Most professionals ought to charge by the project, because it's a project the customer wants, not an hour.
Surgery, for example. I don't want it to last a long time, I just want it to work. Same with a logo or website design.
Or house painting. The client is buying a painted house, not your time.
One exception: If the time is precisely what I'm buying, then charging by the time is the project. Freudian therapy, say, or a back massage.
Another exception: If the client has the ability to change the spec, again and again, and the hassle of requoting a project cost is just too high for both parties. A logo design, for example, probably starts with project pricing, but if the client keeps sending you back for revisions, at some point, they're buying your time, aren't they?
January 2, 2016
Lower the expectations that you'll find an easy way out.
Raise your expectations for what you can contribute.
Lower your expectations for how effective that next shortcut is going to be.
Raise your expectations about what technology can do for you if you patiently push it.
Lower your expectations about how an angry fight can help you win something you care about.
Raise your expectations for how much consistent daily action can transform your status quo.
Lower your expectations of finding a fairy godmother.
But raise them about the power of concrete goals that keep you from hiding.
{Level up. Everything I write about hinges on the idea that we are capable beings. Capable of making decisions, of taking responsibility, of raising and lowering our expectations.
As we move into a new year, today's a perfect day (in many countries, a legal holiday) dedicated to thinking about levelling up, about what it means to make new choices about what we will do next.
That's why today is a good day to tell you that we've opened applications for the fourth session of the altMBA workshop.
altMBA alumni work at companies large and small, unknown and famous, but what what they all have in common is that they've made a choice. They've acknowledged that they are capable of levelling up, and they have.
You will learn to see differently and more important, to help others take action.
It's your turn. I hope you'll take a look before our deadline on Wednesday.}
Happy new year.
January 1, 2016
