I happened to be on the Dave Ramsey website, watching a webcast for his “EntreLeadership” series and Dave mentioned that he always asks potential employees and consulting clients what they’re reading. If you’re a business owner, and you’re not reading material meant to teach and inspire you to do better in life and business, you don’t have your eye on the ball. I usually have at least 2 or 3 books sitting on my coffee table….and none of them are fiction. I’m not opposed to reading fiction, but if you’re not where you feel that you need to be, businesswise, and you’re not doing something about it….reading Girl with a …whatever, is not going to get you there.
I am a book junkie, and I prefer an actual book over an ebook, but for those of you on a budget, between free internet podcasts, internet business articles, libraries, thrift stores, and borrowing from friends….there really is no excuse to not be constantly absorbing new information about personal growth, business growth, marketing, finances, and new techniques. You could watch a new YouTube video on face painting every single day and never get through all of the videos that are available.
So, you might be wondering what I’m currently reading…. I have The Courage to Be Rich, by Suze Orman, on my coffee table, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell, on my iPad, and I just finished Secrets of Six Figure Women, by Barbara Stanny. And in my spare time (lol) I’m listening to Dave Ramsey Entreleadership podcasts. I highly recommend his website if you have any personal finance issues or business finance issues. Using Dave’s methods and advice, our family eliminated all of our credit card debt and we’re well on our way to paying off our student loans and home way ahead of schedule.
So, the book that I just finished, Secrets of Six Figure Women, really had me a bit steamed when I read the first few chapters. I currently earn more than anyone in my family has every earned, and I’m even outpacing my husband who works for a major defense contractor and has been with the company for 20+ years. I would never in a million years consider myself an “under-earner.” But according to Barbara Stanny, I am indeed an under-earner. I have to concede that it’s not like I’m a complete slacker, since according to her definition; probably 99% of people are under-earners. An under-earner is simply someone who has settled for the status quo for the sake of comfort or due to other, often self-imposed, limitations. There are definitely areas that I need to work on.
One limitation that I’ve imposed on myself is the earning potential for my company. Comparing myself and what I do to the serious nature of my husband’s occupation, I have a hard time wrapping my head around a glitter peddler earning more than a defense contractor. Don’t get me wrong….Glitter rocks! But let’s face it; glitter is not exactly a priority in most people’s lives. I often find myself on the losing end of the profit equation because I give my staff raises, and offer new customer perks, but hesitate to raise prices even when I know that it’s needed.
How many of you are afraid to raise your prices because you feel that you would not be able to afford your prices if you were a customer? You have to realize that you don’t place as much value on something that you can easily do as someone who can’t or won’t do it themselves. I use coupons for grocery shopping, even though it takes me an hour or two each week to organize my trips, but then I’m willing to pay someone to clean my house, to mow my lawn, to clean my pool, and to tutor my kids. Sure I can do all of these things myself….but I am willing to pay whatever it takes to have someone else take care of a job that I would rather not do so that I can spend my time doing things that I would rather do. We only have so many hours available to us and we have to choose where our efforts will have the most impact. No matter how tough the economy looks, there will always be people who are willing to pay for your services. You just have to reach those people.
When I first entered the henna industry, henna artists were charging $25 - $35 per hour, while face painters were charging two to three times as much. Fortunately, henna artists have caught on and are not undercharging as much as they used to. For every henna artist in an area, you can bet there are at least a dozen face painters. So why would a henna artist charge less than a face painter? It’s very inexpensive to get started with henna, and most artists are self-taught. Henna tends to be a hobby that evolves into a business, and those who start out as hobbyists are very likely coming from an industry where they were being paid $10 an hour or less. So, it just seems unrealistic for us to go from earning $10 an hour to earning $100 an hour. We neglect to consider the hundreds of “unpaid” hours that we’ve spent learning the art and building our business. We forget that while we enjoy what we do and have obtained a certain degree of skill, it’s not something that just anyone can or wants to do. We perceive what we do as simply giving someone a temporary tattoo. The person who gave me my first henna tattoo opened a whole new world for me that was worth way more than the $3 she charged me. Sure you’re not going to change every customer’s life, but there’s more to it than you think. You’re providing entertainment, a souvenir of a special day, and the opportunity for someone to be the center of attention.
A huge issue currently facing me is that I don’t have the hours or skills available to me in order to take my business to the next level. I want to focus on getting more sales outlets selling my products. This involves developing packaging, signage, and marketing materials that are more boutique-friendly. And once I have that all in place, I have to find sales people who are able to get our products into these boutiques. So what’s holding me back? Just me. Sure there’s a financial risk, but the bigger obstacle is that I have to step waaaay out of my comfort zone to give up control in certain areas of my business. I’m working on learning website software now, and my husband told me how much he admires me for persevering on something that he knows I absolutely hate. It made me think that I need to put this perseverance to work on other areas of my business….like hiring the right people and putting those new business plans into action. It feels so much more comfortable to just keep doing what I’ve been doing and to keep earning a decent paycheck, but that’s what’s keeping me at under-earner status. If I want to earn an amazing paycheck and to see my husband retire early, I need to keep pushing the limits of my comfort zone.
So what are your self-imposed limits? Are you charging what you need to be charging for your services or are you limited by how much you feel you’re worth? Have you put off calling potential corporate clients because you feel like you’re not “big enough” to get a gig like that? Do you need to polish your website and put up new photos of your work? Do you need to learn fresh new designs instead of falling back on the same old ones that you can do with your eyes closed?
Take out a piece of paper and write down where you want your business to be in one year, in five years, and in ten years. Then write down the things that you think are preventing you from reaching those goals and tackle them one at a time. Start with the easy stuff, and work on the harder stuff as you build momentum. Chat with other artists to see how they have conquered similar problems. And read everything you can about business & marketing. It’s the quickest way to get that spark of inspiration back when you start feeling stagnant.
We’d love for you to stop by the Amerikan Body Art facebook page to let us know how you’re doing and to share some pictures.
~Erika
