Last month I published a post that encouraged professionals and business owners to put a dollar value on their time.
I conducted a small survey with a handful of responses (certainly not scientific here), but it was interesting to read how much other professionals deem their time to be worth. I averaged the survey results up and out of its respondents the average professional believes their time is worth $262.50 per hour. So why was I interested in this? Personally, I freelance my skills and time as a contractor on many occasions, and it's always interesting to me the responses I get when I share how much I charge for my time, services and the overall value to the client of the service I provide. Just to be clear, often the response is negative...as in, I can't believe you are charging that (and trust me, my rates are average to low for the services I provide if said potential client went to a full-blown marketing agency). However, when that happens it's my opportunity to share how I create value for the client and their business far beyond the amount they pay me... ...and that's probably the bigger lesson here: if potential clients are not willing to pay you the price you've set forth you're either marketing to the wrong people, or you haven't justified your value to them and their business...or both. Back to the survey... The survey from last month was another way for me to validate to myself, and to prospective clients, why I might charge what I charge on an hourly basis (if the project is something where I am in fact charging for my time). The thought process was, if I could gather survey responses from a good cross-section of my target audience and identified among them how much (at least on average) they believe an hour of their time is worth, then I could align my hourly rate with a similar prospective client and further justify why I should be paid my price (again, you do absolutely have to be able to also present your value here). So, on average those in my target audience are suggesting their time is worth $262.50 per hour. If I presented an hourly rate that is more than a 50% off of their hourly rate (i.e. $130/hr.), wouldn't they be coming out ahead saving time and money? What's to complain about in that price or approach? Posted by Nick Venturella I'll be writing brief goal updates on my Patreon page for anyone to follow along my journey this year.
Here's the latest Progress Update. Feel free to follow along, and if you're so inclined , become a patron, however, don't feel obligated. I appreciate your attention and support. Thanks, -Nick You want to know how to earn a few bucks from your creative endeavor like, today? Whatever the reason is you need to make money today doesn't matter. What matters is that you likely already have what you need to go out make a few bucks now. For example, back in my college years I found myself in need of a few extra bucks more than once. Here's what I did... Being a musician, I used to go downtown and perform on the street, busking. It started out as an experiment to get some practice in and understand how my music was received by complete strangers. I figured a few people might be generous enough to leave a tip for my talent. For a poor college kid, this turned out to be a pretty lucrative way to get paid to practice and promote my music. I ended up earning somewhere between $50 and $100 within a 2 hour timeframe. This was immediate return on my efforts to bring the value of music to passersby on the street. Plus, I would sometimes had out free sampler CDs of my music to those who stuck around for a bit and seemed to enjoy my songs. My website address was on the CD as well. Some people even asked to sign up on my email list on the spot (so I started carrying a notebook just for that purpose). I ended up doing this regularly during college. It provided some income, but the greater value was the exposure to new potential fans that my music received. Here's how the same idea could work for a photographer: If you're in a town that has a tourist draw and you are a budding photographer, you could do the same thing. Put out a little sign on the street offering to take people's photos using their own smartphone or camera (which they likely have with them), for tips. You're a professional photographer so you can frame it up real nicely and help them capture a memorable moment. When you hand back their phone or camera be sure to hand them your business card with a link to your website where they could hire you for your photography services and/or order a print of one of your own photos to hang in their home. With good street traffic and a friendly demeanor you'd be surprised at how many tips you'll make on the spot, not to mention the amount of free advertising and traffic you can drive to your website. Posted by: Nick Venturella James Altucher is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and podcaster (as stated by Wikipedia).
In the above quick video Altucher explains what you should if you ever get fired. It's a recipe to help you connect with others, find a new opportunity and get on with your career. The truth is though, this is sound advice for anyone who wants to be successful in their life and career. It's about being smart and mature in your communications and relationship building. Altucher even provides some mental exercises worth doing that can serve as positive, constructive, daily mental therapy -- nothing too difficult to execute here, but the impact is profound. Whether you're a musician trying to build your fan base and industry connections or a corporate sales person preparing for (or perhaps forced to be prepared for) your next opportunity, Altucher's advice is worth heeding. Posted by Nick Venturella I was asked to speak at Edgewood College's Career Week 2016, but I could not be there so I created this video to answer some of the questions I know will be talked about during Career Week.
Here are the questions I answer in the video:
Thanks, Nick Regardless of how you make your living, you are in business for yourself.
The results you produce for your employer or your clients as an entrepreneur are the skills, abilities and track record you take with you where ever you go in the future. So, yes, even if you're employed somewhere, you work for yourself. Posted by Nick Venturella We’re all human. It makes sense then to create content that connects with humans. Building connection from your creation to another person, even online, is one way to build a relationship. If you produce content for marketing purposes then you are in the business of connection and relationship-building. However, if you don’t know how to appeal to real people you will struggle to foster a connection, and that connection is the spark needed to build a relationship. Plus, when your content does connect well with others it gains ‘share-ability’ in social media. So, how can you build a human connection with someone from your online content? Here are three ways:
Be sincere Chances are the struggles you experience as a human are pretty similar to those who consume your content/art/music/other. That said, what do you struggle with? Examine yourself, decide what you need help with, research solutions and build content that addresses that for your audience. Be empathetic Now, that you’ve identified the issues your audience has (which you share as well) you can be empathetic to your audiences’ situation. You know because you’ve been there, or you are there now. Help your audience understand that you understand, and that they’re not alone – there is a community of others just like them, like you, dealing with the same thing. This is where the beginning of the spark of a connection and potential relationship arises. Be helpful Share what you’ve discovered in overcoming your own struggles. What has worked? What hasn’t worked? Be a bit of a mentor. Share what you’ve found out from your own experiences that you wish someone would have shared with you earler on in your journey. This has value for others. Your audience then gets the benefit of shaving time, energy and possibly money off their approach to overcoming the identified struggle. The bottom line with being helpful is to do your best to provide useful solutions whenever possible, and the best test is to think, “Would I find that solution useful?” Posted by Nick Venturella I've talk in my email newsletter about the magic of live creation.
People are just drawn to artistic work being developed right before their eyes. It's a sure-fire marketing tactic too. Whether you're an artist or musician or run a software business, create opportunities to be in front of your target audience and showcase what you do live, in front of them. This could be an artist drawing or painting something (think painter Bob Ross). This could be a great street musician busking in a crowded farmers market. It could even be a software company demonstrating the power of it's creation right in front of you. The point is, it's mesmerizing to see live creation happening . It forces both the creator and the audience to connect in the same moment of time and space. That's extremely powerful. When you think about anything we do as humans, it almost always requires the ability to communicate and connect with other people. Why not create a magical moment to easily allow that to happen? Posted by Nick Venturella Anyone who fancies him or herself a blogger, or strives to be one will gain value from Kevin Oubridge's Blue Chip Tips blog, and in particular his post, "The Inexpert Blogger's Guide to Blogging Like an Expert."
Outbridge runs Blue Chip Coaching, which helps executive coaches win more clients. In the post linked above, Outbridge provides some very practical and basic tips for bloggers at any stage (even if you know these tips, as a seasoned blogger, it's a great refresher). Check it out. Posted by : Nick Venturella One of the reasons I love content marketing is that content is a vehicle. Content is a dynamic vehicle. It can be written word, visuals, audio or the combination of audio and visuals – video. The beauty is, every piece of content is a new opportunity for relationship building. I’ve talked about the idea of everything boiling down to communication and relationships in business and life. (here's free ebook on the topic) Communication (or content) is the vehicle that drives relationships. If you can’t communicate and connect with another individual you will be hard pressed to develop a trusting relationship. That’s the other thing: trust. Trust develops when continued communication and honest connection takes place over time. Without trust your relationships will not be sustained…again, in business and life. This takes place everywhere: in your home with your spouse or significant other. At work with coworkers, management, staff, vendors, etc. The point is, Every piece of content or opportunity to communicate is a chance to build and deepen a relationship. I’m a firm believer that the more positive relationships you have the easier it is to get things done and move the needle, in business and life, in the direction you want. Sometimes, often in fact, that means finding the silver lining with each experience and encounter you have on a daily basis. To do this is a disciplined effort that takes time and willingness to learn from your mistakes. The reason positive relationships are so important is because no one wants to work with a negative person, no one wants to be married to someone who is unhappy all the time. Even if trust isn’t violated, negative energy, while less abrupt than a clear violation, is a slow toxic killer. I do a lot of work in the HR industry and while I’m often impressed with how many positive people there are in that industry, I’m equally unimpressed and disappointed by the number of cynical, negative people who wonder why they struggle in their work and life. These are the same people that think they understand how to connect with content. They put out content that is selfish, self-serving and anti-relationship-building, though they don’t realize it. They simply claim, “content marketing doesn’t work,” or “my industry is full of a bunch of d-bags.” So if you stay positive and realize what you do and say communicates something distinct and significant about you and your view on the world, you can approach every piece of content you might create as an opportunity to connect, build trust and build positive meaningful relationships that can ultimately make your day-to-day better. Be better and help to teach others to be better by your example. Post by: Nick Venturella |
Invest in yourself. Get creative/business/life insights in your inbox - sign up for my eNewsletter.
Archives
December 2023
|