Sari Gabbay, President of U2R1 Media Inc.
I remember back when I was in university, sitting in class learning about what to expect once I was out on my own in the big bad world, my teacher was telling us how there will come a time when we will be able to turn down clients and say no to jobs. At the time I thought, “Never!” I would never turn down any opportunity that has potential for financial gain. Today is a different day and another story; I have the opportunity to choose projects that I feel passionate about, and not just take on clients to make a quick buck.
When I was young, right out of school, I remember living in my grandparents' basement and my grandfather would hire these repairmen to work around the house. Anyone who knows my dear grandfather knows that he is definitely the frugal kind and every time he would hire anyone they had to have one criteria, plain and simple: Cheap! However, he expected them to provide the same quality as a competitor who would charge three times more. At the end of the day, he ended up spending more money every time he had to fix the “cheap” guy's work, and would then go with someone who was more expensive and more experienced.
I realized back then that in my business I would be all about quality and that I would charge based on my worth; and the quality of clients is far more valuable than the quantity of clients. This is a very important lesson for entrepreneurs because often they don’t know how much to charge their clients, they undercharge because of the fear of losing clients, and at the end of the day, they devalue their business by doing so and resent clients for demanding more than the value of the job.
It’s important to measure yourself against your competitors, but moreso to decide what type of business you want to be. Are you Louis Vitton or are you Walmart? Not to say that Walmart is not valuable, but they purposely target a specific audience and how you establish yourself will determine the type of clients that you receive and the nature of work that you deliver. It’s definitely important to gain experience and I don’t advise starting a business at the Vuitton level, however paint yourself a picture of where you will be in five years and then define your growth structure; as you grow and change, so will your clients.
Unfortunately, along the way I have seen clients come and go because the ones who started with me at a freelance level still expect the same prices now that I have an established business and team working with me - which of course is impossible. People who see the value in a business will invest in that enterprise, and the face of the business is a critical aspect of sales and confidence.
The most important element in all this is for a business to deliver what they promise. If someone decides to be a high-end company then they better have the backings to provide the services they promise and understand that with a premium dollar comes an outstanding deliverance with a lot of client nurturing. I’m big on quality as I never really look for the lowest price, but I value the relationships that I build with businesses and the quality of goods and services that the true experts can offer. After all “diamonds are a girls best friend!”
Image courtesy Creative Commons.
