How motivate yourself earn more money?

Question

I managing several projects, sometimes do some work, ex. frontend or ux. I have great clients, they are listen and trust me. At same time I feel, that can relax and do not work day or more. It makes troubles with quality and deadlines, but I say client "Sorry for delay, it is my fault and etc." and client trust me again. I think that I can make this again and again. I don't worry about money, I have enough for living, but I worry that it is small to make big expenses, like buy house or car. If it gets worse, of course I will begin to work better, but I do not want to wait for it.

How I can motivate myself to make more money and increase quality of my services?

Answer 1

One thing to consider is that you aren't charging enough. If there is so much work that you can easily replace one client with a new one if they become unhappy, you should be charging more.

Would you treat the client the same way if they were paying you double or triple the your current rate is now? You are are not being paid what you think you are worth, so you are not performing your best.

If you charge more, you will work harder for the client because (1) finding a replacement is more difficult (2) they expect a higher standard for more money* and (3) more income is nice to have and good motivation to work hard.

* Theoretically. May not always be true in practice.

Answer 2

Unlike Stacey's reply, maybe you are like me and you charge enough, but have periods when you simply cannot sit and do tasks.

If this is the case, then the only thing that works in my case is to set some aim, estimate its cost and then do as much as you can to achieve it as soon as possible. For example, your wife wants a new car and if you sell her current car you are in lack of $5000. Set your aim to earn that money in 2 months or less, and you will probably succeed in it. Just be careful to find something you really need in the next month or two, otherwise if you set a goal like "buy a new car in 1 year", it will not motivate you enough.

The other solution, or additional one, is to set your monthly minimum. Like $1000 and no matter what, you have to earn that. If you earn more, OK.

If found these 2 solution to work in my case, while the first one being better that the second one. I also found a good way to have:

1. work time each day at the same time

2. work room (don't do anything else in it but work"

3. work music (I found a good relaxation music, but later found out that I have to find out a new one with each new project"

4. work computer. if this is not possible, work desktop is mandatory.

Answer 3

The two answers above both include good suggestions. It has also been helpful for me to be more realistic about my productivity. As levelnis discusses in an answer to the question at the url below, I find it difficult to bill more than 6 hours day a day when I'm doing intense coding. On the other hand, if I have a day full of simpler tasks I can be productive for 8-10 hours.

How many hours a man day really is? (programming)

So for me it's been a combination of good habits and monthly income goals, as Peter MV describes in his answer, being realistic about my productivity, and increasing my rate for coding, as outlined in Stacey's answer.