How many hours do you bill per week?  That is, if you measure productivity in hours.  There are many different ways to sell services.  You can bundle services into blocks of time or you can sell services on a per job basis.  And of course, you can simply bill per hour.  Regardless of the method (I have tried them all) you need to measure the productivity of yourself and your employees.

My target, in terms of billable hours, is 30-35 hours per week.  The more the merrier, but the goal is at least 30.  There are no bonuses paid unless the average billable hours are at least 30 per week.  It is easy enough to convert this same figure to the other methods of selling service so I won’t do it here.

Many computer service professionals do not charge enough for their time.  While this is a big mistake, it happens all day, everyday.  Others charge adequately.  We are going to just take a happy median average of $100/hr.  If you bill 30 hours per week at $100/hr, that’s $3,000 per week or $150,000 per year assuming the standard American two-week vacation.

Sure, you can make more depending on your pricing structure, how you sell your services, and simply if you work more hours.  If working more hours is your chosen path, you will eventually resent your business and likely end up in a downward spiral.  As you can see, in the services business, you must have employees and you must maximize their billable time.  Start planning as early as possible the how’s and when’s of bringing on your first employee.

-Zachary M. Morvik