{"id":129,"date":"2015-11-19T08:14:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T08:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beawesomenotbroke.com\/?p=129"},"modified":"2017-03-31T14:16:56","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:16:56","slug":"how-to-define-your-value-and-charge-what-youre-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beawesomenotbroke.com\/newsletter\/how-to-define-your-value-and-charge-what-youre-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"How to define your value and charge what you’re worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

I met up with a friend last week who wanted to connect, saying that it was \u201curgent\u201d. He\u2019d been a freelancer his whole life and was about to take his first full time \u201ccorporate\u201d job at a video game company.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I fucked up.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Spoiler alert: he hadn’t. He had just been the first to throw out a number in salary negotiations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut what if they were going to offer me more? What if I just screwed myself?”<\/span><\/p>\n

His response was totally understandable. We\u2019re taught that negotiating a salary is about posturing, gamesmanship, not giving in, Me vs. Them, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

He then pulled out a conversation flow chart he\u2019d made – it had all the potential responses they could come back with, based on his ask, and what his responses would be to each. He was trying to calculate all possible scenarios and craft a response ahead of time. It was pretty adorable.<\/span><\/p>\n

I just started at square one. \u201cSo, why did you give them that number in the first place?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He had a fairly reasonable response. \u201cWell, I took what I was making part-time with them, doubled it, and then added in a little extra.”<\/span><\/p>\n

On the surface it makes sense – he should double his part-time rate since he\u2019d be going from 20 to 40 hours a week. Not sure how he\u2019d justify the \u201clittle extra\u201d to the company, but it\u2019s possible they’d just accept it. Yet there was something missing from this discussion, and without it all numbers would be completely arbitrary:<\/span><\/p>\n

What is important to the company?<\/strong><\/span>
\n And in that context, what is the value you are giving to them?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s something that employees, consultants or freelancers rarely ask themselves. But without knowing your value to them, how do you know what problems need to be solved and why they need YOU to do it?<\/span><\/p>\n

In my friend\u2019s case, the problem wasn’t that he\u2019d been the first to throw out a number. It was that he had no idea how to justify that number because he didn’t know what matters most to the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, they want to bring him on full time. But is it because of his skills as a mixer, project manager, composer, or all three? He also doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s most important to the company – is it them keeping costs low, not giving away equity, creating the best video game music out there, simply not having shitty music…? Without knowing these things, the company could come back and say \u201csorry, we can\u2019t give you what you\u2019re asking for\u201d. And he would have no idea how justify a higher salary because he doesn\u2019t know what they actually care about.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that what could be most important to the company (i.e. keeping costs low) doesn\u2019t align with what my friend sees as his value (creating an awesomely scored video game). It can feel shitty to find out the company’s priorities end up being different than his, but at least he\u2019d be aware and everyone would be on the same page.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet that also allows him a chance to get creative. He could take less upfront cash in exchange for total creative control over the game\u2019s music, if that is what\u2019s most important to him. It could be that having a video game score he\u2019s proud of and can show off to other game developers is worth the lesser salary. Or maybe not, and he could always walk away because their expectations and his sense of value don\u2019t align.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most important takeaway?\u00a0Start a conversation<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0with the person across the table. Be truly interested in\u00a0what\u2019s most important<\/strong>\u00a0to them and\u00a0the problems they want solved<\/strong>. Once you understand those you\u2019ll be able to articulate why you\u2019re the best person to solve their problems, based on your talents and the value you provide. And if it\u2019s ultimately not a good fit, recommend someone else and move on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, moment of realness – I realize that\u2019s not easy to do. It\u2019s really effing hard. Because it\u2019s not actually a conversation about what\u2019s important to your boss\/employer – it\u2019s you putting a cold, hard dollar figure on what they think you\u2019re worth to them. And that\u2019s incredibly scary. What if their sense of your value isn\u2019t what you expected? Does that mean you aren\u2019t good enough? Are you crazy for thinking your worth is higher than they think it is? It has the potential to play into all of your insecurities, doubts and vulnerabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

BUT – if you are willing to ask and also willing to listen, you\u2019ll know exactly where you both stand and how to move forward. It\u2019s analogous to being in a personal relationship and being willing to say \u201cI love you\u201d first. You\u2019re the one saying \u201cthis is where I\u2019m at and what I want\u201d, the person taking the leap, exposing yourself to a potential \u201cno, you\u2019re not the one\u201d. Yet in my experience it\u2019s ALWAYS better to be the vulnerable one, to jump first, and to start that conversation. And I say this as someone who\u2019s almost\u00a0never\u00a0<\/strong>been the one to do it – I just really admire every person who has.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I believe that\u2019s enough relationship analogies and dating advice for one newsletter. This is what happens when I go on a \u201cDear Abby\u201d reading binge. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming…<\/span><\/p>\n

If this idea of discovering and articulating your\u00a0value\u00a0<\/strong>sounds useful, check out this\u00a0free email course<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0by Brennan Dunn. I went through it, and it was helpful as a\u00a0mother-lover<\/a><\/span><\/span>. He discusses how to identify what business problems people have, how you can uniquely solve them, and how to communicate the value you\u2019ll provide from a place of confidence. It\u2019s geared towards helping freelancers increase their income, but is useful for anyone who wants to value their work (and themselves) more highly.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a topic I\u2019m super interested in and am actively helping people with, so I\u2019d love to hear from you. Seriously – garrett@www.beawesomenotbroke.com<\/a><\/span><\/span>. Let me know if you aren\u2019t sure what your boss\/clients value you for, or if you\u2019re struggling to articulate what value you provide. Again, I\u2019m actively going through and working on this, so let\u2019s have a chat about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Love,<\/span>
\n Gairy Queen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I met up with a friend last week who wanted to connect, saying that it was \u201curgent\u201d. He\u2019d been a freelancer his whole life and was about to take his first full time \u201ccorporate\u201d job at a video game company. \u201cMan, I fucked up.” Spoiler alert: he hadn’t. He had just been the first to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22,21],"yoast_head":"\nHow to define your value and charge what you're worth - Be Awesome Not Broke<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beawesomenotbroke.com\/newsletter\/how-to-define-your-value-and-charge-what-youre-worth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to define your value and charge what you're worth - Be Awesome Not Broke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I met up with a friend last week who wanted to connect, saying that it was \u201curgent\u201d. 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