Episode 44

Charging $10K Is Scaring Off the Clients Ready to Pay You $50K (Why Most Experts Undercharge)

November 4, 2026 · 48 min

ai and systems

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The Short Answer

Most consultants give away their highest value for free, price themselves into the wrong market, and end up treated like employees instead of strategic partners. Ann Carden's model is simple: package your expertise into a $50,000 gateway offer, position yourself as the expert, and build a million-dollar business with a handful of clients instead of burning out on volume.

What You'll Take Away

Charging $10,000 for an offer repels the buyers who would have paid $50,000, because premium clients read low pricing as a signal that you are not a strategic partner.
The strategy most consultants give away to land clients is worth $50,000 to $100,000 as a standalone offer.
One of Ann's clients turned a $52,000 strategy engagement into $413,000 in revenue in a year by positioning herself as a strategic adviser instead of an extra pair of hands.
Most consultants trade time for money and get treated like employees in their own businesses, which caps both income and leverage.
A gateway expert offer, packaged strategy, audit, or assessment, opens the door to six-figure backend deals without requiring you to give away your expertise upfront.
Only 6% of the coaching and consulting industry makes over $100,000 a year, despite the market hitting over a trillion dollars in value.
Kayvon ran an agency that hit million-dollar months with no profit, then rebuilt it to $2 million a month with four clients by moving to premium pricing and selective client intake.

The Breakdown

Why Low Pricing Repels the Best Buyers

A consultant sits inside a client's company for a few thousand dollars a month, gets treated like an employee, and wonders why the money never matches the work. Then she walks in with a $52,000 strategy engagement, and by the end of the year that same client has paid her $413,000. That is the story Ann Carden tells in this conversation.

Ann is the founder and CEO of Expert In You, where she helps consultants, coaches, and agency owners build premium offers of $50,000 and up. She has sold five businesses, including health clubs, weight loss centers, and a doll craft company. Before she taught premium pricing, she lived the problem: running a coaching business where clients made a lot of money and she made nothing.

I shared my side: an agency that hit million-dollar months with no profit, the move to four clients and $2 million a month, and the red flags that made me turn down a $20,000 deal. Together we worked through the gateway offer, which turns the strategy most experts give away for free into a paid entry point.

Ann's framing is blunt: the price on the offer decides who reaches your calendar. Most consultants price low enough that buyers with real budgets read the number and leave before the first call. One of her clients was quoting $10,000 for work that was worth $50,000. Ann stopped her, repositioned the offer, and the client closed a six-figure deal with the same buyer. The client later said that if she had charged $10,000, they would not have taken her seriously and would have run.

The Three Ways Experts Leave Money on the Table

Ann sees the same pattern across consultants, coaches, fractional executives, and agency owners. They give away their highest value on the front end to land a client on the back end. The strategy, your years of experience, your ability to see what the client cannot see, your frameworks, is the offer. It is not the sales call. It is not the lead magnet. It is the thing worth $50,000 to $100,000 by itself.

The second pattern is positioning. Most consultants are the extra pair of hands. They sit inside the client's company, execute tasks, and get treated like an employee. Ann teaches her clients to become strategic partners: the person brought in for their brain, their knowledge, their experience, because they see the business with a different lens. That shift changes the conversation from hourly rates to retainer deals and backend upsells.

The third is the gateway offer. Ann calls it the expert gateway offer. It is the thing you can sell over and over again, the rinse-and-repeat model that opens the door to bigger deals. For one client it was a $52,000 strategy engagement. For another it was an IT assessment that turned into a managed services contract. For a third it was a manufacturing efficiency audit that led to implementation work. The structure is the same: package your expertise, name it, position it as the result the client wants, and price it where the buyers with real budgets live.

The Client Who Turned $52K Into $413K

Ann was on a podcast, talking about how consultants give away their highest value for free. The host, an agency owner who did social media, heard the argument and reached out. She said she saw problems in the businesses she worked with, problems with their marketing teams, their sales teams, their positioning, but she was not being paid to solve them. She wanted to create an offer.

Ann asked what she was brilliant at. The client described her ability to see what was broken in a company's go-to-market motion and fix it. They built a $52,000 offer around that expertise. It was not a done-for-you service. It was her brain. The client went back to a company that was already paying her a few thousand dollars a month for social media and presented the new offer. The company said they did not even know she could do that work. They bought in immediately.

In the first thirty days the client started working with their teams, showing them what needed to change. The company was so impressed they asked her to take over their entire marketing function. The $52,000 engagement became a $413,000 deal. The client told Ann she had no idea she could build a million-dollar business doing what she was already doing. She did not have to give up the agency. She already had the team in place. The gateway offer opened the door to something transformational.

I see people being the extra pair of hands. They are consultants, for example. They're trading their time for dollars and they're letting companies treat them like an employee.

Ann Carden

How to Build a Gateway Offer

Ann works with three types of offers. The first is something the client is already doing but not charging for. Most consultants give away assessments, audits, strategy sessions, or roadmaps to prove their value. Ann packages those as paid offers. An IT consultant gives away the assessment to land managed services. Ann sells the assessment for $30,000 and then sells the managed services on the backend.

The second is a brand new offer built from expertise the client already has but has not monetized. A marketing consultant knows how to fix webinars. A leadership coach knows how to build high-performance teams. A fractional CFO knows how to design a financial roadmap for a company raising capital. Those are all $50,000 to $100,000 offers. The consultant just has not named them, positioned them, or sold them.

The third is a strategic advisory offer. The client goes into a company with an extra set of eyes, identifies the gaps, and designs a blueprint or roadmap. That is the gateway. The implementation is the backend. Ann worked with a manufacturing consultant who had an international background in efficiency. They built an offer where he would assess a plant, show them where they were losing money, and then sell the implementation work. The assessment alone was worth $50,000 because fixing one or two things would make the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Every offer gets a proprietary name. Ann's first million-dollar offer was called Body Blast, a thirty-day fitness and nutrition programme she built twenty-five years ago. She teaches her clients to name their offers so the result is clear and the positioning is unique. Expert In You. Million Dollar Leap. The name tells the buyer what they are getting before the sales call starts.

Why Consultants Undercharge

Ann takes her clients through a process when they doubt they can charge $50,000 or $100,000. She asks how many years it took them to build their expertise. How much money they spent on education. How many years they worked in their industry learning what they know. Then she asks about a result they got for a past client. One of her clients had a PhD in leadership. He helped a guy triple his income from $100,000 to $300,000. Ann asked if universities and tech teams had budgets for someone like him. He said yes. She asked what would make him think he could not sell a $60,000 upfront offer.

The issue is identity. You cannot outsell your identity. You cannot outearn your identity. You cannot outconsult your identity. Most experts price themselves into the wrong market because they do not see their own value. Ann holds a mirror up to them. She shows them the years, the results, the expertise, the budgets that already exist in the market. Then she helps them position themselves so the buyer sees what they see.

I shared my own version of this. I ran an agency where we did million-dollar months and I would not see a dollar. I had thirty clients, a team I was constantly managing, and no profit. I rebuilt the business to $2 million a month with four clients. The difference was premium pricing and selective client intake. I turned down a $20,000 deal the other day because the way the buyer was asking about the contract was a red flag. Premium clients do not pick apart the agreement. They ask what the investment is, say yes, and then ask how it works.

Anne, if I would have charged them the 10, they wouldn't have taken me seriously, and they would have run.

Ann Carden

Positioning as a Strategic Partner

Ann asks her clients if they are an extra pair of hands or a strategic partner. Most consultants are the extra pair of hands. They trade time for money. They sit inside the client's company and execute tasks. They get treated like employees in their own business. The client sees them as a resource, not an adviser.

A strategic partner is brought in for their brain. The client wants their knowledge, their experience, their ability to see the business with a different lens. They do not want another employee. They want someone who can identify the gaps, design the roadmap, and show them what they cannot see themselves. That positioning changes the pricing conversation. An extra pair of hands charges by the hour. A strategic partner charges $50,000 for the strategy and $100,000 for the implementation.

Ann worked with a client who had a media company and was killing himself networking, trying to land clients. He was piecemealing his business, wrecking his health, his marriage, his life. Ann helped him package a $30,000 branding offer. They niched him, positioned him as the expert in his market, and his business exploded. He grew 500%, made more money than he had ever made, and got over twenty hours a week back into his life. The business kept getting better as he grew.

The Pitch Most Consultants Miss

I asked Ann for her pitch. She said she helps people who are really experts at what they do level up their business, get into the top 1%, and work with premium, really high-end clients to build a million-dollar or beyond business with just a handful of clients. I told her that was great, but everyone talks like that. I am a big fan of the wow statement. Did you know. As a result of. A number that stops the conversation and opens the door.

Ann said only 6% of the coaching and consulting industry makes over $100,000 a year, despite the market hitting over a trillion dollars in value. That is the wow statement. Did you know the coaching and service industry just hit a trillion dollars, and only 6% of the population makes over $100,000 a year? What I do is I show coaches and consultants how to charge premium pricing with premium offers so they can be in the top 6%. The next question is always, how do you do that? And that is how you open the conversation.

What I Take From This

I have lived both sides of this. The agency that hit million-dollar months with no profit. The rebuild to $2 million a month with four clients. The moment I realized that in order to be effective, you have to be selective. Client selection is everything. The wrong client can destroy your company, bring down the entire house.

What Ann teaches is not complicated. Package your expertise. Stop giving away your highest value. Position yourself as a strategic partner, not an extra pair of hand. Build a gateway offer that opens the door to six-figure backend deals. Name it. Price it where the buyers with real budgets live. And understand that charging $10,000 is scaring off the clients who would have paid you $50,000.

The operators who get this right are not working harder. They are working with fewer clients, better clients, clients who trust them, implement what they say, and pay them what they are worth. That is the model. That is the leap. And if you are a consultant, coach, fractional executive, or agency owner who already delivers results and is priced below them, this conversation is for you.

Questions This Episode Answers

Why does charging $10,000 scare off clients who would pay $50,000?

Premium clients read low pricing as a signal that you are not a strategic partner. When a consultant quotes $10,000 for work that is worth $50,000, the buyer assumes the consultant is an extra pair of hands, not someone brought in for their brain. Buyers with real budgets expect pricing that reflects expertise, and underpricing repels them before the first call.

What is a gateway expert offer?

A gateway expert offer is a standalone, high-value service that opens the door to larger backend deals. It is typically the strategy, audit, or assessment that most consultants give away for free. Examples include a $52,000 strategy engagement, a $30,000 IT assessment, or a $50,000 manufacturing efficiency audit. The gateway offer is priced at $25,000 to $100,000 and designed to be sold repeatedly.

How do consultants position themselves as strategic partners instead of extra hands?

Strategic partners are brought in for their knowledge, experience, and ability to see the business with a different lens. They do not execute tasks like an employee. They identify gaps, design roadmaps, and deliver expertise the client cannot access internally. Positioning as a strategic partner requires packaging your expertise into a named offer, pricing it appropriately, and working with clients who value your brain over your time.

What percentage of consultants and coaches make over $100,000 a year?

Only 6% of the coaching and consulting industry makes over $100,000 a year, despite the market hitting over a trillion dollars in value. Most consultants trade time for money, give away their highest value, and price themselves into the wrong market.

How does a consultant build a million-dollar business with a handful of clients?

A consultant builds a million-dollar business by creating a $50,000 to $100,000 gateway offer, selling it to five to twenty clients, and positioning themselves as a strategic partner. The model relies on premium pricing, selective client intake, and backend upsells. One of Ann Carden's clients turned a $52,000 strategy engagement into $413,000 in a year by delivering results in the first thirty days and selling the full implementation.

What is the biggest mistake consultants make when pricing their services?

The biggest mistake is giving away the strategy for free to land a client on the backend. The strategy, your years of experience, your ability to see what the client cannot see, is worth $50,000 to $100,000 by itself. Consultants who give it away on the front end position themselves as low-value and attract clients who do not respect their expertise.

Full Transcript9,703 words

Kayvon Kay0:00A consultant sits inside a client's company for a few thousand dollars a month, gets treated like an employee, and wonders why the money never matches the work. Then she walks in with a $52,000 strategy engagement, and by the end of the year, that same client has paid her $413,000. That's the story Ann Carden tells in this conversation. She's the founder and CEO of Expert in You. She has sold five businesses, and she knows exactly why the best experts get paid the least. This is From The Vault, our series bringing back the best conversations from season one, the ones that challenged how we think and pushed us to ask better questions about what it takes to grow, lead, and build something meaningful. If you've been here since day one, this one earns a second listen. If you're just finding the show, start here. Ann breaks down how to build a $50,000 offer from expertise you already have, why quoting 10,000 cost you the clients who would have paid 50, and I share what I learned running an agency that hit million dollar months. This is The Vault. Let's unlock it.

Kayvon Kay1:16Today, I'm excited. We have Anne Carden from Million Dollar Leap. Million Dollar Leap. I wanna know what the leap is, Anne. How are we doing today?

Ann Carden1:27Or more. Let's just say or more. Or more. She says. Or more. I love it. Kvon, thanks so much. It's great to be here with you. Yeah. It's fantastic.

Kayvon Kay1:37I I I know we're talking a little bit before, and I'm just... I'm really excited to kinda dig in and understand more of what you're doing. So for for the audience, people listening right now, just so we can get on the seventh page, tell us a little bit who is Anne? What does Anne do? How did she get to this point? Yeah. So,

Ann Carden1:55Anne is... This is my sixth and seventh business. I've sold five previous businesses that I built. So today, I mainly help professional entrepreneurs, service owned... Service based businesses that really want to play in the premium market. They want to build their business with a handful of clients, make that million dollar leap with a handful of clients. That might be five, that might be two, that might be 10, that might be 20, but it's a very different model from what a lot of people are out there teaching. And I help be doing that with them. I also have to help them look like the expert, and they deserve the premium fees that they're they're wanting. So everything from offer creation business model to scaling that and messaging, marketing, positioning,

Kayvon Kay2:39sales, all of it. I love it. And you said million dollar a week, not million dollar a month. You said get people doing a million dollar a week with a handful of clients in the service based business. This is why I'm excited. This is my world. This is all we... You know, this is what I've been doing for the net... Last ten years. So I'm excited just to... A deep... Really deep dive into all of this. How how did you stumble upon this? Like, tell you, let's take a little step. You said you sold businesses. Mhmm.

Ann Carden3:04Know, how do we get to this point? Let's just learn a little bit more about your background and history. So in my second business, it started as a fitness business that grew into a large health club. And back then... Well, first of all, if I go back to my corporate career, I was always in a luxury market. I I was in business management for high end retailers, And I would have the fur department and the cosmetic department in really high end department stores and multimillion dollar departments. And I I guess subconsciously, I kind of gravitated to that whole luxury thing. But when I got into my second business with fitness, and when we started building on that, I quickly realized I wasn't making the money I wanted with just like charging like gym fees. At that time, I was very small. I was just teaching fitness classes in a community hall. It was, you know, my next thing. And I realized, wow, I'm not going to make a lot of money like this, but I was also helping people with nutrition. So now I want to just say this was twenty five years ago, right? So nutrition and fitness and all that was not on every corner. It wasn't like it is today. And I came up with an idea for an offer that would put both of those things together, and it would be like a thirty day. I called it body blast. It was a thirty day program, and it became a million dollar offer for me way back when. And as as my clubs grew, I always played in the premium market. So everything that I did was on the high end. We were the highest club. We... I had the doctors and the lawyers and the business people. Pricing. Yes. And we even had back then almost a $12,000 offer, a gym offer, which was

Kayvon Kay4:43literally unheard of. Yeah. When we say back then, are we talking, like, pre funnels back then? Are we talking to Twenty five years ago. Yeah. Twenty years ago. Okay. So I I... We're talking to an here.

Ann Carden4:55Twenty five years ago, we're talking about someone doing offers. Like, this was print on paper copy. Yeah. This was... This is before Internet almost. I had to run ads the old fashioned way. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Ads and newspaper and all. Yeah. I... I'm definitely one of the one of the originals. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So... But we had we had an offer that was almost $12,000, and we sold it. And it included nutrition nutrition and and fitness fitness and some training and all of that, but that was just not even a thing back then. It was almost... And so the people that bought into that were the wealthier people. Yeah. And so I learned that model when I first... So I I built two health clubs, two weight loss centers, sold all of those. I had a business before that, that actually did go global. It was a doll craft business. It went global before the internet. And that happened because I was kind of running a manufacturing company out of my home. And that went global because I was advertising in international magazines. And so I was shipping all over the world. And so that was that whole thing. So five businesses in my last two businesses, I worked with a business coach and it was so impactful. I thought, Oh my gosh, I could do this with other people. Like I could take all my years of experience and knowledge and everything. I was really deep into marketing and learning marketing. And I had been doing sales since I was a kid. I thought I could teach other people. But when I came into the coaching space, I didn't really know anybody at that time. Again, this was almost fifteen years ago. I didn't know anyone that could really teach me how to sort of build out the coaching business. So I just did what I knew to do. And I went to business owners and said, hey. Let me coach you. Let me see if I can do this. And I got them incredible results except guess who wasn't making any money. Well, I know exactly who was not making money. Yep. Yep. They were making a lot of money. Audience. Just in case they didn't pick it up. Right? Anne wasn't. I was not. Yeah. AKA building everyone else's brand, watching everyone else get rich, and you were getting nothing from it. I was getting nothing. And and so it was... I was very frustrated. So I bought into a coaching organization thinking, okay. I need all the bells and whistles, and I need I need the thing. Right? They have the thing. And only to find out it was bringing me the wrong clients. It was bringing me low value clients. It was bringing me people that didn't... I wanted their success more than they did. So that didn't work so well. Victim. Yeah. And I I had literally almost left that business. I thought this is... And also I was working locally with people and I thought this is not what I wanted. I... I'm not loving this. I'm not fulfilled. The people I'm working with, I can't even use my expertise because they're not ready for it. They're... You know? And so all of that happened. And as a result... I could... Call it energy drainers. Yes. Yes. And so I thought this isn't what I wanted. And I took a step back and I said, what is wrong here? What... I know how to build businesses. What is going on? What am I not doing that I know to do that I've been successful at in everything I've ever done? And it came back to premium. You're not selling premium. You're selling yourself for nothing. You're giving away your time and your expertise, your years of experience for nothing.

Kayvon Kay8:06Yeah. I do wanna ask question because premium is all in the mind of the closer, as I say. Premium is all in the mind of the of the subject. So when you say premium, I know what premium is to me and my industry. I know what your premium, I'm assuming, is much different than mine. So when we say premium, what... And we say services, let's just say. Mhmm. What are we... And we're talking about million dollar weeks here. Right? Like, what are the costs or the... We're talking about ranges of some of the services that you help your clients get to. Well, first of all, I wanna ask you, what is premium in your world? I'm curious. I love it. One salesperson. Flip it around. Well, I... It might just from the market that I live in, we we say premium starts at 10, $10.10 k and above. So we're talking about 10 to 50 k offers. Mhmm. Anything over, like, 100 k offers, you just... We just call them. I just call them 6, you know, 6 figure offers, which are obviously premium. It was... It's interesting because I wanted to get here, and we we kind of got here is... I was hoping to get there differently is why I love premium, and I'm sure you've learned this. And with my background in sales and what we teach is it is easier Yes. To sell a 50,000, a $100,000 offer than it is to sell a $2,000 offer. Most people don't get that. They don't get it. And the problem is a $2,000 offer is easier to sell than a $200 offer because a $200 buyer has $200 problems. A $100,000 buyer has a $100,000 problems. And you know what they don't have? Is a $100,000 problem. They got million dollar problems. So that's why I love premium. I was taught premium myself when I was younger, like, stay premium, and I've always been like that. I've never Mhmm. Ran sales team selling $50 widgets. It just... It... It's not worth it. But, I love to hear your premium because I know we're talking north

Ann Carden9:58of 6 figures, I'm assuming. Yeah. So, typically, when I think of premium, the the rock bottom side for most of my clients is gonna be 25 or 30 k. If DK is gonna be a pretty rinse and repeat offer for them, 6 figures is going to be rinse and repeat, but even helping them get into multiple 6 figures. So Yeah. You know, a client of mine closed a $413,000 client. And she said, I never really thought about making a million dollars with this side of my business because I... And I can tell you what we did with her. But, she said, but now I realize that's like two clients. So that's what we're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. And, again, what is... Look. We're talking about quality of life. So not not to make this about me, but I think it's really important. I had this problem in my own agency.

Kayvon Kay10:42So I had an agent there, and I shut it I shut it down because I was burnt burning up. I had an agency where I was bringing on more clients. Mhmm. And the more clients I had to bring on, I had to bring on more headaches, more employees, more help, more people, and the revenue... And this is in my industry, real industry. We talk bottom line, but mine all says, you know, revenue. So Mhmm. My revenue was skyrocketing. My profits profits were, like, plummeting. I mean, it was, like, there was months where I... We do million dollar months, and I wouldn't even see a dollar. Yeah. Right? And I... This is this is crazy. Fast forward, we do $2,000,000 months. Yeah. And I have four clients. Yes. I don't have 30 clients. Very different. Yes. And it and it... So I love... This is why I love premium pricing. I love all of this. I wanna get... I wanna hear what you did to the... With this per... There's so much I wanna unpack here. So... But I wanna get back to your... So you were you were seeing... You were being a business coach, and you were seeing what it was to charge a low dollar. Yeah. And then you asked the big question, what what do I know? Mhmm. What am I doing that I shouldn't be doing? Right. And what am I not doing that I should be doing? And what it was from what I'm gathering was I'm not dealing with the a players, and I'm not charging a player pricing. Right. I actually hired an online business coach. I kinda came online at that time Yeah. When I hired an online business coach. And she said, if you don't have a $50,000

Ann Carden12:06offer, you can't sell it. And that was the first time I had been exposed to that. I thought, what would I sell for $50,000? Like, I didn't get it. Again, this was fifteen years ago, and I had no idea I would be... That would be a really rinse and repeat offer for a lot of my clients. And so that opened my mind and I'm always someone that says, when I see somebody say something like that, or I'll hear somebody say, I've had a million dollar hour. I'm like, I wanna know how you had a million dollar hour. Right? Yeah. So I'm always like, okay. How can I do that? Not can I do that? A lot of people are like, how... You know, they're like, can I do that? Can I do that? Or I can't do that. They're not down that road. Even if they say, can I do that? They never will because they don't have the identity to assume that they're even capable and and worthy of such a thing. Right. And we can go deep down. I'm sure you deal with that. So so when I really kind of, you know, like, opened my mind and I thought, okay. I'm not I'm not going premium. I'm not working with the best clients here. I'm not even getting to utilize my skills. That's where my expert in you brand came from. I'm like, so I was in a coaching organization and a lot of the business coaches were struggling. They were using their cookie cutter system. I was trying to use it. It wasn't working for me. That's when I took a step back and I thought, okay, Anne, are you really working around your expertise? Are you trying to use their stuff, their system, which isn't really your wheelhouse, to be honest. It's not like there wasn't value in it, but it wasn't it wasn't my expertise. Wasn't your value. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't. So I I said, no, you need to build around what you really know. And that when I did that and I really got into a market... It kind of funny, though. I got into a market that I didn't have any experience in, but somebody just gave me a shot. It was a contractor. It was a roofing company. He was running a multimillion dollar roofing company. And he's... When we had a conversation, he goes, I believe you can help me. And I started working with him, and then he just started referring business to me. And I ended up in the contractor trades industry Okay. For a very long time coaching, and my business just blew up. But I also was getting now paid those high dollars that I... You know, another thing. No. Like, get into a market where there's money. Right? Yes. Yeah. But I... But I... The... It was so minimal still compared to the leaps that I was helping them make in their business. And and not just in the money, Kvon, also changing their life, like them getting their lives back, getting hours back. I I remember he was working a hundred... Over a hundred hours a week. He was exhausted. He had no time. When we got everything in place, and at that time, it wasn't really around offers and everything. I was helping him in his business. Yeah. And when we got the systems and things in place, he got his life back. He started taking mission trips. He was golfing. He and then he got... He actually, got an offer to buy out his business for three... Almost three times the valuation. So it was it was crazy.

Kayvon Kay15:04We're gonna take a short break to thank today's partners.

Kayvon Kay15:07Let's be honest. Most people spend more time researching a new laptop than they do researching their own investments. That is a mistake. If you're a business owner, investor, or someone who follows markets because you wanna understand where the economy is headed, you need good information, not more noise. That's why I wanna tell you about Weiss Ratings Plus. Weiss provides independent ratings and research across stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, banks, and more, helping investors evaluate opportunities using data instead of hype. If you're looking for a smarter way to research investments and make more informed financial decisions, Weiss Rating Plus is worth a look. Go to weissvault.com and learn more today. That's weissvault.com. It's so funny. It's... I've seen it so many times. You hold on. You burn out. Yeah. Mhmm. And then you... There comes a moment where the business owner of any business just takes the step back for a sec, breeze Yes. And just ask those better questions. Like, how can I do this in less time with more impact? Wait

Ann Carden16:12and or hire the expert, and then let all the... You know, it it works out. Yeah. And I wasn't real good at pitching myself. He didn't really know what I could do with him, but I knew that I could help him, and I just... He he knew me enough to know

Kayvon Kay16:26that I wouldn't, you know, just take his money. Right? That I would really help him. So So how do we... Okay. So now, like, just so I have a better understanding, who's your ideal client right now? Like, who do you work with? I I... Service based businesses, online, offline, what type of services? Online,

Ann Carden16:41but a lot of consultants that might be doing a lot of things offline, but I wanna help them bring it online as much as they can and leverage their time. So teaching them systems that can now... And also a lot of them are doing all the offline work. Maybe they're going into companies or they're... They are, you know, going into the businesses very much like I was, but they haven't done anything like they're not in a place to scale because they're trading time for money and they don't have offers in place that can help them scale and then learning how to do that online or making like bigger leverage plays. So though... The people I work with now are experts.

Kayvon Kay17:21They just need a different... They need to level up their game. They should be getting paid more. They should be seen as better, all the What type, like, what type of expert are we talking? Like like, I'm... I I think I have an idea. Like, these are business coaches. These are leadership coaches. These are just, you know, consultants going into corporations and and helping to to make corp... You know, whatever the job is. Is is that correct? Or types a lot of marketing consultants, honestly. Wow. And sales consultants. People that... Yeah. People that that Isn't it interesting how the marketing consultant needs the marketing consultant?

Ann Carden17:59Yeah.

Kayvon Kay18:00And it's interesting because I see it all the time. And it's... And I would say this, it's harder to market and sell your own product than it is other people because you get you get too attached. There's so many multiple facets there. But, also, I bring things to the table that they maybe don't know or don't do. So they might have one thing that... They might have something that they're selling in their agency.

Ann Carden18:22I think about one of my clients. This is this is... Was years ago, but he had he had a media company, and he was killing himself networking. He was in my local market, but... And that's how I met him. But he was killing himself out there networking, trying to... And he was piecemealing his business. Like, didn't have real structured offers, And he was literally just... Was wrecking his health, his marriage, like all these things. I helped him package. Now, again, this was years ago. He was probably one of my first clients that I helped package a 30 ks offer. Now this was probably thirteen years ago. So at that time that was fairly high and it was kind of a branding offer. We niched him and his business exploded. I mean, 500%, he was making so much money, but more than that, he also got his life back. He got his health back. He got, over 20 a week back into his life, and then it kept getting better as he was growing. So that was... So a lot of times they don't know the business side of it. A lot of marketers are great marketers, but they don't know the business side of it. I come with all of it. I come with the business, the marketing, and the sales plays, with... So I like to say I'm an a to z. So I'm not really a one trick pony because I've done it all for forty something years. So

Kayvon Kay19:40No. I love it. So I want to get into it because I know we talked a little bit before. I'm like, it's all great. I want to know how. Like, what is it you do? What like... Number one, helping people create what I'm going to say on average is a $50,000 offer. Mhmm. Right? So is there a specific offer you know that works, or is it more understanding the nuance of the the client you're working with and then putting in your systems and all of that? Mhmm. I wanna know... I wanna go deep here and go, like, prove prove to the people listening, like, how you do this. Like, what is it you're doing? And I and I will add this so then I can let you riff is we'll get... It's it's one thing to have the offer. How do you not convince, but get the... Your client to believe that they're worthy of that offer so when they're pitching and selling it, they have more conviction and the clarity so people actually buy and believe it? Yeah. That's such a great question. First of all, most of the people when they come to me because of the marketing I have out there,

Ann Carden20:47they already have probably seen me or heard me, and they already know in their gut, like, they love what they're hearing. So I'll give you... I will... Let's talk about the the client that sold the $413,000 deal. Love it. Yeah. Okay. She was an agency owner, did social media. She already had a client. This is what's so crazy about this, and this is what I help people do. It's like, let's tap your warm market, the low hanging fruit. Right? So I was on her podcast and she heard me talking about this and she... We get off and she said, we had to talk. She said, I know because one of the things I talk about is so often, Kvon, that people are giving away their highest value. Here's an example. You are trying to land a client on the back end and you're giving away the strategy on the front end. Your strategy is your biggest value. Like, why would you give that away? That is a 50 k, a 100 k offer just by itself. So I was talking about this and and the other thing is I see people being the extra pair of hands. They are consultants, for example. They're trading their time for dollars and they're letting companies treat them like an employee. And they have a business, but they're treated like an employee in their own company and their own business. So I talk about, are you an extra pair of hands? Is that how you're treated? Or are you a strategic partner? Are you a strategic adviser? Do people bring you in for your brain, for your knowledge, for your experience because you've got wisdom and strategy and things that they don't know. You're looking at it with a different lens. Right? But so many people don't even think like that. And so I'm talking about this. And so she said, I want... She said, I see problems in the businesses that we're doing social media for. She said they have problems with their marketing team, with their sales team. She said, and she was really brilliant at stuff. And when she started sharing with me all the things she said, I want to be, I love what you said about being a trusted partner, like not doing all this stuff. So she said, I want to create an offer. So we came up with a $52,000 offer for her. She went back to... That she she wanted to actually go back and present to a client that was paying her monthly for her services. Can we talk about a little bit, like, what was in that all? Like, what would be in a $50,000 offer? Just some of the deliverables. All it was was her strategy. Like, was just her brain. That was it. But the way we laid out the offer, it was so clear. They're like, we... This is what they said. We didn't even know you could do this. Yeah. We didn't even know. Yeah. We're in. Boom. Invoice. Right? So she gets in there, and in the first thirty days... And this is part of what I teach them too. This isn't your play. Your play is is there more on the back end? Absolutely. Yeah. So this is the rinse and repeat part. Right? You can sell this over and over again. And we we positioned it and and all of that. So they were like, yeah. We we want this. So, think about, like, a lead generation offer. It is that, but it's at a high it's at a high level. It's not a $5 lead generation offer. So she gets in there and the first thirty days she starts really showing them and she starts working with their teams. That was the other thing she was going to work with their teams and kind of, you know, show them what was what needed to change. Well, once she did that, they were so blown away by her expertise. Now I can only do this with experts and people that know what they're doing, but they were so blown away. They said, We want you to take over everything. She took over their whole excuse me. Sorry about I had a frog in my throat. She took over their whole marketing thing. It turned out to be a $413,000 offer. They were already paying her a few thousand dollars a month. Now it turned into over $413,000 That's what we're talking Yeah. So she... For the year. So she said, I had no idea, you know, that I could build a million dollar business doing what I was doing. The thing is she didn't have to give up what she was doing on the back end. She already had the team in place. She already had the agency. She had everything, but it opened the door to something transformational that was really such a change for her agency as well. So that's... Those are the kinds of things that I like to help people. It could be an IT consultant that's going in and showing people they need all these IT services and management provider services, but they're giving away the assessment and all of that on the front. So it can be different for different businesses. And what I look at is what is your opportunity to have that? I call it a gateway, an expert gateway offer. What is your opportunity to have that gateway expert offer? And then I show them how they can close bigger deals on the back end, with that or along with that. So, hey, even if you don't want to buy into our big thing, we can at least do this. And if you don't wanna continue working with us, no worries. Well, what happens? They always wanna continue. Yeah.

Kayvon Kay25:56So do you do you do... Like, do you get to do audits,

Ann Carden25:59like, audits? Some some do. Yeah. So depending... Again, you know, I think about one of my clients was... Wanted to be in the manufacturing space and he he had... He was brilliant in manufacturing and had such a huge background in that internationally. And so we put together one of these kind of offers for him to go in and do an initial assessment. I don't even remember what the positioning was anymore, but how he could basically make them more profitable and more efficient and through efficiency. So he could go and assess, but then, hey, you want help putting all this in place? And really kind of the play. So there's three ways, either something they're not charging for that they could be, something that could be a brand new offer for them. Yeah. A new opportunity that they had A new opportunity or an advisory, like a strategic advisory offer where they're going in and they're basically looking with an extra set of eyes to design a road map for them or a blueprint or showing them where the gaps are and and all that kind of thing. So those are kind of the three ways I help people implement this. What would what would be your core genius? So that... Now I know we could say, hey. Premium offers. But within that, what would you say your core genius is? I have this way of being able to see the value that people can bring to the market. I... Just in a conversation with them, I'm like, oh my gosh. I... That's how I... A lot of times get these people. They'll hear me talking, and I'll say, you know what? You know, just talk to them. Like, what's your expertise and this and that? And they'll start talking, and I'm like, you are... Woah. You are leaving so much money on the table. Like, it just... It's so obvious to me, but I think it just comes from so many years of experience and doing... But you know, the interesting thing, Kvon, I've done this with plumbing companies. I've done this with auto repair shops. I've either bundled them or I've always found ways for them to get bigger place, for them to get bigger financial leaps with less.

Kayvon Kay27:58I I see the core genius being, your ability to see the millions of dollars consultants are leaving on the table and the ability to create offers, because you've used the word offer a lot, be able to create offers to go after those millions of dollars that they don't even see. Yeah. I I saw that as you were speaking. That's why I asked. I said, I think I figured out, like, everyone has a core genius, and you can see the the the the opportunity that lies there. Now The other side of that is I'm very creative in how I help them put those offers together. I call them million dollar offers Yeah. Because

Ann Carden28:37I... I'm very... So that when they actually present it to the client, it's like such a no brainer

Kayvon Kay28:44for the client that they almost would feel stupid saying no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Doing, you know, offers that they feel stupid for saying no. Alex Ramosy's, you know, says that. So the other side too, we... You you talked about, okay. You can create this million dollar offer, you know, $50,000 offer, but you said you also help them

Ann Carden29:07live up to that offer. Mhmm. Show that they're worthy of that offer. Mhmm. So I'm gonna assume that we... We're talking more branding a little bit, positioning, market positioning, and brand. Is that correct? Yes. So often, again, when they come to me, they kind of know they... That they feel like they should be doing more. They should be playing in the more premium... Like, they love what they're hearing. So that... Those... That's the first thing I look at. I I am not about convincing people. It's like you have to kinda know in your gut, oh, I deserve to make more. Just like I did back back when. I'm like, this isn't working for me. Right? So they know that when they come to me. They just don't know how to put the pieces together. But when we create the offer and we kind of come up with the price and that might be 6 figures, it might be a couple 100,000 right out of the gate. There always is this, wow, this sounds amazing, but can I? So I have a few different ways that I'll work with clients on that. One way is I literally will walk them through why they can. So I'll give you an example. I kind of use this on the podcast today, but not to repeat myself, but it's just one person I'm thinking of. He had a PhD. He was amazing in leadership... In the leadership space, but he had kind of a a background with colleges and universities and all of that. And he came to me. He wanted something higher. I don't remember what his highest thing had been like 15,000 or something. I said, okay, we put everything together. I said, let's make this like a 60 k front end offer. He said, that sounds really amazing. And I would love to do that, but I just, can I do that? You know? So I said, okay, let's just break this down. So this is what I take my clients through. How many years did it take you of schooling to get your PhD and where you are right now? He told me. How much money did that cost you? You know, hundreds of thousands. Right? How many years did you work in your industry learning what you've learned, blah, blah, blah. And he tells me all this. And I said, so tell me about a result that you've gotten from some of your past clients. And he said, well, one guy, he was only making 100,000 a year. He was in a job. And then I actually helped him triple his income by what I was helping him do. And I said, okay. And I said, that's a pretty good play, don't you think? And I said, so if we're targeting universities, specifically tech teams, that's who we were targeting because we do that too. Like, who's the target? We're targeting universities and tech teams. I said, do they have budgets for someone like you? And he goes, yeah. I said, so what would make you think you couldn't sell a $60,000 upfront offer? All the money, all the years, all the results that you've already gotten for people. And so when I take them through that process and I just, I'm really just shining a light on their brilliance already.

Kayvon Kay31:59That's all I'm doing. I'm, like, holding a mirror up to them saying Your just keyword is a mirror. A lot of my stuff is this deep reflection. I call it the mirror method, which is the reflection of yourself, and you can't outsell your identity. See it. You can outearn your identity, and you can outconsult your identity. So it's interesting because there's a couple of things that popped up for me. I I know people, consultants that play that small game thinking they can't do it. They lose deals because of Because you repel the best people. Yes. Because there are... Like, people wanna see a 90,000, a 150,000 offer, and you go to them with a 20,000 thinking it's so out of their budget.

Ann Carden32:39So you you really help navigate that journey. I do. And I'm really clear about position themselves. Yeah. I I could even tell you another story too just going along with what you just said. But as far as positioning themselves, I put them in a category of one. So when we create their offer, there's nothing else like it out there. It has a different message. It has a different name. We always name their offer. It always has a proprietary name, just like My Expert in You, My Million Dollar Leap, Body Blast, built a million dollar brand around that. So I always teach them to name that. And this is a great play for people too that are listening. Name it where it, like, shows the result. It... There... You can clearly see that there's something in it, like expert in you even tells people it's about you and your expertise. Right? Million Dollar Leap. That's pretty clear. So when we create their offers, it's always branded around the results that they are able to get their clients and what the clients would be wanting. That's the other piece of it, too. But you were asking, you were saying something about, you know, clients and, they repel people. So a quick story. I was working with a client and she she had gone down the funnel route and she had done the $3,500 ninety day thing. And she was working with clients that weren't a fit and she was frustrated and she found me on LinkedIn and she reached out and she said she had binge watched a lot of stuff. And she said, I want to work with you. I know you can help me. And so I start unpacking what her brilliance is. And she was phenomenal in sales, had done massive sales. She knew how to, she could pick apart webinars and teach people what they're doing wrong with their webinars and their sales teams. I'm like, that's your play. So we put together, we start to put together the offer. This was our first call. We didn't even have the offer completely together. But when I started saying, that's your play and this is what you could be doing, she goes, Oh my gosh, I know who I could sell this to. And she reaches out to somebody on LinkedIn that was in her network and she goes, Hey, I'm going to start doing this. And they were actually a client from a company she had worked with before. And so they knew her and she said, I'm going to start doing this as a consulting thing. And they said, Let's get on a call. She gets on a call with them. She comes back and she says... I get an email from her. And she said, okay. This is what I'm going to help him do, and I'm going to charge him $10,000 which was three times more than she had ever charged. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. You're not going to charge him 10 That's a 50... Like, I knew I couldn't get her to a 100, but I said, that's a $50,000 deal to start. You start with them at 50. And she goes, really? Like, we're, you know, we're on this good call. Yeah. This difficult... Like, no. No. This is this is worth 50,000. If you fix one or two things in their webinar, do you know the kind of money they're gonna make? 100.

Kayvon Kay35:31100%.

Ann Carden35:32Yeah. And so she goes, okay. So she puts together the proposal, goes back. They're like, yeah. Well, that turned into over 6 figures. Like, she... That ended up being a bigger play for her too. But that's exactly... That was a perfect example. And here's what she said, and she says this in a video testimonial. Anne, if I would have charged them the 10, they wouldn't have taken me seriously, and they would have run. And I said, that's exactly right. So

Kayvon Kay35:59Yeah. And and if they're not willing to spend the 10, if they're not willing to spend the 20, they're not the right They're not the right fit. That's right. The hard No. But but they're not the right fit. Yeah. I've turned... I just turned down a 20 k offer the other day. I turned down. They're willing to spend $20 with me, and I like, no. Like Yeah. I... Like, no. You or they were going to... I could just tell because the way they're asking about the contract, and I'm like,

Ann Carden36:24Yeah. Big red flag. Right? Red red red flag. Yeah. You know, it's interesting when clients come to me, they're they're not sitting there picking apart like, okay. How are we gonna do everything? And what do need? What I said premium clients. Like, okay, Anne, just tell me how I work with you and and what... What's the investment of that? Like... And then I... Then when I send them the agreement, I'm like, we're gonna get on this many calls, but that, like, I go over that after they say yes.

Kayvon Kay36:48I... They say yes before I ever say, okay. This is how we're gonna do it and personally work together. Yeah. So So what does it look like to work with you? Who do you gotta be? What, you know, what kind of investment does someone need to be around to be able to even start having a conversation with you? Yeah. So so, I mean, typically, my lowest offer is gonna be around 25,

Ann Carden37:07and then it goes up from there. And it just depends on what they need and how long they wanna work with me and what we're trying to accomplish. Yeah. But 25 is the low end with most of my clients. And, you know, the thing is I also help people make money typically pretty fast. So even if I help them get $150,000, like if they're paying me 50,000 because they want to bring in 6 figure clients, even if they get one client, right, they're gonna double their money. So Yeah. I look at that and I look at their... But I only take on people that I really feel they have something that I can work with, and I really believe I can get them the results. And I feel like they're in the right mindset

Kayvon Kay37:44for that as well. We're ready to grow. What was coming up for me, I wanted to mention this, is it sounded like the way you're speaking, hey. They will come to me when. And it's like people... You don't people don't find Anne. Anne finds you when you're ready. Probably. That's probably true. That's what was coming to me because I had this... I had I had a a consultant once. And I said, how come I never heard this guy? Like, this guy... Wow. This guy is a weapon. And I remember the guy saying... He's like, oh, you don't go finding Scott. Yeah. Scott finds you when you're ready. I mean, I'm out there, but, yeah, they And and I feel like that, you know, people know... Because you're saying they watch your video. They come to you. They know. They already know what they're gonna get into. They already know what they... What you're about. They they they don't need to prove. They don't need to think about it. They're either in or they're out or not even gonna waste your time. Yeah. Because you position

Ann Carden38:37yourself with premium and based on your saying, I'm not looking for this. Yeah. These are the type of being bold. I'm not afraid to... I just shared my pricing. Right? I'm not afraid because I don't want five k clients coming to me. That isn't... I don't even have anything for that. Now maybe at some point, I'll create a course or something. I just haven't gone down that route. It doesn't light me up. I do what lights me up in my business. This is my sixth and seventh business. So if it doesn't light me up, I'm not You're not interested. Yeah. So Yeah. So what's the vision here? Where where does where does Anne go from here, and what what, like, what are you, like, wanting to build? What's the legacy play? Yeah. So, first of all, I'm getting... I... I'm old.

Kayvon Kay39:16Just gonna Just for everyone who's listening, Anne is not old. She doesn't look a day past thirty five, just so we're all alive. Okay.

Ann Carden39:23So so couple things. First, I really want to... I'm I'm really going all in on million dollar leap, which is around helping people create a 50 plus rinse and repeat offer and then helping them put the systems in place to build that. So a million dollar leap with a handful of clients. And it it might be 50 k, but it might... It's been 75 for some of my clients. It might be 6 figures for another, but I'm I'm saying 50 k and up. Okay? Yeah. So that's my next big offer. And the way I'm doing that, I'm actually going to collapse time and do that with them in about sixty to ninety days. So it's not even going to be a long play with them because those are the kind of results I've been able to help people get pretty quickly. So if they're already an expert, they've already been doing things. It's much easier to get them faster results than if they're starting from Yeah. Yeah. They already have a little bit of momentum. Yeah. That's my big thing. And then the other side is I'm building up my agency because at some point, that will... I'll probably wanna sell that like I've sold my other businesses. So, yeah, two things. So the million dollar leap within ninety days. You work with Anne Well, I'm not promising that. I can't promise that. Right? But I... They get the systems. They'll have what they need to go and and do. You know, they'll have the offers, the revenue model, the the marketing systems.

Kayvon Kay40:48They'll have what they days, you'll be positioned and set up Mhmm. To implement the million dollar plan, which is $50,000 rinse and repeat offer. Mhmm. And at that point, you only need a handful of clients in a year to make your million dollars. That's it. And as a result, you get your life back, you get your time back, you get your sanity back, and you're not running around doing a million things. And one of the biggest keys you said, which I love, is you're ending up being an employee of the company. You're not being the strategic partner, and they view you as the strategic partner. And thus, they trust and like you. When you give them recommendations, if they don't push back, they say yes and implement. Not only do you have less clients to deal with, you have better higher end clients who trust in everything you're saying, implement, which gets you more results, which ends up being the flywheel that gets you more clients because you're helping them get better results in less time because all I know is this, and I learned this hard in my agency. I used to say this, then listen. In order to be effective, you gotta be selective. AKA good. Client selection is everything. Yeah. The wrong client can destroy your company, can bring down the entire house. Yeah.

Ann Carden42:03And, you know, the other thing too that we really didn't talk about, but I do wanna put this out there. I also work with experts that wanna get into consulting or coaching. They're coming... A lot of them are already... I work... A lot of my clients now, they're already running businesses, but now they wanna step into coaching and consulting other people to teach the success that they've had very much like I did. And so they are also these high end clients because they don't have to start out at the bottom just because coaching or consulting is new for them. They're still teaching people what they know and what they've learned.

Kayvon Kay42:35And so I... That's why I start them out premium. So we start them out at really high end offers as well. So maybe... Or maybe they're coming from corporate, from a c suite. Yeah. We start them out at 200 k plus offers. Yeah. And you help them with the... Like, if someone's coming to you, say they're the... They... They're an expert in their field Mhmm. But they're now at the point where they're like, I wanna go on my own. Right? They're... They they they wanna be able to bring their expertise to other companies, let's say. So they don't have the website. They don't have the podcast. They don't they don't even have any marketing, really, but they have one thing that the company needs is their actual expertise. Mhmm. How do you get them positioned in a way and do all of that in such a short period of time so that when they are reaching out to these companies and or doing the sales process, they're being positioned as that expert and,

Ann Carden43:21you know, and if someone looks at them, they can go find them and it's and it's all set up. Yeah. We actually do a really kind of a crunch program with them. So first thing I'll help... So when we talk... When I help them launch like an expert pod... So I I help them build an expert platform, and we try to do that really quick. So we'll do that. LinkedIn is the... Is typically the place because that's typically where their clients are going to be. We get them positioned right on LinkedIn, even if they have to get a website built. And I have a team that can build that, you know, for them and all of that. But I get them into a strategy that will that will build their visibility, build their credibility, and their expertise at the same time, it can be bringing them clients where it can be getting them into conversations with clients. So it might be speaking, it might be running a virtual event, it might be launching a live show or a podcast, and they're actually inviting their perfect clients to be a guest on their podcast. And then I show them how to turn that into a call. Is that how you use your podcast? Yes. I use it two ways. I get great referral partners from it, and I've built incredible partnerships. And I use it also to interview people that could be clients. But I also am very selective of the podcast I I guest on because same thing. I'm either looking for referral partners or I'm looking for somebody that might want my services. So,

Kayvon Kay44:43yeah, we're very strategic about it. I I love it. So give me the pitch because this is the pitch me show, and we're coming to the end, and I love to hear your pitch because there's so much you do. And I and I've been thinking like, oh, I can't wait to hear it. If you were in the... You know, the typical... If we're in the elevator and say... And and someone goes, Anne, what is it you do? What what do you typically say? I help people who are really experts at what they do level up their business

Ann Carden45:09and get into the top 1% and play... Like, work with premium, really high end clients and build a million dollar or beyond business with just a handful of clients.

Kayvon Kay45:23How do you think you did there? Well, you could probably fix me a little bit, but I think we can, and we're going to fix you a little bit here. Okay? So that's great, but everyone talks like that. And it's, you know, okay. I help. I help. I help. I'm a big fan of did you know or as a result of. And so I'm a big fan of what we call as a wow statement. So what is a wow statement in your industry? I'm sure you know some wow statements. Meaning, did you know 92% of most coaches and consultants charge less than, you know, $10,000 a year and something like that. Right? So you get that, woah. So did you know that most consultants burn out within the first three years of consultancy because they charge low dollars and deal with headache clients? What I do or as a result of what we do is we show them how to charge premium pricing with premium offers so they get their time, energy back, and make more profits.

Ann Carden46:24I love it. Or you could... We could say most of them, you know, 6%... Only 6% make more than six figures. Okay. Perfect. Yeah. 6%. Okay.

Kayvon Kay46:32Perfect. That's even old. Mhmm. Did you know that that only 6%... Do we even have an idea of how many? Like, you know, I don't even know how many. Like, say, like, there's probably millions, but, like Well, I mean, the coaching and consulting industry just hit over a trillion dollars and only six... Yeah. Okay. So there we go. This is a wow statement. Did you know that the coaching and service industry just hit a trillion? Did you say trillion? Over a trillion. Mhmm. Over a trillion dollars, and only 6% of the population makes over 6 figures. Mhmm.

Ann Carden47:05Over a 100,000,

Kayvon Kay47:06which is Over 100. You're right. And over a $100,000 a year. What I do is I show coaches and consultants how to charge premium pricing with premium offers so they can be in the other 97, you know Yeah. In the top 6%. Right? And then the question goes, well, how do you do that? And that's how you open up the conversation. Because when someone goes, how do you do that? You got them. You got their trigger. As a come in, where can people find you? This is this is so fast. I almost feel like we need to do another one. We didn't have enough time here. How how do I'm in. I love it. This is fun. Yeah. Anne, how do... How can someone find if they were like, I know this this is what I needed to hear. Anne is gonna solve my problem. What's... What Yeah. You can go to my website at annelcarden.com,

Ann Carden47:52and you can book a call there or you can check... You can get my books. My book store on Amazon and, yeah. All my stuff's there. So you can... And my podcast, everything's there. So just hit up my website. Also, I love to connect with people on LinkedIn and on social, so reach out to me. I'm very friendly, and I will talk to you. I love it.

This write-up was produced from the recording of Charging $10K Is Scaring Off the Clients Ready to Pay You $50K (Why Most Experts Undercharge). Every quote is verbatim and timestamped to the audio above.

Show Notes

This episode originally aired on October 4th 2025.

Introducing FROM THE VAULT, a new miniseries where we're bringing back the best episodes from Season 1.

The conversations that challenged the way we think, pushed us to ask better questions, and reminded us what it really takes to grow, lead, and build something meaningful.

Whether you've been here since day one or you're just discovering the podcast, there's something in these conversations worth hearing.

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Sooner or later every expert hits the ceiling where more work stops producing more money. The price on the offer decides who reaches your calendar, and most consultants price low enough that buyers with real budgets read the number and leave before the first call.

Ann Carden has sold five businesses and built each one on that single decision. One client turned a $52,000 strategy engagement into $413,000 in a year, and another watched a $10,000 quote become a six-figure deal. If you bill by the hour, sit inside your clients' companies as an extra pair of hands, or give your strategy away before the contract is signed, the only open question is how much longer you can afford it.

Ann Carden is the Founder and CEO of Expert In You, where she helps consultants, coaches, and agency owners build premium offers of $50,000 and up. Before coaching, she built and sold five businesses, including health clubs, weight loss centers, and a doll craft company.

Kayvon shares his side: an agency that hit million-dollar months with no profit, the move to four clients and $2 million a month, and the red flags that made him turn down a $20,000 deal. Together they work through the gateway offer, which turns the strategy most experts give away for free into a paid entry point.

This episode is for consultants, coaches, fractional executives, agency owners, and corporate leaders moving into advisory work who already deliver results and are priced below them. If your model depends on volume and low-ticket clients, parts of this conversation will be uncomfortable.

Topics include premium pricing and positioning, high-ticket offer creation, naming a proprietary offer, client selection, and building authority on LinkedIn and through a podcast. Underneath it all sits the question of whether your identity can carry the income you want.

Questions Answered

How do you create a $50,000 consulting offer from expertise you already have?
What is a gateway offer, and how does it open the door to a larger engagement?
How do you stop being treated like an employee by your own clients?
Why does quoting $10,000 cost you the clients who would have paid $50,000?
How do you build the confidence to sell a premium offer when you doubt you are worth it?
How do you name an offer so it stands apart in its category?
How many clients does a consultant need to reach $1 million in revenue?
Which red flags signal a client to turn down, even at a high price?

Thank you to our partner this week: If you're looking for a smarter way to research investments and make more informed financial decisions, check out today's partner, Weiss Ratings Plus at WeissVault.com

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Building the sales team this conversation describes is the work. If you want it built right, start here.

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