IDEAS

an eZine from Design Success University

Volume 3 Issue 2.1

How Do You Charge For Your Services?

We’re in the second week of our Value Based Fee Series, and already, we’ve had many interesting comments from our members.  I decided to start a blog post series, and I encourage you to share your questions and thoughts on the blog. I’ll be posting each day based on what you say, so please join us in addressing one of the most frustrating and yet important parts of your business.

For the subscribers to the series, you’ve received two contrasting case studies, and I know it’s giving you great information that is leading up to the session where I get into the real nuts and bolts.  If you can listen a few times, take notes and then send your questions to us at info@designsuccessu.com prior to next week’s group coaching call on February 8th, it will help you to start framing your offer.

What’s fascinating is how many of you have had requests from your prospects to offer value based fees, or fixed fees.  Why?  Because your clients are more money conscious than ever even if they are wealthy…or perhaps especially because they are wealthy.

In the best of times, the wealthy are concerned with losing their wealth.  It’s surprising, but true.  Many of the wealthiest clients made the money themselves, and those are actually the clients most likely to spend money.  Why?  Because they want to be perceived as fitting into the social circles of that income level.  This is important information when dealing with the wealthy.

So…why does that relate to value based fees?  Because your clients aren’t interested in paying for your time.  They are interested in investing in something that makes them feel secure, sophisticated, in the know and smart.  You will actually elevate your perceived expertise by offering services in this way, and you will set yourself apart from your competitors.

What is the downside?  You really have to know how to vet your clients so you don’t have time wasters, or greedy and manipulative users.  Yes, there are some out there.  If you don’t track your time so you know how to price a project, you can lose your shirt.  This takes discipline, and for right-brained designpreneurs, this can be a challenge.  You can do it!

So…please join me on the blog and share your questions, frustrations, concerns, fears or comments.  I’ll watch the thread and post about it each day. If you haven’t signed up for our RSS feed yet, this is the easiest way to follow the conversation.  That’s the orange button about mid way down on the right bar of our blog at www.DesignSuccessU.com.  You can have the threads come into your inbox, or be aggregated by Yahoo or Google or one of the other RSS feed services.

Design Mastermind

It’s been a great two weeks so far, and Erin and I have enjoyed dropping into the groups.  We are so proud of all of you that are participating, and we want to thank you for keeping us posted with your issues so we can give you email support, too.

Here are a few of the topics that I’d like to comment about.  I am not divulging names, so don’t worry.

I think the two biggest topics that have been consistently coming up are the need to market online and revamp marketing efforts, and the need to become more consistent in business practices.  I’ll just share a few thoughts that I think are important to all of you no matter what the size of your business:

1. The more you automate and systematize your business, the more likely you will make more money.  Inconsistency results in inconsistent results.
2. Every one of you needs an online presence.  One of the questions I received this week was from a designer that has a blog and a website.  She was thinking of updating her website, but when I said that you really don’t need a fixed website and that you can do everything you need with a blog, she was not sure what to do.  She asked if she should update her website, or just work on her blog.  My response was to leave the website alone unless something was seriously out of date.  I’d eventually substitute the blog for the website.  You may still need a webmaster to do a few things, but you will be able to control the majority of your content.  What else do you need to do? Here is the order after your blog is set up:
   • Ava Living profile
   • Decorati profile
   • Twitter - use your personal name
   • Facebook – fan page
3. Offline marketing – here are my recommendations (I just picked five):
   • Networking groups – my personal experience?  They take a lot of time, and I found that I was better off making a list of
   people who were key influencers or service providers to my target market.  Realtors are a natural fit.
   • Charitable activities – pick one and get into committee work leading to a leadership role.  You’ll build relationships
   with your prospective clients.
   • Advertising – not worth the money, in my opinion.
   • Public speaking is a great way to be seen in your community and to build visibility and credibility.
   • Press releases – terrific and can be free online.  Most importantly, get to know editors and writers and provide story
   ideas for them
4. Contracts – please don’t work without a contract.  It really worries me when I hear this.  It’s for your client’s protection as well as your own.  You need recourse in case you don’t get paid, and even though you have a verbal contract that can be enforceable, it isn’t enough to save you from financial failure if you get sued for product liability or a vendor that closes its business without delivering your product.  Please?  Don’t leave yourself open to the potential liabilities.
5. Starting up after years of not being in business, or brand new to the business.  The market has changed and one of the biggest challenges is setting up your resources and getting familiar with the latest information on products.  There aren’t too many shortcuts.  You’ll be putting in lots of hours for a few years to get yourself established.  One big tip is to get clear on your brand and what that means.  I’m actually taking a branding class right now and can’t wait to share some of that with all of you.

Does this information help?  I want you to know that you aren’t alone out here.  Your peers are experiencing some of the same challenges, and you can get support and help to shortcut years of trial and error.  How about our masterminders sharing your AHAs and what has helped you so far?  Would you please email us and share your experience so far?

Business Mastery Membership

We are so excited to share a hint that our DSU website will soon be set up for you to use a password to login and access information that is just for you.  We’ll let you know when we’re ready, and then we’ll do an orientation webinar for you.  We’ll use that same membership element to deliver our class series, too.  We’re working very hard to improve your membership experience and simplify our communications so you receive less emails from us.  We know you’ll appreciate a few less emails!

I am really looking forward to our next Monthly Mentor Class on February 10th at noon Eastern Breaking Through Your Constraints. (11 am Central/ 10 am Mountain/ 9 am Pacific) I’ll be conducting the call and it will be 1 1/2 hours of coaching plus Q & A.  Would you do me a favor and let me know what you think your biggest challenge is in your business right now?  Just email us at info@designsuccessu.com before February 10th.

If you haven’t signed up for the Business Mastery Membership yet, and you really want to break through your biggest roadblocks, click here to sign up.  If you were to pick one class to attend all year, this is the one I’d recommend if you’re not making the money you want, or your stress level is through the roof.  I’ll walk you through some exercises that you’ll be able to use from now on to achieve more in less time.

February 17th, Wednesday at 12:00 Eastern
Live Q & A Call with Gail Doby and Erin Weir
(11:00 am Central/ 10:00 am Mountain/ 9:00 am Pacific)
Business Mastery Members can ask any question and we’ll answer it for you or get the answers.  Just email us (info@designsuccessu.com) your question prior to the call so we can prepare, or even if you can’t attend, we’ll answer your question and you’ll receive the recording shortly after the session.

One of our long-time members mentioned that she had been in business for many years and really wanted to get into some meaty issues on these calls.  I’d love to do that with all of you!  Here is my request for you.  If you are a seasoned veteran and you’re having specific challenges, I’d love to do a few hot seats and help you on the call on February 17th at noon Eastern.  Please volunteer and I will do a 15 minute coaching session with you.  Send your issue to me at info@designsuccessu.com by February 14th and I will pick one person for this month’s call.  Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you, and I promise to give you at least one really good idea to help you.  OK?  We are an equal opportunity mentoring resource.  He or she who asks for help will get help.

Good News!

Well you love good news so and we just got some from one of our DSU designers….. She has an additional 6 prospects calling in with appointments made. One from IDS website, 1 from Web and 4 from an article that was written about one of her projects in a local magazine. Due to this sudden burst of business, she brought her freelancer up to 3+ days a week and added 15 hours of clerical help. Nice work!

Miscellaneous

We’ve been as busy as one-armed paper hangars (no offense intended), and we have many things in the works.  I mentioned that I recently did an interview with Shane Reilly with Decorati, and she also asked me to blog for them.  The first post will be going up soon, so I’ll let you know when it is there.

Are you a Facebook Fan?
http://www.Facebook.com/DesignSuccessUniversity

Follow us on Twitter
http://Twitter.com/gaildoby
http://Twitter.com/eweir

Favorite Tech Tools
www.Woopra.com – this is even better than Google Analytics.  If you don’t use analytics on your website or blog, you can sign up for free and have your webmaster insert the code.

I highly recommend this because you just won’t believe the statistics that you’ll get.  I can see where our traffic comes from.  For instance, I can see how many people come from Facebook and Twitter, so you can see the results of your social networking.

Studio Webware – we did webinars about this fabulous software product in October and December of 2009.  We use the desktop version, and if I were to do more design work, I’d definitely switch over to the web based version.  This does all of your time billing, proposals, invoices, purchase orders, expediting, communication with your clients and vendors as well as your income statement and balance sheet.  Much is done by the click of a button.  LOVE IT!  This is one of the best ways to run your business efficiently.

Final Questions For The Week

• What does the Design Success University membership or brand mean to you?
• If we weren’t here, were would you get the information we are providing?
• If we could do one thing for you (other than provide everything for free), what would that be?
• How do you feel about your connection with us?
• Do you feel as if you know us?

Please submit your answers by February 14th and we’ll draw for a very special prize to be announced in the following week’s IDEAS eZine.

Have a fabulous week!