value

Is it Really Money you Want?

September 10, 2008 By Cara Lumen Leave a Comment

I’ve just finished going through my email and I’ve never felt so pushed and shoved in my life. All that hype about getting rich. This person made $100,000 in two weeks, that person became a bestselling author over night. And I stopped to think – is money all I really want?

No, In fact, money has never been a motivating factor for me – the joy of doing is.

How do you measure success?

For me success is about waking up every morning eager to get to my desk and work my business. It is about my creative Saturdays when I write for myself all day and maybe produce a product for my clients. It is the excitement that comes when I help a client breakthrough and create a new success. It is the joy of sharing ideas with my fellow entrepreneurs as we move our busyness forward.

Yeah, I want money. I want to feel valued and appreciated for what I do. But that’s not why I do it.

Up level your feelings of self-worth

As a metaphysician I believe we attract to us what we think. So how do I think about money in a way to attract it when I’m not very motivated by having money? It has everything to do with how I see myself. How much I value what I have to offer. I much I want to help others.

I need to stay in service and be certain I am continually helping others achieve their greatest success. I have to be willing to accept money when it comes, especially when someone offers to pay me more because they value what I have done… I have to value myself and my services enough to put a healthy price on them. Then I have to have the intention to attract clients and customers who love what I offer and can’t get enough of them. They also have the money to pay for it and willingly do so. That’s my ideal client.

And I have to keep producing services and products that express my values and my self-worth.

Raise your expectation

I recently filled out a questionnaire that asked me to name an income figure I would like for next year. I put in a wimpy amount because I couldn’t imagine a larger amount. I was all caught up in what I could see not what I could imagine. Why couldn’t I earn in the high six figures? The only person stopping me in my business is me – my attitude, my beliefs, my fears, my expectations.

The change begins with you

The success or failure of my business and my life resides solely on my own shoulders. It is in my actions, my choices, my interactions, my stubbornness, my generosity, my loner-ism or my outreach. My business is a reflection of who I am and how I see myself.

Write down the great things people say about you and start believing them. Get clear about where you can be in the deepest service. It’s going to be doing what you love to do because that’s what you are best at. Then go do more of it.

Money is a symbol, not the reward

If we were an ancient culture our wealth might be measured in horses or sheep. In others it may be the size of the roof over our head. In today’s world I personally have no concept of billions of dollars. I have to measure my success close up and personal.

A smile, a hug, a kind word? A well written article, a new idea for a workshop, an appreciative email from a client? A bill finally paid off, a new savings account opened? A trip to see family, a trip just because you can? A favorable earnings comparison with others, a new job title? How much you can give away? Who you can help?

They tell us in business to always find a way to measure your success so you know when you have achieved it. How do you measure your success? Is money really all you want?

Why You Are Worth More Than You Think You Are

August 25, 2008 By Cara Lumen 1 Comment

by Cara Lumen

It’s time to raise my prices. Why? Because I am worth more. I know more than I did a year ago. I have more experience than I did a year ago. I am more skilled in how I offer what I do.

So what’s stopping me?

Me.

It’s not about time

I have a web designer friend who sometimes says, "But it only took me an hour to do that." And I have to remind her to think what the value of her design is to her client. How many years it will be in place. How much income it will bring her. It’s not about how much time we take to do it, it’s about the value we give.

It’s not about money

Sure, there are people who spend time looking for the lowest price and pit vendor against vendor to save a few pennies. We have to let them be the judge of how best to use their time and resources. But each of us offers so much more than money and we must incorporate that added value in our pricing.

It is about the intangibles

You want to attract people who value you because they relate to you, because you understand their needs Look beyond the tangibles to place a value on the underpinning of the service you offer.

Reliable service has value

Never underestimate the value of offering reliable service. Only if you have wasted time waiting on someone to fulfill an order or create a project upon which others must act do you understand the full impact of reliable service.

If you get things completed when you say you will and if your back end system is efficient and fulfills orders on time, that is worth money to your customers and clients.

Understanding your clients’ market adds value

As you expand your own knowledge of your clients’ market base, you increase your value to them. Because of your knowledge of their competitors, your client will be miles ahead in their field. Think how that enriches the value of your offerings.

Strong project management adds value

Remember a time you had to work with someone who was disorganized? It was a mess. Things got lost, they didn’t get their work done and there was confusion even in the conversations you had. Huge amounts of time were wasted.

I’ve worked hard at my project management. I have a strong intake form that helps both my clients and me identify what is in place and what is missing that we need to develop. I developed a Coaching Call Prep Form that allows the client to report their weekly progress. It allows me to quickly tune in before a call to see where we left off and what we planned to do in the next call. I send them their weekly assignment right after each coaching call.

Strong project management keeps efficiency at a premium and saves both you and your client and money.

What your time is worth to satisfy your own financial objectives

This is not about anyone but you. What do YOU think you are worth? How does your financial math work out? How many hours do you need to spend with clients to meet your personal financial needs? How much time do you spend with marketing, with administration? How many hours are there that you want to work? How many do you not want to work? These are choices only you can make.

Do you just want to "get by?" Are you playing it "safe?" Or can you raise your vision and your expectations of what you would like to earn? Even if you are staying within your comfort zone at least move to the outer level and set your intention at least two steps beyond that. Growth is good. Higher expectations are good.

Giving wise counsel has more value than you can ever put a price on

My brain is worth more than my service. My brain things up fabulous ideas, it sees possibilities where others don’t, it recognizes the connection between one idea and another, it holds a vision of success for my clients.

What possible price can I put on that?

It is invaluable.

NEVER permit competitors, industry norms, or community norms to set YOUR prices.

Look at these intangibles. Give some thought to how much value they add beyond the time you spend with your clients. YOU decide what you are worth. Then find the kind of client or customer who has reason to accept your evaluation of that worth.

It’s OK to Charge for Thinking….

April 28, 2008 By Cara Lumen Leave a Comment

It’s really ok to charge for the time you spend thinking about and for your client, It took me a while to figure that out – until I realized that the time I spent studying the clients present material and position, letting the myriad of ideas that came to mind expand my vision for them, and then giving a lot of thought to the best direction for them to take was the most valuable aspect of my services.

And at one point I wasn’t charging for that!

I expect to include 15 minutes before and after a coaching call with the price of the call. I use the first 15 minutes to study their Coaching Call Prep Form to see what they have accomplished and what they want to talk about. That form also lists their homework for the past week so it is easy for both of us to keep moving forward. The 15 minutes after the call is spent in condensing my notes into the Coaching Call Prep Form for the next session.

Humm, let me think. Knowing that I spend an hour and a half per coaching call makes me wonder – am I charging enough? Perhaps not.

But it was when I started tracking the other times I spent planning for a client that I began to build a Planning Time & Review Charge into my proposals.

For instance, when it comes to web design I partner with Judy Stewart of www.jstewartdesigns.com. She’s the artist. I’m the content developer. But we may spend 30 minutes on the phone working out details of a design or copy placement for a client. Why should either one of us give that important time away for free.

Another client had a very complex site that he wanted to redo and I spent about an hour and a half studying his site, and figuring out the best site map navigation and plotting our strategy. I need to be certain I charge for that. It is after all, the core decision making process that will fuel our mutual success.

Don’t sell your brain power short

I’m selling my brain power – my creativity, my intelligence, my vast spectrum of knowledge and experience. I’m selling my ability to see the client’s vision and help her bring it into a tangible and profitable internet business. That’s worth something. In fact that’s worth a lot!

In your proposal build in special pricing for planning – your planning time. It takes time to read through a new client’s web site and get a picture of who they are and what they want. It takes time to update and track the decisions and planned actions. I have a very strong Client Intake form that I ask my clients to fill out before we begin. It takes time for me to read that and pull out the strategy we should pursue.

Put a price on your thinking

I have two types of pricing. One is for a coaching session. The other is for the time I spend writing copy, strengthening copy, doing research and designing their marketing strategy. I charge by the quarter hour and I list on the invoice exactly what I was doing – created site map, wrote copy for home page, etc.

Don’t give your ideas away for free

I also don’t give a free consultation. I have too many great ideas that will make money for my clients to give them away. I do have a free initial exploratory conversation to discover their needs and how I might best serve them. Then I write a proposal – a Scope of Action. This gives me time to look at the notes I took while I talked to them and personalize my proposal and plan exactly how I’d like to proceed and what the client can expect to accomplish and by when. I also send them my Magnetic Marketing Method Client Intake Form which gives me powerful information upon which to build our sessions.

It’s hard to predict how long we will work and I’m still working up the nerve to say “You need to work with me for six month.” I know I have to have ten sessions minimum to bring the content for a complete web site into readiness. I probably ought to make it 12. People usually want boundaries – an end in sight – an estimate for their budget.

I have several packages of varying lengths for coaching but I always add a price for my thinking time in my proposal. No one has every objected. My intelligence and creativity is the most valuable thing I offer and it’s worth every penny – or should I say every dollar!

It pays to get paid for thinking!