How much should I charge?

Business survival in our current economic climate is more challenging than ever and what we charge for our products and services is critical, not only to survive but to thrive. We must aspire to thrive and profit. Who is satisfied just to survive?

When determining a price for a service there are generally two important aspects to consider.

1.  How much does it cost you to do the service?

You must know the details here. A good starting point is to know 

How much does it cost to keep the door of your workplace open?  When you combine all your operating expenses and average them down to an hourly rate it enables you to have more clarity around pricing and time allocation. To do this you will need to know and work out 

· Weekly rent

· Weekly electricity

· Weekly phone and internet connection cost

· How many hours per week your salon operates?

These cost / figures should be relatively consistent.

An Example your weekly rent  = $1000

Your weekly electricity = $62.5

Your weekly ph / internet =$24.75

Total =$1087.25

Your salon is open 40 hours. So, divide the total $1087.25 by 40 = $27.18. So, every hour you are open it is costing you $27 before anything happens like paying staff and purchasing retail and consumable product. 

Now work out the cost of the products you are using in the service. If you have staff work out what their pay rate plus super is for the time allocated to complete the service. This gives you a baseline to determine your price.

2. The Second part of determining your price is not so black and white.

You now need to factor in an amount to add for profit along with an amount you feel is a fair exchange for the quality of service you offer plus the experience and knowledge you have. Many therapists and salon owners do not consider what is a fair exchange for the quality of service they offer and the experience and knowledge they have. Many just look around for what the competition is charging and use that as a basis to determine their pricing.

If you price yourself that way you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to charge what you are really worth and putting the handbrake on developing your business.

Mindset and self-worth issues are the problems here. If you do not genuinely believe you are a professional, delivering quality services that need to be priced at an appropriate level, then you are in trouble.

You are more than likely to  

·- Enter a continuous cycle of people-pleasing and catering to unreasonable clients. 

·- Be forced economically into living from week to week, with no long-term business planning
   and no savings. 

· - Work much later and longer hours to squeeze clients in because you need to earn that
   little bit extra.

·-  Be exhausted and facing burnt out. 

-  Feeling stressed and worried because you feel the clients can’t afford it.  

-  Start to resent clients and others you feel are better off than you.

I know this is grim, but it can be the consequence of not charging enough to make a significant profit. Such scenarios are the result of therapists not valuing themselves and their work due to a lack of self-esteem.

If undervaluing is an issue for you, take heart in the fact that your self-worth can be strengthened and transformed.  I have worked with many therapists with these concerns.   Once they get my help, change their mindset and can see the true value their clients are receiving and realise their limiting self-beliefs simply aren’t true, things take a turn for the better. 

What I have noticed people who have healthy self-worth and high self-esteem have no problem charging what they believe they are worth. 

· They have strong professional boundaries

·  Have clients who willingly pay for their services

·  Have clients who purchase products exclusively from them and re-book regularly

· Have long-lasting healthy careers, businesses, and lifestyles they absolutely love. 

There has never been a better time to put an end to this self-destructive business practice once and for all, by stepping into your true worth and empowering yourself. 

To transform yourself, career, and business, it starts with transforming your thinking. 

If you would like to have a chat about how I can support you, email me at 

info@beautybusinessevoution.com.au

Until next time dream big, be kind to your-self and others.

X Naomi