In my spare time I've been reading financial management books from the public library (dewey decimal 658.15). I've looked at several to try to find some that were easy to understand. If you're a better electrician than businessman (like me) check it out.
Anyway, I needed to figure out overhead and annual billed hours. I haven't kept good job records, so I spent quite a few hours checking contracts, invoices, deposits and receipts to figure it out (I'm keeping job records now).
As luck would have it, I raised my rates a year ago and it was just right for the hours billed this year to draw a good salary and have a small profit. I'm convinced after doing these figures that it's my first profitable year in 20. It's also nice that I can play with the numbers(increase/decrease hours, increase/decrease expenses, increase/decrease rate....to see what effect it will have on the business.
I'm just beginning to understand the financial aspects and I'd encourage all of you to work on your business and figure what you need to charge to have a profitable business.
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Dave
