Business Development – Page 20 – The Business of Creativity

Pricing Model(s)

As you know, I’m building Houchin & Associates around an integrated set of legal and marketing services. I believe it’s a unique model, which has benefits and challenges. Many of my clients are telling me they love the fact that I can (and will) give advise on both legal and marketing issues.

I want to take this to the next level. I want to come up with a pricing model that matches what I love doing (listening, identifying issues, coaching, and giving advice) with what clients seem to need most.

I want to provide so much value for the fee that it’s a no-brainer to choose this firm over “conventional” law or marketing firms.

Consider this post an invitation for feedback on some ideas. Feel free to tell me I’m crazy and that the conventional pricing models of legal and marketing services are the way they are simply because these pricing models have proven effective over decades of use. I’ll feel free to ignore that advice and try to shake things up anyway – you know me, it’s the kind of guy I am…

NOTE: I was getting a lot of “blog spam” in the commentary sections, so the best way to give feedback is to send me an EMAIL.

Here are two quotes from some great books to put us in the right frame of mind.

From “Inspire! What Great Leaders Do” by Lance Secretan:

We overuse the word “driven.” We want to be values-driven, customer-driven, mission-driven, market-driven, technology0driven, solutions-0driven, and self-driven. Perhaps this is why so many people are driven to drink, driven insane, or driven to distraction? Are Zen masters “driven”? Were Christ, Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Buddha, or Mother Teresa “driven”? Is being driven part of the problem rather than part of the solution? What would it look ilie if we were customer-inspired? Or market-inspired? Or values-inspired? Or family-inspired? Wouldn’t anyone rather be inspired than driven? There is a greater sacredness and inner beauty associated with inspiration, the breath of God, compared to the manic style of the old story leader that causes us to be driven – and thus drained.

From one of my all-time favorite business books: “The Trusted Adviser” by Maister, Green, and Galford:

More value is added through problem definition than through problem answer.

(I love that quote, and when you think about it, I think you’ll see it’s truth…)

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This post is getting long, so I’ll try to cut to the chase now.

I’d like to offer clients a flat monthly fee that is simply for my advice and counsel. Of course I could go broke if this was defined as doing all the legal or marketing work. Therefore the challenge is to define both the price and what’s included in that retainer.

I don’t like tracking my time, but I have to – it’s something I can’t get away from. I don’t like putting a price on each hour or fraction, but again, that’s the reality.

I think the value of my advice is subjective to the client, not objective relative to time I’ve invested. For example, I could spend 3 hours working on a contract that is of relatively little importance to the client, yet say something in a 15 minute conversation that solves a huge problem or allows someone to sleep at night – that 15 minutes was just worth way more than the 3 hours of contract work.

One thing I would like to do is have people WANT to call me to talk about their issues, without thinking they are always “on the clock.”

Perhaps I can set a retainer at $______ which includes conversations and emails that (as stated in The Trusted Advisor) focus on issue DEFINITION and approaches to finding solutions. Then, if I need to engage in actually drafting the contract, filing the TM registration, engaging in litigation, etc we would move out of the retainer and into the flat fee or hourly models.

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I just got off the phone with one of my favorite clients. She suggested that I offer three packages to clients:

Straight hourly work. (at a higher hourly rate…)
Project Flat Fee + Hourly
Retainer + Reduced Flat Fee + Reduced Hourly Rate
The challenge is setting the rates.

Right now, my hourly rate is $175 for consulting and $250 for litigation. Those rates are relatively low-mid for the area, but would be considered WAY low in Denver or in my areas of specialization, and they do not take into account my marketing/branding background and the value that creates in the discussion.

Perhaps my fee structure should look something like:

$250 for hourly work – consulting and litigation.

Project Flat Fees: For example, to file a TM application I charge $800/mark/class + an hourly rate ($175) for the inevitable office actions.

$1,000/month retainer for “business coaching” advice (legal and marketing/branding), and then $175/hour for actual work “solving” the problem – transactional work like drafting contracts or negotiating deals. Another way to think about this would be the retainer covering “counselor” time and the hourly rate covering “attorney” time.
Actual marketing/branding PROJECTS would be quoted conventionally as projects.

My thought is that the $1,000 MIGHT be capped at 6 hours of consultation time per month (or maybe it’s just “unlimited”). I’m doubting that my entrepreneurial clients will have the time to talk with me for more than 6 hours of “defining the problem” each month. There-in lies the risk… I would do the retainer on a month-to-month basis I think, that way if the value is not present for both the client and/or myself, neither is “trapped” in the relationship/contract for more than one month and can make adjustments accordingly.

April Scene Magazine Article

Burning Desire
© 2007 Kevin E. Houchin, Esq.

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to do whatever it took to get it? Have you ever known, worked with, or worked for someone “on a mission?” These people can be intimidating, but usually, they’re simply inspiring. They are filled with fire. They have a burning desire.

The term “burning desire” creates an image in my mind of the ships of the Greeks burning behind them on the shores outside Troy–removing their escape route and fully committing the Greek forces to victory in The Iliad. In a little more modern context, it’s the feeling Eminem sings about in the line “Success is my only M—– F—— option, failure’s not.”

My law practice focuses on helping creative people launch new businesses or companies launch new products or services. I can tell immediately which people or companies are likely to succeed because a burning desire is impossible to miss. These people will succeed, no matter what I tell them, because no obstacle will stand between them and their goal. My job in that case is just to help remove as many of those obstacles as possible or put the systems in place to maximize the success coming around the corner.

Unfortunately, I also talk with many people who are not 100% committed to their own success. It’s sad. They may have a great idea, but they are scared to do what it takes. They’re not “all in,” because they have no burning desire. The signs that tell me these ventures aren’t going to make it come down to two traits: fear and laziness.

Fear manifests in several aspects. First, there is a fear to take out a line of credit to fund the venture if they don’t have the capital themselves. Sometimes there’s even a fear to invest the money the DO have. Ask yourself, “if I’m not willing to take on any risk in my own venture, why should anyone else?” Banks are in the business of loaning money to people and businesses with bigger ideas than bank accounts. People with a burning desire are recognizable to investors too. People without burning desire are afraid to ask for investment capital when the banks have stopped lending or wouldn’t take the risk. Finally, I see fear in people to leave a “secure” job and devote themselves to their dream full-time. Again, if you are not all-in, why would someone want to invest in your venture?

People with burning desire are never labeled “lazy.” These people consider a refusal to loan, invest, or purchase as a learning opportunity. These refusals are insights into ways to improve the value proposition, creative product, or business plan. “No” is a momentary set-back for people with burning desire.

Perhaps the biggest difference between people with a burning desire (those who will succeed) and those destined to fail is that people with a burning desire have a plan. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if the plan is on paper or just in their head. People with burning desire can recite a great business plan from memory. I watch them simply describing the mental image of their success – sometimes it looks like they are literally reading the plan from the inside of their eyelids. In contrast, the people without a burning desire may have a written plan, but it’s usually lame, and might even be one of those download-and-fill-in-the-blank business plans. Ugh! No document can replace passion. No document can outsell burning desire.

The best way to develop a plan is to clearly communicate what your success will look like, feel like, taste like, sound like, and maybe even smell like. Once you’ve described the successful result, give it a deadline. Then start breaking it down into component parts – baby steps, each with its own deadline and budget. If you do these things, the burning desire for the result you seek (if indeed you have such a desire in the first place) will manifest, you won’t be able to stop it if you try.

Sure, this takes EFFORT, but if you have a burning desire it won’t feel like WORK. If you can articulate your vision, you can achieve your vision. The fuel of that achievement is your burning desire to make it happen. I believe that humans have a spark of divinity within them and that spark is fueled when we are creating. It’s what we’re here to do. It’s what makes us alive. Burning desire is a sign of someone who is truly alive. It shows. Find yours.

Kevin E. Houchin principal of Houchin & Associates, PLLC – a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment, business development, and branding firm located in Fort Collins, Colorado. To contact Kevin, call 970-493-1070 or email kevin@houchinassociates.com.

H&A Launch Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Kevin Houchin, Esq.
Attorney and Counselor at Law
970.493.1070
kevin@houchinassociates.com

Brad Shannon
Shannon Marketing Communications
970.461.4906
brad@shannonmarcom.com

Houchin & Associates Offers
Unique Synthesis of Legal and Marketing Services

One-stop shop gets new businesses and products off the ground,
and guides them through continued, long-term success

Fort Collins, CO-Most people don’t think attorneys have creative aspirations. But Kevin Houchin is set to change the stereotype and breathe new life into the stodgy legal world, with Houchin & Associates, PLLC a new firm providing comprehensive legal and marketing services.

According to Houchin, the synthesis of the legal and creative worlds makes sense for people with great ideas, true passion for their work and an entrepreneurial spirit. Houchin & Associates can provide these clients with everything they need to start their businesses or launch a new product or service, including forming the business entity, obtaining patents, trademarks and copyrights, developing business plans, plus creating the brand identity for supporting print- and online-marketing materials.

The establishment of Houchin & Associates follows a trend in both the marketing and legal industries toward providing added-value services and breaking the barriers of these respective industries.

However, Houchin & Associates is the first in northern Colorado to directly combine law and marketing into, in Houchin’s words, “a one-stop partner in business innovation. This is where creative people can come for everything needed to start a business or launch a new product, and guide it through what we call the Sustainable Value Chain which is, essentially, ongoing success and growth.” This unique business model allows for complete integration of the client’s idea with the promotional and legal requirements that help ensure this success. “This is a truly comprehensive approach to business,” Houchin noted.

Houchin first thought of the idea while building a 12-year career in marketing, during which time he worked as a designer, creative director, marketing executive and branding consultant. He served clients in numerous industries, ranging from healthcare and finance, to software development and sporting goods, to telecommunications and higher education. “I thought I could really help bridge the gap between creativity and business if I went to law school and focused on intellectual property and business development,” Houchin said.

Having received his Iowa attorney license in April 2004, Houchin then moved to Colorado a few months later, and obtained his Colorado license in October of the same year. “I immediately hung my shingle and started my solo practice,” he said.
Meanwhile, he has continued consulting with law schools on their branding and recruiting campaigns. Most recently, Houchin was commissioned to conduct a feasibility study for creating a new law school at a university in the northeastern United States.

Now his greatest aspirations are coming to fruition. “The success and rapid growth of the law practice required the expansion and renaming to Houchin & Associates. We now have people in place to assist withpatent law and other product development issues,” Houchin said, adding, “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to combine brand development with intellectual property law and business development law for a long time, and this is finally that chance.”

Houchin has assembled a team not only of experienced legal minds, but also marketing experts with backgrounds in public relations, copywriting, and print and interactive design and production. All are set to serve Houchin & Associates’ clients with the same enthusiasm that the clients themselves have for their own work. Together, the team ensures that every detail of setting up a new business or launching a new product is attended to, and that all aspects of the business are working efficiently as a whole, for long-term success.

“At a fundamental level, I believe there is a spark of divinity in each human being,” Houchin said. “That spark becomes a flame when we are being creative, building, and growing. By combining branding and legal services, I believe the unique team we’ve put together here can help a lot of people and businesses fuel that spark.”

About Houchin & Associates
Houchin & Associates is a unique organization of professionals including sales and marketing mavens, expert print and interactive designers, and thoughtful attorneys with positive and enthusiastic attitudes. The team is designed to be fast and flexible and maximize the use of time and technology on their clients’ behalf. The company bases its work on the process it calls the Sustainable Value Chain™ to produce ongoing success for clients. Houchin & Associates is the only organization of its kind, and its people are prepared to guide others through evolving legal and market forces influencing their businesses. The company is located at 425 West Mulberry, Suite 105, in Fort Collins, Colorado. For more information, call (970) 493-1070, email kevin@houchinassociates.com or visit www.guidingvalue.com