Why I No Longer Offer Hourly Consulting (And Why Hourly Billing Sucks In General)

I have done my share of hourly consulting for my usual rate of $250/hour. Does the money suck? Of course, not.

Plus there are reasons why having a consulting offer on a blog is a helpful thing.

For one, it is an awesome way to get SOME offer out there. Every person who is trying to make money from their blogs needs to have SOME offer out there. And, for many, offering some kind of service (like consulting) is a good way to go.

Secondly, it also frames your value. When marketing a product, the price is judged up against what it is compared to. For example, a $3 app in the App Store for the iPhone would be considered expensive because so many apps are less than that. So, you get people who are probably doing just fine financially who actually have to stop and think about spending $3 on an app…. right after they go blow that amount on coffee at Starbucks without even thinking about it. But, I digress. 😉

Price framing is important. So, when you set your hourly rate at, say, $100/hour… then you come out and sell a really great product for $75… all of a sudden that’s a bargain (if, of course, the product truly is good).

Why Shut Down $250/hour Consulting?

At $250/hour, the money doesn’t suck. Now, it isn’t as if I do a ton of consulting (since I’m busy enough with my own stuff), but $250/hour isn’t bad at all.

Of course, that is… in an ideal world. 🙂

Anybody who charges by the hour – especially in single-hour units – you know that it often takes much more than an hour in order to deliver an hour of service. You’ve got all the back-and-forth communications to line up the right time to talk. You’ve also got prospects who will grill you before they ever pay you a dime… all because they’re trying to get some sense that you can actually help them.

(Actually, psychologically, they’re trying to find reasons not to hire you at all. Not a game worth playing.)

So, what happens is that you end up wasting time on back-and-forth… or trying to PROVE to somebody that an hour of your time is worth what you’re asking.

No thanks.

If people can’t read my blog or my reports and see that I know enough to deliver more than $250 in value to you in an hour, then I’m not interested.

But, it goes deeper…

If we look at the PRODUCT that a person wants… how can that be delivered in an hour?

An hour isn’t any good for much more than just bouncing a few ideas off me. But, in my experience, in order to truly guide somebody to their REAL goal, it takes more consistent time working together.

In other words, we need to talk STRATEGY and then execute on that. And that takes more than an hour.

In an hour, all we can talk about is a few TACTICS… but tactics without strategy… or tactics based on a shitty strategy… isn’t going to accomplish our goals.

Lastly, here’s one thing any successful business owner will tell you…

As long as income is tied to your time, you cannot get rich.

Period.

As long as income is tied to your time, you have a cap on how much you can make. You can’t really build real leverage. And you’re at the mercy of clients.

The (Better) Alternative To Hourly Billing

Hourly billing sucks. Outcome-based billing makes a lot more sense.

People buy an outcome. They want an outcome.

They’re not so interested in merely your time.

In fact, if you stop charging for your time and instead product-ize your outcome, you can charge more (hint! hint!). 🙂

So, if you’re in a service business where you bill hourly, I would suggest you re-think things and find a way to bill for the outcome.

Or if you do charge for time, have them buy blocks of time which are large enough to where you can actually deliver a real outcome… as well as accomodate for the usual logistics that go along with this kind of thing.

And so… on that note…

The “Rent Me” option which used to be on this site is now gone. I used to offer consultations in as little as half-hour increments.

Well, you learn by living. 🙂

If you or your business wants to get some REAL strategies in place and work with me to perfect your content marketing and REALLY make it work for you, then I offer a few options now. The only one even remotely hourly is a 10-hour block. I’d consider any less to be a waste of your’s and my time.

Everything is also by application only now. I want to make sure you’re in a business which could stand to benefit from my strategies before I promise to help you. Only makes sense when you think about it.

And for everybody else, I’ve got the group option inside the Inner Circle. (But, big changes coming on that front soon, too. Stay tuned!).

All the best!

– Dave