NEVERMIND!
Nevermind my last "*ahem*", I'm swamped for the moment.
This web design thing has truly turned into a double-time job.
So much I WANT to do, so many people I want to see, so much of it NOT revenue producing activity.
I still don't understand how I can be stressed about money and be this busy all the time. I hate to raise prices to the point where people I would enjoy working with would find it prohibitive, not to say there aren't plenty of those already. I'll wait until January to see where I need price points to be.
Price points are a marketing term. Interesting to see a client balk at a $900 bid, but accept a $1200 one. It's a weird psychological quirk most people seem to carry that defies logic. I've not raised prices unfairly, EVER, but I have sold myself short a time or two because of this. I'm at the point where I'm getting past this.
There's also the FIFTEEN PERCENT the IRS wants from people who's income comes exclusively from their business. Ridiculous.
Back when I started this business I was bidding for jobs on a site that had people from India and such on there. I think outsourcing is helping a lot of people, but I wouldn't even TRY to compete with, say $500 for a myspace clone bid (no shit, I saw this). Some days I figured I was sunk, I was just looking in the wrong places: Most small businesses wouldn't even consider hiring out to India or China. Most small businesses(the REALLY small ones, anyway) think that $200 is a more than fair price for a website.
It is, if you build it yourself.
I've taken jobs consisting of fixing sites made in China: Not pretty and more expensive(read: time-consuming) than building a site from scratch.
I'm rambling. Bottom line, I'm stressed. I feel overworked, though I don't think I truly am. I think I'm tormenting myself to stockpile enough to get through upcoming dry spells(Thanksgiving-January and a possible recession following) and TRAVEL! There's few things I want more than to get overseas for a bit.
This web design thing has truly turned into a double-time job.
So much I WANT to do, so many people I want to see, so much of it NOT revenue producing activity.
I still don't understand how I can be stressed about money and be this busy all the time. I hate to raise prices to the point where people I would enjoy working with would find it prohibitive, not to say there aren't plenty of those already. I'll wait until January to see where I need price points to be.
Price points are a marketing term. Interesting to see a client balk at a $900 bid, but accept a $1200 one. It's a weird psychological quirk most people seem to carry that defies logic. I've not raised prices unfairly, EVER, but I have sold myself short a time or two because of this. I'm at the point where I'm getting past this.
There's also the FIFTEEN PERCENT the IRS wants from people who's income comes exclusively from their business. Ridiculous.
Back when I started this business I was bidding for jobs on a site that had people from India and such on there. I think outsourcing is helping a lot of people, but I wouldn't even TRY to compete with, say $500 for a myspace clone bid (no shit, I saw this). Some days I figured I was sunk, I was just looking in the wrong places: Most small businesses wouldn't even consider hiring out to India or China. Most small businesses(the REALLY small ones, anyway) think that $200 is a more than fair price for a website.
It is, if you build it yourself.
I've taken jobs consisting of fixing sites made in China: Not pretty and more expensive(read: time-consuming) than building a site from scratch.
I'm rambling. Bottom line, I'm stressed. I feel overworked, though I don't think I truly am. I think I'm tormenting myself to stockpile enough to get through upcoming dry spells(Thanksgiving-January and a possible recession following) and TRAVEL! There's few things I want more than to get overseas for a bit.