Here in Canada, we don’t know a whole lot about this whole war thing you’ve got going on in the States. We have some troops in Kandahar and there was a big hullabaloo when our esteemed Prime Minister decided he wasn’t going to fly the Ottawa flags at half mast EVERY DAMN TIME a soldier died. Other than that, we tend to ignore it and discuss more urgent and pressing matters, such as the rising cost of gasoline.

(To give you an idea how seriously Canada takes the war on terror: Canada’s military was recently renamed. It used to be the Canadian Armed Forces. It is now the Canadian Forces. Jamie believes this is because we no longer provide them with guns.)

Anyway, I’m doing some home business work with Shaun Krisher of Joie de Vie Photography. He’s a photographer who does commercial and wedding photography, and I’m working on an AdWords campaign for him. (If you’ve never done an AdWords campaign, they’re harder than they look. Getting what you want to say said in 90 characters split up in to 25 and 35 character lines, including spaces, is not the easiest thing in the world.)

So Shaun offers a discount to people who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, which is a pretty cool marketing initiative, if you ask me. I’m trying to find a way to incorporate this awesome discount in his AdWords, but it’s kinda hard. Afghanistan has a lot of letters. I thought of using “vets”, but 50% off for vets sounds like a discount for animal doctors. Even if I could clarify that I was referring to the military, it might come across that he only offered the discount to people who were no longer in the forces. Much ruminating ensued. Here’s what I came up with:

Atlanta Wedding Photos
Photojournalism, Candids, Portraits
Iraqi Soldiers, 50% Off

Not awake yet? Read that last line again.

That’s why they pay me the big bucks, people. Luckily I generally run these things by Jamie before I send them out to clients, and he had the good sense to mention that perhaps my message wasn’t getting across.

Moral of the Story: Know Your Market

If you know piss all about the topic at hand, for the love of God ask. I’m sure anybody who knew anybody who had served in the U.S. military could have helped me with this one, and eventually I came up with something that didn’t make it look like Shaun was selling the residents of Guantanamo Bay at a hefty discount, but I could have saved a lot of time if I’d just asked someone.

***

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***

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By Naomi Dunford - Feb 29, 2008 in Moral of the Story - 26 Comments
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IttyBiz has been sidelined by morning sickness. (And, uh, “morning” sickness? What the hell happened to truth in advertising?) In the meantime, I offer you this vital piece of information on developing inventions. Even if you have no intention of developing an invention, it is also of interest to cat owners. Courtesy of Bill.

How To Develop An Invention

***

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By Naomi Dunford - Feb 28, 2008 in Home Based Business - 5 Comments
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Michael, nearly nine, has discovered that school is for suckers and that the only conversation worth having is had in italics. This conversation took place while Michael was at his grandparents, on the phone with his father.

Michael: Daddy, you know how to write, right?
Bart: Not as well as your mother does, but go on.
M: And I’m guessing you never need to know anything about grammar, right?
B: [doing a pretty piss poor job of stifling laughter, if you ask me] Buddy, if I were you I wouldn’t say that in front of your mother.
M: Why?
B: Because Mummy’s an editor. That’s her home business.
M: What’s an editor?
B: Someone whose job it is to fix people’s writing.
M: So Mummy can do my grammar for me?
B: No, Buddy. People pay her to do that.

Bart called me to tell me this story immediately after getting off the phone with Michael. It would appear that at the same time, Michael was trying to call me as well. This is the voicemail I got:

“Hi Mummy, it’s Michael. How much of my allowance would I have to give you for you to do my grammar homework for me? Can you call me back soon? I need to know before tomorrow.”

***

If you would like to give me some of your allowance to have me do your editing or writing dirty work, click here.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 26, 2008 in Home Based Business - 28 Comments
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Hey people,

A caring family member called to tell me that I was a bitch for not responding to her email, and it would seem that she is getting caught in spam. Heading over to my trusty spam folder, I see the rest of you are too. If I haven’t gotten back to you, sorry dudes. If it makes you feel any better, you’re in good company. It looks like I didn’t respond to Darren Rowse either.

I’m slogging my way through it now. In the meantime, happy Monday.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 25, 2008 in Personal - 15 Comments
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Hello, peeps. Happy Friday. Or Saturday, if you’re in Australia, lucky bastards.

Since you’re all pimping your home business in my comments anyway, I thought I’d give you the opportunity to do it in a more public fashion. So:

Peach and her homies are writing a book about blogging and they want your submissions. Proceeds go to Warchild, and here are the details:

“We would like you to submit a written piece about something you’ve been through from any aspect of your life that you want to share. It can literally be about anything: your relationships, your past, a road not taken, being a parent, an illness or your regrets etc. We’ve called it “You’re Not The Only One” to reflect the camaraderie of blogging.”

Considering the recent strip blogging extravaganza, I thought some of you guys might be into this.

Next up we’ve got the Top Secret Project. Some of you have heard a little bit about this but not much because of the Top Secret Factor. Not anymore, y’all. A bunch of us have gotten together and created a new site called SproutWire.

“At SproutWire, you’ll be able to find the best, most interesting, already vetted small business article summaries and links from around the internet in one place every day.” (I totally stole that from Jon Fields. It may or may not be officially SproutWire-endorsed copy, but I liked the way it was said.)

Anyway, what this means to you is two things. One, follow this link if you want to get in on the beta (which of course you do).

Two, I am now required by my editor’s contract to pimp out cool blog posts on the topics of entrepreneurship, marketing, working from home, and all that jazz. Since I am an extremely busy and important person, I won’t have the time to find them all by myself SO I’m looking for your help.

If you have any cool links, either yours or someone else’s, that you’d like to pimp out on what looks like it’s going to be a pretty freaking popular news blog, bring it on. Email them to me at naomi@ittybiz.com, with PIMP MY BLOG in the subject line. I can’t pimp everybody, but I’ll do my best.

Oh, and go sign up so you’ll know when you’ve reached fame and fortune. Well, fame anyway.

***

Overwhelmed? Freaking out? Borderline hysterical? Click here to get your own micro-business marketing plan. It’s not scary, I promise.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 22, 2008 in Home Based Business - 17 Comments
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Dave Conrey and his mom Michele Morgan of The Right Color have this question.

“My mom and I are wrestling with an issue regarding her home business. I know that you have your startup package for a set price, but what do you tell people once they sign up if they decide to go further? She’s got a complicated price breakdown and I’m trying to simplify it a bit. Figured you might have some insight.”

Ahh, pricing. Strikes fear in the hearts of entrepreneurs and freelancers everywhere. In other parts of the internet, abortion, politics, and religion are controversial topics. With work-from-home blogs, the babykillers hug it out with Dubya, we don’t care. Just don’t talk price.

First of all, there are many out there who think I am the last person in the world who should be giving advice about pricing. Michael, Sonia, Mason, Susan, and many others have told me I’m an idiot for charging what I do. Lately, it’s turning out that they’re right, but there’s piss all I can do about it now, so we’ll move on to my ill-sought advice for Michele.

First off, a definition of terms. There are basically two ways to price:

Hourly: I charge an hourly rate. You give me that amount of money for every hour I work.

Package, or flat: We agree upon a price for a whack o’ services, regardless of how long it takes.

Now, disclosure.

I hate, hate, hate hourly pricing. I don’t mind paying it, I mind charging it. There is no moral issue at play here, I just completely hate the administrative and ethical questions it raises for every goddamn hour of my waking day. I do not work well in long chunks, and sometimes I just want to read a blog post when I should be writing copy and I don’t like figuring out how much of that hour was spent working and how much of it was spent slacking off on Twitter. I don’t like wondering if I’ll get into an argument with the client about how long it really took. I especially don’t like the possibility of screwing someone over, possibly billing for longer than I should have. All things considered, hourly sucks for me as an individual.

I love, love, love package pricing. With a package, everybody knows what they’re getting. In my mind, package pricing is the “benefit” of the feature vs. benefit equation. You tell the client exactly what they’re getting at the end of the day, and how much it’s going to cost them. I heart packages.

The thing with pricing is that there are so many aspects at play. Let’s discuss, shall we?

Psychology of Pricing

Virtually every target demographic is unique, and every individual within that demographic is uniquer. However, statistical trends are a factor. If your target demographic makes ten bucks an hour at the plant, telling them your hourly fee is $250 is really dumb. For many, this is tantamount to attacking their self-worth. (i.e. “Who the fuck are you to be charging $250 an hour?!?! Do you think you’re better than me?”) Keep in mind, these people balk at their heart surgeon’s hourly wage, and you’re not exactly their heart surgeon, are you?

If you told the same person that your package is $500 and they’re happy with what comes out of that, you’re under no obligation to beat them over the face with the fact that it only took you two hours to do.

On the other hand, sometimes it works the other way. Michael Martine charges $120 an hour for blog consulting, and his smallest package is $652. I am currently feeling pretty broke, and I’d have a hard time explaining $652 to my husband. $120, however, we’d all be very happy with. I understand that his time is worth no more or less with either package, but I feel better buying hourly.

Practicality of Pricing

In certain cases, you have to be aware of what people have at their disposal right now. Securing a sale, and therefore the potential for loyalty, is often worth a lower rate. Some people just can’t pay for the full package. My hourly rate is $75, which I knock down a bit for the 2-hour IttyBitty package ($129). I have had people come to me and tell me they will happily pay $75 twice and lose money, simply because they only have $80 free on their Visa.

If that customer didn’t know I had an hourly rate, they might have said, “Oh well. I can’t afford it right now. I’ll come back when I can.” They might do this or they might not, but I’d be pissed if a week from now they discovered someone else who DID post an hourly rate and went with them instead.

Simplicity of Pricing

While there are psychological factors at play for the customer, there are similar factors for the service provider. There is a lot of benefit that comes from simplified billing, especially for people who hate numbers. Like, uh, me.

In my case, for example, my family can live quite happily on $3000/month. I offer a $1000 package. (No, it’s not listed on my services page, and that is a conscious choice.) I will technically lose money on this package, but I liked it for the simplicity factor. When I actively offered this package, I liked knowing that I could sell three of these babies and be good for the month. My invoice ends up reading, “Marketing: $1000”, and that’s it. I will gleefully take a pay cut if I can also take an administrivia cut as well.

Fairness of Pricing

A common argument is that one or the other method of pricing isn’t fair. Both sides raise good points, and it really does depend on your definition of fairness and your level of empathy.

If you charge by the hour, and bill 10 hours, the customer might feel like you should’ve had it done in 5. Assuming they’re not a jackass, they’ll pay it, but it’ll leave a sour taste in their mouth. Sour taste does not equal repeat business. At the same time, I’ve undercharged on every hourly gig I’ve ever done, because I want to make sure clients know I’m being fair and not gouging. This is an incredibly fast and easy way to go broke,

If you charge a flat rate, thinking it will take 5 hours and it takes 10, many people think that’s unfair for the service provider. I think it’s unfortunate, but I wouldn’t call it unfair.

If you think of a package price in terms of hours, somebody is always going to get screwed over, but frankly, it doesn’t really matter that much. Yes, with much thinking and deliberating, you can get your estimate to really, really close, but it’s very difficult to do.

Bottom line for Michele

I don’t know a lot about Michele’s business model, but here’s my thought. Give a few package options, and also give the option of an hourly rate. It’s probably the easiest way to go.

***

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By Naomi Dunford - Feb 21, 2008 in Ask IttyBiz - 47 Comments
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My mom tipped me off to this one. I’d link to her but, tragically, she doesn’t have a blog. (Maybe not so tragic, actually. She’d probably just talk about cleaning as a recreational activity and how much she hearts the color beige. She’d say “hearts”, too, because she’s hip like that.)

Anyway, today we pick on Microsoft. (Put it back in your pants, Mac fans. Not that kind of picking on Microsoft.) Matt Farrington-Smith, someone with a tremendously long title who hangs out at MSN UK, put out a list of seven deadly sins of blogging. (Is it just me who can only remember 6 of the 7 real sins at a time? There’s always one I forget. Different one each time, too. Weird.)

So, if you want to go check it out, by all means. In the mean time, I’ll give you the synopsis.

1. Not blogging.

2. Blog only when you have something to say. (I assume he meant this to be what you’re supposed to do, thus making it a virtue and not a sin.)

3. Having a meaningless post title.

7. Shameless self-promotion.

He invites comments, too. Doesn’t seem like he’s got any, but he invites them. Hard-headed journalist that I am, I did a little investigative research into a few of his previous posts and — who knew? — nothing there either. I’m obviously extremely wise on topics such as these, so I figured I’d bang up a lil’ list of my own.

1. When slapping up some content because you have a quota to meet, read it before you click “publish”. The “7 Deadly Sins of…” and the “7 Habits of Highly Effective…” and “How To _____ Friends and _____ People” are all popular and gimmicky and fine. You’re not going to win a Pulitzer, but everybody does them. They’re linkbait. Or filler. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’re going to give seven deadly sins, give seven deadly sins. Don’t give six minor errors and a handy tip.

(For a bang up version of the 7 Deadly Sins, read Jarkko’s 7 Deadly Sins of a Side Business Entrepreneur. It has Latin and a really scary looking lady doing some serious damage to an éclair.)

2. Don’t act like an expert when there is visible proof that you’re not. Dude has no comments. He’s not exactly the Blogging King of the World, is he? Considering he lists “not leaving comments for your friends” as a DEADLY sin and he has no comments, it kind of looks like he doesn’t have any friends, doesn’t it?

Don’t write a post on getting new RSS subscribers when your Feedburner count of 54 is proudly displayed in your corner. Don’t write an article on how to lose weight when there’s a big fat picture of your chubby mug in the other corner. It’s lame. We can call it inauthentic and we can call it untransparent (which I guess would be opaque) or we can call it whatever we want, but at its heart, it’s lame.

And, scanners, this is the most important:

3. Eliminate barriers to action. This is important for blogging, for business, for dating, for pretty much life. Do not put up roadblocks to your desired outcome. I went to see how many comments there were, meaning I had to pretend I was going to comment, and it told me I had to login using my blahblahblah account. When you ask me for my feedback, do not make me jump through hoops to give you my feedback. Business-wise, and in this case blog-wise, this is totally retarded.

Do not make it hard. I am extremely lazy. I’m not going to whip out my handy laminated password card so I can log in to comment on your blog post. It’s just not that important to me.

I hate commenting on Blogger blogs because I have to login. (Google has finally figured out how to keep my login, but it’s still a pain in the ass.) I hate it when Typepad makes me go to a separate page with the wiggly Captcha words. Every step you put in the way, you’re giving me one more door with a big red EXIT written on it. Don’t.

I know. You’re terrified of spam. Oh, spam. The horror. The terror. The shame. “What if I lose all credibility?” you shriek.

Honey, you have 9 subscribers. You don’t have any credibility to lose.

If you get spam, you can login to Wordpress and click “spam”. Hell, you can even do it from your inbox. Takes two seconds. Relax about the spam. It won’t kill you. When you’re getting two comments a post and 91 pageviews a day, spam is not what you should be concerned about.

Anyway, thanks Mom. I was terrified I’d actually have to think of something intelligent to say for today’s post and now I can just slam Matt instead.

New to IttyBiz? Wanna subscribe? Click here. It’s fun and fat-free. Although I’m pregnant now, so it won’t be fat-free for long.

***

Overwhelmed? Freaking out? Borderline hysterical? Click here to get your own small business marketing plan. It’s not scary, I promise.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 20, 2008 in Home Based Business - 72 Comments
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First, before we get to my A-list status. Um, what the hell happened to my Technorati ranking? I was going along, happily nearing 25K and then BAM! Back up to 36K. What the shit is this? Is this like the conspiracy theory thing? Has this happened to anybody else?

OK, on to more serious matters. I have discovered that I’m on the on-ramp to becoming an A-lister. I know this for two reasons:

On the Penelope Trunk/What Generation Are You? post, Stephen wrote “First!” in my comments. For those of you who are not blogging nerds like Stephen and I, this is what you say when you comment on high traffic blogs, thinking you are the first one and have therefore attained a level of prestige. Generally, a heated argument ensues about who was actually first. We all know that this is a sure sign of future a-lister status. Only on cool blogs does this happen.

People I don’t know are talking shit about me in a different blogger’s comments. This is taking place over at Awake At The Wheel. Jonathan did a really ass kicking post (and I’d say that even if I wasn’t in it) coining the term “naked blogging”. I was included, as was Heather Armstrong from Dooce, Penelope Trunk from Brazen Careerist, Leo from Zen Habits, and Caroline Middlebrook.

Regarding the group of us: “The only difference between these bloggers and Springer, Oprah, or whoever else you care to name is the medium.” Well, thank God he said something. I mean, nothing says Springer like Leo Babauta, and I frequently get mistaken for Oprah while walking down the street. The similarities are uncanny, really.

Regarding me, personally: “This is defiantly a bit ridiculous even for bloggers.” I think they mean “definitely”. Although “defiantly ridiculous” would really be a pretty awesome tagline, don’t you think?

***

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By Naomi Dunford - Feb 19, 2008 in Home Business Blogging - 28 Comments
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WHOOPS!

This page seems to have gone missing. If you’re looking for something in particular, you can use the search bar at the top right of your screen. If you just want to hang around and browse, you can check out the recommended posts in the right side bar. If you want to go back to the home business home page, click the big ol’ IttyBiz at the top of the screen.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 18, 2008 in Home Business Blogging - 121 Comments
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I used to read a lot of personal finance blogs but I’ve stopped because they mostly just make me feel like shit about myself. However, I think what Mrs. Micah is doing is really cool, so I stop by there every now and again. (She does a good job of differentiating herself from many PF bloggers by not being a psycho. Mrs. Micah and I can be friends.)

Anyway, she wrote a post called When Generics Bite Back — Razor of Death, the title of which is good enough that I wish I’d written it. In the post, she basically discusses how a generic razor ate her husband’s face and they’ve struck men’s razors off the list of things that are cool to buy generic.

Before I started my home business, I was a full time mama. I had dreams of being uber-frugal, but I always had an excuse. I was pregnant. It is Canada and therefore too cold to traipse halfway across the country to save a nickel on a can of peas. I am tired. Whatever.

But then I would read these PF blogs and read about people who seem to spend 20 hours a day saving money. It’s all they think about. When they shower, they’re thinking about ways to save money. When they eat, when they sleep, when they have sex, everything. (It’s entirely possible they have more sex than the rest of us because it saves them money on a gym membership. At the same time, they might need to do more laundry. OH THE CONFLICT!!!)

Eventually, I begrudgingly allowed that I was not the kind of person who could organize a grocery list around which brand of rice was on sale that week and I resolved to do my best and let the chips fall where they may. I’d still like to be the type of person who can feed a family of nine on $27 a week, but such is life. Sometimes you suck.

When I started working from home, though, then the PF stuff really came out. We’re not going to have a steady paycheck. Jack’s older and requires things like food. He has the tendency to grow, at inconveniently frequent intervals. I made new resolutions. We will eat nothing but brown rice and water. Not a drop of alcohol would pass our lips — that three dollars I would spend on a gin and tonic could be saved towards my retirement! We would be the frugal kings of the world.

The factor I’d failed to consider was that working from home actually tends to take more time than not working from home, at least in the beginning. When you’re at home, your computer is right there, and you hear the little bing that says you have new email. The idea of rinsing beans to make a nice hearty soup for three cents a serving just doesn’t cut it when you’re hysterical and overworked. Add pregnant with a toddler who has given up on sleep, well, it’s ugly in our house.

Basically, I liked what Mrs. Micah was saying. I like that somebody else out there realizes that not every generic brand is the same and that the You’re-Just-Succumbing-To-The-Marketing crowd are delusional. (Um, I work in marketing, so I kind of get it.) Micah’s face proves it. Jack’s wet bed when we buy generic diapers proves it. The horrible itchy rash every member of our household gets when we decide to cheap out on laundry soap proves it.

Cheap can be great, but it can also be a false economy. Perhaps the most frugal thing to do is actually put some thought into your purchases and consider the cost benefit ratio of cheap vs. chic. If your children will only eat Campbell’s soup (and frankly, having tasted the No Name brands, I can’t exactly blame them) you’re not saving money by buying El Cheapo Soupo. “But it’s five bucks a case!” the PFers screech. That may be. Congratulations, you just spent five bucks for your kids to pitch a fit and your soup to end up in the garbage.

I remember when Jack was about 6 months old and I was debilitated by postpartum depression. Jamie had just gone back to work after parental leave and I was too depressed to even do laundry — I would pull it together to do a week’s worth of work clothes for him and the rest of us got by on Febreze and the sniff test. I was terrified we wouldn’t have enough money — we actually made more on maternity and parental than we did on his salary — and I turned to PF blogs and message boards for some solace.

Don’t ever do that.

I came onto one board where the ladies were talking about a woman one of them knew from church. Apparently, the woman who wrote the post “caught” the other woman in the grocery store buying generic premade oatmeal. The vitriol these women had towards this other woman –who they had never met in their lives — was simply astounding. “I can’t believe she bought store-bought oatmeal!” was said in a tone that one would normally reserve for “I can’t believe she fellated the priest in front of the entire congregation while he was baptizing a newborn baby!”

Just do the best you can. Working from home can be really scary. When you don’t have gigs, you’re worried you’ll starve. When you do have gigs, you worry about what’ll happen when you don’t. It’s normal. Don’t let the psychos get you down.

***

Overwhelmed? Freaking out? Borderline hysterical? Click here to get your own small business marketing plan. It’s not scary, I promise.

By Naomi Dunford - Feb 17, 2008 in Home Business Money - 53 Comments
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