Welcome to The Networking Pros Expert Corner.

About this Blog:

We will have one expert from each independent network to right articles here. They will also be able to answer questions or lead you in the right direction; helping you decide if you should do-it-yourself or hire a pro, for whatever service is in question.

Obviously the network is here to promote the pros listing, but sometimes a simple suggestion will help you get the job done. We don't think anyone listed on this network wants to go out on a job, which at most would take anyone with a little insight a couple minutes to do them-selves. We want to make sure you know what is involved so you have knowledge to make the best decision on whether to do-it-yourself or hire a pro.

Why pros charge what they do:

Many people do not take in to consideration everything that goes in to a project and why a pro charges what they do.

With fuel prices' heading for $4 per gallon, it is going to be difficult to get some people to pull their trucks out of the driveway. Understand that most utility vehicles only get about 8 to 12 miles to the gallon, if they carry lots of tools around. Consider this… if your job is 30 miles away from the pro, which means they must pay up to $30 in gas just to do your job. And that is not adding in the maintenance fees required to keep their truck rolling; replacement cost for tool wear bits, new batteries etc...

Consumers that have always had a job working for someone else, do not take many things into consideration that a small business owner has to; for example they pay for:

·        Advertising
·        Insurance - business, health, commercial vehicle (different than your car insurance)
·        Wages for help (even though you might not see them)
·        They pay double Social Security (you don't even see it come out of you check)
·        Workman's comp
·        And that is just to name a few

Consider this… If you have a regular job you get paid 40 hours no matter how many hours you actually worked, unless of course the business laid you off during non-productive times. A  business owner is not so lucky… if there is no work there is no pay.

On a personal note... As the founder of the professional assemblers network I have made as much as $100 for just one hours work on a few jobs (not including travel time); but in that same year after all was said and done by April 15th and taking into consideration if I had a job that provided a 40 hour work week; and I had taken "NO" days off, I made about $15 an hour that year.

If you have someone that is not charging you at least $60 an hour for their work, you are supporting someone who is not actually running a legitimate business, and if they are... they will not be in business for long. Try to track that business down when you need them again... for whatever reason... and you will probably not have much luck!