Starting a Small Home Business

The Closed Mouth Does Not Eat

November 28th, 2007 Filed under: Uncategorized — Small Home Business Author

It amazes me that so many of us have desires that are just a simple question away, but day after day we fail to ask the question. One of my trainees the other day came to me with a situation that was truly tragic. The long and the short of it was that her father was in surgery and things did not go well, and had to have emergency triple bypass. This individual was willing to not be at the surgery because she was unwilling to ask for the day off. This nearly broke my heart. It reminded me of the old saying that the closed mouth does not get fed. I proceeded to speak with her manager who gladly gave her the day to be with her family.

If there is one thing that I have learned as an entrepreneur it is that we must ask if we ever hope to get ahead. Many people have ideas that are worth millions, but are unwilling to ask someone to pay for it. Someone asked me the other day what is the difference between a million dollar idea and a million dollar business. My answer was simple the person with a million dollar business is willing to ask for payment. This is very difficult for entrepreneurs to learn because many of us start our businesses by networking with family, and friends. We struggle to determine the value of our services.

This brings us to two simple issues to overcome. The first is that we need to determine how we ask for payment of services that we provide to potential clients. For starters do not hesitate to do work for free. If you do it for free ask your clients what they would be willing to pay for your services. This will help you answer your second dilemma as well as preparing the people you are working with to anticipate your coming fees.

Charging fees is part of business. The key to asking for payment is a matter of confidence. Do you believe enough in what you have to offer to ask for payment? This brings us back to the title of the article. If you don’t ask you will never get paid. Start telling your clients what your fees are and keep asking until your open mouth gets fed.

Matthew Habuda is the Founder of Habuda Consulting Group and Professional Success Consultant. He has spent his career in Sales, Customer Service, Learning and Development, Management and is now a business owner himself. For more information Habuda Consulting Group go to http://www.HabudaConsulting.com