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giving away knowledge? should I be charging?
There is probably a better forum for this question. But I wanted to get a take from the place I post most of my questions.
I’ve got a friend who calls me 2-3 times a week asking for AE help…Final Cut…Motion…Transcoding, etc. I totally don’t mind helping, because I ask a ton of questions here and people help me for free. And they are usually only 5 minute answers to his questions.
But where is the line? I know that’s completely subjective 🙂 But what do you guys think? How do you handle these situations?
What do you guys think of how this relates to the Cow? I’ve posted and had some fellow Creative Cow users write expressions specifically for me a couple times. This is valuable information and should be worth something, right?
Another thing is, my friend isn’t the only one who does this, another professional friend a year or two out of college does the same thing. I feel like when I’m helping them and giving them the answer…I’m cutting my own rope. I should be doing the work, they should be paying me to do it…because I know how and they don’t!
-Jason
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3 Replies
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[Jason Brown] “But where is the line? I know that’s completely subjective”
It sure is subjective because only you know your limitations. The line is as wide as your ability to help others without eating up too much of your own ability to produce for your clients, for your family, and for yourself. The line is also as wide as your tolerance levels and your ability to give freely out of what you have been given and what you have learned. Call it your largesse if you will. The rest of the equation is your temperment for it.
It’s good that you ask yourself the question you pose because it sounds like you want to know what’s fair so you can be that way to all interested parties. Good idea. The unknown variable is whether your friends want to be fair as well and the only way to find that out is to ask.
It is a hard thing to do sometimes if you think it’s going to put a wet blanket on relationship but you also have to weigh the value of your relationship with your friends along with that of everyone else in the circle. Somewhere in all of it there’s a do-able medium in being able to relate to it all in proper perspective but there’s no stock answers for how and how much. You’ll find that when you think and walk out what’s needed to make all of it happen in the right measure.
Your friends should understand.
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send them to the Cow. Let them know how it helps you out and is a good ‘professional habit’ to get into. I NEVER charge for answers or advice. If you want to help great, but like I just said, send em to the cow. I have 18 yrs experience. I tend to be a LOT more generous with my time with younger artists, I like to give back that way. Someone with my experience, generally knows where to go to get answers, and
can be my competition, so while I wish them well, im not rushing to give them any advantages. Gotta feed my family first.SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects -
I agree with what the other guys said so I’ll just add a little of my own personal experience to balance the pros with the cons of being too generous, which it sounds like you’re already somewhat aware of.
A few years back we hired a PA and I later found he had lied about everything to get the job (work he presented as his own wasn’t, didn’t know any of the software or gear, etc.). I could’ve easily gone to our boss and told him this kid can’t even white balance a camera or make a new layer in Photoshop so we really should cut him loose. Instead, I held the kid’s hand for the next 2 years teaching him literally everything he needed to know to do his job (which he apparently confused with me teaching him everything I know). I introduced him to all the right people and resources he’d need to learn more and even spent nearly half of my budgets to get him set up with the right tools (i.e., buying two relatively cheap computers instead of one better one for myself, two Adobe suites instead of one and the new monitor I needed, etc.). Since it was the way all the PAs I had worked with reacted, I figured he’d be glad someone gave him a shot even though he hadn’t earned it, build on what I’d taught him and do a bang up job for us for at least a few years to come. But, of course not … he chose to sit and do nothing … as I had to do the double workload that was expected since we had more people. What’s worse is he had learned just enough to be dangerous … enough lingo to make it sound like he knew what he was talking about (at least to those who can’t tell the difference). So, he tried to convince everyone that, after only 2 years in the biz, he was somehow magically qualified to replace someone 20 years his senior … me! When he realized that there was a significant portion of both our jobs that he knew nothing about and couldn’t even fake without me around, he ended up quitting for fear he’d be found out once I stopped letting him use me.
My point is giving back is definitely worthwhile since we all had to start somewhere, but be selective and careful. As you suggested yourself, you had to earn your way so there’s no reason others shouldn’t have to. I finally had to ask myself, is it really wise to help someone take food off my family’s table? I consider the COW a little different since so few of the people are in my same market.
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