Happy New Year ... Between vacation, Christmas, New Years, and my computer crashing twice within a two week period I am finally back up and blogging.
I'll keep it short today, just wanted to post a note to wish everyone all the best of prosperity, love and peace in 2008.
Much love and gratitude ... embrace your inner wisdom!
Karen
Friday, January 18, 2008
Monday, December 3, 2007
Charging What You're Worth ...
This is a subject that I believe most people have difficulty either discussing with themselves and with their clients. I know what I charge and I feel confident with those fees ... I think people see the value behind my services ... the feedback to date agrees with this. The loop hole for me is then asking myself if I am not charging enough or if I want to increase my fees when and by how much so I am not charging myself out of the market place. I recently read an article in the December 2007 issue of Costco Connection ... if you are a member of Costco then you receive this monthly magazine. The authors Paul and Sarah Edwards list three "Don'ts", five "Do's" and one "Never".
The following is a short exert from their article and I believe they have hit the mark on all of them:
- Do's ... quote fees openly and clearly upfront, explain your policies clearly, calculate all costs and profit in any fixed fee quoted, let a prospective client know beforehand if you will be charging for your sales call, and discuss any possible additional cost increases;
- Don'ts ... discount your prices for fear of not getting enough business or feel embarrassed to openly charge a fair fee, forget to cover out-of-pocket expenses and indirect costs, and forget to add on a reasonable profit;
- Never sell yourself short!
After reading the article I realize that by writing and posting on my website my different policies including how I handle NSF checks, late arrivals, no shows, and when prices are reviewed for an increase possibility empowers clients and prospective clients to be make educated decisions with regard to how they interact with myself and others which work with me. The unfortunate part is I can not guarantee everyone will read these policies but I least I can be assured I have put the information in a readily available location for all to read.
Until next time ... thanks for reading and remember "Embrace your inner wisdom".
With gratitude,
Karen
The following is a short exert from their article and I believe they have hit the mark on all of them:
- Do's ... quote fees openly and clearly upfront, explain your policies clearly, calculate all costs and profit in any fixed fee quoted, let a prospective client know beforehand if you will be charging for your sales call, and discuss any possible additional cost increases;
- Don'ts ... discount your prices for fear of not getting enough business or feel embarrassed to openly charge a fair fee, forget to cover out-of-pocket expenses and indirect costs, and forget to add on a reasonable profit;
- Never sell yourself short!
After reading the article I realize that by writing and posting on my website my different policies including how I handle NSF checks, late arrivals, no shows, and when prices are reviewed for an increase possibility empowers clients and prospective clients to be make educated decisions with regard to how they interact with myself and others which work with me. The unfortunate part is I can not guarantee everyone will read these policies but I least I can be assured I have put the information in a readily available location for all to read.
Until next time ... thanks for reading and remember "Embrace your inner wisdom".
With gratitude,
Karen
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Post Thanksgiving Thoughts - Business Plan?
I realize the Thanksgiving long weekend offers me an opportunity to reflect on the previous year and begin to visualize for the upcoming year; not only for me personally but for me as a business person and for the company as a whole.
A few of the questions I am pondering are:
- How am I best going to balance my personal and business lives? Especially since in April I will become a mother for the first time.
- Can I afford to take maternity leave or can I truly find a balance where clients can come and see me beginning just a few weeks after he is born?
- How big do I want to manifest my client base? 20 clients a week ... 30 clients a week ... 40 clients?
- The Tito's Touch products - how many different product lines with how many unique 'flavors' of each line?
- Where will the Interactive Pet Therapy (IPT) program really head? How big do I want to see it grow to? How will I monitor the quality of the IPT experience for those clients and handlers outside of my geographical area?
- Do I want to get into distribution of the Tito's Touch products? How will this be handled?
- How many employees do I want to employ for Therapy in Transition by this time next year?
I am sure most of you who are either in business for yourself or work for another are realizing that most of these questions look or seem familiar. They should as they are the root questions behind any good business plan layout. Getting clear on goals and aspirations for a company is the first step to writing a solid business plan. Not every company has a good business plan let alone a plan at all but for me and my partner we both believe in at least having a fairly solid outline of what we would like to achieve as it helps us with manifesting, visualizing and budgeting how we expend our funds.
Thanks for reading. Embrace your inner wisdom.
Until next time ...
In gratitude,
Karen
A few of the questions I am pondering are:
- How am I best going to balance my personal and business lives? Especially since in April I will become a mother for the first time.
- Can I afford to take maternity leave or can I truly find a balance where clients can come and see me beginning just a few weeks after he is born?
- How big do I want to manifest my client base? 20 clients a week ... 30 clients a week ... 40 clients?
- The Tito's Touch products - how many different product lines with how many unique 'flavors' of each line?
- Where will the Interactive Pet Therapy (IPT) program really head? How big do I want to see it grow to? How will I monitor the quality of the IPT experience for those clients and handlers outside of my geographical area?
- Do I want to get into distribution of the Tito's Touch products? How will this be handled?
- How many employees do I want to employ for Therapy in Transition by this time next year?
I am sure most of you who are either in business for yourself or work for another are realizing that most of these questions look or seem familiar. They should as they are the root questions behind any good business plan layout. Getting clear on goals and aspirations for a company is the first step to writing a solid business plan. Not every company has a good business plan let alone a plan at all but for me and my partner we both believe in at least having a fairly solid outline of what we would like to achieve as it helps us with manifesting, visualizing and budgeting how we expend our funds.
Thanks for reading. Embrace your inner wisdom.
Until next time ...
In gratitude,
Karen
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