'Oh no', I hear you cry, 'I can't do that. I'll lose all my clients. I don't want to rock the boat. No-one will buy from me. My business will fail. I will be penniless and homeless. No, I can't do possibly do that!'

Sound familiar? Most of us are worried about putting our prices up because we are scared of rejection: that our clients and customers won't think we are worth it. That they will use it as an excuse to stop buying from us. 

​Well, if you are not giving a great service, then that may well be the case, but we'll assume that you are giving an exceptional service, so it's unlikely to have a negative impact on your profit. Please check out this quick blog on the actual impact of putting up your prices. (Hint: if your present profit margin is 25% and you increased your prices by 10%, you could lose 29% of your sales and still be making the same amount of profit.)

So, if you are too busy with clients, now is the time to raise your prices!

Making you money … :-)

Jo x
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I’m really impressed by this free software for proposals and invoicing. AND CO was acquired by Fiverr about a year ago and is now offered completely free of charge.

• Unlimited everything — There are no hidden paid plans. AND CO is completely free with all its features.
• No subscription fees — They don’t charge you money to use the service. Zero.
• ​No extra transaction fees — They don’t charge any extra transaction fees. You only pay the standard transaction fees of your payment provider of choice.

Many small businesses decide the health of their business based on how much money they have in the bank. This can be pretty dangerous as it doesn't take into account any upcoming large bills like VAT, corporation tax, personal tax, supplier bills or annual bills. Also it means you don't have an eye on the amount of future business coming in.

For the last 30 years I've kept a simple cash-flow tracker which tells me exactly how much money I will have in the bank in 12 months time if...

A few of my recent posts have talked about narrowing your skills gap. In other words, we write a list of everything we need to know to be successful in business, and we go learn how to do them!
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Udemy is a brilliant resource – it's an online learning and teaching marketplace with over 80,000 courses and 24 million students. You can learn pretty much everything from Udemy, with many of the courses starting around £10 (some are even free!)

Here are some great courses for £10 that you may find useful...

Many business owners and sole traders are really worried that they will lose clients if they increase their prices. If this sounds like you, hopefully, the following will help: 
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• If your present profit margin is 25% and you increased your prices by 10%, you could lose 29% of your sales, and still be making the same amount of profit!

One of the biggest issues I come across with small business owners and sole traders is the price issue. 'How much should I charge?' is probably one of the most commonly asked questions (and many people price themselves too low).

The answer to this question obviously depends on a lot of different factors, and I will write a blog about that over the next few days, but in the meantime here are four reasons why you shouldn't start in business with your prices too low...

It seems that absolutely everyone has heard of PayPal, but not everyone knows about PayPal.Me (myself included until a few months ago!). 

Here are the key benefits of using PayPal.Me:

• Share your PayPal.Me link with friends and family; splitting a bill, chipping in for a present or getting paid back by a friend has never been easier.
• Whether you design websites or sell your creations online, awkward payment reminders are a thing of the past. Share your link and get paid.
• Let your customers secure orders or book your services by simply clicking on a link.

Business documents and legal contracts can cost a small business owner an absolute fortune, so thanks to the lovely Simon Cook for his tip about Simply-Docs!
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Simply-Docs can provide you with an extensive portfolio of ready-to-use document and contract templates, enabling you to protect your business and keep up with your legal and compliance requirements. 

The dashboard in your car is crucial. It shows you the health of your car – how much fuel, oil and water you have. It shows whether you have a light out, engine problems or a flat tyre. It shows you how fast you are going and whether you have enough fuel to reach your destination.
 
Your business dashboard is pretty much the same thing. It brings all your businesses KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) into one place so you can see the health of your business. A simple spreadsheet enables you to track these numbers every month. ​