Why Your Career Is Flat — And What You Can Do About It.

"You are either getting better or you are getting worse. You never stay the same." - Jim Harbaugh Welcome to 2013 and I thought I would start with a cold, hard quote. It says it all.

If your business or career isn't getting better  — it's getting worse. Like I've said so many times before, you are either going up or down, your business/career is never flat. Why do I say this?

If you look at your performance, history, or success, look at it as an absolute. You are either going up or down. Many of us get caught in flat-land — where losers go to die. If you live in flat-land long enough, you will either be out of business or out of a job. And that's a fact.

You don't have to be crazy about it — but you do need to keep your eye on the ball at regular intervals during the year.

Since it's the beginning of 2013, take a measure of where you are right now. Look at:

• Your income/revenue - is it growing? Look back 5-7 years and see where the trend-line is.
• Your relationships - are you meeting new people? Are you growing your circle of friends?
• Your knowledge - are you getting smarter? Are you learning more?
• Your happiness - are you excited to go to work every day? If not, what can you CHANGE?

Because — if it's not getting better, it's getting worse.

And you have to start making changes . . . TODAY.

This One Phrase Will Transform Your Business.

This weekend, I was hiking with my family in a state park — lots of trees, streams, and ticks. We all had a great time and the summer heat wasn't too oppressive. While we were exiting the forest, we were speaking about the economy and business, and my brother Jeff mentioned a quote I've never heard:

"Shame on you for not charging enough to stay in business."

It hit me like a thunderbolt. How many businesses do we encounter that bemoan the fact they aren't making enough money to survive?

Here's a little financial equation I use to understand the financials of your business and career.

1. How much money do you want to make this year? Let's say $125,000 to make the math easy.
2. Divide it by 50 weeks (you get 2 weeks off for vacation) = $2500 each week.
3. Divide it by 5 days a week = $500 each day.
4. Divide it by 8 hours = $62.50 per hour. But you have to have 40 solid hours of billing. If not, you need to increase this figure — even double it.

That's your hourly rate you need to make to pull in $125K a year. It doesn't take into account overhead, materials, help, etc. But it gives you a generalized idea of how much you are WORTH.

Then I have my clients build their business model the other way:

1. How much can you charge each client on an hourly basis? Let's say $100 an hour.
2. How many billable hours a day do you have? Let's say 5 = $500 per day.
3. How many billable days per week? Let's say 4 = $2000 per week.
4. 50 weeks per year = $100,000. A $25K shortfall.

This is important — usually the salary and hourly rate don't add up. I usually have to tell them to charge their clients MORE MONEY. Or figure out a way to deliver additional services to their clients so they make more money. Can you upsell? Can you sell them more stuff?

In any case — you need to charge enough to stay in business.

What are you charging? Do you need to charge MORE?