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Work : Experienced Creatives Don't Charge By The Hour

I have to admit something, right off the bat, that we all, freelancers (we all used to call ourselves that, whether we liked it or not) did charge per hour. The longer you think you're going to take to do something, the more you charge. This, for many industries, could prove to be the right way to do things, especially in the creative industry.

For example, decorating a cake. Designing a logo. Composing a song. Producing a movie. Writing a script. Admittedly, there's no rushing these things and we always assume that if a task is complicated, it's going to take us a longer time.

Things change when you have a couple of years of experience under your belt. You now have the basics down pat and you know exactly what works, what doesn't. What takes more time and how to shorten the wastage of time on other stuff. With experience, you might even hire a ghost writer to come up with a basic draft or timeline or a simple skeleton for your writing while you spend most of your personal time fleshing things out.

This, comes with experience and when you have that, charging by the hour no longer works because you now work faster, more efficiently and have the experience to maneuver around your weaknesses and strengths.

The video below is from someone who knows precisely what he talking about and I think, this is what some newbies should remember many years down the road. Once you've chalked up enough for your portfolio, it's time to ditch the per-hour invoicing style.

Image credit : Art Supples


You're punished for being fast
When you're experienced, you're fast. You can hire people, you know your way around and you're more efficient. Hence, if you charge per hour, you're essentially being punished for being faster than newbies. That's....really unfair.

Quality is not always about timing, inspiration can strike any time of the day
Some people need a muse, some people need time, some people need to go into the back-country to find inspiration, some people just sit in their toilets and are,,,,viola! They're INSPIRED! Everyone's boats float differently. For experienced people, you hear something, listen, and make a few qualified decisions and things come really fast. So, while it can take some people weeks to come up with something awesome, others have ideas all locked up in a little notebook, either in their heads or physically. They're maybe in their smartphones...ready to be dispatched the very moment the right project comes along!

Better at cutting to the chase and more convincing
When you're a newbie, you probably provide at least 3 to 5 drafts of whatever you plan to do for your client before actually embarking on anything. The clients will then ponder over the proposals (if they don't take your proposals and hand it over to someone else cheaper - there are low lives on this planet - they then get back to you and the process of back-to-you, back-to-me, back-to-you, back-to-me, let's do this forever, back-to-the-Director, back-to-me, back-to-the-CEO, back-to-you, back-to-me....

Trust me, this ding-dong-ing (hum-drum) process can sometimes be an endless one.

With a professional, they know how to cut to the chase. One meeting and they have a pretty good grasp about what is required of them and how to achieve what you want to achieve, whether it is a branding exercise or excite the little 9 year old girl with the perfect Bella cake.

So, here's a word of advice for those who want to hire really good people but asking for per-hour rates....DON'T. You won't regret it.



Have a splendid day ahead, folks!
Love,
Marsha

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