Finance Coach - Vol. 32

Finance tip: Income

House-sitting. With a nice break coming up shortly, I was reminded of how necessary a service that of house-sitting is – and how simple a source of extra income it can be as well! Almost everyone knows how it operates: When people go away on a trip, they generally want somebody to either stay in their property in their absence, or pop in on a regular basis just to keep an eye on the place. As almost all home-owners do go away at some point or another, there’s a huge market for the service. The traits you would need most are those of trustworthiness and responsibility – you are, after all, looking after what is often someone’s most prized possession. The income side of it can vary, but as a rule you can make a nice chunk of extra cash for doing very little – especially if you get asked to do long-term stays. Looking after bigger properties with gardens would generally allow you to demand a higher fee, as would having to look after pets as part of the job. Finding work would generally come from word-of-mouth (good house-sitters come very highly recommended), but you could also look at doing mail-drops in your area, or putting an ad in your local newspaper – especially as you get closer to common holiday times…

Business tip: Pricing

Offer a ‘hail-mary’ choice. If you’ve been battling to sell one of your products or services, which falls at the top end of your quoted price range, consider putting in an even more expensive one to boost your sales. While this may seem ludicrous at first, just follow the logic for a second: Say, for example, that you run a restaurant, but have been struggling to sell your most expensive dish, which goes for a hundred bucks. This dish is a high-margin offering, and increasing the number of ‘units’ sold would do wonders for your business. The problem comes in where customers want to buy it (as it’s a wonderful dish) but they’re uncomfortable doing so as it’s the most expensive item on the menu, and they feel that it comes across as excessive and unjustifiable. Adding another, even more extravagant dish at, say, two hundred bucks, could be just the solution to increasing the number of people opting for the first dish, being the one you actually want to sell. This is because, you see, the first dish is not perceived as extreme and excessive, as that mantle now falls on the new dish. The result is that more people will feel comfortable opting for the first dish, and you then have your desired increase in sales. The beauty of doing this is that, if someone does actually go for the new, extravagant option (a.k.a. the ‘hail-mary’ choice) then you’re smiling anyway, as you get a big sale from an expensive offering!