Congrats, what do you feel is the most striking difference between the two experiences?

@Pattie Belle Hastings Totally agree!

@Gordana Rauski In my experience, they are also very conscious of budgets and costs. Maybe they don't measure in profits as outcomes, but definitely have to show that the contributions made to them are producing value.

@Lucia Wang For sure :)

I would look at a few things: 1. Are you offering too much value in the free workshops? Meaning are they leaving without a need to follow up? You may need to give them a teaser or something that makes them want more. 2. How exactly are you following up after each meetup? Are you sending a survey which could then open up a conversation for more workshops? 3. What kind of people are attending? They may not be the decision makers or the final customer cohorts. I think your strategy is pretty interesting. Would love to learn more. Maybe we can share more insights? Send me DM

@Salah Bouchma Curious... In what way?

@Salah Bouchma Yeah I see the logic behind what you're saying and agree with you, but here's my counter for some food for though: 1. You could be getting other facilitators or would-be facilitators that are interested in a workshop you've specially designed and want to have a go at delivering it themselves - getting them to try it out for a reduced price is better than walking away totally, due to budget or time concerns, for example. 2. Lots of services are out there that are DIY vs DWY that don't harm the professional aspect. Here are some examples that come to mind: - Buy hair clippers, scissors etc. and cut your own hair vs go to the salon and get it professionally done. - Wash your car yourself vs professionally cleaned. - Try to diagnose and treat your own medical symptoms vs going to a clinic with a qualified doctor. - Train ChatGPT to write your content vs paying for a professional writer. They all serve the same function and produce similar outcomes, it just depends on the customer's circumstances. In most cases I listed above (personal, not professional scenarios) a customer would try out the less expensive version, realise they didn't get the best result, and then go to the professional version. I know workshops are a different service experience, but I think it's a good thought experiment to think about reducing the barrier to entry.

Congrats on the move away from the daily rat race. I wish you all the success! For me, I've been working part time while still building my business out. I haven't landed the type of clients I'm after yet. The biggest challenge, for me, has been properly identifying them and then making sure the messaging is on point in all the content I create. This has honestly been a slow-burn iteration and learning process that's taken many months. I think I'm making good progress now as awareness and interest has picked up slowly and can say I'm happy with where I am at the moment, now it's all about generating leads. It also doesnt help that I'm traveling on the move (for personal reasons, not being a Nomad) which makes things very stop-start. So my advice would be to really hone in on who you want to target, make sure your services actually fit that market (for me this was the learning curve), pivot or double down once you think you've got it. Oh and I forgot to mention, depending on how fast you want to become independent, having a good budget for your marketing is key - I wish I had thought about this part the most!