Our county had our annual Fall Festival today. After trying in futility to corral all kinds of parade traffic, and after doing some hearing tests for the Lions Club, I went around to the vendors inside. I ran across someone I had done some website work for before.
It speaks to my lack of self-confidence in my abilities that I did all of this for free. In fact, it's worse than that: it's been costing me each month for over a year. A pretty hefty negative.
In talking with these folks, I was set to hand over the domain names and make a clean break once and for all. At least it wouldn't be costing me anymore.
We talked for a bit, and I found out that they had registered another domain name (more or less the same as the one I did) and had tried to get a website set up, but they couldn't quite get it to do what they want.
Let me switch for a minute to an article by Lisa Barone over at OutspokenMedia.com. I found out about her work via her Twitter account, which I found out via TweetingTooHard.com, which isn't exactly a compliment, but there you go. (She did manage to score a video response from the Old Spice guy, though.)
The post detailed in numerous ways how she was fed up with people valuing her expertise but placing no value on her time. People would want to get a full marketing plan over coffee — something that her company would charge big bucks for. She's put her foot down and decided that, no, this is my business and I'm not giving it away anymore.
Now jump back to the folks I did the website work for. I've come to realize that I know more than a thing or two about running a website, writing on it, building up links, running a newsletter, etc. Unless there's a really compelling reason to the contrary, I shouldn't be giving this away for free. It certainly shouldn't be costing me.
So, when I talk with them again, I'm going to take some advice from the great modern philosopher Strong Bad:
You gots to look insiiide yourself! Positate the negative! When life throws pies atcha, you make yourself a tall, cool glass of piemonade!
I'm going to stick to my guns and charge what I'm worth. Of all things! If it makes me depressed to see other people not earning what they're worth, then I should be even more depressed not to earn what I'm worth. If they say no, oh well, but I'm not going to lower my price to ridiculous levels just to get more work for myself. I'm certainly done working for free. What's more, the fact that I enjoy doing this stuff is independent of whether I charge for it. Isn't getting paid for doing work you enjoy a good thing?
Are there any negatives on your balance sheet that you can positate? Any ways that your time and your expertise can be used more effectively, more profitably, and with more respect from the people receiving it?
