Tweet

Nice feelings don’t pay the bills!

Written by: Jane Francis

Article Overview: Have you ever worked out how much money you have “left on the table” just because you never asked for it? Add up all the hours, weeks, months, and years of cheap deals you’ve been doing, and estimate the opportunity cost of all that unclaimed money. Now resolve not to let it continue.

Nice feelings don’t pay the bills!

‘It’s kind of a spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money’. —Albert Camus

Have you ever worked out how much money you have “left on the table” just because you never asked for it?

You’ve probably seen the sort of advertisements that investment companies like to use; in graph or table form, they show how savings reinvested with compound interest mount up—how $100 a week earning compound interest of 8 percent becomes nearly $110,000 in just ten years.

Add up all the hours, weeks, months, and years of cheap deals you’ve been doing, and estimate the opportunity cost of all that unclaimed money. Now resolve not to let it continue.

Focus on how good the future will be—how much better you’ll feel. To help keep you motivated, place a reminder of the real reason you go to work somewhere you won’t forget—near your diary, computer, or phone. It could be a picture of your child with the crooked teeth that you want to have straightened, or your dream home, or the feeling of pride and accomplishment you’ll get when you bank the money—whatever it takes for you to resist the temptation to belittle your worth the next time you quote on a job.

Once you’ve set your price, be strong. Remind yourself that you are worth it. If the customer wants you, they’re not going to get you any other way.

I was wearing a beautiful pink stone bracelet, when it got caught in some clothing and the setting was damaged. I knew the stones weren’t valuable, so I continued to wear the bracelet until eventually one stone fell out. Do you think I would have done that if it had been a valuable pink diamond? Of course not, I would have gotten it fixed right away.

Make yourself valuable. Put a high price on your worth, and you may find that you get treated better.

Become discerning, and be willing to give up clients you don’t want, so you can find clients you do want. If you spend all your time with clients that are only willing to pay $10 an hour, when will you have time for those ready to spend $100?

In conclusion, remember the prophetic words of W. Somerset Maugham: ‘It’s a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it’

Related Articles
  Contribution
  What is the best way to develop my sales skills?
  Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Recession Part 2
  How can you make more of your customers open your emails?
  Know your magic numbers

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: Matching competitors prices - beware - Sometimes in business we need to listen to our gut feelings. This morning I woke up having a deep feeling that I should call a client that was owning us a lot of money, to ask for a fraction of what he was owning. I called him and told him to give us part of it today. He agreed and paid the money four hours later. If not for the gut feelings, I would be asking him for the whole amount and it will do us no good.
Re: Does a New Company need a "Big" PR firm? - I agree with SHri, it really depends on the target audience and how much service you really need. if you are doing National campaign than you want a firm that has the National contacts. Lots of smaller companies dont have as many resources or connections. Many firms are going to a pay for performance model which I think will do the PR and advertising industry good. no more $5000 retainers for sending out a couple of press releases - no matter how well written or targeted! if they dont get picked up, they dont get paid. J
Re: Dropped Out Of School To Startup! - I don't know how it goes in other countries, but here we have so many "student right" but they forget all the other rules students have to follow. They do think they are smarter than their teachers, there is no respect to a teacher, or any adult. I am working with kids at the ages of 12-18, what amaze me the most is the fact they have no boundaries, and they don't know the difference between right and wrong, and the teachers, can't do their job, to teach and educate, because they can't tell the students anythings, because it hurt their feelings. What about our feelings?
Re: what makes you smile ???? - Robert, Great Points... To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man's heart. ~Francesco Guicciardini Regards Barry [quote="KH_Global":1wos0kzi]Try laughter meditation for 10 minutes daily. Just laugh and laugh. See how it changes the mood and emotions. If you know how to handle the feelings, then it is easy to manage one's own mood. Robert[/quote:1wos0kzi]
Re: Moderator Update, April 2011 - Hi GT, Thanks for the update, I was also wondering why we hadn’t seen Mary and Barry for a while and maybe it would have been a courtesy for them to call by and tell you that they could no longer continue but hey, it’s no big deal, just that if it was me I would have done that. I have no strong feelings either way on the number of Mods that the forum needs but I agree with Trent that the forum is not that active and that puzzles me because as forums go this has to be one of the best. I must admit that as a moderator I am a little concerned that the vast majority of forums posts seem to come from us apart from lately when Bill is providing fresh content as a new member which is most refreshing to see. I would be interested to know how many members we have and what your feelings are as to why they don’t get involved with posting as that is surely what we all want to see, a vibrant forum with members getting involved at all levels. regards, Mal.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Sales Flubs

10 Golden rules to survive the Global Crisis

Fighting the Saw-Tooth Affect

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.