This week has been focused on talking about how to grow your business 10x bigger than it is currently.

Tuesday I talked about why just trying to increase 2% or 3% or even 10% can be harder than going for a jump like a 10x increase.

Yesterday I talked about why I love working with clients that have a 10x reach.

When I originally tweeted about the 10x thoughts Jason Cohen came back with this awesome thought.

@curtismchale another interesting question: how to double your take-home profit without hiring anyone?

— Jason Cohen (@asmartbear) November 18, 2014

If you don’t know Jason maybe you’ve heard of this little company he founded called WP Engine? Or maybe you’ve read his blog a smart bear.

If you still don’t know who I’m talking about then just trust me that Jason is a smart cookie.

[Tweet “How can you 2x your profit without hiring?”]

So double profits

We’d all like to double our profits, right? “But how, exactly, can I double my profits?” you may ask. Well, off the top of my head, I can think of a few ways:

Stronger marketing so that you have to spend less time prospecting for clients.

Automating your client acquisition.

Cut expenses in half.

But the one that interests me (and you probably) the most is to double your rates.

Easy to say

Yeah it’s easy to say that you need to double your rates but it’s harder to do unless your current rate is fairly low, like in the $50-$75/hour range.

That’s where I was in 2012, charging $75-$90 an hour and ending up with around $50k/yr in business invoices to show for it.

That’s before taxes and expenses, so my take home was actually close to 50%, maybe 60%, of that amount.

I actually just had a hobby that mostly paid the bills, but I wasn’t yet running a legitimate, viable business.

Then I read Double Your Freelancing Rate and ended up doubling my freelancing rate. Currently, my ‘hourly’ rate is around $200/hour. (I don’t work hourly but this is a good round number to use for illustrative purposes.)

Now, doubling your rates may provide an instant financial boost to your business, but creating a profitable and sustainable business involves so much more. You still need to master pricing and providing the most value possible to your customers. Understanding the value you bring is going to be key to growing your business even bigger.

My top resources (and where all of my Q1 ‘extra time’ will be devoted) on this path are:

• Art of Value
• The Soul of Enterprise
• Pricing on Purpose
• Implementing Value Pricing
• Value Based Fees
• The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing

I’d like to double my fees again and boost my current income with ‘passive’ income streams in 2015.

Ambitious? HELL yes, but if I’m going to take my business to the next level, something needs to change — including my mindset.

[Tweet “Let’s 2x our rates and our value next year”]

What can you do to double your take-home profits in 2015? Do you need to raise your rates, or raise the value of what you offer?

Most likely you need to do both!

photo credit: jed_september cc