pricing up jobs. We're going to train you in how to calculate your own numbers and put a
worth on yourself so you feel confident in pricing your jobs, standing your ground when you're having
your prices challenged, etc. We'll tick that box off. So pricing up work, getting paid.
Most of my messages that I get, if I'm completely honest, are from people saying
they've finished a job and now it's been two weeks and the customers ghosting them.
They're not responding to the messages and not responding to the emails.
Part of this issue is because they haven't vetted the customer number one, but they haven't took
a booking deposit. I know there's still a big hoo-ha with the old school spreads on booking
deposits. Oh, you should never take money up front. It's bad practice and all this.
I'll tell you what's bad practice, guys, is running out of money and having to say to your
customer, run out of money. Can you pay for the multi-finished, please? We've got no money.
That's unprofessional, not asking for a booking deposit up front. The booking deposit does so
many positive things within your business. Number one, it stops people canceling the last minute,
a week before you start or even a night before you start, which is what happened to me years ago,
which is why I put the booking deposit in place. So it stops people canceling.
It shows you that they've got the money there to begin with. So you're not wondering,
can they afford this or what? Number two, again, it's going to stop you spending your own personal
savings that you need for your family and you need to pay bills. It's going to stop you spending
your own money on buying things like multi-finished and beads and PVA, et cetera. You shouldn't be
using any of your own personal money to be cash-flowing people's renovation projects. We're
not a credit facility. So the booking deposit is there to use to cash-flow your business. You
don't use your own money. You use the business's money to pay for material. So it does that.
It's going to increase your cash flow. So you're not going to be waiting around for money and
chasing a deadline all the time. You've already got money in your business now because you're
taking deposits off all these jobs that you've got coming in. So you know you've got a pile of
capital to work from. It'll eliminate your line of credit. Why do you need a line of credit if
you've got booking deposits? You don't. The line of credit is there because if you're doing jobs
and you're waiting 30 days for payment, your supplier will say, okay, we'll give you 30 days
grace. If your customer doesn't pay, now you've got another problem. You're your supplier's money
and you can't pay them. So by having a solid booking deposit system, you eliminate having a line
of credit. You don't need a line of credit if you're taking booking deposits. So we'll teach
you all about cash flow, how to pull in booking deposits on your job so you never run out of money again.