Worth

Yesterday I took a call (and received an email) from a long-standing client. I designed for them in 2001/2. Over the last year, the staff responsible for updating their site had changed, they had mislaid their passwords and they needed help. So help was what they got.


Helping this client took less than two minutes out of my day. Will they receive an invoice for a minimum time-block? Hell yes. Fifty squids in fact. Will they be happy to pay that. I hope so, because the cost to them in time, stress and other factors of us not being on hand to help could have been far more.

One of the reasons why, I think, we're still here is profitability. We charge top rates, not because we have a high opinion of ourselves (actually that too), but because we want to make sure that we'll be in business in one, three, five, ten years time. Being here matters to me, I love my work, but it also matters to the people we work with who need to count on our support in years to come.

So what is the moral of this story?

If you're a designer running your own business like I do, don't devalue yourself and your work by cutting your prices, especially in these difficult times. Your value is in more than just the hours, days or weeks that you spend working on your current job, or the next. Your value to your clients is that you'll be there for them, to help them when they need it, in the future.

To make sure that happens you must make money. When a potential client asks if you'll work for a lower rate, explain to them that it's in their interests that your business is happy and healthy and that what they might save now will likely cost them dearly in the future if you're not around.

Here endeth the entry.


 
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