Life can be messy, when you miss the train, make wrong friends, or when you put all your heart and soul into growing an online business but the EU introduced its new VAT rules.
I understand your frustration: a road block for your to-be-launched projects, the fear of shutting down your online aspect, you are not making a corporate level of profit, but why the hell do you have to suffer their high maintenance administration?!
The best way is probably to revamp your delivery, sidestep this new and controversial rule, unless you have the capacity and resources to fall into strictly-speaking “digital category products” and comply with the new rules.
Rest assured, it won’t take long, you don’t have to shut down your e-products, and you can create more Abundance, (spiritually + financially), and serve your tribes even better.
BUT HOW? Read on…
First things first, let’s get the mindset right:
1. Restore your confidence: the intent of this VAT change was not to screw you over, although it feels like it.
Long story short, it is an unintended consequence. It was to stop giants like Amazon from taking advantage of the low VAT rate in Luxembourg. So, instead of charging VAT based on the seller’s country, now you need to charge VAT based on buyer’s location for EU customers. Yes, the people who made this rule were clueless (directness puts us back into perspective) on how transactions take place in real world for small business owners.
Our stories shape how we feel; feelings can make or block your business, and things like this trigger hidden stories within us: such as redundancy, an ugly break-up, betrayal, scrutiny, if not almost every event in the past that you felt you were being walked over.
It’s important to recognise your emotions and stories, release them and recover a sense of safety.
Communicate with your local government representatives, and persuade them to adjust the rules for small business owners like yourself. For example, the UK HMRC is already making progress. Here is a resourceful site (and another one) that will keep you up to date.
Be sure to support these petitions: UK one, USA one. The rules might extend to services and physical goods from 2016 too, so let’s stop it and save ourselves some drama.
2. “To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities.”
As my imaginary bff Bruce Lee would say. Focus less on the drama, and more on how to keep your business healthy and running.
Many of us long for a business that is hand-made, that is a unique expression of your soul, that allows your heart wildly open. This is an opportunity for you to make more intimate impact by adding more “human invention” to your products (see the 17 ways below)
3. Growing your business is your BIRTHRIGHT.
Rules, laws or legislations change from time to time, for a good reason or even randomly. Don’t let any sudden changes stop you from growing personally and financially. Victimization sucks. Stay in the flow and play with your outer reality.
4. Let go of the myth of “passive income”.
Especially if you are just starting out or don’t have a massive following yet.
“Passive income” is extremely attractive, and especially for introverts these two words feel like heaven. It amplifies your yearning for freedom, ease and a year-long-holiday. You hate this new VAT rule with a passion, as it attacks your dreams.
But the truth is: it takes a loooooooong time, tons of effort, showered with tears perhaps, to get there anyway!
How about focus on bringing value + getting some awesome income and worry about whether it is active or passive later?
Have you noticed that those who are selling the idea of “passive income” still work hard (at least with some reasonable effort) to promote their passive income products and/or update their creations regularly so that they can stay on top of the game?
The key is to work in ways that energise you so that you are motivated to work in your own style passionately, sustainably and gracefully, passive or not doesn’t determine your happiness or satisfaction.
There are hundreds of ways to make it work for you, and here are 17 examples for you to play with including some great ways of involving “human invention”.
Are you ready to serve your customers better, sidestep the EU VAT rules & increase the worthiness of your offering? (Tweet this)
1:: Selling an ebook @$10? Repurpose the core part of your ebook and make an opt-in offer, towards the end of the opt-in offer, invite people to buy a mini-but-mighty “brain voucher” with you, ie, an intuitive-reading, astrology chart, a website audit…the list goes on, you get the idea, then give your ebook as a bonus. You can now sell your new offer at $50-$200.
2:: You sell meditation downloads @$10-$25? Add a personalised prayer in writing, if you/your VA are tech savvy, edit the meditation to make it customised, now the price point goes up to $50+, and more trust and bonds are building up.
3:: Or, if there are hundreds or more buying your meditation and #2 is not sustainable, offer monthly group tuning-in sessions for your students/customers for 12 months or more, now your new offering wants to sell at $7.99 per month, hello recurring income!
4:: Are you an artist selling a home-study creativity course? Create a customised artwork along with your course. The personal touch can, as you will agree, raise the price point.
5:: Add a FB group for each of your digital products, host a weekly/monthly office hour to answer the questions and help your customers move forward on the spot. Like my friend Christie does.
6:: Invite your readers to ask you questions on the topic of your ebook/ecourse, organise a teleclass to answer their questions, with your ebook/ecourse as a bonus.
7:: Do #6 every month/quarter, then celebrate the birth of your brand new membership!
8:: Embed a 1:1 voucher into your course, and hold your customers accountable with access to your personal attention. Eg, I now offer Abundance Voucher x 2 as a key component within my Money First Aid Kit.
9:: Move your electronic products onto 3rd party platforms that handle VAT, Udemy or Ravelry, anyone?
10:: Revamp your home study course into a group coaching programme, run it a few times a year with clear opening and closing dates, embed it with weekly Q&A, implementation calls or strategy sessions.
11:: Revamp your product to include membership as part of the offering, invite some JV partners to contribute some live teaching and content and have fun with them!
12:: Offer an online (or offline or both!) retreat + help your customers to revive their souls so that they can implement your ebook/ecourse faster and deeper.
13:: Brand new? Invite your readers to fill in a brief (but highly targeted) survey, then make your ebook/ecourse as a gift to thank their time. From the survey feedback, you will get a good feel on which high-end services are needed in your target market. Then launch the high-end offer (ie, VIP day, mastermind, group coaching, platinum package, diamond package…). Can you also feel your next $1k, $5k or $10k+ awaiting?
14:: You always want to be an author. Evolve your ebook into paper back. Stop procrastinating, your time is NOW.
15:: Push the EU governments. Other national governments can only work around this rule, the EU is the one who can make the real change. Are you an EU reader? Are you suffering from less educational product choices? Please can you let your elected representative know?
16:: Trust. There are many gifted developers around the world. They can and will make plug-ins and/or software to help you in the future, when you feel called to choose the pure digital route. But until then, keep providing human inventions and services until you collect sufficient Money to fund you.
17:: Many creative freelancers and entrepreneurs believe that they will have less choices in 2015, but as you can see, there are many ways to elevate your biz. When there is fear in the air collectively, it’s hard for you as an individual to focus on what truly matters. If you resonate, please share this article with your friends who can benefit from it.
Or, you can simply (tweet this: “The world is still your oyster, spin that mess baby!”). Thank you!
You see, because of the live elements/”human intervention”, you are giving more value to your customers, you’ll build better connection, and you can also earn more!
So, what is stopping you?
Perhaps being an introvert(don’t worry, you are a sovereign being, this is manageable)?
or are you afraid of your brilliance and being seen?
This change of rules has bluntly pushed many (myself included) to face your own reality:
It is way easier to hide behind your computer.
It is way easier to make a product, put it out there, end of the story, without promoting it consistently and regularly, without asking for feedback, without doing iterations and make it better and better and better…
It is way easier to check what everybody else is charging, and you just charge a 10% haircut off the average, without owning your value, without standing behind your life’s work…
“But, who is going to pay me? What if no one will buy?” I hear your inner-critic talking.
Don’t worry, the reason fears come up is because:
NOW IT IS THE TIME TO RELEASE THEM.
You are courageous enough to make it work.
You are smart enough to make it work.
You even have plenty of Karmic Surplus to make it work.
So, go and make it work. xo
Leave a comment: how are you going to take this opportunity to up your biz game?
I’m very happy to announce the opening of the 1st ever live version of my signature Money Course: Create Your Own Money First Aid Kit in 3 Weeks.
Registration starts now: for the first 10 people who join this round, you will receive a hand-written prayer from me, delivered through the mail! My digital prayer has been powerful & effective for my private clients, and this time I’ll be doing it via mail!
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[A clarity note: the purpose of this article is to help you regain your confidence to stay in business, push you to become more visible, and sparkle your creativity to be a better service. Of course, it is important that everything you do is in line with the new VAT rules, this goes without saying, I would never encourage you to evade tax. If required, please contact your accountant and your government authority for detailed compliance]
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It’s difficult to find educated people in this particular topic,
but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
Excellent write-up. I certainly love this website. Keep writing!
Thanks so much YIye! I gained so much clarity and confidence from your article!
so welcome! I’m glad 🙂