Smoking in planes hasn’t been allowed since..I don’t know? Long before I can remember. But this bitch don’t care about breaking rules. And neither should you. (EXCEPT when it comes to smoking on planes. Sometimes people don’t do things cause doing them is just plain stupid. That said, I do not assume any liability if you choose to light up mid-flight.)

[Welcome to my brand new thing, Mind Candy Monday! Every week I’ll be spilling my unadulterated, uncensored thoughts on some aspect of business and life. It may get raw. It may get ugly. But no matter what, I promise it’ll always be damn interesting.]

On Deck This Week: Three Totally Unorthodox Pieces of Biz Advice from Yours Truly

Ready to roll? Leggo!

1. Give it all away, baby. FOR FREE.

This is not dating and you are not trying to woo the man of your dreams with your business (well, unless you are…but then we may have more pressing problems on our plate). You can give it away. In fact, you should give it away.

Giving people a taste of what your paid offerings will be like is a great way to show ’em what you can do. And do it in a way that’s low maintenance for everybody.

(Caveat: You can’t operate a business from the scarcity mindset that you’ll “never come up with more good stuff” if you give it away for free. Seriously. Stop it, lady! You know you’re smarter than that. Your brain is basically like a vat of idea stew. You will NEVER run out of ideas. EVER. Print that shit out and repeat it. Your new mantra!)

BUT. If you’re not comfortable dishing your “secrets” in e-books or blog posts or what have you, or afraid to “waste time” on the phone with potential clients who may turn out to be duds – then try this.

Offer your lowest products at a PAY WHAT YOU CAN rate. Because sometimes getting $5 feels better on both ends. (Seriously, there’s psychological research to back this up, yo.)

And now I’m going to totally contradict myself with this next little ditty…

2. Keep your prices low.

Most of my clients & prospects (that’s you!) are first-time business owners within their first year or so. Some of you haven’t even done the thing that you plan to be selling, like, ever.

I want you to know that that’s okay. And that just because so-and-so says you should charge premium prices (’cause you’re worth, it mm’kay?) doesn’t mean you have to do that IF IT DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT TO YOU.

Don’t get it twisted (I’ve always wanted to say that!): You have a right to make money from what you do.

You have a DIVINE RIGHT to be able to rock Jimmy Choos and sport a Marc Jacobs crossbody AND fly to Europe twice a month if you so please. (Yes. DIVINE right.)

But. While I totally believe your prices should exhilarate and maybe frighten you a teeny bit – they shouldn’t terrify you to the point where you can’t even get on the phone with a client dare they ask you to utter the number out loud. (Another pro tip? Unless it’s a product or course with a set price, ALWAYS tell them you’ll send a proposal AFTER the call with the numbers in it.)

Premium prices can come about organically, as you grow your influence & become more confident doin’ your thang.

So seriously. DON’T feel like you have to charge your monthly rent for one client. If you’re new or a little unsure of yourself, SET YOUR PRICES AT A PLACE that feels good TO YOU, and matches YOUR PERCEPTION OF YOUR SKILL LEVEL.

And if you work with a few clients & realize you’re totally undervaluing yourself? You can raise your prices, right there on the spot.

Ahh. The beauty of entrepreneurship.

So. I repeat: DO NOT FEEL PRESSURED TO CHARGE PREMIUM PRICES JUST ‘CAUSE “EVERYBODY’S DOING IT.”

Do it when it feels right for you. (Cue tune, “Listen to your heart”.)

In that same vein, a piece of follow-up advice: BETA test the shit out of your stuff – before you charge premium prices. Make sure there’s a market for your thing first. Invite a few select peeps to try it at a reduced rate. Troubleshoot with the lucky few throughout the process and then you can re-launch with (most) of the kinks worked out & attach that beautiful higher price tag.

3. Forget about your list. Or your blog.

…Or that one thing you truly, truly hate but everybody else swears is the “secret sauce” to a successful biz. (Also, I like secret sauces. Unless they’re coming from the elementary school cafeteria, or a bearded drunk old man at the bar.)

My business pal, all-around brainy babe & money making expert Ellen Ercolini suggested this to me awhile back when I was stressing over what to publish on this here blog (obvs, I’m kind of gotten over this. As she told me I would when I gained more clarity.) She actually just wrote about this recently over on her little blog right this way.

Turns out the permission to let that go was exactly what I needed to actually get all amped up about blogging again. Whodathunk?

If there’s something in your business that really does not jive well with your personality (i.e. you HATE having client calls and you’re somebody who works mostly with the written word, like me) – this is your official permission to just drop it. Fuhgheddaboutit! Seriously. Take it off your plate. Table it. Maybe you can come back to it later. But if it’s really mucking up your groove or just feels shitty everytime you try to do it – don’t.

This can apply to virtually anything in business. Hate sending out newsletters? Don’t do it. Amp up your time on social media instead. Stressing about WTF to blog about? DON’T. BLOG. No, really. Don’t. (Or, alternatively, try blogging in a different medium. Who says you can’t be a writer who primarily vlogs? My fingers hurt after a long day writing for clients anyway!)

Somebody out there will always, always disagree with your choices to “chuck” the annoying thing from your life. There will always be some guru or coach or otherwise super-smarty-pants person who swears that you’ll totally fuck up your biz if you don’t do this, that or the other thing.

Newsflash: They’re lying.

There is NO one-size-fits-all model for business. (And honestly, why is there one-size-fits-all for anything? Who decided it was okay to create one size of something and say, “Yep, that’s it!” Somebody damn lazy, that’s who.)

So don’t stress it if you hate the thing all the cool kids are doing. It’s fun to be cool. And it can be lucrative to be cool.

But it is not necessary to be cool.

Your Turn! // Is there any traditional business advice you don’t (or wish you didn’t) follow? Tell us about it in the comments, cute stuff!