Guest Written by: Coach Jay Breitlow
When is the last time you took the pulse of how much you charge for your services?
If it was yesterday, please promptly push the little “x” button in your browser and move along. You are spot on.
But if you haven’t adjusted prices this week – please read on.
Here are the 8 reasons why you DESERVE to raise your prices, and why you should do it TODAY!
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Inflation
The US government (via the Federal Reserve) has been pumping billions and billions of dollars into the economy for 8 years following the burst of the tech bubble in 2008. Only within the last year has the Federal Reserve stopped what has been termed QE3 and put some faith back in the free markets. But to date, they have yet to increase interest rates, which further devalues your precious dollars in your pocket.
This infusion of fake/printed money has devalued the value of the money not just in our hands but also in our banks. That $100 from 2010 is worth about $90 today because the general inflation rate is somewhere near 2%. To keep up with inflation, a minimum increase of 2% every year could be your mandate, and for all small business owners for that matter.
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You’ve got mad skillz
If you’ve got this far, you are clearly interested in learning something, or just as likely refining your top notch mind. This means that your are not “ripe and rotting” but are instead “green and growing”. So why charge the same price today if you know more than you did yesterday?
Why charge the same price today for a skill that you will deliver with more efficiency, passion, inspiration and love than one you possessed three years ago? You have been to more seminars, read more books, talked to other people in your profession and frankly have refined and perfected your craft.
Your skills are sharper and more honed now and will continue to do so as you advance through life. That means another raise is indeed on the horizon. Which brings up a similar point…
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You are not interested in refunds.
When I first got into practice, my coach talked to me about setting up a fee schedule. I told him, “it was my first day in the office and that I knew I would be good, but not as GREAT as I would be some day”. He told me:
“I had the same thought, when I first started. And you know what Dr Jay, I was not interested in being somebody today that I knew I was going to be in the future. If I charged now what I knew I was going to be, I would owe all my NOW clients a refund!”
This was profound to me. It gave me permission to have a lower price point, to help more people, to serve more people and to learn on the job. Somebody who presented in my chiropractic office with a herniated disc was someone who would need more adjustments than the person who is writing this today. I have more experience and more expertise and certainty now.
With that in mind, I charge double today what I did 6 years ago in practice.
But it takes my clients about 40% less time to get results today than I did then. So do I owe those first patients anything?
Nope.
They got the best of me at the time as do my clients now. And my prices reflect that.
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People are competing for your time and energy
Family, friends, houses, vacation, and Tesla cars are all things you are sacrificing as you are proceeding through time. If you are going to be missing your toddler play with worms in the back yard, then be sure it comes at an equal exchange to what you charge for your time in the office.
As we mature it happens: our spouses, family, houses and community usually expect more time and effort from us. And frankly, I like that. I like a loving family that misses me when I work. But I also like being paid handsomely for fixing other people’s problems. Be sure you are in “balanced exchange” for your time away from your family, friends and core values.
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Taxes
Life, death, and taxes. The only things guaranteed in life. When is the last time your tax rate went down?
Keep thinking… been awhile eh?
Enough said.
Pass the buck that the government is passing on to you, to your clients. You are worth it… and if you don’t believe me ask uncle sam.
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Insurance rates
When was the last time you got a letter from your insurance company telling you your premium is going down? What about the last time an insurance company who pays you for your services decided they were upping their reimbursement rates?
Go ahead… keep thinking…
In the event you are a chiropractor, like me, and medicare is passing along a $.23 increase in reimbursement to you this year it doesn’t even get close to paying you what you are worth or even keep step with inflation.
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Regulations regulation and more regulations
Send an email to [email protected] and let me know when the last time your regulating body, locally, state/province or national government decided they would loosen the rules that govern how and what you do?
The lucky business owner (living in this utopian world) who can claim they’ve had this freedom will receive a personal gift from me and my buddies at Amazon.com.
As per number 6, medicare does occasionally tell me I get a few more cents in my pay check. BUT only if I spend more time documenting my clients in their preferred fashion, and if i am willing to share sensitive private information with the government. Hours of lost time later I earn my 0.5% raise.
…and somewhere George Orwell is shrugging his shoulders saying “I warned you.”
Doing more work to comply is a necessary evil, a cost of doing business. Pass this along to your clients – you deserve it!
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You are worth it!
You are working more efficiently and you are helping more people. You feel inspired to show up at work and give the best of yourself to the people who walk through your door (or into your inbox). It’s OK to expect that they will feel the same way and happily fork over what you say your time and energy are worth.
Don’t know how much your time is worth yet? Email the team at [email protected] and we will send you our priceless time measurement tool.