One of my biggest Career Regrets…
I wrote this in response to a thread Dr. Tega Edwin’s, founder of Her Career Doctor wrote, that I deeply resonate with. You can find her thread here.
Many, many years ago… Okay less than 10, someone I had known for a few years, let’s call them Morgan, reached out to me to hire me for a project. It was a large project AND the ask was last minute. Essentially I was being asked to pull off a campaign in two months that I would highly recommend pulling off in six-nine months.
So after the ask came in, I did what any good freelancer does. I went and sat with my professional mentors and asked them to review the contract I had written up. Because the ask was so large, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything, included as much as I could in the scope, and gave an accurate estimate of the number of hours the project would require of me and the rate I would charge to complete the assignment.
After consulting with my mentors and practicing my pitch, I did my presentation. It was about 30 minutes and I was confident that I had nailed it. Y'all I was so proud of this pitch. While I had not done that specific project before, I had done work like it and Morgan was familiar with my work.
Morgan told me they needed to review it with the organization’s board and that they would get back to me in a few days. Well, a few days went by and I got a callback. After a few minutes of pleasantries, we got into the details of the project and Morgan informed me that they would not be pursuing me as the campaign lead.
Morgan gave a list of reasons AND THEN hit me with this comment, “frankly, Randa, you’re trying to overcharge us and make money off of us. You need to be more humble.”
That line hurt. I wasn’t overcharging, I actually was undercharging. Was I trying to make money off of the client? Hell, yeah! Who goes into a project thinking, “gee, I am going to do this huge assignment and make zero dollars.”
I took the comment personally and if I am being honest, I felt because Morgan and I knew each other and had a history, that sometimes was less than pleasant, they were intentionally cutting me with their words.
From that conversation on, I lacked confidence in the rate I would pitch to clients, the rate that was standard for my years of experience and expertise and began to pitch rates that were significantly lower than what I was worth.
I allowed one sentence, from one person, who was unimportant to the future and success of my business, to change how I worked.
Over the years I have really tried to understand why that conversation hurt so much, I had held it too long. I was younger, had only been freelancing for about two years at the time, and was desperate to make it a success. I didn’t have my business plan together and was honestly taking any project that came my way, from communications, social implementation, events… all the things. But at the end of the day, I realized, Morgan was someone who at the time I had trusted and really thought they had my best in mind. Turns out, Morgan had the best in mind for their organization, which, hear me, IS NOT WRONG.
The Reality:
Your clients don’t have your best in mind, they have their best and their organization’s best in mind. Morgan made a professional decision that unfortunately became clouded with personal issues from outside interactions that had nothing to do with the project. Morgan could have just said, “Hey Randa, we’re going another way.” The end…. Didn’t need their personal opinion on my business.
Can I give you a Word of Advice?
If you have the opportunity and luxury of hiring freelancers, please be careful with your words, especially to people you consider friends, to those you are asking for a paid favor, and especially those who are just starting out.
If you have the opportunity to freelance, please remember that it is OKAY and should be expected to charge what you are worth. Not all of your work can be free. Remember to take on the projects that will benefit you and to walk away from the ones that won’t.
My Mistakes:
Closing this out and, in the spirit of transparency, I wanted to share with you the ways I failed myself at that moment.
I allowed Morgan to get in my head (for years…. More than I’m proud of and more money on therapy than I care to admit)
I didn’t directly address Morgan’s comment, I smiled and said thank you instead of saying something like, “thanks for letting me know you are moving in a different direction, the rate I pitched you is actually a fair rate. I hope you are able to find a different person for this project”
I started selling myself short, charging people less than my time was worth in an effort to make sure they knew I was giving them a deal and that they would continue to hire me
I considered doing the project in the first place
Another day I will write about healthy boundaries in freelance, where I have thrived and where I have failed, the importance of saying no to projects that might be helpful to a client but don’t benefit you, AND why some of the work I do, I do for free. But for now, I want to encourage you to confidently charge what you are worth!
— Randa Hinton