Know your worth
I am beginning to believe that the want for me to help people is a blessing a curse. I say this because too many times too often my kindness has been taken for weakness.
For example, I offered my advice to "help" with a logo, and then it in turn became a job rather than a simple favor. We went through about 20 revisions without any type of monetary compensation.
I asked a mentor of mine how I should proceed from there because I began to feel some type of way. I consider myself to be a very skilled graphic designer, but at the same time I felt my talent was being abused.
After a long conversation with my mentor, he told me the right way to go forward with any dealings with anything related to my business. He also got on me for offering my services for free, and for so many revisions without any type of compensation. I decided I will draft up a consulting sheet and make sure to add some type of wording pertaining to pricing, number of revisions, etc.
In the end I was able to help this person...but it was definitely a lesson learned. So my advice to you all is to know your worth, especially if you have a great talent.
Recent Comments
11
I certainly wouldn't consider kindness to be a weakness--unless one is only being "kind" because they're afraid they will be frowned upon otherwise, in which case that's not really "kindness" because it comes from a different motivation.
I'm assuming you're referring to my logo which you offered to "help" with. Yes, it did wind up taking up more time than expected due to multiple revisions. I was just accepting your offer to help, and it wasn't my intention to turn it into a "job" and would have paid you some if you insisted on it.
Anyway, I decided not to use the logo after all, but not because I don't like it, but due to the fact I changed my WordPress theme. lol
In any case, it is important to set certain parameters up, and I wouldn't be surprised if you get requested to do many revisions on other jobs again, since there are so many options when it comes to color choices, etc.
Wow.... I truly believe you still don't get it, but tis life.
Anywho. Like I said...lesson learned! Just because there are many options doesn't mean you take all of them.
I hope you find what you are looking for :)
No, I don't get it? What is there to get?
It was a two-way interaction. If it was too much trouble, you could have objected at any point.
I was simply asking to try out various colors, as I couldn't do so myself without software or the technical know-how of Illustrator. In any case, I do understand I took way too much time, but I did OFFER compensation. You declined and said you would set things up from hereon, however, to get compensated for your work.
In any case, it seems like the experience with "helping" me and having it turn into a job contributed to leading you to set up the consulting sheet.:-)
What I am NOT going to do is argue with you on a post I used as a "lesson learned". Again, before your offer I did not know it was going to take 20+ revisions! If you feel we need to discuss this further please feel free to PM me. Thanks
See more comments
The consulting sheet with price information is very helpful. Let your business card and website speak for you. These are helpful, but learning to set boundaries by sharing your truth in difficult situations is probably another area to tackle. You are definitely worth it. Great title!