What numbers matter to your business?
We’re in the middle of developing a web based application (code named Orbit) to help small businesses operate more effectively. It’s part of a larger orientation we have toward creating web properties that help small businesses and organizations develop + grow.
Soon we’ll be launching the first of these, a mini-app of sorts that helps creative professionals determine what hourly rate they should be charging to cover their costs and make a profit. This tool will be free and allow people to compare scenarios to see how making changes to staff, hours worked, billing rates, etc., impacts the bottom line.
We hope this will keep our friends in the biz working profitably. It should be perfect for individuals and small teams.
What to charge is, however, just one of many problems people have. And we’re looking for more to work on.
So here’s my question: What numbers matter most to your business?
July 21st, 2006 at 9:30 am
I’m very eager to see and use the tool. Smart idea. How does it calculate the “should” in how much creative people should be charging their customers?
July 21st, 2006 at 9:34 am
We’re looking at how many hours people work for clients each month and then dividing this into their expenses (salaries, contractor fees, monthly expenses, etc.), and profit targets to create a suggested hourly rate. Email me if you want the Excel mockup we’re working with.
Simple, but effective.