The BIG idea in making money - no matter your occupation, niche, etc.

Hey everyone,

Perhaps I'm confused, but it seems like a lot of creative people on the web chase projects, no matter how much their client is willing to pay them. If you're of legal working age - no matter what you do to earn money - read on. I suggest you get a pen and some paper just to follow along my model, to make it easier to understand.

To enlighten fellow Warriors who may not be used to "managing by the numbers" like me, here is the big idea - in content creation, in web design, or any other industry or business:

FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH YOU'RE WORTH PER HOUR.

An hour is a commonly accepted unit of time for which you can get paid. It's all math, no sleigh of hand or trickery. To figure this out, there's a simple formula:

[Your Fixed Financial Need] + [Your Desired Profit] / [Hours] = Your Hourly Net Worth

Net worth = money after any applicable taxes. There's not much theory behind this, it's just commonly overlooked; there's money that you NEED to earn, then what you WANT to earn for fun/savings/other expenditures, and bam - that's your worth.

For instance: mortgage/rent ($1000), food ($400), transportation payments ($300), miscellaneous expenses ($300) - this adds up to a hypothetical need of $2k [let's assume that's monthly]. Now, on top of that, you want to earn $500 because you like traveling and want to save up for a vacation. Do the math, and your worth is a total of $2,500.

Now, figure out how much time you work a month. Most people work 40-hour weeks, so a month is about 160 hours. Therefore, your hourly net worth is $2,500 / 160 hours = $15.63 per hour. If you live in the US and get approximately 30% of your paycheck's total subtracted for taxes, then that means your official pay must be right around $20-$21/hr.

As an entrepreneur, your job is to figure out how to make that, but that's not what this thread is about. However, taking 5 minutes to do this will HELP you figure that out. Going back to our total-need-is-$2,500-a-month model: If you know that a 500-word article takes you a half an hour to write, and your hourly net worth is $15.63, then you better ask for $8 for that content today, or else you won't be able to feed and clothe yourself tomorrow (yes, I'm being a bit over-dramatic there). If a 10-page web site takes you a week, then that's 40 hours of work, which is worth at least $625.

It's all math, folks.

Best Regards,
vip-ip.