In which I cause all of society's problems
I'm just sitting at my computer making the world a worse place
Hello friend,
“Everything about your mindset is what’s wrong with the world. People like you are greedy and you’re driving prices up. Now we have people living under bridges, and grocery stores are making massive profits so I can’t afford groceries. It’s immoral.”
That was the main crux of the responses to a Facebook post I made about freelancers charging more for their work.
To be fair, the post has generated lots of likes. But the vast majority of people who took the time to write a response to the post have blamed me for all of society’s ills. (They also reported me to Facebook for violating Facebook’s policies, whatever that means.)
I had no idea I was that powerful.
Initially, my temptation was to respond to each of their comments with a justification for why I was posting about writers increasing their rates. I didn’t, because at my age I know the value in protecting my emotional energy and not fighting a battle I won’t win.
Most freelancers I know (especially new ones) have difficulty charging a solid rate. They’re constantly undercutting and undervaluing their work due to
a. a lack of confidence
b. concern they’ll never find work again so they have to charge the lowest rate possible
c. worry about all the competition out there and how little the competition is charging
d. a belief that they aren’t worthy of more
e. all of the above
f. any of a million other reasons I don’t have time to go into here
Most of the vitriol from the responses comes, I believe, from a very misplaced belief that it is the wages of the average worker that drives prices up. In actuality most of us are just trying to keep pace with the cost of living. (I suspect very few of the people who unleashed on me bothered to look at the profile to see that I am a self-employed freelancer who works for businesses, not for individuals. Therefore the cost of hiring me to write a blog isn’t putting anyone out of their home.)
Their anger also ignores the fact that as a single, self-employed person I have no benefits, no insurance, no sick days, no pension, no paid vacation days. Every cost is mine to cover.
The anger generated by my post is baffling to me. I have far less power than an Elon Musk or a Jeff Bezos, or even a politician who sets economic and tax policy. I make less than a fraction of what they make. Yet somehow the anger flows to the person who is trying to make a living and encouraging others to do so.
How dare I encourage others to charge more for the work we do, even though we are also for the most part just trying to afford life?
In a fantastic article called “The ‘paid what you’re worth’ myth” Robert Reich goes into this ridiculous idea that people who make minimum wage are “worthy” of minimum wage and those who make $20 million are “worthy” of that pay. That myth is used to justify inequalities of wealth. (Seriously, give it a read. I’ve been thinking about this article for a month and I’m still ruminating on it.)
For freelancers, this argument gets taken a step further. Because we set our own rates, we look at what we think we’re “worth” compared to what the minimum wage earner makes, likely because most of us at some point have been the minimum wage earner. So we have difficulty asking for higher amounts. When you start off being told that your hourly worth is low, it can feel insurmountable to start asking for more. Guilt trips like what I encountered over my post don’t help matters, because having other people call our decisions into question feeds into our hesitance to charge more.
At the same time, when we set our rates we don’t compare ourselves to the people who earn more than us and ask what it is they do that makes them worthy of $10,000 an hour (or $20 million a year).
By focusing on our worth compared to the low end of the pay spectrum we keep our rates low, whether we do it consciously or not.
In the past I’ve encouraged freelancers to charge what they’re worth. But in saying that, I’m not saying that our time is any more valuable than the minimum wage earner, nor any less valuable than the CEO. What I am saying is that you have a right to charge an amount that reflects your writing or editing skills, your education, your expertise, and your ability to create value for your client.
You should be properly compensated for what you do. You shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for charging an amount that reflects your value. You shouldn’t feel pressure to lower your costs because the CEO or head of communications sitting across from you wants to save dollars on their budget. You should be able to pay your bills and set money aside for the future.
Unfortunately, the word “greedy” gets used to describe you whether you want to increase your pay from $20 an hour to $30 an hour or whether you want to buy your fourth vacation home and can afford to because you pay your workers less than minimum wage and offer no benefits.
They are not the same thing.
You are not greedy for wanting to be financially secure. You are not greedy for wanting to run your own business. You are not greedy for wanting to set money aside for retirement. You are not greedy for wanting your clients to value the work you do and pay you accordingly.
If you decide that you want to make your rates affordable for everyone, that’s your call. But don’t offer low prices because you feel pressure to. Whatever price you charge, do it based on what you need your business to earn for it to be successful and sustainable, however you define those terms.
I’ll be over here, considering whether I need a new rallying cry to replace “charge what you’re worth” for freelancers. But still always advocating for freelancers to charge an amount that truly reflects the work they do (and doesn’t carry the weight of society’s ills on it).
Here’s to your freelance success,
Heidi
I'm sorry you got piled on like that from Facebook users, Heidi. Good thing you have the smarts to not engage your emotional energy in refuting them. The Robert Reich article you included in this blog post provided irrefutable backing to the premise in your post that "You are not greedy for wanting to be financially secure. You are not greedy for wanting to run your own business. You are not greedy for wanting to set money aside for retirement. You are not greedy for wanting your clients to value the work you do and pay you accordingly."
I felt infuriated after reading the Reich post. It's shocking that "the typical CEO of a big company is now raking in 399 times more than their typical employee. In 1965, the typical big company CEO took home 20 times more than their typical employee." WTF?!
It's been helpful for me to read your posts about charging what you are worth. I know I'd be charging a lot less without having been in your sphere of influence, and I know I will eventually be charging more as I gain skills, confidence, clients, and experience.