What You Need to Know When Deciding to Charge or Not Charge for Your Time and Talent

There's always been a notable discrepancy between what one freelancer will charge versus another. Freelancers often email in and ask, "Would you charge for this?" All things considered, really there is no one answer that works for everyone. I know that can be frustrating especially if you're new to freelancing, I felt the same way when I first started (don't worry, I'll hook you up with some ideas - keep reading).

Getting advice from other designers in the field isn't a bad idea but I'll warn you to expect to get A LOT  of different responses - freelancers just have different ways of handling this, and that's fine.

In the end, the key to remember is that it's your decision, you have to be comfortable on how you charge clients and when you charge them. If you're on the fence, or if you really need some ideas on how and when to charge, here are a few ideas that may help you...

If You're In Doubt Whether to Charge or Not, Consider the Following:

1. How long did it or will it take you?
2. How many hours did it take you to learn/master this skill?
3. How technically specialized is what you’re being asked to do?
4. How much time, money and energy will you be saving the client?
5. How many other people can do this skill?
6. Is what you’re being asked to do enjoyable or mind-numbing?
7. Do you like the client; do you enjoy working with her/him?
8. Does the client provide you with referrals?
9. Does the client either frequently ask for freebies or hint she/he wants one?
10. Does the client understand and respect the time and expertise that will go into what’s being asked?

My Personal Philosophy:
I typically give clients a 15 minute grace period whereby I’ll make changes, fixes or help them out however I can without charging them. This however is contingent on a few unwritten rules...

The Client:

1. Is actively working with me, has worked with me recently or has occasionally referred business over to me.
2. Isn’t asking something that is incredibly time consuming, technically challenging or mind-numbingly brutal to do.
3.  Doesn’t abuse my generosity. 
4. Respects and understands what goes into the task(s) I am being asked to do.
5. Asks politely and respectfully.
6. Isn’t expecting but hoping I will help her/him.
7. Isn’t expecting me to drop what I am working on and help them asap – they are patient.
8. Knows that if she/he has additional work/revisions, I will bill them.

Don’t expect clients to volunteer to pay you. In my over 10 years as a freelance graphic designer, I’ve NEVER had a client volunteer to pay me for work if they thought they could get for free - they're not going to do it for you either.

It's not that these clients are horribly nasty people, they just want to get as much out of me or you as their freelancer as they can. It's OUR own responsibility as freelancers to learn how to stand up and defend our interests (even if we're new to the industry or shy) - that's what I developed with Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers.

PS - If you're tired of clients taking advantage of you or you just want to develop more confidence in dealing with them, pop on over to Jacob Cass' Blog "Just Creative Design" - you can read his review on the Verbal Kung Fu for Freelancers and score BIG with sweet discounts on all Being a Starving Artists Sucks products.

Comments

[Stephen Hadley]

Jeremy,

I've read your books and listened to your iTunes downloads, and I have to say "You Rock!" The information has been invaluable as I rebrand my business and move in the direction I've always wanted to be. I owe you a great debt of gratitude for putting all of this info together for us freelancers. Thanks to you, my business is starting to boom again, and I'm really loving what I'm doing.

Thanks again,

- Stephen

[Jeremy Tuber]

Very cool of you to say Stephen, really, thank you for sharing your feedback (means a lot to me)!

That's terrific that you've gotten some good pointers out of the books and audio files, but in all of this you should be proud of yourself:

You took definitive action to help your career/business by purchasing the resources AND THEN you invested the time to read them and refocus your efforts on rebranding and refocusing your efforts - most freelancers won't take those steps and end up just repeating old patterns and going no where fast. You've pushed yourself and it sounds like it's now paying off "big time".

Keep up the outstanding work...and remember that if you have a specific question about your situation, feel free to shoot me an email and I'll hook you up with some quick advice. Again, outstanding stuff...outstanding!

[Emina]

Thanks Jeremy once again for the great article. This will actaully help me in my next meeting with the client. I ordered both of your books this morning and can't wait to start reading them.
Best,
Emina
six26studio

[Jeremy Tuber]

Hey thanks for the feedback Emina, I really appreciate that! If you like the books and share your feedback online at amazon.com, itunes or some other site, design blog or forum that you post the review please let me know - I'll want to hook you up with some freebies for taking time out of your day to help me out.

Glad you enjoyed the article, I hope you LOVE the books.

[Emina]

Hi Jeremy; Thank you again for always replying to the comments. I have read the book and wrote a review on Amazon and my blog. check it out. http://six26studio.blogspot.com/

[Jeremy Tuber]

Hey Emina, I just left this comment on your blog (I've also added your link in the friends area in the sidebar).

"Lol, you took a picture with the book, that's priceless! Glad you got some good value out of reading this, I just wish I wouldn't have had to starve so much in order to write it.

If you haven't picked up my "Work Smarter NOT Harder" package or the "From Zero to Graphic Design Hero" MP3s, check them out, then let me know which one you'd like me to set you up with for free. Just my way of saying thank you :)"