How to Price Your Fees

When it comes to starting an event planning business, every eventrepreneur is dying to know the secret to pricing. According to host May Yeo Silvers, the biggest mistake new event planners make is thinking they need to lower their prices to get business. In today’s episode, May breaks down how to calculate a price that makes both you and your clients happy. The first thing any business owner needs to understand is their monthly cost of operation. While variable costs may fluctuate, May explains that fixed costs are constant regardless of whether or not you have active business. Once you have established how much money you need to run events and stay in business, you can calculate your hourly rate. While you may initially feel guilty asking for more money, honor yourself and never let your hourly rate depreciate. After all, we are here to make a profit. Tune into this week’s episode of The Unstoppable Eventrepreneur™ for a brief overview of pricing. Learn why you shouldn’t base your fees off of your competitors’ rates, the differences between fixed and variable costs, and how to properly calculate an hourly rate that upholds the value of your business.   Quotes • “Your operation costs are divided into two categories. One is your fixed cost and the other is your variable cost.” (07:11-07:18) • “I am an affiliate of HoneyBook because I am an educator and business coach. I get a 50% discount for anyone who uses my link. So, if you haven’t created an account with HoneyBook, you can use my link for 50% off the first year.” (09:43-10:05)  • “Your hourly-rate will change as your business changes.” (12:02-12:05) • “On average, you should spend 70-80% on sales-generating activities. That could include visiting old clients or talking to potential clients. The rest of the time should be spent on client fulfillment, which is the actual planning itself.” (19:00-19:20) • “We aren’t in the business to break even; we are in the business to make money.” (20:39-20:41) • “We never want to depreciate our hourly rate.” (23:49-23:52) • “I will probably organize a master class just to go over pricing, so you can walk away with a template that goes through the whole calculation again.” (25:06-25:22)    Links Check out my honeybook affiliate link: http://share.honeybook.com/events4anyone for 50% off the first year.   Connect with me at: [email protected] Website: events4anyone.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mayyeosilvers Facebook: www.facebook.com/mayyeosilvers IG: www.instagram.com/mayyeosilvers TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mayyeosilvers  FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm