Is what you’re charging congruent with your ‘value’?

Last week I posted this quote on my Facebook page and it seemed to resonate with a lot of people, so it got me thinking about how do monitor your ‘value’?

Anyone starting out in business or freelancing will always have those big dilemmas of ‘what should I charge?’ and ‘will people really pay that?’ and for most people it’s a source of real uneasiness, as money is an uncomfortable subject to discuss.

When you’re an employee it’s easy to figure out what your hourly rate is, but when you’re working for yourself not only do you need to have an income so does your business; you’ll have overheads to pay and you’ll need to make provisions for your tax and national insurance bill.

This is why I think time tracking is invaluable, as even when you’re not working on client projects you’ll still need to work on your business and you need to make sure your charging will enable you do this. Every time you answer an email, take a phone call, write a blog (the list is endless) takes you away from your client projects and the potential for earning.

Time tracking really gives you a true account of the time you’re spending on your business and can show you areas you could either outsource or where you could cut back. I know for a lot of people social media takes up a large proportion of their time, but if you’re not seeing a return on that investment you have to ask yourself is it worth it?

If you’re offering clients ‘packages’ it’s very easy to undersell yourself, even if you say x amount of hours are included, I bet you’ll over deliver on that EVERY time! So even if a client’s on package, I challenge you to time track and see how many hours you’re doing, and how that reflects on your hourly rate and effectively your bottom line!

It’s all these small pieces of the puzzle that should come together and start helping you figure out your value – if you offer potential clients a free 30 minute consultation and wow them with what you can do; don’t then undersell yourself when it comes to what you’ll charge!

I use Toggl to track my time but there are plenty of other online systems available, I just like Toggl as it’s really user friendly and if you pay for the upgraded version you have the ability to put an hourly rate and see in an instant what your ‘value’ is!

So my challenge to you this week is to track your time – then use that information to see if what you’re charging is congruent with your ‘value’!

Can you be too thankful?

Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

Like everyone, I was always taught to remember my p’s and q’s as a child and I when I started out using social media, I decided to make it part of my strategy to thank people for supporting me. So, where am going with this post you ask?! Well the other day I saw a conversation over on Facebook about people ‘over’ thanking and it losing its meaning, so it got me thinking can you ever be TOO thankful?

The main point of the conversation was that some people didn’t want to be thanked for re-tweeting /re-posting/sharing content as that was just what it was there for. Now, I can kind of take that on board; we’ve all seen those epic tweets that start as one person thanking someone and then it becomes war and peace ‘thank you, no thank you, no no thank you’ and it goes on, but at the end of the day is that such a bad thing? It is social media after all!

I’m a big fan of thanking people and very often do my shout out for my re-tweet superstars! I think not only is it a nice thing to do for the people that think my content is interesting enough to share with their followers, but it’s also a great way for people to find other supportive people to follow. 

So, for me the answer will always be no, you can’t ever be too thankful; I really do appreciate the amazing support I have encountered and continue to encounter on a daily basis! Without that support my business wouldn’t be growing and I wouldn’t be continuing to connect with so many incredible people and businesses.

So thank you for taking the time to read this – I hope you’re having a great day! :)

Social Media – a marathon not a sprint!

I love social media, that’s no secret but I really do believe in the ‘social’ aspect of it so I’m always amazed when people feel the need to buy ‘fans’!

I see it so much across Facebook and Twitter where you connect with someone just starting out and the next time you look, their numbers have grown dramatically, almost overnight!

Now of course growing your network is the name of the game, but it’s still networking just as would you in ‘real life’! You wouldn’t pay people to attend your network meeting so why buy ‘fans’ that will never interact with you or never pass on your ‘business card’ (via a share or a re-tweet)?

When I started using Twitter nearly 2 years ago, my goal wasn’t to reach x amount of followers but to interact and connect with as many people as possible and by taking the ‘marathon’ approach I’m now very close to 5K with 95% of my work coming from it! Plus the other important thing is that a high percentage of those people that I’ve connected with are using Twitter for exactly the same reason I am.

I think everyone can relate to that feeling when you first start out and you don’t know what to say or just the enormity of it all, but buying ‘fans’ really isn’t the answer! If you invest the time at the beginning setting the style of your accounts the rest will easily follow.

So if you want to make social media work for your business, grab your running shoes and don’t miss out on the amazing opportunities out there – just be prepared to go the distance there’s no quick fix and don’t get tempted to sprint ;) 

(Picture from http://bit.ly/X8UcVJ)

L is for Lists! Twitter lists......

Yes, I’m blogging about lists again, but this time on Twitter! It’s no secret I love lists but creating lists on Twitter is an absolute godsend and I’m always amazed when people say they don’t use them, especially when they’ve reached their follower limit.

So, why I do I love Twitter lists? Well, here are my top 3 reasons:

1. They let me organise people into groups – like my SAS Top Tweeps list which I use for people I regularly interact with or my Sussex/SE Business list for example, where I put everyone who’s in my area so I can see what’s going on
2. They let me put people like celebs, news companies or those accounts that are really unlikely to follow me back into nice neat groups so I can still see their tweets easily, but don’t have to follow
3. I can lock my lists or leave them public for everyone to see – I have a mixture depending on what the list is for

Twitter isn’t all about the numbers, but as you grow your account it can be hard to filter out the tweets of the people you really want to see when you look at your home feed – so that’s where lists are the solution!

And, if you’ve reached your follower limit really look at the accounts your following and ask the following questions:

1. Are they regularly tweeting and engaging or are they just all talk? 
2. Are they likely to follow you back; do have they have a low following/follower ratio?

If you find yourself pondering these questions why not just put them in a list, then you don’t have to follow them but you can still keep an eye on what they’re tweeting – a win win solution! If you’re following 300 celebrities, news companies or dormant accounts they will use up your valuable follows when they don’t need too. You can always go and follow those people at a later date one you’ve passed your follow limit. 

Some handy Twitter List limits info:

1000 lists permitted per user

5000 users permitted per list

List names cannot exceed 25 characters
List names cannot begin with a numerical character

So the moral of blog? It's never to late to start lists on Twitter but the sooner you start the easier it will be! 

Working for yourself – is it all it’s cracked up to be?

Anyone who knows me will know that I’m positive person; I’m a glass half full kind of girl! Yes, I have my down days occasionally but don’t we all? Setting up my business has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and the self-belief I’ve needed to continue at times has been enormous! But I’m doing it and living the life I want; working to live and not living to work.

I couldn’t help but notice all the talk about zero hour contracts in the news recently and felt inspired to write this post. I currently know a lot of people on these types of contracts and have seen first-hand how hard it is for them trying to juggle everything around the hit and miss nature of this type of work. I was even tempted once, and before I started working for myself I was offered work on a zero hour contract but when I actually weighed it all up, I decided setting up the business was the better option of the two; and as crazy as it seemed at the time would probably give me more security! How right I was!

Now, don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been smooth sailing setting up the business, it’s been a massive learning curve but I’ve felt in control the whole time and for me that was really important. The leap into self-employment is always going to be somewhat scary for anyone, but I found the thought of a zero hour’s contract was equally scary! I would never know how many work hours each week I’d get and it was always totally dependent on the requirements of the employer.

I suppose you could say there is a direct comparison between that and self-employment and I suppose to a small degree there is; you never know what clients you’re going to have, what work is going to be available, who might to use your service/buy your product – the list goes on, but at the end of the day there’s something you can do about that, whereas with a zero hours contract there’s not. 

People often say to me ‘I couldn’t handle not knowing what my monthly earnings were going to be’ and my reply is always ‘My income may not be fixed, but that’s what’s exciting – the only limits are what I set, not anybody else’.

So, in answer to my question – yes, working for yourself is all it’s cracked up to be! It may not be all sweetness and light all of the time, but that for me is what drives me on, my business will only ever be what I put in and what I make of it, not anybody else.

If you’re thinking of setting up your own business and weighing up the pros and cons, maybe this fab quote from Dhirubhai Ambani will help! “If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs” it certainly keeps me going on the days when there are a few clouds over head!

Follow your dreams!

S is for…….Strategy!

 

When people ask me why I love Twitter, I always say it’s because you should never underestimate its potential! 9 times out of 10 that’s usually met with ‘well I just don’t understand it and I don’t have that much time to make it worth my while’ Well that’s where I think they’re missing a trick, because they’ve got no strategy!

Now, I’m not talking Chess or Battleships strategy ;) I’m just talking about having a clear objective about what you want to achieve with Twitter, or any social media platform for that matter!  

When I first started on Twitter I have to admit I spent a LOT of time on it to start building relationships and just get to grips with it, but now I’ve pretty much got it down to about 1 hour in total across the day. By working smart and having auto tweets/posts going out through the day and using my Twitter lists to their full potential it really helps make the whole process a lot easier. I also find using Facebook & Twitter on my phone is a god send as it means if I have a spare 5 minutes in between meetings I can quickly pop on, see what’s happening , reply to people who may have mentioned me and do some re-tweets/posts.

Of course the real main reason any business starts using any social media is to generate leads, but it can be so much more than that! I’ve met some amazing people who I may never have met anywhere else and they’ve all given me ideas, motivation or support with moving my business forward. I think the key thing to remember with any social media platform is you get out what you put in, if you make it all about you, you’ll probably not see great result, but if you engage, interact and put a little bit of ‘you’ into it, you’re onto a winner!

So, here are some things to consider when thinking about your strategy:

1. Don’t become a slave to it – it shouldn’t take over your life! It doesn’t make sense to spend hours on it and not see any results. Keep a track of how much time you’re spending so you can see what the return is on the investment of your time; your most precious commodity!
2. Use apps like Hootsuite to schedule your ‘business card’ messages so you can spend the time you do have interacting and building relationships with people; it will make all the difference!
3. Use your lists on Twitter – they make it feel so much more manageable! When you’re following thousands of people they really help you filter out some of the ‘noise’
4. Don’t make everything about you! The hard sell approach doesn’t work on social media, the clues in the name ;)
5. Use hash tags – if your business is location based make sure you’re putting your location in! Nothing more frustrating than seeing a great tweet about a brilliant service/job opportunity or the like but no idea where! I suppose I’m lucky in that respect, my business is virtual but I still use applicable hash tags in my ‘business card’ messages to help spread the SAS message further ;)

Happy 2nd Birthday SAS – what a journey!

I can hardly believe how fast the last two years have gone and I’m so excited to say that SAS is celebrating its 2^nd Birthday this month!

It’s been an amazing two years, with lots and lots of highs and yes, the odd occasional low! I’ve learnt a great deal, not just about running a business but about myself and what I want to achieve.

I’ve always believed in ‘gut instinct’ but I didn’t always trust it when I first started, I wasn’t sure that was thing to do in business! How wrong I was!

So, yes, I’ve made mistakes over the last two years and now I’m just notching them up as learning experiences ;) 

So, now you want to know what they were don't you? Well, here you go:

• The ‘safe’ option is not always best; a little gamble can have a BIG reward! 
• Working with the right people is vital; from co-workers to clients, surround yourself with likeminded people 
• LOVE the work you’re doing
• Don’t be dazzled by experience; just because someone has more than you, doesn’t necessarily mean they know what’s best for your business
• Trust your gut! If it doesn’t feel right, chances are it isn’t!
• Don’t forget you’re working to live, not living to work! 
• Have a plan! You might not get there the way you thought you would, but that’s half the fun!

And probably the BIGGEST one – don’t give your time away for free unless it's a fair exchange! It’s been really hard as I love helping people, but I’ve now learnt it can’t come at the expense of my clients, building my business or ME!

Oh, I couldn’t sign off this birthday blog without a mention for my beloved Twitter and how phenomenal it’s been for me since I started tweeting in late 2011. Without doubt, it’s been the most successful platform for marketing my business. I’ve been very fortunate in winning my #SBS award and just this past weekend, my triple #Purplebiz; both of which I’m enormously proud of!

When I recently began tweeting about how proud I am of these awards, someone asked me why – which I thought was a great question and it really got me thinking!

My answer? Well, for me as a small business they continually give me motivation to keep going! The majority of my work now comes from Twitter, so it means that all the hours I’ve spent growing my profile have been well worth it.

So, that’s 2 years gone! I wonder what the next 2 have in store?!

PS: HUGE thanks to the lovely Henry from HH Design for my fab virtual cake!