Say THIS to Get 759,000% More Money in the Door Before the Holidays

So, it’s the end of the year. [PULLS OUT CIGAR]

You know what the end of the year is great for, don’t you???????

• Ordering sweaters from L.L. Bean that you think are gonna be baggy but then actually make you look like a sausage
• Wondering why your friggin’ white pumpkins turned yellow on your porch
• Shoving peanut butter cake into a mason jar and giving it to your trash man, Christopher, who maybe doesn’t want to eat it while also handling trash, but this is a chance you’re just going to have to take
• BUT DON’T FORGET THE UPS MAN, DAVE, who always says to you, every time he comes up your driveway: “What do ya got in this thing, a box of money?!”
• Getting bit on the neck by some unknown arachnid that really should be dead because it’s like 45 degrees out but evil is a cruel master
• Having anxiety over whether or not you should be running a Black Friday sale or if you’re too small potatoes to be running a Black Friday sale or if everyone will be annoyed if you run a Black Friday sale or if you should just knit yourself some socks and forget all about it??? (Don’t worry, I’m going to show you how next week!)
• And, finally: realizing that it’s the end of the year and these are the last few months you have to make any goddamn money. Shit.

It’s this last buzzy little bullet point I want to talk about today. (Because trust me, you don’t want to know how much confectioners sugar I put into that cake frosting. I don’t even like cake, but someone died, and then I thought: I should make that family some cake. And then I ended up with about FOUR cakes, because I only had one little cake pan. So now I’ve got all this cake, and my trash man better take some.)

Alas!

Let’s start with one of the biggest misconceptions of year-end selling: that it’s gonna be slow.

Most people assume that, because of the holidays, your sales are going to go weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, splash, right down into the bottom of a dark & dreary reservoir of pathetic.

Who wouldn’t assume that, right? You’d think with all of the pastel-colored nonstick cookware on sale, there wouldn’t be money left over for things like, I dunno, hiring you.

But in my 15 years of running a successful creative business online, I can promise you one thing: the holidays are one of the best times to sell. The best! So long as you get the wrong narrative out of your head—that you’re bothering people and they have better things to buy—and get the right one in:

That this is the time when people WANT to buy.

Wanting to buy is a big, big deal.

Timing is everything.

Just think about anytime you’ve been scrolling on Substack, or Instagram, or TikTok while you’re on the toilet. Your #1 mission? Go to the toilet! You’re using your phone as a distraction, but it’s not the main event.

So, what happens when you come across some person pitching a $10,000 service to re-design your website?

Are you going to awkwardly lunge down the hallway and run down the stairs with your pants down and pee dripping down your leg just to go get your wallet as you decide, right then and there, that you are ABSOLUTELY GOING TO BUY THIS SERVICE?

Unlikely, unless you have a hell of a lot of Clorox wipes.

That’s because you’re not in a buying state of mind, you’re in a browsing state of mind. Even if you weren’t on the toilet, you’d be hard-pressed to make a financial decision like that out of the blue.

Now, contrast that with the last time you needed new windows for your house. What did you do? You went online, and you Googled window suppliers in your local area, and you immediately set up an appointment. Even though new windows can easily cost $10,000.

Why?

Because your intent is different. You’re in a buying state of mind. Because you are expecting to spend money on new windows.

Now.

Here’s the way I want you to think about this.

I want you to think of the months of January - October as “months when your clients are in a browsing state of mind.” They’re reading your newsletters. They’re watching your videos. They’re giggling and following along and enjoying your content.

But, what happens in November and December??????

People. Are. Expecting. To. Spend. Money. 💰

They’re excited to spend money, in fact, because it’s the one time per year when splurging on one’s self feels appropriate. It also happens to be the one time a year when you have enough downtime to actually DO SOME BUYING.

So I want you to think of November and December as “months when your clients are in a buying state of mind.”

You see where I’m going with this?

When people are in a buying state of mind, all you need to do is present a compelling offer—and then sit back and let allllll of the work you’ve been doing all year, finally WORK.

Today we’re going to apply this to your client work.

Next week, we’re going to apply it to product sales (like courses, memberships, etc.).

Okay, so let’s say you work with clients.

Our goal?

• Get you booked up for the rest of the year (at your leisure, of course)
• Book your calendar up for the first quarter of next year

Result: no scrambling, just steady cash flow, so you can sit back and actually enjoy the holidays without the anxiety.

What we want to do then is very simple: we’re going to make your clients an offer they can’t refuse.

But first: what’s the difference between a service and an offer???

A service is something you do year-round. An offer is a special, limited-time opportunity.

Great offers are what people are looking for in November + December.

Here is how you make them.

*Edit: Christopher the Trash Man has just come by and accepted my cake. He took off his glove and shook my hand and all I could think about was the nail polish I had JUST put on. Yup. Took one for the team there, friends. But AT LEAST HE AND I ARE NOW BESTIES.

(Don’t worry. I washed my hands.)

Anyway, back to offers!

If a great offer is what you must provide, how do you do it?

Well, there are a number of approaches you can take, but I’m going to share my favorite four:

1. What do you need wrapped up before the new year?
2. Price is going up in the new year
3. Way I’m working is changing in the new year
4. Special holiday-themed offer in time for the new year

Notice any patterns here?

The new year!

There’s a natural time-sensitivity already built into the calendar, and it is 100% what your offer should be based around.

So now I’m going to give you four strategies & four word-for-word scripts you can literally copy and paste and send right off to your clients, and a bunch of exciting ideas to pair with ‘em.

Each script has been proven in my own business, as well as the businesses of hundreds (actually, thousands???) of others I’ve taught over the past decade.

As you read through each one, it’ll totally click and you’ll see how this works.

***Feel free to copy/paste any one of these scripts right into an email and edit for your specific situation.***

Script #1: What Do You Need Wrapped Up Before the New Year?

Client,

Happpppppy Hallllloweeeeeeen!

Just popping in to say HI and see if there’s anything you need help with before we all turn into pumpkins this holiday season. 🎃 (Or turkeys. Or reindeer. Or snowmen with a corn cob pipe and a button nose, which actually sounds sort of painful?)

You have anything on the docket you want to get off your plate?

You

Script #2: Price is Going Up in the New Year

Client,

Happpppppy Hallllloweeeeeeen!

Just popping in to say HI and see if there’s anything you need help with before we all turn into pumpkins this holiday season. 🎃 (Or turkeys. Or reindeer. Or snowmen with a corn cob pipe and a button nose, which actually sounds sort of painful?)

My standard rate will be increasing on January 1st to $_____ / hour but if wanted to schedule a project now, my current rate of $_____/hour will apply.

Want me to jump on anything?

You

Script #3: The Way I’m Working is Changing in the New Year

Client,

Happpppppy Hallllloweeeeeeen!

Just popping in to say HI and see if there’s anything you need help with before we all turn into pumpkins this holiday season. 🎃 (Or turkeys. Or reindeer. Or snowmen with a corn cob pipe and a button nose, which actually sounds sort of painful?)

Also wanted to give you a delicious heads up: starting January 1st, I’ll be switching from working a la carte to working primarily with monthly retainer clients. If you’d be interested in working more closely as one of my superhero retainer clients, where I’m available to you on an ongoing basis to help you as you need it, the monthly fee is $X and will include: a, b, c, d.

I’m offering any clients who commit now a 10% discount on their invoice in perpetuity. This way we can start the year with a bang!

Want me to book you in?

You

Script #4: Special Holiday-Themed Offer in Time for the New Year

Client,

Happpppppy Hallllloweeeeeeen!

Just popping in to say HI and see if there’s anything you need help with before we all turn into pumpkins this holiday season. 🎃 (Or turkeys. Or reindeer. Or snowmen with a corn cob pipe and a button nose, which actually sounds sort of painful?)

In addition, I’m offering a VERY special holiday-themed service this year:

It’s called __________________, and through the months of November & December, I’ll be helping clients _____________________________________________________________________!

The price is $________ and includes ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

It’s going to be so much fun.

Want to do one?!

You

In this last one, here are a few examples of holiday-themed offers you could make:

• Creative Writers: Let’s write your family’s story to give as a gift this Christmas! The time commitment is just four hours, and the end result? A beautiful, velvet-bound book you can gift to everyone on your list.
  
• Copy Writers: I’ll write all of your holiday sales emails, so you can capitalize on the shopping season—and triple your sales—all while sipping on a peppermint tea 📝
  
• Photographers: Let’s do a new set of headshots now in time for your January launch! I’ll be hosting special holiday mini sessions in my studio in New York City: come and get your jingle bells on—with a hot toddy, of course—and we’ll get you smokin’ hot in time for the New Year.
  
• Interior Designers: You’ve always wanted a fireplace—let’s get you a KILLER one in time for the holidays. (No chimney required!) Comes with: fireplace mantel custom-selected for your home, custom styling for all four seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter accessories), and bonus holiday-themed styling accessories so your home is ever so warm & welcoming, just in time to receive guests. Clients need not be local, we work remotely & happily ship across the continental United States.
  
• Health Coaches: Learn how to make mouth-watering Thanksgiving & Christmas holiday dinners…the heart-healthy way! I’m offering special coaching sessions during the month of November where we’ll plan out your entire holiday menu together, and learn how to lighten up classic favorites…without your family even being able to tell.
  
• Wardrobe Stylists: Let’s make you look like a million bucks for the holidays! Between holiday parties, charity events, family activities, and gorgeous dinners in and out of the home, you’re going to be having a lot of public face time. Let’s curate an unforgettable holiday wardrobe custom-fit for your body type and your coloring this season…so you can show up in swagger, without missing a beat.

See what we’re doing here?

We’re taking something timely—the holidays—and using it to shape a special offer.

Why is this effective? Because it feels FUN. It feels relevant. And it’s obviously something that isn’t going to be available forever, and therefore?

More of your clients are going to say: hell yes.

Most importantly, however, I want to point out one thing about all of these approaches: the simplicity of it all. Each one of the email scripts above was purposefully light ‘n easy. There was no hard selling. There’s no lengthy, neverending sales page. There’s no weird pushiness.

Just fun ‘n light offers that are easy to say yes to.

And, that’s all you’ve got to do!

Most of selling isn’t about selling: it’s about asking.

And sometimes, all you’ve got to do is show up and do exactly that.

I hope this helps you make BEAUCOUP BUCKS this holiday season. 🎊

Next week, we’ll be talking about products and courses and memberships and your Black Friday strategy, which is different than the strategies we just discussed.

Dun dun dunnnnnnnn.

Until then, I’ll be over here trying to stretch this L.L. Bean sweater out, sucking it wayyyyyyyy in. 😂

Talk soon, you filthy animal!

Ash
Slayer of Creative Businesses
Maker of Weird Little Cakes