We both recently read a blog post by Dan Perez about when exposure isn't enough, and when' it's time to stop working for free. It resonated with us on so many levels as we've been managing our production company for three and half years, and have made less than a quarter of the revenue needed to sustain the business. This equates to over 80% out of pocket. We do it because we're passionate about providing positive online content. But when do you know when passion isn't enough? When the feeling hits you that exposure creates favorable circumstances for people to see your work; yet, you have gotten into the habit of giving it away and less and less people are willing to pay what you have to offer. We got that feeling a few weeks ago, and have been working with a few individuals to turn our business around.
We have taken action by contacting individuals who have made mentioned in the past that they would like to work with us; outreaching to new clients with the help of a social media professional; and revising our business plan so that we can obtain additional resources.
Primary factors for need of being paid include business sustainability, value of time and perceived worth, and contributing to society (non-profits, social entrepreneurship, etc). We need to have confidence in ourselves to ask for payment of our services, even it means changes in current business relationships. We've made mention of service fees on our blog on several occasions. Most recently, this time last year, we put our services and fee structure online. No one comment on it. But it's not like we went out to promote it heavily. Thereby, our responsibility to the lack of revenue has been that we have not been able to capitalize on our exposure. In 2014, expect changes in fee structure to be fully implemented including automatic monthly retainers and advance payment of services. Other changes include a newly designed management of our social media outreach and transportability of our services beyond the Columbia area.
We have taken action by contacting individuals who have made mentioned in the past that they would like to work with us; outreaching to new clients with the help of a social media professional; and revising our business plan so that we can obtain additional resources.
Primary factors for need of being paid include business sustainability, value of time and perceived worth, and contributing to society (non-profits, social entrepreneurship, etc). We need to have confidence in ourselves to ask for payment of our services, even it means changes in current business relationships. We've made mention of service fees on our blog on several occasions. Most recently, this time last year, we put our services and fee structure online. No one comment on it. But it's not like we went out to promote it heavily. Thereby, our responsibility to the lack of revenue has been that we have not been able to capitalize on our exposure. In 2014, expect changes in fee structure to be fully implemented including automatic monthly retainers and advance payment of services. Other changes include a newly designed management of our social media outreach and transportability of our services beyond the Columbia area.
