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Colour and Noise
Colour and Noise
For a few months now I’ve been pondering a post about the state of freelance pricing, and in particular about trying to compete with freelancers out East (apparently I’m not allowed to say that because its not PC but its true, its a fact I have to deal with every day, so I will).
I don’t try for that many jobs. I’m very picky. For instance I’ve been through a list of maybe over 40 jobs today and considered 5 at first glance and non on further reading.
Some jobs you just know are bad news, whether its the stupid demands for professional work for $10 a day, people who clearly haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about but have to be seen to look like they do, people who insist on unlimited changes, on full copyright without paying for it or what ever else.
What particularly galls me though is that the lowballing that many freelancers are resorting to is totally devaluing the skills required to do the job and once a commodity/skill is deemed to only be worth X its very difficult to convince people that its actually worth ten times that and that charging X for the work would never even pay for a years software subscription let alone the high end hardware and the wages for the experienced, talented, highly trained, professional artist to actually create the work.
Put it this way, a toilet cleaner in this country can expect a minimum of wage of I think £6.05/$9.78US per hour. No disrespect to toilet cleaners but I value my skills a little higher especially if someone is going to use the product of my skills to make bucket loads of cash.
Well it seems I don’t have to actually write a long, tightrope walking tome as some one else has already done it.
Many thanks for sharing a link to my blog on your blog, Patrick. No matter on which side of the Atlantic we are, devaluation of skills and experience runs rampant. Take a site like http://www.fiverr.com for instance, and see for yourself how low people are willing to go. Amateurs get played. Professionals get paid.
Paul,
Its a pleasure. Great blog, great advice. Its certainly helped me secure two important contracts. I always find it difficult to praise without sounding like a suck up so increasing your readership is probably more useful.
Thank you!
Hi Patrick, I just stumbled upon your response as I was checking my blog stats. I’m so happy that you managed to secure two important contracts. That in and of itself is more than rewarding to me.
Your work is absolutely top notch. I’m not at all surprised that you landed those deals. It is amazing how you sculpt your imagination into a new and different reality!