Undercharging
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I'm so pissed off undercharging clients when I'm desperate for money. How do you lose the fear when you're not busy and stick to your guns, with the danger of not getting the work? Now i'm up the walls and i'm loaded with bullshit jobs I have to get out for no money.
Fuckit
- jevad0
I hear that!
most of the time I'm selling myself short jsut to get the job - that's how it is these days!
I just started a 10 page flash site...for £350! Pathetic!
BUT
I still do a great job on it and give it my all because every job counts....
- jh0
it is a nightmare - it's still best to stick to your guns otherwise the jobs which you do "on the cheap" just kill you. Have recently done a few like that and when the decent paid work came along I hated doing the work which was being done (virtually) for free.
I rarely (never) haggle with builders/plumbers/car repairers when they work for me -so how come designers are unable to charge a fixed cost without being beaten down?
You can't work cheap - you have to cover your costs and pay your salary otherwise its not worth doing it.
Keeping to your fixed price or as close as possible is the only way to prevent that resentment of sitting up 'til 01am trying to finish a job off that will only pay £50.
there - enough said!
- intoxicated0
If they try to be cheap or make be feel guilty for charging real money and I end up undercharging - I act really stroppy after I did the site and give them them files.
9 times of 10 (because your deallign with plumbers/doctors etc) they will give you this puzuled expression and say "What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" to which you reply "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just the designer on this project."
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- ********0
I think you need to always stick to your guns. Pro-bono is one thing, but if you are talking paying jobs, don't take the ones that don't pay. Once you start to travel down that road you can get caught there.
If they won't compensate you appropriately, then leave them behind. You're not a miracle worker and you shouldn't be expected to work for peanuts.
- monkeyshine0
"so how come designers are unable to charge a fixed cost without being beaten down? "
...because desperate designers like us have set a low standards that clients have grown accustomed too?
- vena0
haha nice, monkey :)
i don't know how some of you guys can justify the time invested with the prices you're willing to set.
- plamenski0
Cheap jobs always turn into the most time consuming ones.
- unknown0
"so how come designers are unable to charge a fixed cost without being beaten down? "
because most of the clients think that making a logo is as easy as the stuff their children do in kindergarden?
ok, that was part two
- unknown0
tell them to go and get a better quote of someone. recommend a few agencies/designer names that may be far too xpensive or just plain shit and watch them come crawling back to you.
i'm doing a whole branding proj for a club. (id, web, print, ads)
he thought my quote was too much - then i reminded him of the value of design, and first impressions etc.... and the fact that he'd just spent £12K on a fucking laser!
- Bio0
"i don't know how some of you guys can justify the time invested with the prices you're willing to set."
hunger, my man. pure and simple. that's all the excuse you need.
- unknown0
and big bar bills..
- plamenski0
Until there is a organisation or an union that certifies/protects graphic/web designers we will always be underdogs.
- plamenski0
Edit:
Unless there is a organisation or an union that certifies/protects graphic/web designers we will always be underdogs.
- intoxicated0
Plamenski: You're right man. I've always thought there should be some kind of certification to weed out all the lameasses and educate clients on what real design really is - oh wait, Certification? Hey NT! We wanna be certified!
- gotham0
i miss selling weed, noone argues, noone tries to fuck you over, and you set the prices.
Sometimes you gotta wonder... :(
- monkeyshine0
uh oh...not the certification debate again!
- jevad0
i justify it because I have a full-time job - so it's all jsut money in the savings account for me - big difference I guess...if I was freelancing it would be a different story - well - lancing without the permanent job i mean....
- enobrev0
no bargaining goth? must be in a nice neighborhood.
- enobrev0
the worst part about a low paying customer is that the yexpect soooo muc hmore. a client paying above $50 an hour tends to listen to reason, take advice, and enjoy the whole deal... anyone paying below 25 per hour tends to want new things every day and most likely feels they or someone close to them are the true expert and you're just doing the grunt work.
incredibly vicous cycle. I still have 2 of my low paying clients from 4 years back, and they're still the biggest pain in the ass. Of course i always put them at the very end of the pile on my things to do (behind visiting NT and YH!)
- gotham0
i got one thing to say:
rich white college kids