Thomas Powell’s blog

· 10 (More) Reasons Why Your Business is Tanking.

1.  You’re scared to charge what you’re worth.

Number 1 is the biggest failure point that I’ve seen otherwise good business owners make.  Think about it.  Your plumber won’t show up for less than $70.  Neither will your electrician.  They’ve perfected their craft, licensed, and insured themselves.  How many hours of you screwing up the job is a one-hour, $70+ visit worth?

Playing music for weddings is similar.  I haven’t played one in a while, but my rate was 2-3 times the going rate for a church service.  I always showed up for the rehearsal (to lower the risk of surprises), and often ended up buying additional music for the service.

I’ll make an exception for charging less than the going rate.  I will provide my services for free.  That means that I know you well enough to give you my services as a gift, or you represent a charity that I would like to donate my time to.

Don’t muddy the waters by doing a “favor” and charging less.  The recipient will still have had to pay you, and won’t see the benefit that you provided as you do.  At the same time, you will have received less than your normal rate and not necessarily receive the amount of goodwill you expected.

Charge what you’re worth.  If you’re not worth a reasonable rate, then you probably shouldn’t be in that line of business, at least for yourself.

The truth about Wall Street and bank bonuses

xkcd – A Webcomic – 1000 Times.

I have to admit, while McDonald’s offers international customizations, a Big Mac and fries is a pretty predictable offering no matter where you go.  I also find that while McDonald’s doesn’t deliver the highest quality food items, I’ve never experienced unacceptable service or quality.

Say What You Want | chrisbrogan.com.

Chinese Character Dictionary – Sinograms.   Includes search by pinyin and search by radical.

The Tax Foundation – State Individual Income Tax Rates, 2000-2009.

And for you Kentucky fans, here is a printable NIT bracket (pdf format)

via Scott Brown’s SportsBytes on WKDZ: Here is a printable NIT Backet.

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?.  An interesting look at the figures being thrown around, in terms of what it would look like in the form of $100 bills.

All this talk about “stimulus packages” and “bailouts”…

A billion dollars…

A hundred billion dollars…

Eight hundred billion dollars…

One TRILLION dollars…

What does that look like?

Credit:  Michelle Malkin » “HONK if you’re paying my mortgage”.  If you’re tired of the bailouts going on forever, there is now a public way to make a statement:

You can buy the bumper sticker here.

Glia Society.

Top 100+ Personal Finance Blogs -

I don’t know of #1 – Consumerist as a Personal Finance blog, so that limits this lists’ reputation.  I frequent #4, #11, #12, #13.  I notice that Dave Ramsey does not have an offering on this list.