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Summary: Price takers and price makers. Are you charging what you're worth, or does pricing your small business services and products make you nervous?
Total words: 700
Category: Small Business
It's About More Than Money: are you charging what you're worth?
Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth
Last April I had a surreal experience with a popular women's magazine I used to write for.
An editorial assistant emailed me: "Sorry about not getting back to you sooner about article X. We'd like to publish it. What are your rates?"
My eyes lit up. "Money. You beauty," I thought. I may have chortled aloud. Possibly I danced a jig around my crowded office.
Unseemly glee, you think. You're right. I remembered that check hadn't cleared bank and focused on task at hand. Negotiation.
I hit Reply button.
Then my fingertips stilled on keyboard. Eh? What did she mean, what are my rates? They know what my rates are. My rates are exactly same as they've been since 1995. Or 1992. They're what this publishing conglomerate pays. They're standard across all magazines they own. They're going up, editors promise. Next month. Next year. When hell freezes over.
What heck. I typed happily, already deciding what I could buy with money. Printer cartridges. Dog worming tablets. Maybe a new pair of jeans, even. "Your usual rates are fine. You paid me $X for 800 word Christmas article."
So a week later assistant emails me to say they're not publishing piece. They can't afford my rates.
Well praise lord and pass ammunition. The rates aren't going up. They're going down.
That day I decided that I was out of magazine writing business.
In magazine writing business, I was a price taker. I decided to saddle up for happy hunting ground of copywriting, where I was a price maker.
=> Charging what you're worth
How much are you worth? You can't stay in business if you don't know. (If you're unsure how to set your basic prices, read Elena Fawkner's piece on Web site, URL's below in Additional Resource.)