This lesson holds a quick overview of the workshop and how retainers work. Plus examples of retainer offers that are referenced in other lessons!

Retainer offers are one of the easiest and fastest ways to diversify AND stabilize your income. Retainers stabilize income because it's a source of steady, monthly revenue. Knowing I had reliable income made the jump to full-time entrepreneurship possible. And I want to share how you can get that stability too.

What We'll Be Covering:

Designing an Experience

• Choose which type of retainer model is best for you, your business, and your clients.
• Brainstorm packages, policies, and who has access to your retainer services.

Share Your Offer

• How to follow up with former clients to develop a retainer relationship.
• Why you should be crafting invitations in your one-off process.

Nurture Your Relationship

• How to make sure you’re delivering consistent results.
• Proving your value while retaining sanity.
• The collective. Giving and sharing.

WHAT IS RETAINER WORK?

Chances are, your client hired you to solve a problem they couldn’t solve on their own due to time, energy, skill, or knowledge. You’ve provided a solution, and most solutions require maintenance for long term impact. 

A retainer offer is when you work with a client on a recurring basis. They pay a set monthly amount in exchange for your business holding a set number of hours or deliverables. 

For example, in my business, retainer clients get a monthly VIP design day or data analysis.  I have students who offer social media marketing, copywriting, and branded photoshoots. 

With a retainer contract, your client gets consistent access to you and your services in exchange for a reduced rate (typically). 

This stability means they can lock in your rates, plan their day-to-day workflows, build strategic plans as the CEO, and improve over time because they have consistent access to YOU. 

They don’t have to: 

• Re-introduce someone to their business strategy each month. 
• Re-explain goals and audience.
• Educate you on their offer. 

Which saves them time and money. 

Instead, you already know it and can notch in seamlessly. It provides you with predictability with income and workload. It helps you build a referral network of satisfied customers. And as a bonus, you get to refine your communication processes. You get paid a little less, but you KNOW you’ll have that money each month. And as a bonus? You have more time because you’re not having to market as heavily.

Retainer relationships are a win-win.

A retainer contract is essentially a subscription for a client to access you and your work. There should be a process in place for clients to use the time they’ve reserved with you. There are two basic models: Hourly or deliverables based. A set number of hours paid for and held, or deliverables such as social posts, workbooks designed, funnels built, etc.

Why Retainers

Why Retainers? Some of my clients, students and peers have shared that it’s less stress marketing, stablizes their bottom line, helps them develop long term relationships.

Getting Off The Roller Coaster

Entrepreneurship can feel like this financial roller coaster. When we work for others, there’s this perceived stability that comes from a salary or hourly work . It can be hard to transition from stability to starting from scratch every month with our income. We’ve got these peaks and valleys throughout all facets of entrepreneurship—client flow, cash flow, marketing, things that worked and didn’t. We aim to figure out how to fill in some of those valleys a bit—diversifying your income streams. 

Creating a retainer offer will let you focus on growing rather than constantly building. Providing the stability you need for consistency and creativity. We want to create a Retainer Threshold. Raising your bottom line so that those valleys don’t seem so steep.

The Downside to Retainers

Like anything, there can be a downside. Clients and students have said it feels like they are an employee instead of a service provider... but we can work on this with healthy boundaries!

This workshop is all about how to fill in those valleys so that the peaks aren’t as difficult to reach. 

Here are our five steps - again, you’ll be able to hop around to get what you need when you need it!

• Choose your retainer model
• Brainstorm offers policies and access
• Map your process from start to renew
• Share your offer + book your clients
• Deliver your offer and nurture your client

Join the workshop today so you can knock this off your to-do list.

Nobody likes starting from scratch.

That's why this workshop exists, to help you quick start your retainer offer AND keep you from starting from scratch each month when it comes to your income.