Charging your 'worth' isn't the answer.
I wanted to share a story from a situation that came up a few months ago, something that at the time *majorly* threw me off balance, but I took a breather, and also got some advice from my brother (ha), that helped me get past it. 🙃
If you get frustrated by the convos surrounding the whole 'charge your worth' thing (because WTF does that actually MEAN THO?!), and you're keen for another perspective, well, this story is for you.
Earlier this year I spent some time putting together a custom proposal for a client.
Just for context, this was a past client I'd loved working with, so I spent time chatting with them via Zoom, doing some very specific research for what they wanted in terms of tech/website things, as well as time spent on the actual proposal itself, so it was shaping up to be a *very* big project. They already knew my rough rates for this kind of project, they sounded like the timing was right, all of that good shit... So at this point all signs were pointing towards it actually leading somewhere.
Until they ghosted me. 🙄
I followed up with them after a solid few weeks, and they (finally) replied, with a very brief email letting me know the project would no longer be going ahead. No explanation, no questions, nothin.
At this point I knew I fucked up, and it was 100% my fault for not doing things differently from the beginning of this conversation. I should have done a paid proposal from the start, so even if the project never went ahead, I would have at least got paid for the time I put into it. I didn't value my time in this particular situation, so why would they? 🙄
I still wasn't super stoked about it... Mostly because I felt pretty screwed over, for the third time by this particular client, who had left me hanging in the past (I know, the flags were there). They knew the time I'd put into the research for this huge job, and the way they just brushed it off multiple times didn't sit well with me.
I knew this was on me, but I also felt like I needed to do something about it, because I know that this (the ghosting and not respecting peoples time) is happening all too often these days with a lot of other designers. And the more we just sit by and bitch about it without taking any action, well, the less changes we want to see actually happen.
I was talking to my brother about this whole sitch, (he also runs his own business, and I think he's pretty level headed with this sort of shit), and he told me to just send the client an invoice for the time I'd put into the proposal, after the fact. 😅 I'd never even considered doing this because sending invoices when people don't know it's coming is something I *never* do, but after considering all of the factors — including this was a client I already had a relationship with, knowing that they are pretty grounded and would likely understand where I was coming from, if I could explain why I was doing it — I decided to bill them for the time spent on the proposal & research.
I apologized for sending an invoice they didn't know was coming (again, this is not something I ever do, I don't think it's ethical in most situations and I'd advise against it unless you know in your gut its the right move, as I did here), and that in future I would be doing paid proposals, but I explained that this was the third time they'd left me hanging and that all I was asking for was to be paid for the time I'd spent on the proposal, which was a couple hours or so.
They replied, apologized, and paid my invoice. 🙏
Was it risky making that move? Absolutely. They could have easily told me to fuck off and that relationship would be 100% done-zo. But I trusted my gut, and I asked for what I wanted, which I knew wasn't completely unreasonable.
So, yeah. 12+ years in business and I'm still out here learning lessons. 😆
The reason I wanted to share this story is because it got me thinking a lot about a couple things... (if you're also a designer, or creative who offers your services, this is for you).
Here's what I learned —
— You have to value your time before anyone else will.
I know I'm not the only one who's had quite a lot of problems in this arena of being ghosted by potential clients over the last couple of years, and I'm now drawing a hard line on this. I'm only offering VIP Days (with pre-set rates), and any super big projects will have paid proposals. No more free, custom, proposals.
Another situation that confirmed this for me (after I learned my lesson on the story above) was a possible client reaching out about a really big Squarespace job, so I replied with the details about my consultation calls, and custom proposal investment, all that good shit. And guess what? Ghosted. 👻 I didn't actually mind so much on this one, because was SO GLAD I didn't waste time there. If potential clients don't want to put any skin in the game (even when the price of the proposal would be deducted from the full investment, if they went ahead), then I can't waste my time either. If you want to work with clients who have their shit together, you gotta do the same. You have to value your time before anyone else will.
I've had this convo with other designers too, and the general vibe is the same... Paid custom proposals, or pre-packaged rates are the best way to go right now.
— Trying to 'charge what you're worth' isn't the move.
This client story really made me think about this conversation, and at the bare minimum we should be getting paid for our time. That's literally all I wanted from my situation, and I was lucky to have a very understanding client... So beyond your time, your pricing is up to you, but in my opinion, you can't put a price on your 'worth'. It's also dicey territory tying your worth to your revenue and your business, I think.
What you can put a price on is your time, your experience, your skills, your own unique perspective, your resources, your monthly business expenses, your goals, your ideal customers, and all of the other shit it takes to do what you do. Start here. Start with all of these things.
I get that this conversation exists because many creatives WAY undercharge for their work, and I agree most people could (and should) charge more, but I think the 'charge your worth' approach is oversimplifying it, maybe in an attempt to justify pulling completely random (extremely high) prices out of your ass instead of actually considering all of the shit I mentioned above... 😆 What do you reckon??
