My first job out of grad school ended abruptly on a Friday. The Great Recession was in full swing, and my boss Chuck called me into his office to deliver the news: I was “indispensable,” but he still had to lay me off.
I hadn’t saved a dime during my six-month stint at the marketing agency. The $486 in my checking account might last me two weeks.
When Chuck called me the following Monday, I was so relieved I could have cried. He asked me if I’d be willing to finish all the copywriting projects I had been working on. (Let me check my calendar. Hmm… I can start in three minutes.)
We agreed to $40 an hour — roughly three times more than I’d earned as a salaried employee. The joke was on Chuck, or so I thought until several weeks later when I prepared the invoice.
I’d produced solid copy for a local bank: four print ads, four short newsletter blurbs, and one press release. Those nine small projects had taken me ten hours.
Barely a month into freelancing, I had already fallen into a tiger trap—hourly billing. The faster I worked, the less I earned. Even a money moron with two degrees in Literature could see that was a losing business proposition.
On May 25, 2009, feeling deflated, I sent the invoice for those ten hours. My financial situation being what it was, $400 was better than $0. Cash was green oxygen. Live to write another day. Before I had heard of John C. Maxwell, I was following his advice: “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”
Thirteen years later, I’m still tinkering with my prices and my coaching clients’ prices too. Those experiments led to this book.
Now that we’re both here, let’s take a hard look at your prices. The coming pages may reveal that you’re in good shape. Or you may realize that you need smarter, more sustainable prices—ones that cover your immediate needs and propel you toward long-term goals too.
About the block of Carrara marble that became David, Michelangelo mused, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” This book is your hammer, and your prices are your chisel. Take this opportunity to set your money free, to send exciting invoices, not deflating ones, and to carve out the freelance lifestyle that feels like winning.
