Stop Complaining And Make A Change
I am going to write something that may not be popular, but if it
offends you in anyway, it probably means that I'm writing this
for you. I'm writing this to help you...not to criticize or
belittle you. I want every entrepreneur to continue to grow
throughout his online career and sometimes when we don't accept
change...we stop growing. I don't want that to happen to you.
Lately, I've seen a lot of online service-based business
complain that cheaper alternatives are driving them out of
business. I've seen virtual assistants angry that anyone would
work for US $10 per hour. I'm surprised by that anger because
$10 is above the minimum wage in every single state in the U.S.
and province in Canada (2005 statistics). Yes, I know running a
VA business carries expenses, but many people working online
just want enough to be able to stay home, instead of trudging to
a crappy job. Good for them for being resourceful.
I've seen article writers and article distribution services
annoyed that new software and automated process are cutting into
their bottom line and causing them to lose clients. It seems the
hay days of getting paid $100 plus per article are gone...or are
they?
If you're letting your business die because lower cost services
are coming in - it's time for a wake up call. Complaining isn't
going to get you anywhere, except possibly bankruptcy. As more
and more people come to work online, there's going to be a lot
of people working for what you think is chump change. As
programmers get more creative with technology, more processes
will become automated.
A smart business person will make competition irrelevant...or as
irrelevant as is humanly possible. If you are trying to get your
typical "Internet marketer on a budget" to hire you for $25 per
hour to answer his emails...you probably will lose out to the
moms who just want to earn an hourly wage to stay home with
their kids. But if you set yourself apart and target a market
that doesn't want to nickel and dime and perceives more
expensive services as more professional --- your client list
will grow. If you have satisfied clients paying $25 per hour,
they can always refer more clients who will pay $25 per hour.
If you're a writer and you think it's fair to charge $100 to
write an article (and honestly...well written articles ARE that
valuable), realize how much money you could be making by writing
articles for your own use. Plus, you don't have the headache of
dealing with clients.
This is the realization I had to come to in 2003. I was a
copywriter for hire. I didn't charge top dollar (and a few
copywriters complained to me about that)...but I wasn't at the
bottom of the heap, as far as rates went. I thought if somebody
would pay me $75 to optimize one website page for them...why was
I wasting my time letting them earn the residual income from it?
If someone would pay me $150 to write a short page of sales
copy...just how much money were they earning from it to make it
worth their while?
After thinking about that, I decided to quit taking clients and
focus my efforts on using my own writing skills to earn me
residual and passive income. Now, I make about 5 times much as I
did back then and I work a lot less. Best of all, I have no
clients do deal with. You see, when hire yourself out for
pay...you have to keep working to earn that pay and it can be a
real drain on your time and energy.
If you've been complaining about external changes affecting your
business, really think about how you can change your own
approach to make it work for you. Every business has to evolve
to keep up with changing times. After all, McDonald's did once
say they'd never offer a veggie burger.