Service Based Business Society Podcast

The Cost of Free
Hello and welcome to the Service-Based Business Society podcast. I am your host, Tiffany and Bottcher. On our weekly episodes, we will dig into everything you need to know about scaling your service-based business without losing sleep. With my experience in creating over seven figures per month and a passion for marketing, finance, and automation, this show will provide tangible tips for scaling your business. Let's get started.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode. Today we are talking about the cost of free, and you might be thinking there is no cost of free. It's free, but when it comes to business decisions, free is very rarely free. It's the free trial that leads to the more expensive subscription. It's the inexpensive tool that needs the upgrade in order to actually have the functionality you need. No matter what it is, or how you get there; there is a cost of doing business that cannot be ignored. When we're talking about the cost of free, we're also looking at what is the cost of using a low quality, low-cost option.
There might be more efficiency, better functionality, better client experience, better user experience for just a little bit more. I was recently watching a Facebook Live by someone who I know quite well in the online space. It was James Hurst. I will link his YouTube show down below. He has some great marketing content.I love James, he was talking about the comparison of three separate tools, and he was talking about, Zapier. Make used to be known as Integromat and Pabbly. Three very similar automation tools. Three different price points. Zapier has been around the longest, I would say it would be the biggest name in the automation space.
If you surveyed a thousand entrepreneurs, more entrepreneurs would know what Zapier is. They are kind of like the, the Kleenex of the tissue world. They are the most well-known. Now, Zapier is also the most expensive. But what he was talking about, and I, have to say that I was so guilty of this was that people often start with Zapier and then they realize that doing bulk automation through Zapier can actually get quite expensive.
And then they look for a slightly less expensive option or become aware that there are additional options. And so this was me and Pabbly I became aware Pabbly existed. They offer some amazing pricing. And I had every intention of moving all of my Zaps over to Pabbly, but I did not. So instead, I paid the one-time fee for Pabbly which, you know, was a one-time, um, grab it now kind of price.
And I did. And then I left my Zaps over in Zapier. and I kept going. I forgot all about Pabbly entirely because it was not a monthly subscription. It was a one-time fee. And so while I had the greatest of intention, I got distracted. And as an entrepreneur, with so many things coming at you now, I mean between being a mom of three kids, two of which are in sports, third one is starting sports in this spring.
You know, our calendar is crazy between the agency working in clients businesses, you know, doing the podcast and YouTube and whatever. Moving my Zaps to Pabbly honestly became just not something I even thought about because it wasn't necessarily a task with a deadline. And so instead of putting it on my future task list, which I have spoken about on the podcast before, and if tell you two things, if it doesn't make it on my calendar or it doesn't make it on a task list, those things go to die.
You know, it's the, the random things that you don't think to put on your calendar that you forget all about or these. So it was this live training that James was doing and I thought, oh my goodness, I remember probably, I think I paid for that. Sure enough. I look it up. Yep. $298, one-time fee.
Forgot all about it. There are a few drafts automation set up in there. Nothing currently running. Uh, yeah. Still got my Zapier account still running, and then he starts talking. Make or Integromat. And I think, yeah, I'm doing that. I'm paying for that one too. And he said, so commonly people have all three.
And I thought, yep, guilty as charged. And so he starts talking about the benefits of all these different ones. And so sure. Zapier your most expensive? Um, it’s also the easiest to use. Most people start with Zapier. Integromat or Make has some additional functionality that other tools do not, which is why I ended up with that one as well.
There were certain things I was, automations I was building out that just weren't possible with the other two. Now we end up with three silly, completely silly. And so taking the time really. There's nothing I don't think, don't quote me on this, I don't think there's anything that Zapier is currently doing for us that, Make, could not be doing.
So I need to take the time and I've now put it on my task list to move those tasks over, move those automations over from Zapier into make. , but how easy is it just to forget about those little subscriptions? You know, I don't, I don't quote me on what the Zapier subscription is. I want say it's around $30 a month based on the certain apps we're using.
Some are premium, some are not and, and volume. I know that the Integromat or Make subscription is around $10 a month. You know, not that the pricing is completely relevant, but what I'm saying, You know, anytime that we can optimize our operations, we're adding money back into our pocket. So, you know, let's call it $30 is really going directly, you know, by, by canceling that, it goes directly to the bottom line.
It increases profit, you know, and so we say, well, what, what happened here? The cost of looking for that less expensive option, the cost of going from Zapier over to Pabbly, and then Integromat/Make, well now we've run all three. So any potential savings that was from the Zapier to Pabbly has been completely lost because we've run both systems.
So instead of, you know, yes, had we just taken everything and swapped it over all in one go, what did we have saved Some money. Yes, but now that we've paid for three different automation tools for the last 7, 8, 9 months savings, nonexistent. And so, you know, that's where we really have to decide and weigh out these decisions when we're, when we're optimizing and we're looking at the cost savings, it's the same thing when you're running, you know, whether it's two CRM systems, two website providers, whatever, if.
Are doing an ROI calculation, a return on investment calculation for making the switch, you really need to factor in how long will the systems run side by side? How many months will you have to pay for a system before you get it off the ground and up and running. You know, one of the things, you know, going years back, ClickFunnels.
Um, you know, so often I would see, I think ClickFunnels at that time, you know, price is irrelevant, but you know, people would pay for ClickFunnels for six, eight months before they would actually start selling. You start with your foot. in the hole. And so oftentimes, not only do we need to be optimizing for cost, but we also need to be optimizing for transitional speed.
You know, what is it going to take to switch those over? We need to remember to close down the things we're not using all the time. You will see that someone wants to keep, you know, especially for anything that retains data, whether that be a CRM system, website, yada y. You know, they've recreated their website, they started on a web platform like Wix, and now they're going upgrade to something else.
We see this upgrade all the time because people are looking for, you know, better functionality, more mobile speed, you know, all of these different things that they can't get from somewhere like, So they're going upgrade now they get things switched over, everything's good. It's on the new website. And you think I'm just going keep Wix for just a little bit just to make sure that there's no issues or errors.
And then fast forward six months and well, you still have Wix and now you've been paying for both your new website hosting provider and your old one four months these months. Be factored into your cost analysis of adding a new tech platform, of changing a tech platform of any upgrade. How long are you going to retain the old one?
Because that is not free. There is a hard cost to them. And so, you know, all of these factors. So when we're, when we're looking at, you know, calculating the cost of something, we really want to calculate what is the cost of the fix or transitional period. as one price, and then we want to look at, you know, the, the cost on a monthly basis moving forward at our current capacity or current volume.
And then also, you know, fast forward a year and think, well, what would our volume be at that time based on current growth and whatnot. So these are all things that you need to be considering when you're looking at making a change. So if I go back to where, you know, we started with Zapier and I did not take the time to move those Zaps over to Pabbly.
Didn't happen. So now we've paid for both of those platforms and then in, in, and you. Make is, is our new automation tool of choice because it has a greater functionality. Make is also the hardest to use from a user interface. You're not tech savvy. I would not recommend using make, it can be very difficult.
I would say that, you know, if there are developers who are working on combining apps they use make, it's, it's definitely less user friendly. It's also the least expensive option. Per transactional basis, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, all of these things play into every business decision, but the speed in which you can make decisions, the speed in which you can transition between tools is essential.
And I think that. You know, oftentimes when we don't come from a place of confidence in our decisions, we come at them slowly, we drag them out, and in the end we inevitably either miss opportunities or lose out on potential benefit because it took us too long to get there. You know, it comes back to that, you know it, you say, well, I have this, this offer, and I'm offering you.
10 black widgets for a thousand dollars and someone goes, Hmm ha, I don't know if it's worth it. I don't know if it's worth it. And then they say, oh, last call for the 10 widgets at $1,000. You think, Hmm ha. And then you go, you know, you shop around and you're like, oh, well the next person is selling those same 10 widgets for $1,300. Oh, it's a good deal. I better go back and you've missed it. It’s no longer available. Now you have to pay $1,300. Your cost of inaction in that example costs you $300. You must be able to make decisive. Decisions as a business owner and that decisiveness comes from a place of confidence, and how do we get to that place of confidence?
Well, that comes from data driven decision. Heard about me talking on the podcast. I wrote an entire book on data driven decisions because it is so essential. To coming at a place of decisiveness and competence. You know, I was speaking to someone actually on a sales call this week and they said, you know, I've, I've been in business for 17 years and I co and I really have made all of my decisions based on my intuition.
Incredible. 17 years of successful business based on intuition is incredible. And I said, we don't want to take that away. We don't want take away that intuition. Obviously you've done a fabulous job, but now it's time to scale the business and she has some decisions to make and she does not have the data that she needs to make.
Then. There's, there's no intuition that's going to help her lead through these decisions that she needs to make because some, some decisions are simply just not intuitive decisions as your business scales. So she says, you know, I never, this was never a focus for the last 17 years, but suddenly I'm realizing that I really need to make this happen.
I really need to, to sort out some of these decisions and I don't have the information I need to make them. And so, you know, it's, we want to. Using our intuition, but we want it to be backed by data. I think I want to do option A. I think it's better than option B. Okay, well let's check the data. Let's make sure that it, it actually aligns it, it, it gives you the same decision because oftentimes, when we are in our business, it's, it's like when they say you can't see the forest through the trees when you're in your business, it's very hard to see objectively and to show and to see, uh, what data can reveal.
You know, they say numbers don't lie. Numbers don't lie. But they also don't, they also don't often tell the entire story, and that is why I truly feel that. Data backed intuitive decision making. Let's combine the two creates power. It creates confidence. It creates this business strength and scalability that is second to them.
So this is why, you know I wrote the data-driven method. You can download your free copy at data-driven method.io. I, I've talked about on the podcast lots. Um, you know, we also just launched this new coaching program. It's an eight week program called Data and Details because this is an area that we see time and time and time again that is just lacking in businesses or people have all of the data, but they don’t know what to do with it, or they don’t how to measure it or what is good or what is bad, or.
you know, and, and oftentimes it, it really depends on your business. You know, what is good for one business in one industry, in one size, in one, you know, age of business is very different than something else. And so, you know, this eight week coaching program that we've developed, the data and details. , which you can find on our website.
Uh, you know, it's available at the time of recording. This is a high touch eight week program. It will not always be available. Um, you know, the doors are currently open for this program, but why, you know, what is the motivation behind creating such a program? Well, we want to help entrepreneurs. Know these data points, be able to calculate them.
Part of this program specifically builds a custom dashboard that keeps track of these metrics for you so that you're not wasting time calculating things. It can, it can just show you, it can highlight to you, uh, with live data, you know, what is important in your business. And we develop the, what is important in your business through the eight week program because there is no cookie cutter set of metrics.
You know, it's the same thing that I talk about in the data-driven. Book is that, you know, we have to first establish a baseline of these metrics to determine what is good for your business. I cannot out of the gate say, you know, it should be eight, that should be 10. Ooh, that can't be more than 15 without some background knowledge in your business.
So this is why, you know, we've developed this eight week program to go through and really learn about your business, establish the metrics, build the dashboard, and all of these things, all of. Because decisive, confident business management guaranteed to help you scale faster in a sustainable way, you know?
no one wants to build a house of cards. We, we see it often, certain industries more than others, where, you know, it, it's super high profit, but it's also high risk. And none of the risk is built into the, uh, you know, data. And so people are, are, are living the high life feeling like their business is making tons of money.
They're pulling all sorts of money out. We're not factoring in taxes, we're not factoring in, you know, future responsibilities. We're not factoring any of this in. And then all of a sudden it's. Oh my goodness. Windstorm, house of cards and these businesses close up, shop and go away. You know, I saw a very interesting, um, interview recently with Barbara from Shark Tank, um, the show where, you know, entrepreneurs go and, uh, pitch their businesses and whatnot.
Now, I would say that of the Sharks, if you've watched the show, Barbara is one of the most conservative sharks. She goes, Chito, she. Offers less frequently than others. And she was still saying that 80% of those businesses that she's cared of, 80%. And oftentimes if you've ever watched the show, um, or they have some great little snippets of it, um, on YouTube is TikTok and all these kinds of things.
I will look up some of the businesses, I'll watch some of the older shows where you, you know, someone will see, uh, you know, they'll make their pitch and you think, what a cool product. And then you go and look. a couple years later, and they're, they're long. They're gone. Come, I'm gone because something in their business model.
but that they ran out of cash, had too much risk, you know, couldn't make the sales, whatever it was, something didn't work in their business. And so we want to know where those points of risk are in our business. We want to be able to foreshadow and forecast and plan for the different seasons in our business.
The different highs and lows and risks and all these types of things, and they all come from knowing your data, being able to read and understand what it's telling you and help you to understand what data driven decision making is all about. . So if you're interested in learning more about the program, you can go to our website, botcher.io.
Currently, it is on the homepage if you're listening and this podcast comes out. If not, if you're interested in learning more about the program and perhaps it's not available at that time, you should be joining our Facebook community, uh, service based Business Society on Facebook. Chat more about it. Uh, you know, watch for when the doors open for this program.
Again, it is a high touch eight week program for entre. Currently in the, you know, six, moving into seven figures type sales, revenue, uh, fantastic program. And I'm so excited to bring this to life. It's been two years in the making. Um, you know, first writing the book, understanding the metrics. You know, I've traveled, I've spoken about this book, and now really is this, Touch eight week program that is going to bring it to life within people's businesses.
Well, we are all out of time for today. If you guys have not joined the Service-Based Business Society, Facebook community, make sure you head on over to Facebook and we can continue the conversation. Be sure to also follow the show by going to any podcast app and searching service based business society.
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