Faith and Business 101: Don’t Sell Yourself Short

I don’t know about you, but I tend to be extremely hesitant when offering a price for a good or service that I have made/done. I feel like I really don’t want to “rip people off” and in doing so end up working for extremely cheap! An important thing to consider when you are working or considering starting your own business is how much work you’re willing to put in for how much pay. At first when I was doing my scrap-for-hire business I was charging $5 per page design (jpeg only) Now this might sound like a reasonable or even a high amount if you have never done design work yourself. However when you consider that I put in over an hour from start to finish on a page (which involved everything from downloading, to editing the pictures, to going through to find the perfect papers and embellishments to putting the page together) I was working for far below minimum wage!

This is one reason why it is so important to do your homework and research into other companies and people in your field. When I found out that the average graphic designer/scrap-for-hire gal charges around $25 a hour I was blown away. Though I still kept my prices far shy of that ($10-$15) it helped me see where I might end up someday. If you’re thinking about selling your handmade baby clothes or hair barrettes be sure to shop around on Etsy and see what similar things are going for. You’ll always want to start less expensively, if you can, until you build up a good client base.

The most important thing to consider is the “golden rule” or as Jesus put it, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Do you think that the price that you’re charging is a fair one? Something that represents the time and effort you put in, but also isn’t “ripping off” people?

If you can find the perfect balance of those two things, you will be well on your way to having success in your sales!

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