Now when I was a computer consultant and provided systems support to small business, charging by the hour was the norm and customers didn’t argue with an hourly rate because the service provided was visible in that I spent time at their place of business, so they could see the service being delivered in real time.  However, with the creative side of my business that I was growing at the time (graphic design, web design, business branding), charging by the hour didn’t seem to sell well because customers didn’t actually see you do the work.  The work was nebulous and not tangible.  I would go away, create something, and then days later, bill the client for the hours I worked.

At the time in early 2000, web sites were still fairly new, and few clients understood what they were, how they were built.  Even fewer had a clear strategy on what their web site was supposed to do.  All of these factors made charging by the hour a constant struggle because customers wouldn’t understand what went on.  Now, I have to admit, I probably ended up attracting clients that weren’t willing to pay what I wanted to charge, and didn’t see the value of what I provided.  It’s not that I overcharged or was too expensive.  In fact, if anything my rates were too low at the time, and I didn’t believe I had skills worth selling at a fair rate.  Also, I probably didn’t do a good enough job explaining and showing value during the lead generation phase of my sales cycle.

Today, I understand my business much more clearly and I have built enough web sites to put a predictable price on what I sell.  I know some clients are new to the Internet and need more coaching.  While others have already built their first web site and are looking for a revamp and are easier to work with.  In all cases, I can almost always use a fixed price model when selling my services, and I have chosen to go down that route instead of the hourly rate model.  Now, if you are a web designer listening to me right now, your are probably thinking, I should charge by the hour, but I will tell you what.  Customers won’t buy it.  I’m also so fast with web development now, that I can create in a day what used to take me a week 10 years ago and so my hourly rate would be in the range of 200-300 per hour.  I won’t get many clients at that rate.

In addition, charging by the hour sets me up for a model of trading time for money, and if there is anything I know about being an employee, that’s the one distinction you can make.  Employees trade time for money.  By following the hourly rate model, I end up being tied to timesheets and some customers that are just starting out with their web business end up being overbilled.  There are just too many scenarios where charging by the hour, doesn’t work for my customers. In most cases it’s a win-lose strategy where customers will lose out and won’t ask me for help and guidance because they know they are being billed for my time.  I would rather do away with the hourly rate and instead sell at a fixed price, deliver my best work, and let customers interact with me more often.  That sounds much more win/win to me and in the end, the best solution is produced.

Idea 1 – Productize your services

Now, you are probably thinking I’m heading in the wrong direction with fixed price design because I lose out, but that’s not really the case.  You see, with fixed price design, I can determine what a project is worth by calculating how much time I will have to devote to the project, and determine what my costs will be.  One of the outcomes of this is that I can start to think of my consulting services as products on a shelf, or something in a box.  I can thinking about a concept called “productization” which is essentially the idea of turning a time-based consulting service into a “product”. 

Let me give you an example of “productization”.  Let’s say you get a haircut, and the stylist says they charge 150 per hour.  Well, most people will try and do the simplest possible haircut, cut out extras like a shampoo, gel, etc.  They won’t let the stylist do what they do best and in the end, no matter how little you pay, you won’t be satisfied.  Of course, most stylists don’t charge by the hour, and have fixed price “products” you can “buy”.  You know the final cost, and you simply expect the stylist to do their best work.

So that’s the first method of thinking about what your time is worth.  Turn your services, or the services you deliver most often into “products”, and then put a dollar value on those “products”.  In the beginning, you might undercharge or overcharge, but over time, your product pricing will settle to a value that makes sense for your target audience.

Idea 2 – Increase value

Continuing with the example of the hair stylist, have you seen stylists that charge more?  Of course you have, and the value of what’s being delivered is tangible. Often, it’s a fancier studio, maybe there are spa services, more talented stylists, better products, and overall, a more enjoyable and engaging experience.  Can you think of doing the same with your business?  One of the things I have built recently with Full Motion Group, is a knowledgebase.  It’s a seperate web site, where my customers can read articles, watch videos, and learn more about how to build their business and their online marketing. I can also increase value by adding members to my team, like I did earlier this year. 

You see, one of the things you need to understand about buying behaviour is that people don’t buy based on price alone.  The value of what they buy also plays a role and if you can increase the value of your business, and deliver to customers something extra, something above and beyond what everyone else is offering, then price becomes somewhat flexible.  For example, consider organic food.  Now, I’m not about to argue against organic food.  In fact, if anything I actually enjoy eating organic produce and I do see the value.  I know organic food tastes better and I feel good knowing that I’m feeding my body with something more nutritious than off the shelf produce.  Think about increasing value in creative ways in your business as well that gives you a license to charge more than your competitors.

Idea 3 – Consider market maturity

Your industry maturity plays a big role in how you charge. Unless you can find ways to increase value or stand out from your competition, you are going to find it difficult to charge a premium in your business.  Market maturity, however, also is something to consider when thinking how much you can charge.  In newer industries or businesses where supply is scarce, you can afford to charge a premium.  I have a few clients that offer something few others have and in one case, price is no object and this client can charge any amount they see fair.

As markets and industries mature, more suppliers invariably enter the market and price becomes a concern for customers.  Again, as I mentioned before, your client history, testimonials, and value added all help in closing on the sale, so while market maturity is significant, it’s not a major consideration if you have positioned your business effectively. 

I would go as far as saying that market maturity actually induces business risk more than it does give you a competitive advantage.  All markets mature, and eventually price becomes the only differentiator amongst your competition.  That’s the case currently with the web design industry.  Some web design companies have used a client list as their competitive advantage, while others have gone the route of teams and technology as what makes them stand out.

Idea 4 – Work backwards from your goals

If you happen to be in a business where your customers don’t have many references to compare your price point, you may want to work backwards from your end goals to determine what your hourly rate should be.  I can’t say it any better than a great resource at Freelanceswitch.com called the Hourly rate calculator, so I suggest you visit the site and give the tool a try.

Hourly Rate Calculator

Idea 5 – Learn from the competition

If all else fails and you can’t create more value, or come up with creative ways of selling, you could always learn from the competition.  However, this is one area I really don’t suggest you do.  You see, it could well be that the competition isn’t providing what customers really want and haven’t spent the time to learn what the pain points are from customers to devise a creative solution.

If you just do what everyone else does, you could fall into what I call the “me2”, and “copycat” way of doing business. Now, there is nothing wrong with that, but do you really want to compete for eyeballs like everyone else?  I suggest it’s easier and better to learn the pain points, and devise a solution that makes sense for customers.  To me, that makes more sense and ultimately takes you down the path of being a “solution provider”.

Well, I hope the ideas above give you some indications about how you might price your services.  Focus on making it easy for customers to work with you and delivering high value.  Help customers solve problems, and you will never be short of customers wanting to work with you.

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If you are a business owner, or work in Marketing for your organization, one of the things you must understand is the mind of your customer.  Why?  Because if you understand what your customers are looking for, you can give them what they want.  And when a customer is looking for a solution to a problem, what they are concerned about is the benefits and how the solution you provide can help them solve their problem.

Just think about it.  If you need to hire a web designer, which of the following will you seek?

A web designer that knows HTML, Javascript, PHP, Wordpress, and understands Jquery and Mootools

OR

A web designer that can will build a site that gets your more customers, inform your target market, help you share your company story, make your stand out against your competition?

Get out of your own way

The choice should be obvious.  Obviously it’s benefits that you care about when you seek the help from someone else.  The challenge for you, however, is getting out of your own way when you market your OWN company.  What I mean is that as a business owner, often, what you care most about, and inevitably spend most of your time in your business doing is “feature building”. 

• If you are a web designer, you spend lots of time improving your skills and abilities, learning new technologies, and continuing to improve your skills. 
• If you are a printer, you spend most of your time working on new printing technologies, improving turnaround time, and errors, and making your print company more competitive. 
• If you are a software developer, you spend your time on improving your software, reducing bugs, and building capabilities.

Fortunately, that’s great for your customers.  Unfortunately, that’s really bad for your customers.

A common mistake as a business owner, is marketing features and abilities and that’s because you become myopic about what you do.  You forget about benefits because it’s not as interesting to you as “feature building” which is where your passion in business building really lies.  You spend all your time delivering your product or service better, and forget that benefits is why people buy from you.  People want their problems solved and you need to know how to give them that.

Self-Employed Professionals love to Master their Work

The problem I mention about about becoming myopic is a common mistake a lot of self-employed professionals make. I have made the same mistake myself. So how do you get of your own way?  Do a few exercises on discovering your benefits using the system I have written up for you below:

An Easy Tool for Benefit Discovery

Take the time go through the questions below.  Think about the answers and what they mean to your business and your customers

1. With your last customer, think about a story of how you helped them solve a problem. Write that story from your customers perspective.  If necessary, interview your customer and ask them what benefits they received.
2. List all your product or service “features” and next to each one, list at least one benefit of how each feature helps your customer
3. Do you have great stories of triumph, happiness or improved efficiency that you were able to give your customer? 
4. Without you, what problem would your customer have been unable to solve.  What benefit would your customer have been unable to satisfy?
5. In your industry, what are the common features all of your competitors provide?  What one feature do you have that your competition hasn’t discovered?  And if you have such a feature, what is the benefit to your customer of that feature?
6. List all the features in order from most commonly asked for, to least commonly asked for. 
7. Did you build a new business feature or capability because customers asked for it?  If so, what new benefit did your customers enjoy of that feature?
8. Think about a business you recently worked with.  Think about how the product/service made you feel both before and after the sale.  List the primary “feelings” that you expected to feel before purchasing and then compare that list to how you actually felt after the sale.  Are the lists similar or different and why?  Shouldn’t your customer feel good both before and after the sale?

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I know lots of stuff.  I’m not bragging, I just really do know a lot about a lot of different subjects.  I’m an expert at a few of them, but the ones I have a passion for I continually pursue perfection and try to achieve “greatness”. I’m not sure why that is.  Perhaps it’s my passion for excellence and the reward of becoming really great at something.  Or perhaps it’s my never ending curiosity about how the world works.  All I know is, I’m a Jack of all Trades and I’m celebrating it right here, right now. 

Did curiosity really kill an actual cat?

I have always been curious. I have this insatiable thirst for knowledge that never seems to go away.  In fact, I often feel like there just isn’t enough time to soak up all that life has to offer and that can freeze me in place with indecisiveness.

When I was young, I would take apart electronics and try to figure out how they work. My mom, in fact, used to call me “destroyer”. Yes, most kids go through this phase, but I still have that curiosity today in abundance.  The earliest I can remember, my dad said “just try”, “explore” and don’t be afraid.  People that know me well will say that:

• I’m stubborn.  No apologies, no regrets. Period.  Don’t like that?  Too bad for you.
• I figure out a way to succeed in anything I do.  For a while I thought that if I couldn’t succeed, it was someone else’s fault.  Over the last few years, I realize I’m in total control and I know it’s just a matter of putting the puzzle pieces together.
• I’m curious to a fault.  I always question how and why.  I like to know.  People think I’m intruding or stealing something but honestly I’m just curious. Perhaps it’s the control freak in me coming out and it probably comes across that way, but truthfully I’m just darned curious.  I like to know how something works when I use it.
• I often always question the status quo.  No. Actually, I despise the status quo. That’s the truth. To me status quo is an opportunity to do it differently.  I have a knack for recognizing imperfection, and I feel strongly compelled to fix it.  I’m also an INTJ so seeking optimization is something that’s in my DNA.
• I like details and I don’t mind working on them.  Being a web designer, the beauty is all in the details.  It’s the little things that matter and make a site go from good to great.  Often, I will work on pixel perfect positioning on the tiniest of details that virtually nobody will ever see. I just enjoy the process and I feel good when I succeed.
• I love best practices.  In life, some things just work and it’s no point questioning them or trying to re-invent the way it’s done.  Wanna lose weight? Eat right and Exercise.  Wanna be rich?  Hang around rich people.  Wanna get better at something?  Practice.  Duh.

That’s Jack with a CAPITAL J please

Well, 36 years into my life, and I can honestly say that sometimes, my curious nature gets me into trouble.  If you look at my career history over the last 10 years or so, it’s clear that I have held a lot of different jobs, and nearly every time it’s in a different industry and in a completely different position.  I’m not corporate ladder climbing material, that’s absolutely sure.  I probably can’t hold a position for more than a few years, and then my curiosity get’s to me and I need to try something totally new.  My last manager called me “ambitious” because he could see that sitting still wasn’t in my future.

From a “corporate career” point of view, being a Jack of All trades certainly isn’t in your benefit.  You see the corporate culture you know today is really something that existed from the days of war when people needed to repeat a task over and over. Innovation and Mastery were left to heads of state and designers of war, not to the lowly “man on the line”.

Single Tasking Humans are from the Days of War

It’s a theory (isn’t everything we state just a theory anyways?), but I do believe the corporate conditioning and social systems we are all are a part of tell us that we should become a master of just one thing and that diversifying yourself is bad for you.  Diversify a stock portfolio, not a career path.  My parents often say, “Why don’t you keep one job and stick with it?”.  Now be patient with me. I’m not against staying at one job and being content with it, but I truly believe it’s something that existed from the days of war, and a time when The Great Depression forced everyone into silos. 

Being a single tasking person is great when

• There are lots of jobs and the future is stable
• Your skill is needed inside a mass production system
• Your skill or task can’t be replaced by machinery or computers

Look at the above list.  Name one of those items that is true today.  Well, there are lots of jobs but nothing is stable in the economy.  I don’t personally know anyone that works in factories anymore.  I think it’s all offshore now, and there isn’t a single mass production system, job, skill, or piece of knowledge that can’t be replaced by machinery, automation, and computer AI systems. 

I think as well, that over the last 100 years there has also been a major shift in the human mind and it’s ability to do amazing things.  Access to the web has allowed for a tremendous amount of knowledge and information to be shared.   Global travel and commerce has allowed for products and services of all kinds to be bought and sold by all the nations of the world.

The Star Trek world is coming

It might be premature to say, but I think Globalization as well as a naturally occurring move towards a perfect “Star Trek” world is inevitable.  People want to be a part of great ideas and to do something worthwhile.  Just look at Google.  Their motto is to “organize the worlds information”.  Those early programmers worked night and day to make that dream a remote possibility (which it might be if Google sticks around for a few more years).  Look at Bill and Melinda Gates.  The took all their wealth and decided that living up to their foundations motto, “all lives have equal value”, was something worth pursuing.

Everyone is sharing more and more.  Name one thing you can’t learn online (well except maybe your grandma’s apple pie recipe)?   Cost of information is near zero. Products are universally available without discrimination to your color, gender, or ethnicity.  It’s now possible to get Bananas from Jamaica, TVs from Japan, Silk from China, and Curry from India all without leaving your front door. Fedex, a company with the large private fleet of airplanes in the world, will deliver it all to you fresh from the producer before the week is over.

Adapt and Conquer, just like The Romans

Technology, Computers, the Internet, Travel, and Communication have all had remarkable affects on the human consciousness.  So what’s next?  Well, as my friend Eddie says “adapt and conquer” is the name of the game.  Learn to act quickly.  Be an “Agile” person, don’t just write Agile software.  Go where the opportunities are and learn quickly.  Be ready to drop everything you believe in and change quickly. There are a tonne of opportunities around you at the bleeding edge of innovation, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.  All of them are ways to contribute to the global shift already occurring under your feet.  Outsource like everyone else.  Be a participant in the global shift.  Don’t cry.  Instead, celebrate and enjoy the possibilities.

The spread of information and access to anything the world produces is here, right now, whether you like it or not.  Are you prepared? Are you a Jack of All Trades?  Do you already know how to learn quickly and pickup a new skill or two?  Can you learn anything?  Are you curious?  Do you love to acquire knowledge and skill?  Does certainty bore you?  If so, congratulations!  You are ready to rule the new world!

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Benefit to Content Writer?
Clean Back links in their content without a rel=nofollow tag and the ability to market and create some Google juice.

Benefit to Syndicator?
Traffic, higher SEO ranking, and hopefully in-line advertising to make money from the additional content, and blog activity

Cool!
I knew content syndication was a possibility with blogs, but the business model SyndicateKahuna has designed is smart.  I’m concerned about content duplication and the rules Google and other search engines use around content duplication including penalization.  That’s the big question I have yet to answer.  Come back soon as I share my thoughts about this.

P.S. Sidenote
On a side note, I was able to register WordpressNinjas.ca today!  I’m super excited about the possibilities of using this new domain name and I really like the idea of using it!  On idea I have is to turn it into a self-serve model to generate more leads and projects and maybe integrate content syndication into the blog side of the site.  Or maybe I will turn it into a paid membership directory for Wordpress developers across Canada and create a ranking system based on meta data like RSS feed activity, Pagerank, and Community Ranking.  That would be cool.  Ninja stars could represent weapons to lower someone’s ranking, and other ninja paraphernalia could represent ways to vote for a member’s ranking. 

Got other ideas?  Let me know!

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So you want to get into podcasting do you?  Well, it’s not that complex once you have a good framework to follow. I decided about a month ago, to start podcasting on a regular basis, and eventually sell or give away for free my podcasts on iTunes.  I was looking for a simple, easy guide to sell my podcast on the iTunes Store but I couldn’t find anything online so I wrote this post instead. Hopefully what I learned here will help you   If it does, leave a comment and let me know!

Overview

1. Create a compatible audio file (like MP3)
2. Host or upload your MP3 file somewhere that will host this file for you and provide an RSS feed to your podcast
3. Submit your feed on iTunes and sell your Podcasts

Detailed Steps

1. Create Your audio file with a compatible audio recorder (like Audacity).  Make sure it’s converted to an MP3 file which you can do in Audacity with some extra add-ons.
2. Create a free account at Switchpod or Podbean and ensure your profile has all optional information added like feed description, title, etc.  This metadata will be very helpful once you submit your podcast to iTunes for sale.
3. Upload your newly created audio MP3 file and also make sure your file has metadata as well.
4. Get the RSS link for your feed.  It will end in something like “feed.xml”
5. Submit your new feed to iTunes for acceptance into the marketplace (open iTunes, click iTunes Store, click Podcasts, click middle image "Submit a Podcast")
6. Wait for Apple to approve your Podcast and then set your price
7. Send your customers your iTunes link and distribute your iTunes link on Facebook, Twitter, and in your email signature!

Common Questions

1. Can you make money? Yes.  Once it’s on iTunes, you can set a price per podcast and then send your client’s to purchase via the iTunes link
2. Where do I host my Podcast? I used Switchpod, but there are many like Archive.org, Podbean, or Libsyn.  Just Google "podcast hosting" and you will see many listed.
3. Can I prevent my podcast feed from access outside iTunes? Not that I know of, but then again, I’m just starting out. I think the only way to ensure you collect payment for your podcast is to go through iTunes only or use something like Podbean.
4. How do I get subscribers?  It helps if you already have a healthy email subscriber list but if you don’t, you can create a blog or landing page and seed your page with the appropriate keywords you expect users to look for.

Good luck with podcasting.  Let me know if this article was helpful!

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