The final in our series of ‘selling stuff online,’ is selling your time.
Now this is somewhat covered in the ‘events’ post but there we concentrated on ticket selling and more of the questions you’d need to ask if you were running an event with a group of people. Lots of people (massage therapists, internet marketing consultants, etc.) trade time for money and having a system that integrates with a calendar is their saving grace.
Instantaneous (Live) Support Versus Book Ahead
The first question you need to ask yourself is do you want live support or do you want to book time ahead. Most people don’t have the staffing (or general interest) to be available nearly constantly but I do know some consultants who hold ‘office hours’ where people can drop in unscheduled.
Most of the time though, there is some kind of way you can schedule time, like a calendar interface on the side of a page (as with paperfling.com):
To a slicker landing page one a la blinds.com:
Free or Paid
So a free consult could get people in the door but taking payment ensures people are truly booking something of value.
Some scheduling programs will allow you to take payment (or at least hold a credit card). There may be some additional fees (processing fees, monthly fees, etc.) for this, just as a warning but getting paid for your time up front may be worth a bit of cash to you. Sublime Canines won’t let you book a class without payment, which I’m sure makes sure EVERYONE shows up to their scheduled session:
Rescheduling
The more meetings you schedule, the more rescheduling you’ll have to do.
Having an email automatically go out to the client after they book (and also on the booking page) can communicate your rescheduling (and possibly refunding if you are taking payment then) possibility.
If not, you’ll want a way to handle rescheduling, whether it is setting aside your own time for admin or hiring out. I have been trying out Fancy Hands this month for rescheduling with clients and it has been AMAZING so far.
In any case, if you are going to think of exchanging your time for money, it is something to think about.
Taking Your Time Into A Marketplace
It’s one thing to have people book time with you through your website but there are a whole generation of websites that let people consult with people who will pay them.
Google Helpouts, probably the best known example, is shutting down in April but there are plenty out there: TaskRabbit, LiveNinja and other sites have let people sell their time/services for money in a general way.
Depending on your service, there may be sites specific to your service (for example Uber with driving) or you can start on a more general website like LiveNinja.
So even if you don’t have any products, you can be selling something online. And that’s pretty powerful.
Other posts in our series:
Selling Stuff Online: Products
Selling Stuff Online: E-products