Last edited 4:51 p.m., July 18, 2016
Editor’s Note: Ellen Rohr originally wrote this column as a preview for a TEDx talk scheduled at the Springfield Greene County Library. After misunderstandings, the library dropped the TED brand from the event, and Rohr decided not to participate.
I’m so excited!
I’m preparing a speech called, “How much should I charge?” This question changed everything for me. Here’s a preview of my speech. Perhaps you can relate to my adventures asking, and answering, the question.
“How much should I charge?”
One day, one summer, when I was 6 years old, I bought a bag full of candy and took it back to our house. I bought the candy for 1 cent apiece. I sold it for 2 cents. How much to charge? I just made it up.
And that’s when I figured it out, how business works. You buy something or you make something and you sell it for more than it costs. And you create your own money. How incredibly liberating is that? You decide how much you are going to charge. You figure out how much things are going to cost and then just pick any number more than that. And I learned this by selling penny candy for 2 cents.
And then later on, I forgot it.
I grew up. I went to university and graduated at the top of my class with a degree in business administration at a prestigious private school. They taught me a lot about business, but not about making money. I got a real job, a management position, and started to move up the ladder. I was making good money with benefits and prestige.
Then I quit that real job and went to work for my husband, Hotrod the plumber, when his partner died. His partner and best friend since they were 8 years old, Dick Yox, had stressed out, worked himself into a health crisis, and at age 33 died on a Sunday after working a 100-hour workweek.
So, thinking I knew something, I jumped into the family business. However, I’d forgotten what I’d learned in the penny candy business.
What I did do was slip into a couple of myths that I learned while I was at university. You have to charge “what the market will bear.” That there is this thing called the “going rate.”
So, I called my competitors and asked, “How much do you charge for a water heater?” Then, I charged what they charged, only a little bit less. You know, to get the job.
And I proceed to sink – me, my husband and our company – into this big abyss of debt. We hated each other. I would cry, “We don’t have enough money!” Hotrod would hear, “I’m not working hard enough.” Our employees were frustrated. My health and relationships were going down the drain.
This business thing is tough, or you can make it tough. I sure did. Hotrod’s friend Yox sure did.
When all seemed hopeless, I fixed my business. Here’s what I did…
End of preview
What an honor and privilege to be on the TEDx stage. I’m grateful for my education, too. However, what I learned about making money I didn’t learn in school. I learned it selling candy. I learned it from plumbers.
How much should you charge? Join me from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. July 19 at The Library Center auditorium, 4653 S. Campbell Ave.
Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant offering profit-building tips, trending business blogs and online workshops at EllenRohr.com. Her books include “Where Did the Money Go?” and “The Bare Bones Weekend Biz Plan.” She can be reached at ellen@ellenrohr.com.
