Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Life can teach you a lot. Here’s what life taught me about profit in my business.
Crazy Things Happen in 3s
It’s been a little over a year. And when I talk about it, I still get all the fight or flight feelings in my body.
- Mom had a heart attack.
- My 18 yr old cousin had a horrific, fatal accident.
- They took my aunt off of life support and she passed from complications due to Covid.
Those three things happened in 2.5 weeks.
That’s when I had a come to Jesus talk with myself about what my business needed to do to support me so I could support my family.
How I Used to Think About Profit in my Business
In fairness, my business coach had been trying to get me to view things that way for years.
I had talked about it, dreamed it, wrestled with it.
And then life got real real, so the business had to support what I needed, or it had to go.
I needed (and wanted) to care for my mom as she recovered and be there for my family. And this time it required my time and attention like never before.
Thankfully, I had this amazing community and resources in my life that came together at exactly the right time.
It wasn’t necessarily magic. I’d been investing in this concept for years.
So, when necessity required, the community, the people, the resources delivered.
The Exercise That Changed my Pricing
One year ago, I went through the exercise with my Profit First Professional, Linda Stapf at Stapf Financial to calculate my hourly rate.
Hourly pricing skeptic? Here are the Three Reasons I Still Use Hourly Pricing
Part of that exercise is how much can you work (do you want to work) balanced with how much money you need to cover your expenses.
It gave me a clear picture of what my business needed to give me in order for it to be worth investing my time in it.
There’s nothing like necessity to help you turn a concept on its head.
If life is pushing you to move from “what does my business need from me” to “what do I need from my business,” grab this spreadsheet and do this calculation with me.
Then, stick to your pricing guns.
There is purpose in your business, AND there’s also life outside of it. You can add value and enjoy both. But only if your business isn’t keeping you from the life you want.
Profit and pricing can help you love your business and your life!
p.s. huge thanks to Stapf Financial for providing a workshop and the tools to help me get this right. Grab your hourly rate calculation spreadsheet here.
