13 Jul Free or full price

I’ve always struggled with how to price out work.  Sometimes I wonder if I charge too much because smaller brands typically can’t pay a premium for video content… but even larger businesses are starting to drop their traditional pricing structure for what we provide.
10-15 years ago, video was a very expensive specialty item that not many businesses could afford to produce.  With the advent of high quality, low cost technology, it has become a lot more economical to create great looking video.  Today, many of the cameras are so good they basically shoot themselves.
Mobile phone capture beautiful 4K and slow motion video footage with no need to worry about manual focus or color correction. Videos and photos look stunning right out of camera. When new clients first look at our estimates, they peruse through line items like lens filters, microphones, grip and lighting that they are unfamiliar with and often overlook, and may ask: “Is there anyway to bring down the cost?”
When you run your own business, you can always bring down the cost… always.  There are ways to reduce your cost as an operator, not account for your time and experience as a creative, or not bill them for your gear (pre production, production and post production), or hundreds of other things that could be removed from your invoice… but I love Chase Jarvis’ budgeting philosophy of “Free or Full Price.” His thought is simply, if you become the vendor that a client feels like they can nickel and dime, they always will.  Or if you become the bargain basement business, that client will never think of you as the premium brand.

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So he says you should primarily take on projects that are full price or free, no middle ground.  It forces you to understand your worth as an operator and it lets clients know that your services not a swap meet item.  Chase also mentions that clients who only have half your rate often end up requiring twice as much work, revisions or micromanagement.
Now I personally don’t always live by this rule because I absolutely love helping others out, but I would pass on a project or refer it to a colleague than try to do it for a rate that is far less than our normal rates.