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Do you have business policies? [QTMM 10/23/14]

I gave my "Strategies of Successful Solopreneurs" talk to a group yesterday and one of the strategies I recommended was, "Develop your own business policies, like a corporation does." Otherwise, the client tends to dictate the terms.

You should be ready to say, "That's my policy" without having to explain why. This conveys professionalism and confidence, which in turn inspires trust in you.

What do I mean by a policy?
The project begins once the agreement is signed and the deposit is received.

Other types of policies include:

How you quote fees
How you onboard clients
How you do your work -- the steps or process you go through
How you get paid
What happens when a client isn't happy with the work or the project gets stopped before it's finished
What happens when a client doesn't pay

Here are a few of my policies:

I quote fees to a new client on the phone and in real time, not via email.
I get paid in advance or at the time of service (unless otherwise negotiated)
I have a 24 hr cancellation policy. (You may have a kill fee.)

You may already be integrating your policies without articulating them (to yourself or to your clients) and therefore perhaps not enforcing them.

That is the tricky part -- it takes a backbone to enforce your own policies without fear that the client will vanish if you do. It takes practice too. (I've gotten really good at enforcing my cancellation policy and my clients usually respect it.)

One attendee yesterday asked if there is a place to find a list of policies. So I thought I would put one together.

If you have policies that work for you, please reply to this email with them and I will pull it together into a blog post for everyone to benefit from.

And if you're struggling with your policies, let me help. If we haven't already, take advantage of my free 30 minute session or let's do a consultation to get some policies in place for you!