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How Much Are You Worth? Determining Your Day Rate with Ryan E. Walters

01.4.13 @ 9:24AM Tags : dayjob, freelance, ryanewalters, work

This is a guest post by Cinematographer Ryan E. Walters.

One of the most challenging aspects with any creative endeavor is trying to figure out how to price and charge for your services. This is especially true when you are first starting out. Price yourself too low and you will not have a sustainable business model, and price yourself too high and people may laugh at the rate you are charging in comparison to your experience level and skill. The good news is that as you progress in your experience, you will get a more accurate sense of what it takes to render your services, and how to charge for them. But where and how do you begin? That’s what I want to help you figure out… More »

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Hours Don't Lie: Why Tracking Time = Getting Things Done (and Why to Live Abroad)

03.31.11 @ 2:17PM Tags : freshbooks, hours, productivity, screenwriting, time, timemanagement, work, writing

[photo: Darren Tunnicliff]

Plenty of us say we’re working on a [screenplay, novel, song, portfolio, website, acting career] while we we’re only [waiting tables, editing copy, being an assistant] to pay the bills. But the truth of the matter is, if we spend 40 hours a week doing [the latter] and we only find a few hours to do [the former], which of these tasks is more important to us?

The truest indicator of what’s important to us is the amount of time we devote to something. Not what we spend money on. No what we say we care about. So for the last 16 months, I’ve tracked my time religiously. What have I found? Hours don’t lie. Once you know where your hours are going, you can start changing your behavior in order to achieve your goals. More »