RateMate allows you to select your hourly rate based on knowledge – of your overhead expenses, desired income, tax situation and personal needs. Once you are charging this way, you will have the confidence of knowing that you are charging the proper amount for your services, and that you are making a fair profit every time you set to work on a new project.
Neglecting profitability, and undercharging for work, hurts us, hurts the industry, and hurts our futures. Being in business for ourselves gives us the opportunity to retire early, and were throwing it away when we undercharge. Every time we undersell our work, we are incrementally giving away our retirement, our health care, our vacations, and our futures.
If I didn’t give myself downtime, I wouldn’t have anything truly valuable to offer, and I’d just be spinning my wheels. Kind of like when I make a conscious decision to go to bed and tackle a problem in the morning, because I know if I do it late at night it will take an hour, and if I do it in the morning it will take 10 minutes.
In a recession, you need to make smart money decisions. Dropping prices is one of the worst choices you can make. It’s so, so tempting in this economy to price low in order to get what little work is going around. It’s also the fast track to bankruptcy. First of all, let me say that [...]
Note: This article is written from the sign shop perspective, but is applicably to any small business where time and materials are the bottom line. The wrong hourly rate (or “shop rate”) can be like a hidden cancer for your business. How do I know? Because I almost killed my sign business this way in [...]
I like the EstiMate program because I can present my customers with a clear and concise printed estimate. If they do not like the price I quoted, fine! I know with ESTIMATE it is the price we need to charge in our shop to be in business and yes have profit left! I see now why you say "stop using your head." I no longer have to give my customers that "far away look" when they ask: "how much is it?" With the ESTIMATE program I feel confident in my pricing "SYSTEM". I was able to "groom" all of my material costs into the ESTIMATE program and then let ESTIMATE coordinate all those costs I used to miss.
-- John Seeley, Seeley Sign Co., Sylvania, PAConnect with us!