Why "charge what you're worth" advice doesn't work
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Charge what you’re worth isn’t great advice is the first sentence describing The Photo CEO Substack. While I understand the sentiment behind the phrase (empowering "girl bosses” everywhere), it’s just another platitude that doesn’t help women actually get paid for their efforts.
I tried to find the canon event of when the phrase became a part of the creative industry’s lexicon but let’s say early 2010’s with the boom of online business and social media. You couldn’t scroll 5 seconds without someone posting the quote “charge what you’re worth” in a sans serif, bold font to mean they meant business. Hell, I even drank the kool-aid with a twist: “charge what you’re worth… and add tax.”
I thought I was really doing something there.
I compare charge what you’re worth to the quote, “I love what I do so much I’d do it for free.” Y’all this quote is not a flex. First, I don’t know of any man who’d work for free without some sort of compensation or ROI (return on investment). Second, it’s signals how “virtuous” and “giving” women are to work out of the kindness of our hearts. You can keep it.
How do you actually “charge what you’re worth” when society tells you you’re worth 50 - 83 cents on the dollar? Or when people do not place monetary value on childcare and home labor? Or the lack of a federal paid maternity leave mandate?
How exactly are we supposed to confidently “charge what we’re worth” when the odds are seemingly stacked against women? These actions create insidious subconscious thoughts when it comes to pricing our services.
Out of curiosity, writer Abbey Woodcock conducted a survey in 2019 that highlighted women creative freelancers charge 47% less than men. Almost 50%! [Citation] In the same survey, Abbey mentioned that women compare pricing and negotiation to “going to the dentist” vs men who say it’s like “winning a ballgame.” Even how we discuss pricing, turning it more into an emotional choice vs strategy and negotiation, puts us at a loss.
I understand pricing is a personal decision; however, it’s not an entirely emotional one, not when your livelihood is on the line. In the words of Jay-Z, “men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.” In our current climate, women having their own money is resistance and protection in a society that frankly offers very few. Listening to our thoughts may keep many of us in the dark when it comes to advocating for ourselves. Charging a fair wage that covers our expenses and gives us breathing room requires us becoming equipped with knowledge and tools to advocate for ourselves.
Charging a fair wage that covers our expenses and gives you breathing room requires us becoming equipped with knowledge and tools to advocate for ourselves.
In The Photo CEO: Earn More, Work Smarter and Create a Photography Business You Love, I dedicate an entire chapter to pricing. I share formulas, excel documents and examples for how women can take more control over their pricing and finances.
Pricing takes into account various factors: market tolerance, location, experience level, messaging and scope of work. Let’s break down each one shall we?
Market Tolerance
Each market or customer segment has a market tolerance or sensitivity to pricing. We’re not immune to it. Small businesses or startups will have a different price sensitivity compared to a Fortune 500 company. The quote “charge what you’re worth” lacks nuance and context. I wouldn’t expect a company with 1 year of operations to be able to afford a $20,000 photo production package, but they could possibly afford a $3,500 - $4,000 package.
This isn’t to discourage anyone but to add the caveat, if you’re constantly getting told your rates are too high you may need to: adjust the market you’re promoting to OR lower the price and adjust the scope of work to match.
Location
In recent conversations several photographers have mentioned goals of working in editorial. However, editorial is shrinking by the minute. Moreover, the hubs that are left (ish) are based in New York (mostly) and Los Angelos. Sometimes you have to be where the money resides.
You may also need to expand your market to cover more metro areas or adjust your services to align with the market you live in.
An example: a New Orleans photographer enjoys doing events, but wants to increase their revenue. My suggestion: add conference photography as a revenue stream. Several years ago to my surprise, I learned New Orleans is a major conference city. Not including conferences, 130 festivals are held every year in NOLA. Based on this photographer’s experience I’m confident they could command $2,500/day for a full day of coverage.
Some people may lament at doing conference photography work because it’s not “sexy” or “creative” (as this photographer first mentioned). Except, boring is profitable. Unless we’re willing to relocate we have to be aware of the needs that we can serve in our existing communities.
Experience
I would never in good conscious tell someone with 1 year of working experience to charge $10,000 compared to someone with 3-5 years of work and education experience.
Sometimes people bite off a lot more than they can chew. Between lacking effective communication and a standardized process to take their clients from onboarding to final receipt of images, the experience is something left to be desired, causing photographers to be confused and wondering why their client retention rates are low.
I’ve discussed how photographers can make clients happy, increase retention rates and earn more money in various articles with simple steps and processes. I’ll link them at the end of the article.
The flip side is women with tons of experience who undercharge. In the story, Abbey mentioned female copywriters with 10+ years of experience were charging just 29 cents for every dollar their male counterpart charges. If you have 5 - 10 years of experience, you may be able to quadruple your rate. No, but seriously.
Expenses
We have varied expenses and we must take them into account when we create our pricing. We can’t just go off vibes. We must understand our expenses, projected tax liability and desired discretionary income when developing our pricing.
*A note on price increases*
My first package started at $500, then $750 (in 2017). I eventually doubled my rates every six to twelve months as I continued booking more clients.
If you want to make photography your sole or primary source of revenue it’s important to make bi-annual and/or annual price increases (while keeping your expenses low).
“Tamera, do you announce your price increases?” No. Moreover, I seldom list my prices because I don’t want to run the risk of being taken advantage of. In the same article by Abbey, women are 3 times more likely to have a visible rate sheet and charge 15% less that those who negotiate their rates privately. [Citation]
Messaging
Whether we like it or not perception is everything in our industry! Using words like affordable or entry level may signal to our audiences that our pricing should be low.
It’s best to use verbiage that communicates our clients’ desired results.
Examples: images to confidently promote themselves (or their services); images that become family keepsakes; take on content creation so clients can focus on running their business, etc.
Your Work & Energy Capacity
We often underestimate and ignore the time and work before and after a photo shoot. If work was a pie graph, photography would represent about 10-20 percent. The rest of our time is split between: the discovery call/proposal process, onboarding (deposit payment + agreement), planning (so much planning) + pre production, post production (retouching + final receipt of images). Not being financially compensated for our all of time can lead to burnout. In The Photo CEO I provide access to a hourly rate calculator so people can calculate how much their time should be worth.
Articles for increasing your client retention
My book The Photo CEO: Earn More, Work Smarter and Create a Photography Business You Love is now available on Amazon! It would mean the world to me if bought my book or even gifted it for a friend!