Comments on: Tip for Setting Prices – How Much Do you Need to Earn to Survive?

By: Gimeti

Gimeti — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:15:28 +0000

@CompuLover I feel your pain

One problem I have is charging for phone support. I had clients ask me to charge them because I would insist on not charging.

By: CompuLover

CompuLover — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:24:51 +0000

“Under price themselves and some even feel guilty for charging so much for something that they enjoy and would probably do for free.”
That’s exactly me, I never know what to charge.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:47:21 +0000

I once went to a headhunter who asked me what I would charge for contract work. I told him I have no idea. He suggested that I should come up with an “annual salary” that I would like to make. Lets say (keeping the numbers easy) 52,000 per year. He then said that you will probably spend 1/2 you time working and 1/2 your time looking for new work. So I need to make 52k in 26 weeks. Or 2,000/week which in a standard 40hr work week works out to 50/hour. This has been a good starting formula for me, but I have also taken into account what the competition charges as well as what my years of experience are worth. Currently I’m charging 75/hr and few have balked at my price. I also offer reduced rates for seniors and people on fixed income. The “grey market” has been very good to me.

By: World Directory

World Directory — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:46:10 +0000

Thanks you for good advices on the pricing, makes sense and since i’m starting up a business of SEO services it can be a great guideline. a good service i believe is worth a decent payment and as well it’s a nice gift to ourselves to put a value to the energy we put into the service we provide. even so, it feels like it can be a good idea to stay low until you reached a broad group of clients. a balance act.

By: John

John — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:11:48 +0000

It is a difficult question tp price correctly the services you offer. Many under price when new to get business then increase when they become established. Depends where you live also.

By: Joel Rivera

Joel Rivera — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:08:51 +0000

Good article and yes most new techies charge so little that they can barely cover their operation expenses, but what about if the technician charges lower than most computer shops and still received crying people about the cost of the labor.

These days getting the correct price for a computer job is very hard, and in my case I end up charging lower than usual to keep my client a little happier.

In my opinion if these people don’t want to pay to much why they don’t take a pc repair course so they can fix it by themselfs.

Thanks
Joel

By: Tektility

Tektility — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:05:53 +0000

I need to move, I wish all my expenses added up to $1700 a month.

You need to research your area and find the sweet spot. I am able to charge $75 here. If I go 30 minutes East I am able to charge $110 and 30 minutes west I am at $50.

If you charge too little you sacrifice respect as a professional, charge too much you will be under a microscope. Most of your new business is based on price. Consumers no longer value great service, timely response, they expect it.

You cannot base your prices on what you need; you need to price your services on what you can get. This is a basic guideline for doing business. Stats breakdowns need to be done weekly. I do stats on everything. Return on advertising investments, time it takes to do a reload, cost of travel, downtime spent by employees. It can make you go mad. This is a long term goal. You cannot do this for a few weeks and start tweaking. Let it go 6 months, 1 year. Patterns will start to form and then you can adjust.

By: gunslinger

gunslinger — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:34:10 +0000

@ Phil Benwell

But then again the electrician or a plumber is working on my house, about an $80,000 thing, vs. a $400 computer. If they mess up my house could flood or burn to the ground, if the IT guy screws up on a home computer you might be looking at some data loss. I know,I know….the data on the system could be worth millions. If it is I’m certain they most likely have double backups, or they should.

By: Phil Benwell

Phil Benwell — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:23:44 +0000

Just imagine how much you pay for an electrician or a plumber and you can soon imagine how someone who isn’t an IT expert appreciates someone who can come in and sort the problem. Can you really imagine paying a plumber $150 for less than an hour of work?

By: Allan

Allan — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:13:52 +0000

Amazing how the universe works.. I could swear it’s “The Secret” in action right in front of my eyes. I’ve had this EXACT dilemma in the past few weeks.

I’ve been charging $45 to some clients, $50 to others.. $45 to all residental clients and $50 to all businesses. The market rate here is $75 / hr for desktop support (remote and on site during normal business hours). In any case, after speaking to my good friend whom also happens to be a financial advisor he gave me this tidbit of wisdom (maybe it’s not wisdom to you guys but it was to me) I thought I’d share..

If you’re under-charging what you do is make a RATE Sheet and send an email announcement that on X date(in my case I’m doing it in 3 months, in May) your rates will Officially be THIS Rate. I have clients whom I currently charge $50/hr and I’m moving my rate up to $65/hr for businesses and $50/hr for Residences as of May 1st. After one more year I will go up to $75/hr which is what I should be in the first place.

Up till recently I had been charging some clients one rate and another another.. Now they will all be the same across the board so there will be no bad faith conversations about my business.

Anyway, thought I’d share that thought process. Hope it helps anybody who has been wondering wtf to do if they were in my situation..

Allan