Archive for May, 2009

Experimenting again

May 28th, 2009

Last week, I had enough.

I was pretty busy with projects, and must have had ten quote requests in two days. Normally, this is good, but this particular time, eight out of ten were WAAAAAY out of my price range.  I mean, MILES away.

Now, I realize not everyone out there is familiar with a copywriting service, and probably doesn’t have the foggiest idea what one costs, but don’t you think that someone like me, with my credentials and professional website, is going to cost more than $10 an hour?

Anyway, since most of the time it averages three back and forth messages before I have enough info to get a price, I just reached my breaking point in chasing business that has no chance of materializing (I would venture each of the eight took 20 min to 1/2 hour total time to converse with.)

So I went and put some basic prices on my quote page.

I’ve done this before, and it stops a lot of people from contacting me, so this time I did it a little different – I put the prices and the “here’s some pricing info” after the form.

See, my thinking here is if one goes to a quote page, and first sees three paragraphs of text explaining price, well, that’s a turnoff… they came to contact me, and now they have to scroll for the form. No good.

So I’m first giving them the form, and the price info is there if they want to read it. Most will, but the perception is a bit different. I’m hoping that doing it this way will keep the “$10 an hour” people at bay, but also encourage those who want to use me (and let’s face it, I’m really not that expensive.)

I’ll revisit this in a few weeks and give you the results, as it’s something maybe we can all learn/benefit from. And please, if you have any ideas, feel free to comment with such.

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THIS is a “thumping?” (word choice)

May 24th, 2009

As a writer, I pay attention to the words people use.

During a discussion on a forum earlier today, someone mentioned that one soccer team “thumped” another, 2-0. I don’t follow soccer, but I found the word use odd.

2-0? That’s it? Two to nothing is a thumping? 

I would figure if a team got “thumped”, they got beat pretty bad. 2-0 isn’t bad. 12-0 is bad.

I would call it a “win”, as in “team A won 2-0″  or even something like “team A outlasted team B 2-0″. You could even use the word “beat”, like ”team A beat team B 2-0″ (but, and I have to be clear, you can’t call it a “beating”.)

I just found “thumped” to be an interesting word choice. But I’ve seen this before in soccer – announcers will talk about how one team dominated another, and the final score was 1-0.

One to nothing. That’s “domination”???

I must say, I disagree. The whole team scored one friggen’ goal. That’s only one more goal than *I* scored, and I don’t even play.   

Happy Memorial Day

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How things change…

May 20th, 2009

From my older blog, but still a relevant story:

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I went to go see my nephew Greg a few weeks ago (actually, he’s not really my nephew, but he and his brother are kids of my wife’s childhood friend, and they call her “Aunt Maryellen”, so by virtue of being her husband, I’m “Uncle Dan”… anyway, now that I cleared that up, let’s get back to the story:)

Greg got his first apartment and real “adult” job (he’s 21), and invited me and his father out to dinner. I’m always up for a steak and drinks, so I happily went.

Greg had a nice apartment – it brought back memories of my first place. But there was one teeny little difference, and it strikes me as profound.

Greg doesn’t have a regular phone.

In fact, it’s beyond that – he doesn’t even see a need for one. He has his cell phone, and that’s it. He sees no need – none whatsoever – for a normal “land line” phone. Something that was normal to me  – get an apartment and get the phone hooked up – was totally foreign to him.

So I did a little asking amongst the late teens and twenty-somethings I know.

Know what I found out?? NONE OF THEM HAVE “REGULAR” PHONES.

I’ll bet many phone companies and phone manufacturers didn’t see this coming.

Isn’t that something??

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More random thoughts on Rates

May 16th, 2009

Some random thoughts this afternoon on rates and such:

Many times, small business owners hit a wall in setting their rates or charging for their services. This is because they are still in that “job” mentality of hourly rates, etc. If you are in business for yourself, you will need to break out of this line of thinking.

If a job pays you $20 an hour, that’s probably only 1/3 of your true cost to them. Because there are taxes, benefits, your office, your computer, your chair, company services, the copier repair guy (who is always there), and 4 billion other things you don’t really know of.

That means if you were in business for yourself performing the same job as the above-mentioned example, to cover everything you probably should be charging $60 per hour. Fair enough?

But let’s take this a step further – that rate makes things equal to a job. Is that really all you want? To be worth only as much as a job would pay you? I gotta tell you – if I’m only going to make what a job would pay me, I’ll just go get a job – it’s 1,000 times easier.  

No, to be happy working for yourself, you have to get paid what you are truly worth. And how much is that? Well, there’s no set number, but here are a few things to take into consideration:

  • Competition – if your competition generally charges about $100 an hour, you need to be somewhere within that rate. It can vary some, but you need to be somewhat competitive.
     
  • If the competition is all over the place in price (like in my business), you need to find a number that you are comfortable with and charge that. And make sure you are happy with this rate, not grudgingly accepting it.

 Per Project Price

A good way to avoid the whole hourly thing (and I hate hourly, as it feels too much like a job) is to charge a per-project rate. This is what I do 95% of the time: tell me what you want, and I’ll give you a complete price for the job.

Avoid feeling bad about getting paid

This is another roadblock that many entrepreneurs must overcome – the guilt associated with charging a fair rate. Again, the “job” mentality doesn’t help here.

Back when I was doing freelance programming, I had trouble with this – for my first job I charged $60 an hour for (a VERY low rate, but a fortune to me at the time, as I was used to a “job” that paid around $20 per hour). The project was going to be 20 hours, and I was astonished that I’d actually make $1,200 for it. I did the project, and I felt a little apprehension (and a bit of guilt) as I sent the invoice – am I REALLY worth that? (silly question, I know, but I was starting out )

Anyway, my apprehension went away fast – not only did the client happily pay the $1,200 right away, they booked me for several more jobs right then and there. Turns out, I was an outright bargain in their eyes.

So set a fair rate for yourself, and send out those invoices with confidence.

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“Networking” Clubs

May 13th, 2009

Posted this on the small business forum – thought it would be good here, too:

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Going to my monthly Toastmasters meeting tonight, and it got me thinking about networking / groups / clubs / and the like.

I’m not really a fan of networking groups where the point is to swap cards / leads / etc. I find them somewhat phony and dishonest – the only reason people are there is to “get business”.

In my experience with them, I have found that there’s no continuity – if business gets too busy or too slow, the person will stop attending. Thus, I find these groups filled with short-term people. New salespeople hustling for leads; the “here today, gone tomorrow” bodyshop; the “new to this” graphic designer, etc. I’ve belonged to a few of these in my lifetime (back when some of my sales jobs MADE me go), and I’ve never met a five-year vet. I don’t like the vibe in the room, or the look in everyone’s eyes. Reminds me of a new car salesman on the salesfloor… that “I need biz” look.

I know some of you belong to these groups – I don’t mean to disrespect what anyone else does – this is just my opinion of them (and is ultimately worth every cent you paid for it).

This isn’t to say I am against networking – far from it, really. I just think it needs to be done as a secondary thing. Now that I call the shots, if I’m going to join a group, it’s because I find the group useful in an educational sense, or a social sense. If business comes out of it, fine; if it doesn’t, that’s fine too, as that’s not the main reason I am there. I really, truly feel that you cannot be a true business success until you have this attitude.

I look at the Chamber this way – I like hanging out with other successful businesspeople. Once in a great while, I’ll attend a mixer. Not because I want leads, but because I like shooting “business bull” over a scotch. I do realize people swap cards at Chamber mixers, but I think most can agree it’s not a hotbed for leads. It’s WAY more “meeting people” than “getting leads”.

The Lions and Rotary clubs come to mind, too. The big players belong to these clubs. They don’t go there to look for business – that’s almost beneath them. Again, if business comes from it, fine. If not, that’s fine too.

Like I mentioned earlier, I’m going to Toastmasters tonight. Been a member for about 2 years. Out of all the clubs / groups I have joined, I have found Toastmasters to be the most useful. I was always a willing speaker, and was decent enough, but this club has really brought it to another level. From doing the “off the cuff” tabletopics to doing prepared speeches and evaluations, it forces you to communicate in an effective manner. In a very supportive, friendly environment.

I have a hard time believing that any businessperson would hurt themselves by joining Toastmasters. But again, it’s not a place to look for leads, etc. But I think it can help your business better than almost any other group.

Any other Toastmasters here?

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The jury is still out, but so far, smaller is better

May 7th, 2009

One of the “actions” I did in response to recession-slowdown was re-tool www.clear-writing.com. Nothing radical, mind you, but I spruced things up, change the messaging a little, and most importantly, I cut down my navigation by a third. I eliminated two links in the nav bar, and an entire set of sub-categories.

So far, I have noticed a marked increase in conversions – most of them coming after I chopped things up.

I have always somewhat suspected this – a smaller, more targeted site increases conversions. That’s because it’s easier to understand, easier to navigate, and doesn’t take too much thought. The more links you throw out there, the more choices you have, and then a web visitor becomes like my wife in one of those chain restaurants… completely lost in choice.

Really, while I sit there in Ruby Tuesday’s, having decided upon my meal (Cheeseburger*) in six seconds, my wife spends a good ten minutes debating nine different things. Then the server really messes my wife up when she says “what do you want to drink?”  At least here I can order my beer and tell the server to come back.

Anyway, my point is, if the menu was smaller, I could eat a LOT sooner. Oh, and your website… if your site is smaller and easier to navigate, it makes someone more likely to contact you.

I think one reason sites got so big is the SEO people told us to do that – more pages of “stuff” and the better you’ll rank. Maybe so, but smaller / easier = better conversion. I’ve seen proof, and am sold (but like I said, I always suspected this.) In regards to “lots of info” vs. “easy to navigate”, I’m going to start looking into ways to have my cake and eat it too (hey, I’m hungry – will you hurry up, Maryellen!!)

* It’s always a cheeseburger.

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A little business annoyance

May 5th, 2009

I’m sure I’ve written about this before – maybe here, maybe in an old blog, but it happened again today, so I need to mention it (and I will keep mentioning it until i change the world!) Apologoes in advance – this is a little “rantish”.

I hate it being implied that what I do is easy.

There are two ways this happens. One way is a client will say something like “oh, this should be an easy job for you” or “I’ve got an easy one for you“.

This may seem innocent, but I find it a little annoying. How do they know it’s an easy job? Because it almost always isn’t. Believe me, writing to get someone to click (or react) is hard. Sometimes, I’ve spent half a day on one page. Usually when someone says “this’ll be easy for you”, it’s a setup for “I’m not going to pay a lot for this”.

So please, do me and every other professional you deal with a favor – don’t tell them their job should be “easy”. Let them decide what’s easy, and what isn’t.

The other one that people sometimes use that somewhat discounts what I do is the old “well, I could write this myself, but I don’t have the time”.  I hear that one every so often.

Ummm, no Captain Marvelous, you probably couldn’t write this. That’s why you’re coming to me.  There’s no shame there – this is what I do.

You can say about your lawn guy “I’d cut it myself, but…” and I’ll believe you. But please, there’s no need to say to me “you know, I’m hiring you simply because I have no time“.  

I hire web designers because I can’t make websites. I have Jen do any graphic work for me because I suck at it. I hire a plumber because I have a 50% “it holds” ratio when I solder pipe (and you don’t find out if it holds until you turn on the water… which sucks when you’ve soldered 5 connections.) I don’t tell any of these people that what I need done is “easy”. And I certainly don’t say “I could do it myself, but…”

Anyway, that’s my little rant for today. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about “what part of 14 items or less don’t you understand?”  :)

Posted in Copywriting, Fun Stuff, General Marketing, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Misc / Personal Stuff, Websites and Web Marketing | 1 Comment »

Another dumb boss story

May 1st, 2009

On my old blog, I posted some stories about my old jobs and idiot bosses. I’ll bring them over here from time to time, because through them, you can see where I get my attitude regarding bosses and such, and why I choose to work for myself:

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Around 1994, I sold cars at this busy dealership. The sales manager was always setting sales goals, and they were always increasing. After awhile, he really started getting nuts with it. This one month, he set a goal for 200 cars. The dealership never sold 200 cars in a month, so he really pushed for this. He told us “come in on your day off, come in early, stay late, but we HAVE to beat 200!”

Well, I was young and dumb, so I bought into the BS. Like everyone else, I came in early, stayed late, and worked my day off. In fact, I worked 30 days in a row – we all did. And we sold 227 cars for the month!! Yay us!!

We got a nice catered lunch, and then we got down to business at the next sales meeting… this time it was “well, NOW we have to beat 227. So you need to come in early, stay late, and work your day off….”

At this point, sitting in the back of the meeting, I raised my hand. The sales manager says “what is it, Furman?” I replied, ever so meekly, “umm, when do we get to rest?”

Silence. Dead silence. Then, with a glare, my question was ignored.

Well, I stopped coming in early. And stopped staying late. And took my days off. I was fired about three weeks later because I wasn’t a “team player”.

Well, that’s because the team sucked.

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