"Oh, they're fantastic. They basically work for free."
Is “free” your value?
At a financially challenged public radio station, the station’s engineering system was controlled by eight used computers. The transmission from the radio station-to-antenna-to-listeners depended on those eight used computers. And, as an aside, the station’s “engineer” was not a broadcast engineer. He was a computer person volunteer who worked for free.
Those out of date computers were donated by a local business. It was a tax write off for them, and free “engineering” system for the station.
Unfortunately, too often, it was an off-the-air system for the station. If one of those eight computers crashed, the others crashed, and the station went silent.
The value of the eight computers was that they were provided at no cost to the station. The value of the computer person “engineer” was that he was computer-literate, and he worked for free.
Station management saw this as a good way to save reduce expenses.
All that “free-ness” turned out to be very expensive for the station. It paid the price for being off the air in terms of its reliability, stability, and dependability. Listeners were constantly frustrated, and that likely affected listener contributions.
Even worse, when the station went off the air during its on-air fundraising campaigns, that deafening silence affected station finances even more.
As a performer, ensemble, composer, and teacher – what is your value? What specific skills, craft, excellence, experience, instincts, and values do you bring to the table?
To what fee offering would you say “yes?”
To what fee offering would you say “maybe, let’s negotiate?”
And to what fee offering would you say “no?”
Instead of pondering money and fees, and how much to charge, think about it this way. Answer this question boldly and truthfully.
What is the value I bring to this gig, project, or, commission?
It’s likely the first or second dollar number that pops into your head is the fair and proper fee.
Anything less than that likely diminishes your value.
And the work you’re doing is valuable – people will miss if it you don’t create it.
When should you say “yes,” “no,” or “maybe”?
I’m around…Let’s talk it over. Please reach me here.
