Freshbooks founder Mike McDerment and Donald Cowper have really outdone themselves on their 70 page ebook on small business. "Breaking the Time Barrier" is available for free download.
A year of work has at most 3,000 billable hours. Even if you bill each and every one of those hours at $50 per hour you will still only have pre-tax and pre-expenses revenue of $150,000. Billing half of those hours at twice the rate, still earns you the same amount. The math is hard to bend your way, and there is a good reason for that. Even if you clear $120,000, you'd probably never see the light of day or your family and friends. And just try to keep that up year after year.
If you have ever wondered how you are ever going to keep your sanity, get the customers you really want to grow your business and earn the right to work with the best kind of clients, this ebook is for you. In the process you will find yourself earning much more than the average $50-80,000 per year!
The core concept in the book is how to get away from the "grind" of charging per hour. The story is told in fable form as a conversation between 2 web designers. The destination for one designer ("Steve") is a journey to "value-based" pricing. "Karen",; the other designer, already runs her small business based on negotiating a price around the value her clients receive, rather than a set hourly fee. Inside this jewel of business story-telling is a core formula centered around understanding what you and your client need to do so that both derive a high measure of value from your work together.
If you are impatient and don't have time I've embedded the book below. Enjoy. And let us and Freshbooks know what you think.
