Captain’s log, stardate 20170728

Follow up on Mr. C’s Conundrum

Sent by Jonathan Stark on July 28th, 2017

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on Mr. C’s conundrum yesterday about meditating while being paid a day rate.

Some folks said he shouldn’t worry about it, others suggested working 30 extra minutes at the end of the day, others suggested talking it over with the client and coming to an agreement.

But here’s the thing...

Mr. C didn’t have a question he wanted answered. He had a lightbulb moment. He sent in his story to help illustrate the absurdity of charging for time in the first place.

The solution isn’t to find an ethically defensible stance for meditation - or smoke breaks, or going to the bathroom, or taking a walk around the block, or whatever - during business hours.

The solution is to price your services based on the value of the outcome to the client, not how much time you put in on their behalf.

Yours,

—J

P.S. If you’re having a hard time breaking the mindset of trading time for money, you should read my book -> http://hourlybillingisnuts.com