Do you sell yourself short? How do you calculate the price that you charge your clients? Do you find yourself working all the time? Is your company stuck? Has your income plateaued? Are you not able to dream attainable dreams? Maybe you should do what Vic did?
I talked to a bookkeeper a few years ago who had quit his job to become an independent bookkeeper. He was making $20/hour at his job and gave himself a raise to $25/hour when he went independent. Very normal, but it didn’t take long to realize that $25/hour doesn’t allow a business to grow. Sure, you could work 80 hours a week and gross $100K/year, but then you need to add in time for invoicing, unbillable conversations, doing your books and taxes, returning calls, dealing with sales people calling you, working out, family time, sleep, etc. You never have time to do marketing or make sales calls. You’re stuck!
You could hire a bookkeeper or get a sub-contractor, but they’ll want a minimum of $20/hour. They’ll probably want paid vacations, health insurance, a raise, etc. How long before they’re costing you more than than you charge your client? …and, now you have to manage an employee.
If you are already billing for 80 hours/week, I can’t help you. You’re already full and you’ll have to fire clients in order to have time to learn how to grow your business.
But, if you bill for 40 hours or less a week and you’d like to grow your business, these are the steps in the process.
- Get found by good prospects.
- Learn how to sell “21st Century” style.
- Raise your rates.
- Hire and repeat.
I know that it sound simple and it actually is. Not easy, but simple and I’ve seen it work with bookkeepers, marketing agencies, consultants, attorneys, tradespeople, contractors, IT people. I’ve seen incomes go from $20K/year to $70K/year, from $40K/year to $250K/year and everywhere in between.
Have questions? Want clarification? Ask in the comments or
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RainMakers & Sales Rock Stars 
Rick this is an easy mistake for new business owners to fall into. Over the last 13-14 years it was interesting watching my own growth starting at $40 per hour, then $60, then $80, $100, etc.It wasn’t until I started getting comfortable with myself and my ability that it became easy selling higher dollar billing. The next challenge was moving from an hourly rate to annual relationships and although this took sometime, after you sell a few this becomes a game changer.This is truly a confidence thing. Understanding your true value, selling it and then delivering a great product or service to the customer to build the lasting relationship and hopefully the evangelists we are all looking for.
Rick this is a great topic. Just yesterday I was talking to a marketing firm that was selling on per hour rates. We discused how to get away from hourly rates and talk about there services as a program. Under the program this is want we are going to do. Its a better way to sell services on value vs “How Much Per Hour” boy that seems like a lot. Thanks for the great topic