Service as a Product

I had a good fifteen minute conversation last night empowered by some Smokehead whisky. Consultants usually charge a certain amount of money per hour for their services and the contract lasts for a certain time. The markets at least where I operate have pretty stabilized prices, but are there alternatives? Can you charge more?

Now, I like reading and I have pretty much covered all books Robert Kiyosaki has written. One thing he talks in his book Retire Young, Retire Rich is leverage. When he talks about leverage he talks about anything that can leverage income. In real estate this could be debt, but in consulting business it could be your knowledge, skills and ability to sell yourself for your clients. When you started working as an entrepreneur you probably did this because you thought that you could get more leverage through better hourly rate and tax advantages.

You might have reached the level where you are already working full day, so you cannot get leverage by working more. In addition, you might have problems increasing your hourly rate. You might have already became a guru in a specialized field which already pays top dollars, so you cannot get much more. What then? Maybe you can sell your service as a product!