Hard Way

Recently, I learned this the hard way, a client emailed me a few weeks back and wanted to know if I could write an article for them.  I haven’t been doing much article writing for others lately because I’ve been focusing my time on more important things but I thought what the heck.

Normally when I get a writing gig it runs right away $30 but since this not something I want to focus a lot of my attention on right now I decided to up my price to $50.

A few short minutes later the client emailed me back and said no problem.  This is when I knew I wasn’t asking enough for my craft.  The question is how much more could I realistically ask for?

Could I have gotten $75 or even a $100 for writing that article?  This lead me to think how much more could I have gotten on all of the other writing gigs I’ve done.  The thought was unbearable to how much money I’ve left on the table over the years.

3 Simple Methods To See If You Are Leaving Money On The Table

As a result of this I reexamined the situation to see what I could have done differently and several things stood out to me.

#1 Start At A Higher Price Point

First, don’t be afraid to start a higher price point.   I know we all have this thought that if we charge to much for our services that it will upset clients and they won’t work with us but the thing is you don’t want every client.

What you want is the right clients and customers.  The right clients and customers will make your business grow and you’ll have more fun because they’re people you like to work with.

Setting the right price will also filter out the wrong clients and customers.  The last thing you want is a bunch of tire kickers in your business who want everything for next to nothing.  By keeping the prices higher those people will automatically filter themselves out saving your time.

Finally, starting at a higher price gives you the room to adjust if you have to.  If I would have started at $150 for an article I would have likely gotten the client at a much better price but if I start at $30 I’m already cutting myself short.

#2 Ask For More

Second, don’t be afraid to ask for more.  The thing I did right in the story above was that I asked for more.  The truth is a $30 client isn’t going to make or break me.  If I don’t get the job oh well.  The thing you have to consider is what is your time really worth.

I know in the beginning as a side hustler you want to get every job possible because you need to the money but over time you’ll find as a you get more and more clients that your time is your most valuable asset.

So why not ask for more money to compensate for that time, and if they aren’t willing to pay then you’ve just gained your time.

So the next time you’re bidding on a job give it a shot and ask for a little more, might just surprise yourself.

#3 Add An Incentive

The final way you could get more of that money off the table and into your pockets is to add an incentive to your service or product.  By adding incentives you can get them to spend more money with you.

One company that comes to mind that was great at this was McDonald’s.  In the early days before they had the number ordering system they do now people would come in and just order items individually.

However to boost profits they trained their employees to ask one simple question, would you like fries with that.  That one phrase made them millions of extra dollars a year by adding that one little incentive.

Now let me share an example of a way for you to do this with a side hustle

Say you own a web design company and you sell a package for $1000 to build a website for someone.  However you also mention to your customer for an additional $500 you’ll give them 3 months of tech support which originally goes for $1000.

You also tell them this is a one time offer which creates scarcity and you’d be surprised at how many people actually take you up on this offer.

Are You Leaving Money On The Table

Now that I’ve given you a few tactics to try in your side hustle feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.  I would love to hear how you are applying this to your business and earning more with your side hustle.

Cheers!