Re: What should I charge?

[Romay Jean Sitze <rositze -at- NMSU -dot- EDU>]

I know how you feel about asking the locals you will be competing with,
but this may still be your best bet.  I found myself in a similar
position a couple of years ago when I began a desktop publishing
business.  Like you, I was hesitant to ask locally.  I debated whether to
call and ask for rates as if I were pricing services I might want to
use--or whether to be up-front and simply state what my predicament was.
I finally decided on the latter--and was later glad I had.

I approached my competitors by telling them that I wanted to make sure
that I did not undercut them or overprice my services.  After talking to
several people engaged in similar work, I discovered that they were not
only cooperative and willing to share a breakdown in their pricing, but
that they were full of helpful hints about ways to succeed in the
business.  A couple of them even began to refer overflow business my way.

The biggest advantage to going local is that you find out what your
community will support.  Rates definitely do differ from place to place
depending on demographics of the area, competition, and so on.

> What should I charge?  I can't ask the locals who do it; I'll be in
> competition with them.

> Sorry this topic is peripheral. But I bet some of you out there do this
> kind of thing. Replies by e-mail; I'll summarize if there is interest.
Good luck.


        RoMay Sitze             People are persuaded more
        rositze -at- nmsu -dot- edu        by the depth of your conviction
                                than the height of your logic,
                                More by your enthusiasm
                                than any proof you can offer.
                                     -author unknown-