Davy Greenberg summed up the feelings of a lot of us out there who make our living offering services directly:
If I do a job in 30 minutes it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.– davy. (@davygreenberg) February 15, 2019
The tweet went viral (with 36,000 retweets and 123,000 likes at this writing) and evoked a lot of emotion. This is something a lot of us can relate to.
Because I freelance, I’m always talking with new people for potential jobs. Often the conversation goes like this:
Potential client: I need someone to do A, B, and C by next Thursday.
Me: Okay, I can do that for you. It will cost $300.
Potential client: Great!
But sometimes the conversation goes like this:
Potential client: I need someone to do A, B, and C by next Thursday.
Me: Okay, I can do that for you. It will cost $300.
Potential client: What???? I budgeted $25 for this!
To keep reading, click here: The Viral Tweet that Explains the High Cost of Expertise
Potential client: “What???? I budgeted $25 for this!”
And that’s why I detest salaried positions. Managers use the fixed-cost / variable-output of salary-slaves to squeeze hourly costs down to low levels. Even if there’s not enough time to do it right, there’s always enough time to do it over again: the Essence of Empire…
Excellent article showing the different mindset of what an employer wants to pay to get a job done and the value the employee places on their expertise. I compare this to shopping for someone to do handiwork around the house or do a car repair. Okay everyone wants the most value for their money but if the person being considered has shown you their expertise ability, a potential employer should not undervalue the price charge just because they want to be cheap. If the positions will only pay a limited amount, then that should be upfront and transparent so that if the prospective employee wants to do the position at the price offered, it will be on them. when there’s no transparency in salary offered, then the price of services is determined by the potential employee (contractor) based on needs described. Not everything is cheap or accept the fact that you won’t get top quality work.
Believe me, everyone gets this sort of response, including doctors. My father-in-law is a retired physician. He rarely goes to a social even where a complete stranger doesn’t ask him to write them a prescription, on the spot, without paying for it.
Often, in creative fields (which Greenberg works in) people expect that because anyone can write a paragraph, take a picture, or sing karaoke, the people who do it professionally are really doing it as a hobby and it should be free or at least close to free. Because you do it for fun, we must be doing it for fun.
This annoys me to no end. There is usually a vast difference between the ability level of a hobbyist vs. a professional. Attitudes like this completely devalue creative work. And it absolutely is work.
I like to go by the Joker’s guideline–“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” LOL