You are what you charge

[zridling]

Eoghan McCabe makes some good points on what developers and designers should charge for their services. Don't sell yourself short, but make yourself available.


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A person’s willingness to pay for something is directly related to the value they see in it. And like it or not, that value may be as fluffy as “a better life”. Or it may be something quite straight-forward that you just don’t realise. Either way, if you don’t charge correctly for that value, you lose.... So think about what you really are and what you should be charging for—make sure to purposefully price your service.... Freelancers: nine times out of ten, your clients value only your availability, flexibility and malleability, not your sweet Javascript skills. Price downwards accordingly.... Established agencies: nine times out of ten, your clients value your professionalism, reliability and prestige, not just the hours you bill. Price upwards accordingly.

[Shades]

Yep, I remeber a saying from one of my first bosses:
Ask the wages of a slave, expect to be treated as one.

[tomos]

a bit depressing reading if you're a 'freelancer':
the message is -
do basic work & charge the minimum ??

[CoderOmega]

a bit depressing reading if you're a 'freelancer':
the message is -
do basic work & charge the minimum ??

-tomos (February 26, 2010, 01:08 AM)

Exactly that's nonsense.
I met a professional game designer who told me one client wanted a video game made.
He was willing to pay 1000$ for it.
The game would have taken at least a year to make and the team have 4 members.
In other words that a salary of 20$ a month.

For a freelancer, it's better to charge what your work is worth. If the client doesn't understand the price, then don't accept the job. Then if you have some prestige, Price upwards accordingly.

[40hz]

Something I (and many others) have learned the hard way:

Regardless of what you charge - never allow any single client or customer to account for more than 25% of your total sales volume.

If you do, you'll be so dependent upon them for revenue that you'll make foolish business decisions for fear of losing them. And in almost every case, they'll lean on you very heavily for discounts or other price concessions if they find out they're that big a customer of yours.

 

[ezegern]

Mike Boyink is right on target: "the only reward for free ice cream is complaints about the flavors." His article, Mike Boyink on the problem with free ice cream is very enlightening.

[JavaJones]

I dunno, the free ice cream at our local county fair seems to be pretty popular...

- Oshyan

[iphigenie]

I always say that the higher they pay for your services the more likely they are to:
a)listen to you
b)respect your time and skills
c)do what you suggest they do
d)use what you build/create/write for them

To me the price I am paid is a measure of the attention, value and respect my work will get, and that goes for salaried work too.

If they know they dont pay you what you're worth they will abuse it, disrespect your time, and are unlikely to listen to your professional advice. There are of course some exceptions, but you'd better be sure it's an exception before you throw away weeks of your life on something that will never be valued...