13. What a ten-thousand-dollar month would take
Ten thousand dollars a month is a goal. It is not a promise. This chapter shows what it would take, as plain arithmetic, so you can decide if it is the right goal for you right now.
I cannot tell you that you will reach this. Most people who try will not reach it, and many will earn nothing in the first weeks. The numbers below are made up to show the method. Your numbers are the only ones that count, and you only get them by doing the work in chapters 1 to 11.
The one-line math
Money you want each month, after your tool costs, divided by what one client pays you each month, is the number of clients you need.
Here is a made-up example. Say one client pays you 500 a month in total. Ten thousand divided by 500 is 20. So the goal would need 20 clients who stay.
That number is not a target I am giving you. It is a way to see the size of the goal. Change the 500 to your own price from chapters 8 and 9 and the answer changes.
Three ways the money comes in
- The one-time website price. You are paid once, when the site is built and the owner says yes (chapter 9). It pays for the work. It does not come back next month.
- A monthly care plan. Small edits and checks, written into the agreement (chapter 9). It is charged again each month the owner chooses to stay. That is not a promise anyone will stay. It is why the monthly note and the thirty-day check-in matter.
- One more service at a time. A phone helper, a fast first reply, reviews, or being found (chapter 10). Offered only when the owner names the problem, and only when the last service runs clean.
A month built only on new websites starts from zero every month. A month that includes care plans and added services starts with the clients you kept. This is why chapter 9 spends so long on keeping a client.
What 20 clients would mean for your week
Every client is a person who writes back. Each one needs the monthly note, the check-in, and the changes they ask for. Before you set a big number, ask what your week can really hold.
- How many hours a week can you give to this, every week, for months?
- How many clients can you look after well with those hours?
- What will you do when a client asks for something that is not in your agreement?
If the honest answer is five clients, then five clients is your plan for now. A small number done well is worth more than a big number done badly. Chapter 9 explains when to say no, and when to end a client.
Get there in steps
- First client. Prove that the whole path works, once, from search to a happy owner.
- First five. Prove that you can repeat it, and that the monthly note and check-in are habits.
- A steady month. Prove that you know your own counts (chapter 11) and what to change when one step is weak.
- Raise the goal. Only now do the math again with your real numbers.
I have not put a time on any stage. People move at different speeds. Some move slowly, and some stop. Setting a date before you have counts is how people get discouraged.
Questions to ask before you pick the number
- Is this my only income, or on top of a job? The pressure is very different.
- Am I comfortable talking to owners on the phone? If not, chapter 8 is where to practise first.
- Can I wait a few weeks for the first reply without quitting?
- Do I have what I need for my own costs while I wait?
Your page
Print this, or copy it into a notebook. Fill it in with your own numbers.
Money I want each month, after tool costs: ________ What one client pays me each month, in total: ________ Clients I would need: ________ (first number divided by second) From my own counts in chapter 11: 1 call ends in a yes, about 1 in ____ 1 answer becomes a call, about 1 in ____ 1 email gets an answer, about 1 in ____ How many clients can I look after well each week? ________ My goal for the next four weeks (not the year): ________
Check yourself
- I wrote my own price, not a number from this page.
- I know how many clients I can really look after.
- My goal for the next four weeks is a number I can count, not a dollar amount.