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RE: Five Tips on How to Price Your Music Consulting Services
Hey, @whatrokusays I'm really glad that this article was helpful for you. The great news is that the consulting skillset is 100% transferable from industry to industry. How you implement or your market your skills may need to be tweaked but the fundamentals are the same.
It's okay to "help out" someone, but make sure they help you out too. You can use your first clients as portfolio examples so it's not the end of the world that you took on a client for a low rate. You easily turn an unprofitable deal into a profitable deal.
Tell me, did you build sites for these people or are you locked into a maintenance contract? I want to understand your situation so that I can give you solid advice.
Thanks @p14n0m4n.
In the beginning, when I was still learning, I didn't have any contracts in place. I just built websites for friends of mine and charged a low fee because we knew each other.
This was a mistake. More often than not, those friends of mine did need their websites to be maintained afterwards and it was an everlasting, "Help me with this please." scenario with no further pay for me.
I've learned my lesson since then though. Contracts are definitely needed when you work with others - whether you know them or not. And, you should definitely have a maintenance agreement in place too so everyone is clear on what your time and services are worth.
In the process of learning all this though, I've realized that I don't really like working on websites anymore. Or, maybe it's that I haven't found the right client yet?
It may be that you just haven't found the right client. There are definitely clients who expect the moon and it's difficult when they are family. What I would say is work out a maintenance contract and stick to the contract. Set clear guidelines. I don't mind answering questions in a text from a client but if it starts to be an everyday thing, I would probably call attention to it. You deserve to get paid. If I get called in to consult (even for five minutes), I bill at a half hour minimum. This reduces the "oh I just wanted to ask you about..." and you achieve a healthier balance between work and life