Get More Confident Pricing Your Work

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How many times have you been asked to write an estimate for a job in which you end up undercharging out of fear of not getting the job? How many times have you written down, deleted and rewritten the figures on an estimate because you thought the client would not pay what you were asking for? How many times have you quoted so little for a job that you actually ended up regretting getting the job? If this sounds like you, welcome to the club. It happens to all of us. To this day, I'm yet to meet a creative who at some point in their careers hasn't gone down this spiral of fear when they get asked to quote for a job. It takes a change of mindset to combat this fear.

Not knowing how much to charge for a job is at the top of the list of problems that freelance creatives who don't have an agent face throughout their careers. I would like to say that it gets better with time, but as we progress in our careers the jobs keep getting more challenging which in turn worsens the issue of not knowing how much to charge.

I blame this on a lack of transparency in the industry. Very rarely we see other creatives advertising their rates on their websites or discussing them in public. Everyone is very secretive about how much they charge out of fear of other creatives charging less and stealing their clients. I have a group of photographer friends who support each other in every possible way and even with them the conversations about how much we charge seem uncomfortable.

In some industries, there is a suggested rate that everyone is familiar with. People who work in those industries use this suggested rate to know how much to charge according to their level of expertise and seniority, and clients understand these rates and know approximately how much they will have to pay. In other industries, unions set the rates.

But for most of the creative industries, and particularly for photographers, unless you are represented it is always a guessing game. There are a million websites that give guidance on how to calculate your cost of running your business and all sort of magical formulae that should help you come up with these figures. In my experience, these don't work for most creatives. Those calculations work if you can predict the number of jobs that you will have per month, but most photographers can tell you that this doesn't really apply to the type of work that we do.

Ironically, there is pressure within the creatives industries to charge fees that are fair for you but also fair for the rest of the people working in the industry. Undercharging for your work forces other creatives to lower their rates to be able to compete and this affects what clients expect to pay in the future. Charging too little affects you and the industry both in the short and the long term.

I know that we all have bills to pay, families to support and food to put on the table. If times are tough and you really need the money, I can't advise you not to take on underpaid jobs. I also might not be able to give you an idea of how much to charge for your work because I myself came up with my rates after years of experimentation, self-valuation and building up confidence in myself and my work.

What I can offer you is guidance on the things that you can tell yourself to gain the confidence that you need in order to be at ease with the figures that you are charging.

1. My first piece of advice is that you write down your rates. Create a rate card for your services. It could be on a notebook, on an email that you send to yourself or anywhere that is easy enough for you to access when you are asked how much you charge. Resist the urge to change them every time that you have to send an estimate. Stick to them for a while and see if you feel that you are being paid fairly. If you quickly realise that they are too low and do not equate to the amount of work that you are putting in, by all means, change them right away.

2. Don't charge too low thinking that it will attract more work. It might at first, but a photography business is not an economy of scale. You are not manufacturing goods. Your expenses won't become cheaper the more jobs you get. Quite the opposite. And you will end up overworked and probably losing money. Also, undercharging will devalue you as a photographer. As you progress in your career, you will want to have access to bigger clients and usually bigger clients do not work with cheap suppliers. Creatives who charge very little seem inexperienced.

3. Don't charge an amount that you are not happy with and that you don't feel is fair. Some clients ask for a discount with the promise of hiring you many more times again in the future. The sad truth is that, most likely, they will never hire you again. And if they do, you will have a difficult time trying to raise your rates in the future to a level that you feel is fair.

4. If your clients are other businesses, think that both of you are trying to make money with the photographs that you are taking. So, It is only fair that you both make a profit. If you are working for individuals, think that they probably don't know how much it costs to have their photos taken. If after defending your fee they still can't afford you, that only means that they are not the type of clients that you should be pursuing.

Most of the times, if we are uncomfortable pricing a job is not because our fees are not adequate but because we are not confident about the value of our work. Funny enough, your potential client can see the quality of your work because they want to work with you in the first place and they asked you for your fee. It's about time that you own the value of your work yourself.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Andrzej Gruszka.

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Your Worth Is Greater Than You Give Yourself Credit For

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In November last year, I moderated a panel discussion with photographers and filmmakers of all levels and backgrounds in support of the Aldridge Foundation. The panellists discussed what it means to work in the Creative Industries in order to inspire young people who want to become creatives. The Aldridge Foundation is a charity that aims to inspire and equip young people with the skills they need to take control of their futures. During the conversation, the advice that was offered the most by the panellists was that creative people have to work hard in building up their self-confidence. Only with confidence in yourself and your work is that you can thrive in this industry. But, in my personal experience and the experience of most creatives that I know, this is easier said than done.

Last week I had two conversations with two very different young persons that made me think of how far I've come in terms of building up my confidence. One of them told me that they were really nervous about an interview but not for the reasons that one might expect. They weren't worried about the skills or work experience part of the interview. What was giving them anxiety were the personal questions. According to them, their life was very uneventful and they had nothing to say about themselves that sounded interesting.

The other conversation was with someone who told me that they didn't know how to meet people in person. Young people these days are so used to having interactions through technology that the thought of having an in-person conversation with another human being can be daunting for some. When I asked if they knew why this was, they said that when they are chatting via any messaging app or when having a videocall conversation they feel at ease. But, as soon as the protection offered by technology is taken out of the equation they feel uncomfortable to the point of not being able to utter a single word.

I remember a time when I was afraid of talking to other people. I thought I didn't have anything interesting to say about myself. Before going to university, my self-image had been built up (more like torn down) by years of psychological abuse by family, neighbours and classmates. I was made believe that I was anti-natural, I was made feel different, I was called a faggot, I was called fat and effeminate, I was told that I spoke weirdly, that I had an accent, that my acne was horrible, that I had an odd shape, that my hips were too wide, my torso too thin, my legs looked like women's legs... and the list could go on. I was a walking mess of insecurities because I let everyone else build the image that I was supposed to have of myself.

And then came university. It was the first time in my life that I was away from familiar surroundings. At university, nobody knew me. It was the perfect opportunity to tell the world who I was with my own voice. Don't get me wrong, my insecurities didn't just vanish. They stayed with me for almost 20 more years. But, what was different was that in every new interaction I was telling my own version of my life story. Not the version that included the image that other people had had of me so far. And that gave me confidence.

How did I go from feeling like the ugly duckling to feeling like a swan? I think it was the realisation that we all have something to offer others, no matter how dull we think our lives are. We might feel like our lives are uneventful because we are the ones living them. But no one else has our background, our families, our experiences, our hobbies, and no one else sees life the way we do.

So, when I started to meet people at university I soon realised that some people were interested in the things that I had to say. Even the simplest of things like what I did during the weekend was completely different to the plans that other people had. Not because I was different or special, but because I was me and they weren't me. My anecdotes weren't interesting to everyone, but those who were interested really wanted to know more. And this gave me more confidence.

At some point, I also learnt the phrase: "We are not gold coins. We can't possibly be liked by everyone". These words freed me from the pressure of trying to please everyone.

Somewhere in here is a lesson for everyone struggling with their confidence, especially for all creatives. Do your thing. Just be yourself. As cliched as it may sound, the more you try to imitate others the less authentic you are and the more difficult it gets to present your work. Your audience will appreciate you and what you do. Finding that audience is difficult, I won't lie to you. But after building your portfolio for some time and getting yourself out there you will start seeing how some people engage with your work more than others. Those are the people that you have to talk to. Those are your people, your audience.

Cultivate them, talk to them. Don't force things, just continue being you because that is what they like. They don't want you to be anything other than who you are. As you grow, you will evolve. And some of those followers will not relate to the evolved version of your work and they will inevitably stop following you. That's ok, it's natural. But those who remain will grow stronger links to your stories and will want to know more.

When we are starting out, we often think that we have to fish the market with a massive net and catch whatever falls in it. But this fishing technique is not sustainable. Not everything that you catch is useful, and with this technique, you might end up hurting the environment because you hurt other species that weren't supposed to be fished out. But, if you put the right bait at the end of a fishing line you will catch just the right type of fish for you.

The more confident you look to others, the more they will want to be with you and the more they will appreciate your work. And it's ok if some people don't like you or what you do. It's their right. The same way that you have the right to not like some people or what they make. Someone not liking you or what you do does not invalidate you or your work. Your work is still valid, you are still valid. You just need to cross paths with those who can appreciate both. And when that happens, your confidence will do the rest.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Stef Mic.

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