The challenges of pricing our work as future foresight professionals and creatives
Pricing our work and being faced with a barrage of unreasonable and unsustainable expectations.
In the future foresight world and creative industries, it is common practice to be asked to do work for free, even at our own expense, for example travel to other countries to deliver public speaking. Or create a future insights strategy pitch in 2 days, or jump on a strategic advisory call on the premise it's an intro call.
All unpaid.
Many of us have done it and disclaimer, this convo can be triggering because it can unearth negative feelings or memories. Even shame.
When asking for a rate this can be the answer more often than you'd think:
---> We have no budget.
---> This will be great marketing for you.
---> This is an amazing opportunity for you.
We often find ourselves gulping that up, or dealing with an internal dilemma because naturally we want to put ourselves out there! Get great work, a big break, position ourselves in places where decisions are being made!
At the beginning of my practice to put myself out there, I did a lot of work for free or at a low rate, shouldering often the cost of my time and travel (not just local, to other countries).
Where I found myself a few years in was:
---> Struggling to make ends meet.
---> Burnt out.
---> Resentful.
---> Confused.
Over years, I have had to do a lot of money mindset work, coaching, online courses and surround myself with a mastermind group to bring myself to being ok with saying No.
Because I noticed that time and time again, when I did work for free or at a low rate, I couldn't sustain it for long periods of time. And I didn't feel valued. So it just felt icky.
This is one of the reasons I created the World Building Framework (as part of Trend Atelier, the online school and community I founded) and one of its 4 pillars:
Inside Out Sustainability.
We honour this 'ask for what you're worth' pain point with live sessions, tools, and asynchronous discussions which are helping us overcome this problem of pricing ourselves and getting paid fairly. It's a renovation project.
Help me understand.
Why is the assumption that working for free is acceptable?
Why is this so often put upon foresight professionals and creatives, regardless of the time the project requires, and regardless of our level of expertise. It happens to newbies and well established people of our community.
Why is it a university will pay you for a guest lecture for example? But a company benefiting financially from the project you are contributing to will ask you to work for free?
The expectation that we should do work for free is not regenerative because this is not a mutually beneficial relationship.
There is nothing wrong with asking for money.
Money is not a dirty word.
It's being expected to give all of our expertise for free that is questionable.
To be transparent, I still do pro-bono work and with great pleasure but I have a quota each year to create boundaries:
---> I speak with students and connect with people on 30 minute curiosity coffees
---> I speak for charities, youth led organisations, free ticketed events raising awareness on causes I think are important.
---> I pow wow with clients on ideas and what we could do together because we have great trust and mutual admiration.
And in terms of media:
---> quotes for press and interviews are unpaid too. That's most often the case.
---> there are a few cases when it's worth bringing your rate down if an opportunity to speak or be featured is simply too good and will bring a massive stamp of approval to your work. But, disclaimer, there are several criteria to consider for this to ensure this is beneficial.
With writing articles:
---> This is paid but the rate is low. However this is a great way to partner with inspiring people + share your insights with the world.
But outside of this, the 'what seems to be a universal standard' of: do the work for free and shoulder all the costs (time = expertise = value = money) ...
Can we just say it?
It is not regenerative. It is exploitative.
To loop it all back to our regenerative ideals in Trend Atelier, I am going to quote Janine Benyus who coined the term biomimicry and leads the Biomimicry institute:
'What is an etiquette of a mutualism in the natural world? A mature eco system is filled with mutualism - a bee and a flower, a tree and a fungus are in a deep partnership and symbiosis. Let’s look at how mutualism is established because there is a courtship for example between a tree and a fungus where they make sure they are fair and truly reciprocal.'
I would add, in the spirit of biomimicry and regenerative mindsets:
How can we embody in our own work and expectations the essence of positive mutualism?
Everyone is different and has their individual context and it is up to you to decide what you want to do.
I believe we need to change our money mindset and see sustainability as something that is not just about sustainable materials and equal wages (for example), but also about how we treat ourselves, the standards we expect to be treated with. Otherwise the cycle never ends.
A few quick tips:
---> Remind yourself of your regenerative mission and the good you want to see in the world.
---> Have a script saved for when people ask you to work for free.
---> Create a price list for hour and project. For public speaking online or irl, for a 5000 forecast (these are examples but you get the jist). Standardize! .
---> Study value based pricing.
---> Study negotiation skills.
---> Do money mindset work.
---> Do your earnings projection for the year and what you want to earn.
---> Be clear and decide what you can do pro bono. I advise for this a quota per year.
As always, I'd love to know what you think.
| Geraldine Wharry