How to Double Your Income (Without Working Harder)

Hey, I'm so happy to be with you today. And my shout out today goes to everyone listening from a cubicle at work. Oh my gosh, my early years when I was still in a job, but I desperately wanted to start a business and I would have my little headphones at work and I'd listened to a podcast and I would dream about it being me one day. And every day, again, my boss would be like, "You really can't listen to stuff at work." And it would be like, "Ah."

So my mantra during those times, my affirmation to myself was, this is only temporary. This is only temporary. So that's my shout out for today. And I would love to see a selfie. If you were sitting in your cubicle, sneak a little selfie and you can tag me on any social media. I'm Denise DT on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And I would love to see where you're watching. Sorry, where you're listening to the podcast today. But my shout out is particularly for our cubicle bees.

All right. So today though, we are talking about how to double your income. How to double your income without burning out, without stressing yourself out. All of the things. So I have doubled my income many times, and actually the first, I'd say six years of my business, I pretty much doubled it every year. So I kind of made ... The first kind of year, I made like 60. I was at that six figure mark, not long after that. And then it was like 250, then 500. And then I went to like 750, and then I went to like 1.5 million and then 3 million. And so I've really experienced that of fast, rapid growth.

And you might not believe it's possible depending on where you're starting from, but I want to share some of the main strategies that I've used to double my income. And I think these techniques will work for you no matter where you're at in business.

So the first thing is, I'm going to share with you, this is totally a mindset game. Okay. It is a mindset game. So I was at a conference with Fabienne Frederickson who was one of my very early mentors. And she shared with me this quote, and I can't remember where it originated from, but it screwed my mind up a little bit. And it was, "I earn double the amount working half the time." And she just said, "Just look at that. And I want to see where it came up." So yeah, Fabienne, she's a brilliant leader. Check her out for sure. But I was like, "Fabienne, how would I earn twice as much working half the time?" And so the first couple of times I said it, I was like, "I work double the hours for half the money."

What? No, that's not how it's supposed to work. But I think that's where a lot of us are coming from in this conversation. That my work and my effort equals my reward in a one-to-one relationship. And this is how it would have been for your parents, right? Your parents, if they had a job, they worked an hour, they got paid an hour. If your parents were white collar workers, they billed an hour, they got paid an hour. And this is just how life has always been and work has always been. But we live in this place and time where you can really leverage your ideas. You can leverage your creativity, your imagination. And we have the tools to help us leverage that. So you could write an e-book this weekend and sell it to someone in a completely different time zone, a completely different continent to you and make money from it.

You could make money from that tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day. And so, how we live now, we can leverage those things and the work doesn't always equal the money. But, our brain hasn't quite caught up with that. We still think, "Oh, if I want to double my income, I have to double my effort. If I want to make more money, I have to see double the amount of clients." And that's not how it works.

So let me give you some tips about this. Now, as an entrepreneur, you're probably already working a lot more hours or maybe you're still in your job and you're doing your side hustle. And you're just like, "How am I going to ... [inaudible] average this at all. So let's start with some really small things you can do to really leverage your time and double your income without burnout.

Now, you are only one person. You cannot clone yourself yet. But you actually can, by outsourcing things in your business that you're not good at. You might've got to a point where you can't take on any more clients, but you can take out some of the things in your business that stress you out. Now. I actually don't necessarily think this comes in your business first. Now, you're going to resist this though. Okay. So you might think, "Oh yeah. I'd love to get someone to do my social media." But you might actually like your social media. Where you might actually have to free up some time and energy could be around your house.

So you actually might need to get a cleaner to come in and help you around your house. You might get someone in to come and do your laundry, or to get a meal delivery service. Stuff like that actually might bring some energy and help you focus on money making activities.

Now, let's look at your business though. I always start with the thing that stresses you out the most and work your way up. So bookkeeping might stress you out. But just a couple of hours a month might feel like you're really in business and free up some time for some income generating activities. Hiring a virtual assistant to take care of your emails or make sure your newsletter goes out. Stuff like that will help you focus on where the money comes in. Not on potentially procrasti-branding activities. So always start with the things that you hate first, and then use the time you're saving to do the more profitable work in your business. Now that's a really quick win, easy win, low hanging fruit stuff that you can do. It might not double your business in itself, but it might contribute to just freeing up some time and energy.

So let's look at a second tip. Work only in your zone of genius. Now, this isn't my turn. This is from the book, the big leap by Gay Hendricks. He talks about only doing the stuff that only you can do. So for me, it's showing up on podcasts, doing my calls in my Money Bootcamp community. Because I can't outsource that. I can't have like hire an actor to pretend to be me. I just can't. I can't send my husband, Mark, who's my marketing guy. I can't send him to a podcast instead of me. Yeah, I could probably get one of my friends come and do a training in my money bootcamp as a guest teacher. But really, I have to do that. But pretty much everything else can be done by someone else. Because I'm not good at a lot of stuff in my business.

I'm not good at bookkeeping. I can update my website. I can do a few things like that. But whenever I get involved in things that aren't easy for me to do and aren't in my zone of genius, I usually screw them up. And I don't do it in a good way. So I only work in my zone of genius now. And that has allowed me to double my business so many times, because I'm not sucking up my energy with things that can be done by other people or things that I'm just not that good at.

Okay. Tip number three. Increase your prices. You might resist this one, actually. But you could have the same amount of clients, but you could earn more just by increasing your prices. Chances are you are undercharging right now. Chances are you haven't increased your prices for a while. Or, even if you haven't, you could probably stand to increase them because you're probably better at what you do. You are probably getting better results for your clients. It's quicker and easier for you. And that doesn't mean you reduce your prices. It actually means that you can increase them.

So if you haven't done that for a while, then it's something you can very easily do. Again, it probably won't, by itself, double your business. But it will absolutely contribute to it. So think about if you're a little bit too cheap right now. And there is some undeniable signs on that. If you feel resentful about your clients. If you know that you're getting them really great results, and it just doesn't feel like you're compensated act like enough for that. Or sometimes a big sign actually is that you're attracting people who are pains in the butts. Just cause it's not an energetic alignment to what you're really, truly helping them do in the world.

Okay. So already this three things that I want you to do to double your income without burnout. So that number one thing is to start outsourcing things that stress you out. That's going to free up your time and energy. It also does something there about like positioning you as the CEO of your business, not the chief everything officer, chief executive officer. The boss. Number two is working only in your zone of genius. Do the things that only you can do. And you can just let go of the rest of the things. Or just don't try and be everything to everyone. And tip number three, increasing your prices. You can't build a really successful, profitable business if you're always undercharging and over-delivering.

All right, I've got another four tips on how to double your income without burnout. And I am going to take a quick break. Stay with me and we'll be right back.

Hi. My name is Joanna Shero. I am the creator and founder of Savvy Shaped Design and Savvy Template Shop. I live in Georgetown, Kentucky. I'm a graphic and web designer. I specialize in helping knowledge entrepreneur launch their courses online. I joined Money Bootcamp in 2020 when the world went crazy and shut down, but I was in a stage and wherein, I want to embrace more and empower myself more with the knowledge of money.

I have read and listened to Denise's book, and I knew that she is someone that I can resonate with and I kind of understand her process and her journey. So, since I'm joining bootcamp, my biggest thing that I've really done was to really hire an accountant to really look into more of my bookkeeping. I have set my calendar every first Saturday of the month to do my expense report using my Google sheets. So it was just so exciting to go through this process.

So if you're one of those who are thinking of joining this Money Bootcamp, I highly recommend it. It's a best investment for you. The community alone is just so amazing that you would really just love sharing all of your "aha" moments as well. And I know that as I still go through all of the process, no matter what stage I am and having Denise and the community and the lucky bees behind me, I know there's more success that I can attain.

Okay. Welcome back. I have got another couple of ideas for you on how you can double your business. As I said, each one in itself won't necessarily make the difference. Some of them will. But it's the compounding effect of putting yourself in the position of business where you don't have to be everything to everyone and you don't feel like it's only going to come from just working harder and harder.

Tip number four is to create some VIP offerings. Now, every business can add some sort of higher price offering to current customers. Maybe people who want to work more deeply with you, who want to work faster, who want to get quicker and better results. Now I'm the sort of person, I'm all about instant gratification. I hate waiting for stuff and also, I'm a really quick decision maker and I want to move my business fast.

Sometimes I will want to work with someone and they're booked out and I have to join a wait list. And I'm just so frustrated. I would pay a "get it done" fee. I would pay a "skip the queue" fee. Or I would pay to just work with them in a deeper way. So if someone's got like a year long program, I'd probably be like, "Hey, can we just do this ... Can I just come to your retreat and learn it in three days?" I'm always someone who will find the VIP option and skip the queue.

Say, for example, you run events. You could add a VIP offering into that with no extra work. People love feeling like VIP. So it's very literal in a sense, right? Cause it's like, those people might just get early entry into the conference. They might be able to get a guaranteed seat up front. Maybe give them a special badge. Maybe they have like ... I don't know, a special luncheon.

Now that might not sit well with you because you're egalitarian. You like everyone to feel the same. And that's okay. But it's something in some people that they just love feeling special. So don't discount it straight off the gate because it feels like you're being mean to someone else. It could be something that adds a lot of value to the conference. It makes people feel really, really good.

                                              However, there are other ways you can do it. So some people might, again, not want to work with you over a year. They might want to just like spend some deep, special time with you. In my business, I don't do one-to-one coaching. But a couple of times a year I'll run a retreat at my rose farm that I own. It's my family's holiday house. And so, people pay a lot more money to come and learn stuff that they could really learn from for me in my Money Bootcamp or listening to this podcast. But it's just a special, different way of working with me.

You come and spend it in a beautiful environment. You have beautiful food. And there's a premium cost attached to that. Very occasionally, I'll do a VIP day where it's just a one-on-one experience. Again, it's a high price point. Every business could offer something like that. And it's a great way to add something in that special. And that could really add that's easy and fun and enjoyable and win-win. But it can really add to that way of doubling your income without just working harder. Here's some other examples that you could do this.

                                                Say, for example, your ... I don't know. You do websites. I love this example and it takes two months to do a website. You could have a "Website in a Weekend" thing and it's three times the amount. That's cool. People should pay for things that are quicker, faster. Like my yoga teacher, she runs retreats. But I pay her to come to my house because I need that one-on-one attention. It could be something that has a faster turnaround service.

There's people like me who often leave things to the last minute. I shouldn't pay the same price if I want it tomorrow, I should pay a premium price, a turn around price, a VIP price. And, as I said, it makes me feel like it's a bit more special. If you create products, you could do a bespoke one. There's a lot of different ways you could create something that's special and VIP. So have a little brainstorm around that. And obviously, I love hearing people's ideas. You can always reach out to me on social media. I'm at Denise DT everywhere. I want to hear what some of those VIP things you could do.

Someone might not ever buy it, but you could really have fun creating it and putting it on your website as your offering. Someone will see it and be so excited about that. And sometimes it's even just great part of your marketing and branding yourself as someone who has that VIP option.

Okay. Tip number five is to really get clear and honest on how you spend your time and focus on income producing activities first. This is a great way to double your income without working more. Because often when you're really focused on the money, some of the other stuff just falls away and it will go out without working harder. Because you're probably already spending a lot of time anyway. And I would say that since having kids, my income, I think, doubled for every baby I had because I had to be so brutal with my time. I couldn't procrastinate as much. I wasn't willing to have people pick my brain. I really looked at speaking gigs and went, "I'm not going to do it if it's for free, cause it's going to be away from my family."

So sometimes when you're a bit more brutal with your time and energy, you'll naturally start to weigh up how much you'll get from something versus the time that you put into it. Now, you could do a time diary for that. Or you can just have some better boundaries around how your clients contact you for example. Or when you're available. So, one thing I did around that was instead of having a million different slots that people could book in with me back when I did coaching, I just took Fridays and Mondays off my calendar. I made the time work for me. So I could batch days where I had all my clients in one day. And yeah, you'll get a bit of pushback on this if people are used to you being available day, night, whatever. But if you had those boundaries around your time around that, that's really going to help you to double your income, not just double the amount of time that you spend in your business. So everyone can do this. Just get really real on how much income producing activity you're doing in a day, in a week, in a month.

All right, tip number six. If you really want to double your income, but you don't really want to increase your prices. You don't want to work more. You're struggling with a few of the other tips, create a passive income stream, even if it's really, really small and starting with an ebook that costs $10 for people. Start with something that people can buy from you right now.

If I went to your website, could I buy something from you that's going to help me change my life? I have bought all sorts of passive income stuff. I remember when I first had my baby and I was thinking about how to be more efficient with meal batching, even though now I just outsource that. I remember I bought a $30 ebook from somebody and it was how to prepare a month's worth of freezer meals. And this is something that you might be discounting some of the work you do is, "Oh, I can't put this in a book." Or "Everyone knows how to do this." This is a really great way to double your income. But without working harder, is to find different ways that people can work with you without it being your personal time and attention. And there's so many different ways you can do this.

Almost every business can create some sort of passive income stream, either by teaching what you know, teaching the process of your business, or the work that you would normally do. You can add a DIY version for your clients. You might think it cannibalizes that work, but it doesn't. Some people will buy that and go, "Oh, I really want to work with them. Oh, I'll just get her to help me with it." Or it will just get them even more excited about working with you.

All right, last tip on how to double your income without burnout. Some of these tips, you might just go, "Oh, I just don't know how I'm going to implement it." Nothing really works without this final tip. And that is giving yourself permission. Give yourself permission to earn more without working harder. Think about what Fabienne Frederickson said to me all those years ago, "I earn twice as much working half the time."

I even have to think about it as I say it. "I earn twice as much working half the time. It is a mindset game. You have to give yourself permission to not have to burn yourself out. You have to give yourself permission to profit from your natural skills and talents. Things that feel easy for you. You have to give yourself permission to double your income without working twice as hard. You have to give yourself permission, even if other people are working hard. It's allowed to be easy. You're allowed to 10X your business if you want. You're allowed to earn 10%, 20% quadruple your income. Any of those things, it's allowed to be easy. And of course, this is my zone of genius. I can help you with the mindset piece. This is what I do. So my books ... I think the book to really like dig deep on your money blocks is Get Rich, Lucky Bitch. We talk a lot about these kinds of mindset blocks.

If you've already read all of my books and you're wondering what's next, come and join my money boot camp. You'll see so many examples of people who are earning money in really fun, easy ways. And that's what I want for you, as well. We want it to be easy, we want it to be fun. We want it to be profitable without burning you out.

So just a really quick recap on those seven ways to double your income. Remember, number one is to outsource things that you're not good at. To leverage your time. To kind of clone yourself. Number two, work only new zone of genius. Things that you can't outsource, that's it. Otherwise, it doesn't get done. Tip number three, increase your prices. Tip number four, think about how you can create some VIP offerings to really leverage that time you spend to earn more for every things that you do in your business. Tip number five, monitor your time so you're really working on those income producing activities. Number six, create some form of passive income. And number seven, give yourself permission. That's going to be the most important thing. Okay, gorgeous. I believe in you. I hope that's given you some thoughts to go on with and I will see you after the break.

Hi Denise. My name's Dale Potts and I'm a business and career coach. I read Chillpreneur as part of my library of your books and community, which I've been part of for about three years. Now. Two things that really stood out for me were the super-helpful action guide and the business tracker. The action guide also included the link to the money personality quiz, where I came out as a ruler. I really love this, as it confirmed my deepest wish. That I'm here to innovate, achieve, and empower wealth with grace and ease. My biggest turnaround is that it's safe for me to make money by being chilled. I highly recommend all of Denise's books. They're practical, fun, and real. I love them. Thanks for everything, Denise. You really are the queen bee.

Hey, lucky Bees. I'm Dr. Erin Weisman. I live in the middle of nowhere, Indiana, and I'm a life coach for high achieving alpha females. I read Get Rich, Lucky Bitch in 2019 and Chillpreneur in 2020. Loved it so much that I made a book club with my fellow coach friends. We got so much out of it. Not only just getting together and having connection, but the tips that the Queen Bee Denise gave us through that book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is feeling exhausted and overwhelmed in her business. You can have a chillpreneur life.

Hey. Welcome back. And here is my final thought for today. So, people often ask me how I resist being a creative entrepreneur and getting distracted about stuff. And I totally do all the time. I have ideas pop up. I think about things in the middle of the night and I feel like I have to do them. And so, one motto for me always brings it back and it is, "All roads lead to bootcamp." You might've heard me say this a million times, but it really can't be emphasized enough about having something like this that acts as a pattern interrupter every time you go off on a tangent or you chase down a shiny object. And so for me, that means all roads lead to my money boot camp.

                                                So I actually try not to tinker too much with my money bootcamp, but it gives me a lot of freedom to create whatever I want, as long as all roads lead to bootcamp eventually. And so there were a lot of different ways and paths I could have gone in, even in this podcast or things that I talk about on my blog or things that I write about. But for me, as long as it leads to boot camp, then it's in scope and I can do it. So maybe try it for yourself. Maybe it is, all roads lead to my coaching program. All roads lead to my book. All roads lead to whatever your hero product is. And try that when it comes to your marketing and see how maybe you're trying to solve everything, fit everybody, or you're trying to be everything for everyone. And it really helps for me. It's something that keeps me on track.

Every time I do a planning session with my business coach and we do it quarterly, I'll be like, "I want to do this, this and this, this and this." And it's like, all roads lead to Money Bootcamp. And it's so easy then to decide what I can and can't do. So, maybe that will help. And I would love to hear from you if that's helpful. So yeah, you can reach out to me at Denise D T. I'm always keen to hear how things help or if it doesn't help at all. And you want to argue with me. That's totally cool, too. I welcome it all. All right, beautiful. Go forth. It's your time to chill and prosper peace out for me and I'll see you on the next episode. Bye.