Pricing Yourself

Pricing yourself is one of the biggest hurdles every creative professional must overcome.
Why is money so scary? Is it because we don’t like it? Don’t be silly, of course we like money.
It’s because we don’t know our value.

What’s your income?
To come up with a price, look at what the market will pay you based on your education, experience, and skill set. If you don’t know, you can find the median salary within your industry and city at indeed.com/salary.

Here are some examples:
• Architectural Illustrator in NYC: $68,000
• Graphic Designer in Houston: $57,000
• Photographer in San Francisco: $30,000

Let’s say we’re the Architectural Illustrator in NYC making $68,000 per year.

Architectural Illustrator: $68,000 per year. He simply needs to slice off the last 3 zeros from his salary. If you could make $68,000 per year, just pitch $68 per hour as a freelancer. Again, this is a simple starting point, so you can just throw out a price off the top of your head. Always be prepared to negotiate.

As freelancers and creative professionals, we constantly have to negotiate our price. If you learn how to master the art of negotiation…it’ll help you in business and in life. Nothing is written in stone. Your “price” is not pre-determined by the Greek gods. You can pitch the high day rate first, which is $680. If they try to negotiate a lower price, now you know how low you are willing to go: $544. We’ll round up to $545. Don’t be afraid to ask for more.

“In business as in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate””

— Chester L. Karrass

Remember to have fun! Believe it or not, negotiating gets to be a lot of fun with practice.

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Fast, Good or Cheap. Pick two.

Below is The Designers Holy Triangle! When creating a project, clients must choose only two out of the three options. They can't have it all. It's a reality of life, clients must deal with it. Architectural Illustrators must deal with it.

Good + Fast = Expensive

Choose good and fast and we will postpone every other job, cancel all appointments and stay up 25-hours a day just to get your job done. But, don't expect it to be cheap.

Good + Cheap = Slow

Choose good and cheap and we will do a great job for a discounted price, but be patient until we have a free moment from paying clients.

Fast + Cheap = Inferior

Choose fast and cheap and expect an inferior job delivered on time. You truly get what you pay for, and in our opinion this is the least favorable choice of the three.

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Managing Nonpayment Situations

Once in a great while, polite correspondence between you and a client about an unpaid invoice stops being productive. You need to take a more aggressive approach to recuperate at least some of the money that you're owed. If things get really bad, I found that threatening letters from attorneys can be helpful.

Depending on the amount owed, your best option may be going to small claims court. You can get a judgment against your client if you are able to prove that you performed according to the contract, and that the client owes you money. This may or may not help you. Small claims court can pass a judgment in your favor, but that doesn't make cash magically appear. It does give you the leeway though to garnish funds from their bank account. Small claims court resolves disputes under $7,500.

Even if the client owes you $10,000, it's sometimes worth it to cut your losses and get a judgment for $7,500 through small claims court. In regular courts, attorney's fees and legal costs can mount up quickly. If what is owed to you is more than $10,000, my recommendation is to resolve the issue through binding arbitration in a city where you do business. These problems rarely happen to me because I'm really conscientious about the language of my contracts. But when they do, it takes persistence and professionalism.

There have been times when I've been persistent, and after two years, I was paid $20,000 that I was owed. But there have been a couple of times where I've had to let payments go that were under $1,000 because it just wasn't worth my time to collect them. Generally, being conscientious of your client's financial health at the beginning of a project is one of the best ways to determine whether you will be well-served to work with them. Following professional protocol and making sure you have signed contracts and approvals for your revisions should keep you out of trouble

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Staying Motivated and Inspired

Successful freelancers are passionate about what they do. They commit to their clients and to the projects they work together on. To be inspired, you should be interested in where architectural rendering is going. It will help you craft a vision and a plan. Become voracious about architectural renderings. What work is being done that is transforming our industry creatively and economically? Knowing this helps you see where you can be most efficient in the work that you do. The best architectural illustrators keep great resource files, either digital or physical, to draw upon for ideas and inspiration.

One of the most insightful tools are architectural illustrator's journals and sketchbooks. They become rich documentation of a illustrator's evolution. They force you to become committed to your view of the world. I suggest joining and participating in cg rendering-related communities such as the American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI). Meet fellow architectural illustrators and contribute your ideas. Become part of communities that are positive about the impact that architectural renderings can have for commerce and for social or environmental good.

Avoid the complainers. Commiserating with whiny architectural illustrators is a waste of time. Read forums such as Chaos Group, CGRamp, Evermotion, CGArena, and Computer Graphics Society; they will help you understand the greater impact that architectural renderings is capable of making. What you will learn will make your conversations with colleagues and clients much richer. It's great because you become a resource for new and innovative thinking. Understand the economy and culture of the city that you live in.

Even though we're in a global economy, most of the freelancers' work will come from large and small local sources. Stay relevant and clear. Clarity is necessary to make tough decisions faster. It's a required skill to navigate the peaks and valleys of our economy. Clarity is also required to access our intuition and our creativity. It's a necessary component for empathy, the successful Architectural Illustrator's secret weapon. As a freelancer you should ask yourself, is this work meaningful and lucrative? If the answer is yes, you have a great foundation for your work that can sustain your effort for the long term.

Enjoy yourself and take pride in the fact that you're in control of your own destiny.

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Announce Your Availability

Let's say you're all set up and ready to go. You know where you'll be working, your office systems are in place, and you're ready to show your portfolio to prospective clients. Now it's time to find those prospective clients, and more importantly, to let them find you. In another video,  I talked about building your professional network but cautioned at that stage not to hit them up for work. Now it's time to get a bit more aggressive. First, follow up on all past leads. Always keep track of whom you talk to, when, and why as you go. Make that a habit.

That's how you build your professional network over time. Once that's done, here are some things you can do to make yourself more accessible and attractive to clients going forward. The first is to beef up your website. In an earlier video, we talked about preparing your portfolio and, of course, that's going to become a substantial part of your site. But there are a few other elements it needs as well. First, a description of what you do. Put it front and center, preferably, on the homepage. This is where you express all the soul-searching you did earlier while sharpening your market focus.

It should define your business in terms of the skill you're selling, the industry you'll target and the type of customer you'll sell to. Other elements include information about your credentials. That is, why people should trust you with their projects. Finally, make sure it's easy to find a way to contact you and that it. You can also add other elements, and I recommend you start paying close attention to other freelancers' sites for ideas. But your website is not done yet. You'll also need a domain name and a place to host the site.

Your site will also need occasional maintenance. A website isn't just a set it and forget it kind of thing that won't take a lot of time. But you'll either need to get the necessary skills or hire someone who has them. In either case realize that benefits you get from your site are directly proportional to the attention you give to its planning, creation, and promotion. Your website is only one way to announce your availability online. You'll also want to have presences on the big social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook.

I recommend that you do a land grab on those services for a name that reflects your business, even if you're not ready to add any content yet. And don't forget to add yourself to professional directories related to your skill and location. But eventually you will start building out your social media homes. Twitter of course, is only as good as the regular post you make to it, but there is a little space for self-description. And on Facebook it's possible to display quite a lot about yourself. On both systems, as on other social sites, there are opportunities for responsible promotion.

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Talking Money: General Tips

Be straightforward about money and how you charge for your services. Make sure that all the financial aspects of the project are clear in your contracts, then make sure your invoices match your Designer-Client Agreements, and any change orders you provide.

Financial consistency will facilitate, smooth sailing, and prompt payment from the client. Make sure to communicate financial information verbally, as well as in writing your agreement. There are two categories of money that you need to cover. Fees, which are the designer's compensation for their labor and expertise. Design fees are typically fixed and are only revised with the change order due to additional scope of work; and estimated expenses. These are the out-of-pocket cost for things purchased specifically for the project. All expenses are subject to the industry-standard markup of 15 to 25%.

Don't be afraid to ask for what you need. If you have issues talking about money, practice with a friend; describe the project, state your fee and then stop talking. Don't feel the need to fill the void with words, have confidence.

Here, some tips for dealing with clients regarding money.

State exactly what the price includes, define your payment terms by telling the client when you expect to be paid. For example, you might say net 30 days, meaning you require payment one month from the invoice date. Also, will you be invoicing half upfront and the balance upon completion, or will you bill progress payments at the completion of each phase. Make sure to also state the number of revisions included and then stick to that.

Another money related tip is to keep good records. You need to keep project related expense receipts in order to pass those costs on to clients. In addition, make sure to integrate the project schedule with regular cost reviews. If you review these frequently, you can communicate any problems or issues to the team and the client. Make sure you capture all time, for example, telephone conversation, travel time, admin, etcetera, get all required client paperwork and financial information in order upfront.

If it's required by the client, get a purchase order number and/or a vendor ID number, then put these numbers on all your invoices. Also, introduce yourself to the client contact person in Accounts Payable. Make sure to have anything related to money signed by the client. For legal reasons and also to prompt a detailed conversation about money before the work gets underway, then stay in communication throughout the process. 

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Signing Nondisclosure Agreements (NDA) and Work-for-hire Agreements

Whether working directly with the client or through an agency, a freelancer architectural illustrator may be asked to sign one or both. It's also possible that a client or agency won't require either.

Let's start with an NDA; a Non-Disclosure Agreement. It's common that an agency will ask you to sign an NDA. Often, it means that their client has asked them to sign an NDA and that everyone working on the project understands that the work is confidential.

NDAs is written by attorneys, so that language is dense and confusing. I'll explain the basic gist of an NDA. The document states the date and place of the agreement along with the party's legal names. It ensures that the project is confidential and restricts any disclosure about any part of the project for a particular amount of time. Sounds simple, right? Yes,  and no.

You may be asked to sign a Work for Hire agreement. It states that you will not own any of the work reproduced, even work that wasn't used. Work for Hire agreements means that, for whatever fee, you retain no copyright to the work you have done. If you are employed or an architectural illustration freelancer, the law states that, by default, you're working in a Work for Hire agreement. This ensures that when an agency sells your work to a client that it's theirs to sell. If you're working directly with the client, your agreement can be different.

Work for Hire agreements are very restrictive and should not be entered into lightly. As a freelance architectural illustrator, you need to be aware of who owns your work and when copyright transfers. It's common that copyright transfers from the designer to the client or agency when the designer is paid. Architectural Illustrators have contracts that sell limited rights to these images as opposed to the image itself. If you are acting as an architectural Illustrators, you should have two separate agreements stipulating what the agency owns or does not own, at what point, and for how long.

My final recommendation is that if you're in any way confused about a document given to you to sign, ask the agency or client to go through it with you point by point, just to make sure you're absolutely clear what you're agreeing to. Under no circumstances should you sign a document if you're not clear about what specific actions you need to take.

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Finding and Keeping Good Clients

A recent freelance industry report says that 30% of business comes from referrals and word of mouth, and less than 3% from social media. It's an important statistic to consider where to burn your calories to pursue more business. Recently, I tracked my business where it has come from over the last years.

I created a client family tree. More than 75% of my business over the last 20 years has come from an ongoing relationship with one smart, well-connected marketing director. She takes me with her when she makes career moves, and I usually retain business from an organization she's moved on from.

She's referred me to colleagues in various industries. I've been very, very lucky, but there are some things that I've paid close attention to that maybe other architectural illustrators might not have.

In the beginning of a relationship, whether personal or business, I often get clues as to exactly how it's going to go. It sounds a little crazy, but within the first 20 minutes of an initial meeting with a new customer, your intuition will tell you exactly what you need to know. For example, if an agency is disorganized, rushed, and indecisive, you can be assured that the project will be run that way too.

If a customer appreciates what you do, treats you with respect, and communicates with you in a calm, clears and inspirational way, they're probably going to be great to work with. So take off your emotional hat and put on one of objectivity and observation.

• Do you trust this person?
• Does what they do really interest you?
• Do you respect them?
• Are they hiring you for the reason you want to be hired?

The bottom line is doing good work for smart, well-connected clients is the best business development strategy for a freelancer. Staying away from task-oriented, anonymous, online projects will ensure the potential for more continuous meaningful business relationships.

The goal is to have clients describe you to others as a pleasure to work with.

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Avoiding Freelancing Scams

Sad to say, some freelancing opportunities, won't be opportunities at all. They'll be scams designed to steal your time, money, or reputation. I can't give a canonical list of scams floating around out there because the criminal nature is to develop new techniques as people get wise to the old ones. But here are some warning signs the prospective job just isn't worth taking. The first kind of scam is one that makes the rounds a lot.

You get offered a job but with a non-specific amount of pay. For example, let's say they offer you a share of profits. Well, how will you know how much their profits are?  Are their books publically audited? Probably not, which means they could offer you any amount or nothing at all, and you'd have no real recourse.

Tied to that one, is the offer to pay you in something other than money, most often in the company's products. Now that's great if you really want their products and they're being offered to you at a higher rate than cash would otherwise buy. But here again, the control is mostly in their hands. What if they stop offering the product you want, what if they go out of business, do the products even exist yet, what's mechanism for delivering them to you?

A variation on this is the promise that you'll get exposure or a great portfolio piece in exchange for your work. This isn't a scam per se. It's just that in my experience, jobs that pay well make much better portfolio pieces.  Having said that, you might actually decide to take such work when you're first building your portfolio. Just be sure to appropriately value what they're offering. Now personally, I can't remember ever finding the value of such exposure to be high enough for the work required.

The third warning sign arises if your client asks you to do something illegal or immoral. As an architectural illustrator, a client will sometimes try to accompany my work with videos or graphics that they snagged online, and that they don't have the rights to. They've already shown they're dishonest or immoral. What makes you think they'll be honest and moral with you?

Another warning sign crops up when you get an offer out of the blue, but you can't really determine the name, location, or contact information for the source. The issue here is one of enforcement. If they mistreat you, you'll have no way to go after them.

Finally, we get to the classic work-at- home scam, where you're required to put in some amount of money to make the deal happen. Let's get something straight. You're going to have business expenses as a freelancer. But none of that money, and I mean zero dollars and zero pennies should go towards someone who is allegedly offering you work or to any other source that you don't choose. This can be tricky. Maybe the client requires that you get some sort of special kind of equipment, or certification but that it's only available from one source. Check it out. There's a chance that, the source is connected to your so-called employer and that you'll never see a penny of work in return.

It is possible that you'll take a job that has one or more of these warning signs, and it will turn out just fine. For example, start-ups sometimes offer equity or stock instead of payment. That stock sometimes ends up being valuable. But this list is based on the likelihood that something is a scam.

These warnings aren't absolutes. When you're deciding which jobs to take, you'll be playing the percentages. Just realize that jobs that have these warning signs carry a higher risk than those that don't.

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Preparing your Portfolio

Every time you talk to prospective clients, they'll want to know why they should trust you.

Remember, it's not just money. If someone does a bad job for them, they might not have the time to get it done right. So, the stakes are high. Your past work is one of the strongest ways to show that you're right for the job. Collecting it in a portfolio is one way to convey this information.

Once you have all the pieces in one place, you need a way to display them. Nowadays, the usual place is a portfolio website. If your potential clients live more in the off-line world, or if you expect to meet a lot of them face to face, you might also want to have a printed version of your portfolio. I've assumed that you have work to show.

What if you're trying to freelance in an area where you don't yet? Frankly, I'd recommend you reconsider your choice because the lack of a portfolio is really going to hamper your efforts. One other option isto plan to start with forms of marketing that don't require a portfolio. For example, advertising.

Another is to do some jobs for low pay or even for no pay to build up your portfolio. This is a good opportunity to do favors for family, friends and non-profit organizations that you support.

Finally, it's a good idea to create two other pieces to complement your portfolio. The first is a brief text that summarizes your experience, maybe a hundred words or so. You'll use that in e-mails, applications and marketing materials. Eventually, you'll have several versions of it for various purposes. I personally keep a plain text file on my computer so that they're always at hand. You'll also want to create a resume. It'd be nice if others could intuitively sense that you're right for a job, but they can't. They need to be shown and nothing convinces as well as a clearly presented record of success.

That's what a well- prepared portfolio does for you.

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