What Am I Worth?

Posted January 20th, 2011 / By John Kostrzewski in Opinion, Resources, Tips

One of the most often asked questions of anyone starting out in the industry–freelance and otherwise–is, “What am I worth?” If you have no prior experience pricing yourself and your work, this can be a frightening thing. You don’t want to charge too much and scare your client away, but you don’t want to charge too little and not make any money while working yourself to the bone. While there’s no exact answer I can throw out that will work for everyone, I can show you a few key points that will help you find what you are worth.

Finding that magic number

It all starts here–finding that perfect per hour dollar amount, but how do you do that? Well, luckily for you, you don’t have to throw darts at a board full of numbers. Actually, if you’re good at darts, that might be a bad thing. Regardless, here are some tips that will help you figure it all out.

See what others are paying/charging

A good way to get a starting number is to see what the industry standard is and what others are getting paid or are charging for their work. This information can be used if you are freelancing or trying to get a full time gig at a studio. It’s always good to do your homework. Here are a few ways you can do this with very little effort at all.

• Check out the Motion Graphics Design Census to find out what the current low, median and high pay-points are in your specific field. A new one is released every year and the results are from all around the world so you know you are getting a broad view of the pay in the field.
• To get a more narrow view, talk to your friends who are working for a company and ask them what they are getting paid. If they are college friends or friends of similar experience, this is a great way to see what you would be making if you were in their position.
• You have no friends working in the industry? Look at the classifieds and see what companies are paying for a person in your skillset. Most ads, these days, won’t have a price listed, but you can still find some out there.
• Check Craigslist.org and see what other freelancers are charging for their skills.
• Look at websites such as VFXWages.com to see what the average pay rate is for others in your skillset. Take the information from this website with a grain of salt. It averages the high, median and low prices from information given from its members. If the information is false or not a lot of information is given for a particular field, the result will be false quotes.

Do The Math

Well, this was inevitable. The only way you’re going to be able to find a number is by doing the math. You have a base number by doing the above, but what if you want to narrow it down even further? You could manually add up all your expenses, but why, in a world of computers and calculators, would you do that? FreelanceSwitch.com has a great Hourly Rate Calculator you can use to figure out your hourly rate by filling in the blanks on what your expenses, fees are and much more are. I definitely recommend taking the time to fill this out to see how much you need to be making in order to stay afloat let alone make a profit.

Things to consider

Oh yes, there are more things to consider when it comes to pricing…

More Than Your Skills

Clients are paying for your time and skills, but they don’t always see what’s behind the curtain. The education you received to get those skills wasn’t cheap, and those bills need to be paid every month. On top of that, all the hardware and software you have that you use to create the amazing product your client receives isn’t cheap either. What about the gas you are using to get back and forth to meetings, shoots, etc.? If you’re freelancing, who is paying for the medical insurance and the days off? What about emergencies? All of this, and more, is calculated in the Hourly Rate Calculator, and a big reason I’m telling you to fill it out. You’ll probably be surprised how much you need to be making in order to get by.

What Are You Actually Doing

Are you only doing simple motion graphics for the project, or are you doing the scripting, location scouting, shooting, editing, etc. It should go without saying, the more you do, the more you should be paid.

Hourly vs. Fixed Pricing

A topic debated among many freelancers is hourly vs. fixed pricing. Obviously, hourly is a more accurate way of pricing a project, but it’s also more complex and difficult to keep track for both the freelancer and the client. It’s also harder for smaller clients to trust this system as they have no reasonable way to track your work other than by taking your word and constantly asking to see updates. You’ll find this, more often than not, working in house for bigger clients.

Fixed pricing is based upon your hourly wage, but is locked in for the project. It requires more planning on your part to foresee any work that will be required during the project, but is less worrisome for the client as they know the price won’t change unless they change their mind. This is usually favored by smaller clients.

Don’t Lower Your Expectations

The economy is tough. People all over are looking to save a dime where ever they can, but if you truly think about what you have put into yourself–your business–then you know how much you need to stay afloat and how much you should charge to make a profit. You know how much others are getting paid to do the same thing you are doing right now; don’t cheat yourself. Sure you can take a job at substantially less pay just to get a “real” project on your reel or resume, but will the tough times you put yourself through during the job be worth it? Are you thinking about the jobs that will open up while you are working on your current project? They could be paying your rate or more.

I’m not going to tell you what to do in this situation. Only you can decide what your situation is and if you really need to take the job, but I want you to remember that only you can tell others, and yourself, what you are worth.

More Information on Pricing

If you want to read a little more about pricing your work, you can check out these two websites. They deal with freelancing, but their words ring true for everyone.

FreelanceSwitch.com is a great site filled to the brim with information on client relations, pricing, etc. They even have a handy and very in-depth calculator that will help you decide what you need to charge if you plan on freelancing.

Freelancefolder.com, much like the previous website, has a ton of information on freelancing. It wouldn’t hurt to jump over here and check out the articles as well.

John Kostrzewski is the Editor of Fuel Your Motionography and a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist, videographer and writer living in Minnesota. He is awesome. Follow him on Twitter at and .