Moving from hourly billing to fixed pricing is a big step towards pricing more effectively in your business. There’s a real fear that if you move from hourly billing to fixed pricing, you’re not going to charge enough. But when you’re billing per hour, you’re only billing for the hours you work - and that doesn’t cover everything!

Why hourly pricing isn’t the best option for you

One of the big problems with hourly pricing is you’re not billing for everything. There’s the time you’re thinking about the task, the initial client set-up call and emails, the background research work you may do. 

And there’s another big issue. If you’re used to doing the work, you’ll naturally get quicker at it. If you then charge per hour, your billable hours may end up going down for each client you work with! Check out the podcast I recently did with Jonathan Stark for more details on how value-based pricing can help you bring...

In this episode:

• Becoming a business owner not an employee
• Imposter syndrome
• Increasing your pricing
• Pricing blocks

Osmaan Sharif is a business and mindset coach who works with ex-corporate professionals to help them overcome obstacles and grow their own business. Osmaan talks to The Pricing Queen about his rapid transformation formula which involves focussing on the big picture of your business by understanding three fundamental foundations:

Design (includes business model, vision and goals.) 

Mindset (overcoming your internal beliefs and understanding your value) 

Strategy (or, as Osmaan refers to it, your entrepreneurial superpower.)

Take Osmaan’s free quiz so you can see how strong these foundations are in your business in less than 2 minutes. Sally and Osmaan discuss understanding your upper limit to overcome imposter syndrome and what you need to consider when looking at setting and increasing your prices. Also, why you should be wary of competitive...

Everyone's selling an online course or membership these days aren't they? They are the best way to make "passive" income in your business, right?

I think it is something to think about, but it's not for everyone. There are a few things to consider first.

Is it right for you?

Do you want to run your business online? Or are you likely to run your business in person (once we can)? Do you want passive income in your business?

We all think a course or membership will boost our income, but it's generally not a short term fix. If you do most of your business via referral or word of mouth, you likely don't have a big email list to sell to, which will take time to build.

Do you enjoy creating content or do you find it a chore? Some people would rather do 1:1 coaching and not have the hassle of creating something and having the tech to go with it. Although it can be low tech to sell a course (you just need a PayPal button), over time you might need to have a website for them to go to.

...

I think all service businesses (and some product ones too!) should have a power hour as part of their portfolio. It's a chance for people to work with you at relatively low cost, and you can get a result in an hour for the client.

It also deters time wasters who just want something for free.

What is a power hour?

A power hour is an hour of your time where you solve a specific problem for that client. So for me, it is pricing a specific thing, or increasing your profit in a certain area. I can't solve all of your pricing problems in an hour, so it's best to pick a topic and be really clear about what you can (and can't) cover in an hour.

Why do I need a power hour?

Do you often get people "tyre kicking" or saying "can I pick your brains about....."? It can be hard to say no, but you can end up spending a lot of time for free and giving away lots of your hard won experience by doing this. And people will push your boundaries all over the place if you let them!

Is it difficult to set...

I talked in my previous blog about productivity and in this one I want to talk about more tools you could use in your business to make you more productive

Toggl - perfect for tracking your time on projects and knowing how long things take you to deliver a project or retainer. The free version is fine, but I use the paid version to give me billable vs non billable amounts.

Asana - I have everything in Asana these days - documents, workflows, projects and I love it. I can set due dates, share information and tasks with people and generally organise my life. Amy Mitchell has a great free training on getting started. Get it here.

Kajabi - I love Kajabi because it houses my website, courses and email marketing in one place. When I was looking at it, I thought it was expensive (I pay around £130 per month) but because I was paying for web hosting and an email list separately, plus having somewhere to host my courses, it wasn't much...

So today I want to talk to you about five ways to avoid discounting when talking to a client. 

Picture the scenario, you send a proposal to a client and the client says they can't afford that. And the And you immediately offer to discount with no reason to do so.  Instead, take a deep breath and do one of the following 5 things:

1. Ask the client what the most critical thing that they need doing is.  If they are a new client, it might be that they haven't seen what you can do yet, they might be worried that they're spending money they won't get back. And so ask them what their most critical items are, and which ones you can start with. You could also start with what the budget is, and this would guide you as to what to start with and how they can get a result with a smaller budget.
2. Packaging your services.  I believe this gives people more options, plus makes it clearer.  It avoids awkward pricing conversations before they even start, so having conversations...

What are your financial goals for 2021? Do you want to earn more money? I know, for many that seems a bit of a silly question - after all, who doesn’t want to earn more! 

No matter what type of business you have, the easiest way for you to earn more money is to put up your prices. But for that to happen successfully, you need to have a plan. And that’s something that will take time.

Your prices are only part of the equation

It’s relatively easy to take what you already have and simply increase the price. But what if you haven’t set up your package correctly in the first place? What if you realise clients want something that isn’t in that package? And what if you were already underpricing or overpricing - what then?

If you want to earn more in 2021, you need to ensure that your foundations are correct first. You need to understand how to price in a way that includes your financial goals, your business costs and your desired profit margins. You need...

Do you have a plan for 2021 yet? Of course not, it’s too early! But with just a month left of this year, when is it a good time to start planning 2021? And are you someone who will usually plan in advance, or are you more of a spontaneous, in the moment kind of person? 

I think, as a business owner, it’s incredibly important that you get into the habit of planning ahead. Not only does it reduce stress, but it also helps increase your chances of success - and this is especially important if you’re looking to increase your prices in the year ahead.

Plan in advance to give yourself time to plan out your strategy

Because if you’re looking to hit a revenue goal, you need to know how you’re going to get there. It could mean you need to increase your prices, but it’s also about getting clear on what you have available and how many services you need to sell, to reach your revenue target.

Putting prices up takes time and care. You need to look at the...