During the pandemic, I was fired. Surprisingly I was happy, so after checking job offers with poor salaries or low-quality time, I started to help people, and my word of mouth started to be in different companies, clients, and agencies.
However, understanding how much my fee was was one of the most uncomfortable topics to learn to handle. Even now, a lot of colleagues as me a lot how much is fair and my answer is: Your fee is valuable according to your results, ROI and KPIS, and life cycle in the market.
The worst mistake that I started at that point was implementing services as digital ads to my portfolio with a ‘friend’. I asked for a low fee because I felt unprepared to offer that service.
However, the results were bad in fixed costs that we didn’t consider, the client was rude, and my payment got delayed more than five months. I told this story because negotiating poorly is a frustrating experience.
People will say that that’s the way to learn. However, I don’t see it this way. Feelings such as regret, and embarrassment are during the journey of ‘learning’. For that reason, after that experience, I learned this useful thing:
- Make a meeting with a lawyer, and accountant before takes projects: As marketers, PR, or brand managers, have this conversation, make sure about foreign currencies, and the money that you receive. Regulations are different in every country, is better to be sure of all the details before taking a client.
2. Stablish everything on paper: Be completely detailed with contracts, meetings, and calls, this really helps to know if the client is valuable.
3. Be sure of your payment deadlines: Some companies make payments even 120 days after the project finishes. Is valuable this kind of negotiation? Make more charges if isn’t helpful.
4. Be confident in uncertain times with your price: When business isn’t going well, change your mindset, and don’t take projects that aren’t fair for being desperate. Good work is always appreciated.
