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First non corporate freelance job – pricing
A friend of my uncle contacted me about shooting/editing something for him. He is a personal trainer and needs a 3 to 5 minute dvd made of him working out to show potential clients.
I’ll be covering everything… shooting, editing, dvd authoring, designing a dvd case.. I’m assuming he’s going to want a voiceover of sorts on there as well talking about his services.
Typically I do freelance work like this for big companies with lots of money who deal with this industry often. They understand that work like this is costly. When its an outsider, they often don’t realize how much people charge for jobs like this.
Any suggestions or advice on how I can come up with a reasonable price for both of us? I don’t want to scare him away with a price thats too high, but I also don’t want to sell myself short.
Thanks!
-Joey G.
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3 Replies
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It would probably be best to write up an estimate as if it were a regular corporate client, then tack on a “friend of the family” discount so he knows he’s getting a deal. Even then, he’ll probably freak out and decide he doesn’t really need a video.
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Hahaha totally. Thats a good idea though. Thanks!
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Good suggestion. One of the things a “civilian” faces is unrealistic expectations coupled with an under-appreciation for the time and money used to get a result. Before you hit him with the numbers, maybe it would be helpful to show him some other “similar” product with the sound off and reel off what the price tag is (ballpark it) for what he’s seeing on the screen: what the lighting cost to buy or rent, the kind of camera and it’s day rate, the hours it might take to get a specific shot, how much a dolly shot on track in a semi-circle around Billy Blanks or whatever adds to the cost… you get the idea.
High-end sales pitches use this for everything from homes to cars to wines and fine watches, telling you what’s going into the product that justifies the value put on it. The house and car analogies I find are particularly well-received: “two homes both keep the rain off your head, one is twenty grand and the other a million, what’s the difference? The DETAILS.” ” A Yugo and a Ferrari both get you across town in the same amount of time at the speed limit. Why is the Ferrari so much more expensive?” So, unck, what kind of car are we shopping for here? A Yugo? A malibu? A Caddy? You tell me what you can afford and what you want out of it, I’ll see if I can find a way to make the two match. But remember the golden triangle: Fast, cheap, good, pick any two but ONLY two.”
“Oh, you wanted to RECORD that?”
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