WHAT YOU SHOULD BE CHARGING In Your Creative Business

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE CHARGING IN YOUR CREATIVE BUSINESS

As a creative professional, it's important to know how to price your services so you can get paid what you're worth. Many creatives don't have a clue what their time is worth, so they either undercharge or overcharge for their services.

If you've ever wondered how to price your services as a creative professional, this blog post is for you! We'll discuss how to figure out what your time is worth, how to calculate your costs, and how to set your prices. By the end of this post, you'll have a better understanding of how to price your services so you can get paid what you deserve.

1. Know your worth. Make sure you know the value of your time and expertise by researching what others in your field are charging. This will give you a good starting point for setting your own rates.

2. Consider your costs. In addition to your time, there are other costs associated with providing creative services, such as materials, overhead, and marketing. Make sure to factor these into your pricing so that you're not working at a loss. Ask yourself how much you would like to earn a year? Is it $70k, $100k, $200k? Whatever the number is use that as a foundation to figure out your costs.

Take, for example, if you wish to make $100,000 in a year. Your overhead must be added to that. Let's suppose your materials cost $15K, your overhead is $10k, and your marketing is $5k. So you need to produce $115k in a year. Now take that and divide it by 12 months; your monthly total is $9583; divide it by 160 hours (40 hours per week x 4 weeks) and you get a base hourly rate of $59.89 This is a rather simple and straightforward method of doing so, but you may want to charge more because you're worth so much more. That's fine!

3. Charge what you're worth. At the end of the day, you need to feel comfortable with the prices you're charging. If you don't believe in your own value, it will be difficult to convince others to pay what you're asking. So trust your instincts and charge what you're worth!

Finally, if you're still feeling stuck, consider hiring a business coach or pricing consultant to help you figure out how to price your services. A coach or consultant can help you understand your costs, set your prices, and develop a pricing strategy that works for you and your business.

Now that you know how to charge your services as a creative professional, it's time to put what you've learned into action. Go out and ROCK IT!

Use this formula:

• Cost of supplies + $10 per hour time spent = Price A
• Cost of supplies x 3 = Price B
• Price A + Price B divided by 2 (to get the average between these two prices) = Price C

For example, you have determined the cost to purchase supplies to make one unit of your product is $4.28 and it takes you a half-hour to complete it, then your formula would look like this:

• $4.28 + $5 = $9.28 (Price A)
• $4.28 x 3 = $12.84 (Price B)
• $9.28 + 12.84 = $22.64
• $22.64 / 2 = $11. 32

You also need to calculate the tax for your item:

$11.32 x .06 (sales tax in Michigan) = $0.6792 ($0.68)

So, your starting price (with tax included) would be $12.

While it may need some modification as you find your target market and observe the market for your product, it is a good place to begin when determining your starting price.