Have you worked out how much you value yourself recently?
If you intend to have a business rather than simply making some money from a hobby, then putting a value on your time is an essential part of your pricing and business planning.
Creative people frequently underestimate the time and effort involved in creating their product – and sadly, all too often customers fail to appreciate it too. Brides-to-be can be particularly hard to convince – not realising how much time we have to spend ensuring everything is perfect for them! Make sure you don’t fall into the trap.
Add up ALL the time you spend on the business – not just directly working for clients, but the marketing, networking, doing the accounts etc. Now take your profit figure and work out how much you are earning per hour. If it’s not very much, it’s time to look again at your pricing.
If you plan to grow and expand your business you will need to employ staff at some point – they won’t work for nothing so make sure your margins allow for both paying staff and managing them.
Drop the guilt! So many people feel guilty about charging what they are worth and if you have this attitude it will come across when talking to customers about money.
Believe in yourself and the value of your product or service – your customers will believe in it too.