Pain to Pleasure: Understanding What Gets You Paid

Let’s start with pain. Pain can be an incredibly powerful motivator, and (depending on your offer) can pay off like gangbusters.

I’ll give you a real client example from our history.

We had a client named Paul (not his real name), and his business was actually helping men who struggled with pornography addictions get freedom from them. A powerful business, and one that we knew we could help him grow!

How did we know we could help him grow that business?

Simple – for his clients, the pain of NOT fixing the problem was substantial.

Let’s stick with this example. What were the “pains” associated with not getting freedom from this addiction?

• Guilt
• Embarrassment
• Shame
• Marrital issues (potentially)

And that’s just to name a few! Paul was genuinely able to help these men get freedom from those “pains” – and the results were incredible. We knew he had a winning offer that people would gladly pay him for, just from hearing the problem that he helped his clients solve.

Now, let’s think about your business. See if you can answer these questions:

1. What problem am I solving for my ideal client?
2. Is there a big pain (or pains) linked to them not getting this problem solved?
3. How much is me solving that problem and helping them avoid that pain actually worth to them?

This exercise can help you get to the real “meat” of your offer and is a key component to setting your prices and getting paid!

However, pain is only one of the motivators. Let’s take a look at the other.

The flipside to pain as a motivator is, of course, pleasure.

We started with pain because it’s usually the most apparent motivator (and far more common). However, if you can maximize the two motivators in tandem, you will absolutely dominate your competition.

One of my very favorite examples, when we talk about overcoming pain and providing pleasure for your clients, is Tina (again, not her real name). Tina came to us with a simple, but incredibly effective core idea to her business. She helped women who were struggling with infertility get pregnant.

“Now Taylor,” I hear you saying… “Isn’t helping infertile women get pregnant overcoming a PAIN rather than delivering pleasure?”

Hang in there, you shrewd observer. I never said it was “either/or”. The best offers always do both.

But, for the sake of this example, let’s break down the pleasure she was unlocking for these women:

• The excitement of FINALLY getting pregnant
• Relief from the anxiety/depression they may have felt when they weren’t able to conceive
• The endless amount of joy that comes from getting to hold your baby in your arms
• Emotional healing for spouses who struggled with guilt or shame around their inability to get pregnant

I could go on and on here about the positive outcomes that were all rolled up in this one thing that Tina could help these couples finally accomplish.

Her offer was literally bullet-proof. Incredibly high pain linked to the problem. Incredibly high pleasure from her helping them overcome the problem.

I’ll say it again: “The best offers always do both.”

So, now you understand a little bit about the two primary motivators, and you understand that the only way you are going to get clients to say “yes” to you consistently is by addressing their pain while also ushering them toward pleasure.

If you want to dive deeper into how this actually plays out in your freelance business and allow it to propel you toward maximum revenue, I have an entire chapter in my new book, “Freelance to Business Owner” (Proven Strategies for Building a Profitable, Predictable 6-Figure Freelance Business) on turning your expertise into an irresistible offer.

In that chapter I break down:

• How to find your perfect market (through niching)
• Why you probably need to raise your prices
• The Who + What + How framework
• The qualifying questions that determine how much your offer/service is worth
• The Offer Cube exercise
• Essentials to packaging your expertise for your ideal audience
• How to structure your offer so that it moves your clients from “stuck” to “unstuck” (massive key to getting paid what you’re worth)

And that’s all just in one chapter, folks! This book is absolutely packed with value.

If you feel like you’re ready to drop all the things that haven’t worked and take a small step toward investing in your freelance career, you can pick up your digital copy by going right here today!