findtim
Top Contributor
its very easy, put your prices up and get rid of the deadwood.
we have just completed a review of exactly where our time goes and what we seem to never bill for and its the cheap clients, the smallest clients use up the most time and even think you are available 24/7/365 as what happened this sunday at 4pm.
review everything you do and put a price on it, somethings can be one off charges like advice because you get clients that ring you and want to ask about how they can do something so they don't have to pay you !!!! YEP......... "please teach me at no cost so i can do it myself"
if you charge them every time they will either be happy and pay or leave, either way you should be happy, i sacked a major client last year and its the best thing i ever done, yes it cost us money but when we added it all up and divided by HONEST HOURS we were make @ $10 an hour and thats just BS.
then there is the little things like: i forgot my email password and i just bought a new iphone/computer ?, how do i set up my email on windows 10 outlook 2010? i've had my brother look at the site and he says that heading should be a slightly darker blue, i've forgot how to add an image etcccccccccccccc, last week i spent a whole day with phone calls to do things i generally don't charge but with more clients comes more support which burns up time.
then there are ongoing ( variable ) things like plugin updates, hack protection, backups, which really need to be a charge yearly based on a certain level of support, and do packages so clients can choose, make sure its clear anything outside of this is a charge
its hard to put up your prices so there is no other way to do it then "JUST DO IT", all they are doing is paying insure on a valuable asset "their website"
i was amazed before xmas when a clients marketing guy rang me about making some changes to my clients site when we got into discussion he told me he was charging $150 a week to his clients to do their marketing, i really can't see what he is doing as he doesn't do anything online which leaves traditional media and the client is small fry in a small town.
He's now asked me to do all his web work but sell it off as part of his service so he looks up to date with the online world and he just takes 10%
but $150 a week, sh*t, i just can't see that much work being done.
so think about what your time is worth and try to find others who offer the same service and their pricing as you will be amazed, one you may find it hard to find anyone actually doing it as i have found and 2 the ones i have found charge very large fees, to large i feel for the workload they are doing so i'm not pricing myself like that as i do believe if i state a fair price for a fair job then it reads true in my voice and eyes.
there are heaps of reading and youtube on this subject, i just posted this to bring it forward if you find yourself bogged down and maybe start your brain running.
we have created the packages and fees and will be sending out an email to current clients about the changes asking them to select a new package as all present ones no longer exist.
the message is basically what we are doing and why, what we will provide at each level ( we just have 3 ) and then a "call to action"
we say they need to go to our website, we give them a hidden link for now, and pick a package by X date, we will then prorata what they presently pay this year and then next year will be what they selected.
the form gets sent to us and we commence the work we promise and email the invoice with 7 day payment terms.
if they do not select we will phone them as they have missed the email, if no action then they stay with what they have for X +30 days so they can find another service provider as we will no longer be responsible for anything going wrong.
also me promise NOTHING, there is no such thing as hack prevention, only hack solutions and worldwide you will get NOBODY saying 100% you will not be hacked, so don't let them believe otherwise IMO.
SO you loose some clients ! this gives you more time to find new ones at the new rates and they are much happier clients, all our recent new clients have just been told "here are the options" and as you are stating this as the status quo they just accept it or not,we haven't had anyone even mention anything other then their choice.
count your dead hours and see you are working for less then what you think.
(hourly rate x 40hr) - (dead hours x hourly rate) = X , X - super - tax - expenses = Y , Y / 40 = true hourly rate , i hope that works for you i did it quickly.
tim
we have just completed a review of exactly where our time goes and what we seem to never bill for and its the cheap clients, the smallest clients use up the most time and even think you are available 24/7/365 as what happened this sunday at 4pm.
review everything you do and put a price on it, somethings can be one off charges like advice because you get clients that ring you and want to ask about how they can do something so they don't have to pay you !!!! YEP......... "please teach me at no cost so i can do it myself"
if you charge them every time they will either be happy and pay or leave, either way you should be happy, i sacked a major client last year and its the best thing i ever done, yes it cost us money but when we added it all up and divided by HONEST HOURS we were make @ $10 an hour and thats just BS.
then there is the little things like: i forgot my email password and i just bought a new iphone/computer ?, how do i set up my email on windows 10 outlook 2010? i've had my brother look at the site and he says that heading should be a slightly darker blue, i've forgot how to add an image etcccccccccccccc, last week i spent a whole day with phone calls to do things i generally don't charge but with more clients comes more support which burns up time.
then there are ongoing ( variable ) things like plugin updates, hack protection, backups, which really need to be a charge yearly based on a certain level of support, and do packages so clients can choose, make sure its clear anything outside of this is a charge
its hard to put up your prices so there is no other way to do it then "JUST DO IT", all they are doing is paying insure on a valuable asset "their website"
i was amazed before xmas when a clients marketing guy rang me about making some changes to my clients site when we got into discussion he told me he was charging $150 a week to his clients to do their marketing, i really can't see what he is doing as he doesn't do anything online which leaves traditional media and the client is small fry in a small town.
He's now asked me to do all his web work but sell it off as part of his service so he looks up to date with the online world and he just takes 10%
but $150 a week, sh*t, i just can't see that much work being done.
so think about what your time is worth and try to find others who offer the same service and their pricing as you will be amazed, one you may find it hard to find anyone actually doing it as i have found and 2 the ones i have found charge very large fees, to large i feel for the workload they are doing so i'm not pricing myself like that as i do believe if i state a fair price for a fair job then it reads true in my voice and eyes.
there are heaps of reading and youtube on this subject, i just posted this to bring it forward if you find yourself bogged down and maybe start your brain running.
we have created the packages and fees and will be sending out an email to current clients about the changes asking them to select a new package as all present ones no longer exist.
the message is basically what we are doing and why, what we will provide at each level ( we just have 3 ) and then a "call to action"
we say they need to go to our website, we give them a hidden link for now, and pick a package by X date, we will then prorata what they presently pay this year and then next year will be what they selected.
the form gets sent to us and we commence the work we promise and email the invoice with 7 day payment terms.
if they do not select we will phone them as they have missed the email, if no action then they stay with what they have for X +30 days so they can find another service provider as we will no longer be responsible for anything going wrong.
also me promise NOTHING, there is no such thing as hack prevention, only hack solutions and worldwide you will get NOBODY saying 100% you will not be hacked, so don't let them believe otherwise IMO.
SO you loose some clients ! this gives you more time to find new ones at the new rates and they are much happier clients, all our recent new clients have just been told "here are the options" and as you are stating this as the status quo they just accept it or not,we haven't had anyone even mention anything other then their choice.
count your dead hours and see you are working for less then what you think.
(hourly rate x 40hr) - (dead hours x hourly rate) = X , X - super - tax - expenses = Y , Y / 40 = true hourly rate , i hope that works for you i did it quickly.
tim
