karina.. welcome to town. ! It's always good to have another hot blonde in the area.
There have been many discussions about price and while each lady determines their pricing, you may find that $350 hours will have an adverse affect on your income. Of course, you're so hot it may not matter. But there is always a negative reaction to anyone doing more than $$$ hours.
Good luck and I hope you like it here and do well!
--jb
If you are trying to reduce business to fewer but more profitable appointments, raising rates may do it.
If you are trying to cover expenses, there are two ways to go about it. When I was in retail management, I learned there were two ways to raise profit. One was to raise prices, the other was to buy the goods at lower prices. As far as customer relations goes, it was always better to buy merchandise at lower prices than to raise the selling prices.
In other forms of business (non-retail), where no merchandise is being bought and sold, the idea is to lower overhead.
You mention cost of living, but the only specific expense you mention is rent. I have to wonder if their aren't some real estate agents on this board who could find you a place as nice as what you plan to get, at a substantial savings.
As far as other cost of living expenses, the longer you live in an area, the more expert you become at finding the best places to shop.
This whole subject reminds me of a post I read on TER a good while ago. I don't remember who posted it, but I copied it and saved it. Here it is:
Providing for the future made me think back to my school days. I worked for a very successful nationwide firm, and got to meet the founder, a great guy. He said he was frequently asked the secret to success, and he didn't mind sharing it, but he was pretty sure that very few would heed his advice. His formula was;
1) Find a need and fill it
2) Work hard - don't expect to sit back and wait for the riches to come rolling in
3) Make sure you love what you do
4) Don't re-invent the wheel; rely on the past experience and advice of others who have been where you want to go
5) Whatever your venture, don't go into it unprepared, unorganized, or undercapitalized
6) Live on half your income.
Most of you were probably with me until No. 6. He said that almost everyone said that's impossible. He would reply that it is not impossible. No matter what your income level is (within reason of course), there is someone living on half your income. The fact is, whether it is half, 2/3, 3/4 or even 90%, you can't live on 100% of your income and expect to get ahead. That is in fact how my mentor financed his venture. It is virtually impossible to get funding for a start-up venture, no matter how good the idea, so the best way to get it is by saving your own money. There are lots of how-to-succeed books, but I've always liked this condensed version. My favorite definition of success, though, is "success is getting up one more time than you fall down".
Namesake here.
You will do just fine, I live in LA where the cost of living is considerably higher. I travel to DC often and my prices and two hour min stay the same, I have never had a problem getting my asking price, I pay the men on the boards no mind. If i did well at my ridicules high prices for DC I am sure you will. In fact I am returning to DC soon but already booked. Good luck I am sure you will have a great time.
