Wednesday Wisdom: Catching Up on Lost Money

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Money Matters for Women Entrepreneurs and Female Business Owners

In the wake of Covid-19 and now the Ukraine War, prices everywhere are increasing. My son, who lives in the quaint West Village in Manhattan, was notified of a 26% raise in his monthly rent. It’s as if every business is trying to catch up to what money they lost the past two years.

You don’t have to sit in a favorite restaurant, buy gas, order business supplies, or grocery shop to see prices have skyrocketed. I’m pretty confident most women entrepreneurs haven’t raised their rates to keep up with rising costs unless forced to do so. Women TIES membership rates have not increased in seven years as we work with female owned companies who have less spendable income than before. So, what is the economy or people in it to do when pricing rises but revenue and salaries don’t? At some point the economic wheel halts working.

“I just got a bonus Mom and now it has to go to a landlord who hasn’t done anything for us to earn it,” my son said to me. Always looking at the silver lining, I said back, “At least you received a bonus so you can afford the rent increase if you want to stay there; some people would have to move.” Somehow it doesn’t feel fair when you work hard to earn extra money to have it taken away by other’s decisions. All I could tell him was to try to negotiate because maybe there was some wiggle room and if he didn’t ask, he wouldn’t know.

It is true women entrepreneurs and other businesses might have to increase pricing to regain revenue after Covid-19 but at what cost to losing repeat customers or having to sell more consistently to people in the general market?

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom poses this question as you move forward out of the pandemic most likely financially changed because of it. As you make economic forecasts and plans, is there a way to balance what you charge with long time clients vs. new ones? Could you, like the landlord could, give a 3-year renter a price break working with their income, and charge more on a new client to be fairer to someone whose been loyal? Take a look at your customer base and consider ways now to adjust pricing as needed not only for your welfare but for the sake of your current clients.

In the end if you must increase pricing to make ends meet and keep your business afloat, you should; but if you can work closer with individual customers based on their requests, you might find it pays off in a different way in the end for both of you.