Recently someone knocked at my door. He wanted to ask me questions about my business. What is the demand like? How much do we charge? Do we have insurance and how much does it cost? How much do we pay other interpreters?
It got me thinking about when I first started as an entrepreneur. I asked some business owners how much they charged. That really was a big question for me. I didn’t want to bid so low that I undermined my colleagues nor did I want to out price myself. Not one person would give me an answer! It was worse than asking a woman how old she is, or how much she weighs. I discovered that asking about price is a huge taboo.
I invited that person in to sit down with us and we answered his questions. Experience has taught me that we don’t get hired because of price. There is always someone willing to do it cheaper. I prefer to foster good will with a possible future colleague than to worry about competition.
One of the questions that the person at the door asked me was “What makes you different than your competition?” Now that was the key question. The answer to that question is where the money is.
