March 1, 2019
Should You Work for Less Than Your Normal Fee?
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(7)
March 1, 2019
Should You Work for Less Than Your Normal Fee?
I've been an eLearning designer and developer since 2005. In 2015 I started my own eLearning design company. I began creating Adobe Captivate video tutorials to help promote my business through my YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/captivateteacher. My intention with my YouTube videos was to attract attention from organizations looking for a skilled Captivate developer. This strategy proved successful as I've worked with clients worldwide, helping them build highly engaging eLearning solutions. In addition, my YouTube channel presented another benefit of attracting aspiring Captivate developers to seek me out as a teacher. I now offer online and onsite training on Adobe Captivate, teaching users the skills to build engaging and interactive learning.
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I recently saw an article on LinkedIn by a fellow instructional designer Ralonda Simmons. She posed the question to the community about whether we should work for free when we start in the learning and design industry. I guess I’m not surprised that organisations are doing this, but I’ve also had time to reflect on this discussion, and I thought I would share my thoughts here as well.

When I was starting as a freelance elearning designer, developer, I would get requests from what I thought were potential clients asking for me to work for less or even in some cases work for free. They argued that the experience I would gain from the project they wanted me to work on would be valuable when seeking other work in the future. Another tactic I’ve run into is the false promise of additional future work for the organisation. For example, if I reduce my usual rates, it could lead to more profitable work after the project concludes.

Upon further reflection though, I realised it isn’t so cut and dry. The best example in my world is my YouTube channel. I think that some people assume that because there are so many YouTube millionaires that I must be doing well from the ad revenue from my Adobe Captivate YouTube tutorials. I decided to work out what ad revenue I receive from my videos. I’m sorry to report that it’s about $12 per video for the entire lifetime of my YouTube channel. I typically spend anywhere from an hour to about three hours creating these videos.

I also speak at the Adobe conferences each year. Adobe is very generous in that they pay my expenses to speak at the conference. However, my business isn’t earning while I’m away for these events.

While it doesn’t cost me to speak at a conference or cost me very much to make a YouTube video, the return on the investment is from the influx of potential clients I get from these activities. For example, one of the most significant projects I worked on last year came from a stakeholder watching one of my videos on YouTube. They told me later on that seeing my videos was what convinced them to reach out to me and eventually hire me for a job that represented about 50% of my earnings last year.

So my advice when someone asks me if they should consider working for less than their standard rate, think what the return on investment might be. I enjoy coming to conferences and making my YouTube videos. I probably wouldn’t do these activities if I didn’t enjoy the creative process. I could say with confidence that I wouldn’t be earning as much in other areas of my business if I didn’t do these activities. That said, don’t get sucked into the belief that the experience you gain working for free will be worth it, but consider how you can turn something you love to do into a way to earn some extra income.

7 Comments
2019-03-04 19:35:11
2019-03-04 19:35:11

Working for free is rarely a good option if you are a professional. I’m not talking about volunteering to do some social services, but about the professional environment.

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2019-03-03 15:44:03
2019-03-03 15:44:03

Some 10 years ago, I set up a free public nursing education website – no fees, no registration and no ads.  I started out with several nursing quizzes and educational games and eventually expanded to include some elearning modules. Over the years I have continued to add quizzes and games and online courses.

Although the site was initially intended for informal learning and review of nursing fundamentals for practicing nurses, it became very popular with nursing instructors for use as supplementary resources. Now we have hundreds of nursing programs and thousands of students from around the world using the site every day. One of the advantages of having your own education website, is that it allows me to explore new ways of teaching and learning using digital technologies. This serves as a useful showcase for potential clients.

I kept being asked what was the business model I was using – how was I able to pay for the development of these resources and operation of the site. Even my spouse thought I was nuts to offer these educational resources for free.

Guess what? Because of credibility and success of the website, I was approached by various health professions organizations requesting the development of custom elearning for their users. So over the last 5 years, I have had as much paid contracts as I could handle. And best of all, these are often repeat customers who either want to update their existing online courses and resources, or develop new ones. I don’t even have to look for business anymore. So the site has more than paid for the time and effort I invested into it.

I recall complaining to my accountant that this website was not making me any money. His response was, “Well, at least when you go to bed each night, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you made the world a better place and may have even saved a few lives.” So it not always about the money!

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Russell-13003995
's comment
2019-03-03 15:57:25
2019-03-03 15:57:25
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Russell-13003995
's comment

Yes very similar to my own story. I sometimes second guess myself when I give away content for free, however, in the end, it has somehow paid itself back tenfold.

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2019-03-03 09:33:36
2019-03-03 09:33:36

i work in the “other side of the question”. In my company we are 15 person and we have a lot of new projects every week. in this cases we need a support of an external instructional designer, but always we haven’t a lot of money to pay them correctly, because, after, we need to sell it to our customer. For this reason we decided to go in outsourcing only for big projects, because freelances are most interested when you talk about a long period of work and most disponible to less honorarios for that work.
i think that the real problem is that the customers want have the most improve of their people with the most minimal investment. And the second point is that they consider instructional designer a creative job as a guitarist, only a hobby, but we know that isn’t true for ID as much as for guitarist/pianist. Customer don’t want to pay professionality they “only” want the best result with minimal investment.
i think this is the illogical story of instructional design in Italy, not only eLearning but also in traditional courses.

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marika marika
's comment
2019-03-03 15:54:58
2019-03-03 15:54:58
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marika marika
's comment

This conversation has the potential to be very divisive. We should proceed carefully.

I feel that paying someone less for the same work because of where that person lives and their regional economic condition is unethical. For example, if I choose to live in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, should I be paid less than someone who lives in New York City, or Los Angeles? Sure the cost of living is lower for me than persons living in those areas, but the work is the same.

That said, I don’t have a problem paying a developer less for a level 1 course versus paying a developer for a level 3 course. In that case, the compensation for the work is according to the level of complexity.

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Paul Wilson
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2019-03-04 16:49:51
2019-03-04 16:49:51
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Paul Wilson
's comment

This “feels” (seems) like a problem that hasn’t really worked itself out yet. Traditionally in the US, location influences salary in a large way. The cost of living in San Diego (for example) is much higher, so in turn, salaries are higher and comp.any provided recruiting incentives are greater. I don’t think practices revolving around the relatively new gig economy are full formed. I think it will get better. I do see an emerging theme here in the comments; If your going to be working for free or at a discount, do it on your own terms.

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Todd Spargo
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2019-03-04 17:19:17
2019-03-04 17:19:17
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Todd Spargo
's comment

Todd you are correct about location. Unfortunately as I have noted in the last couple of years, it  is the impact of offshore eLearning operations, most originating in the Asian sub continent offering their services to North American customers at hourly rates, substantially less than North American average for eLearning developers that has impacted this industry.

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