0:01 Figuring out how to price your work is
0:03 one of the most challenging parts of
0:04 being a freelance videographer,
0:06 especially when you're just starting
0:09 out, but really in all parts of the
0:10 journey. Partly because talking about
0:12 money is kind of taboo and kind of
0:14 intimidating. Partly because pricing
0:16 video work isn't static or singular.
0:18 It's fluid. And generally, it's based
0:21 projects. The [music] numbers change.
0:23 And without references, without the
0:24 ability to talk to other people in the
0:26 industry, have candid, honest
0:28 conversations about what they what they
0:30 charge, how they price, it's really hard
0:32 to get your bearings and understand what
0:34 your value and what you're worth
0:36 actually is. So, in today's video, I
0:37 want to break down exactly what I charge
0:40 and how I approach pricing real client
0:42 work in hopes that it will help you in
0:44 your journey figure out what you should
0:45 be charging and how you should be
0:47 pricing. And if you're farther along in
0:48 the journey than I am, you can let me
0:51 know down below what you think about my
0:52 pricing model. Maybe I'll learn
0:53 something as well and be able to shift
0:56 or change or up my rates based on your
0:57 input, feedback, and experience, which
0:59 is one of the beautiful things about
1:01 YouTube. Hopefully, honest, candid
1:03 conversations without any gatekeeping
1:05 can help us all advance and all grow in
1:07 our career. A rising tide raises all
1:09 ships. So, let's dive straight in and
1:12 talk about [music] money. Now, first and
1:14 foremost, like I said, every project is
1:17 a little bit different. It's really hard
1:19 just to give out one singular number and
1:21 say this is what you should be charging
1:22 because probably the most important word
1:24 is understanding scope. And this is
1:26 where communicating with clients is a
1:28 really big deal. Before you ever throw
1:31 out a quote or begin talking numbers or
1:33 money, you first have to understand the
1:34 scope of the project that you're being
1:36 approached to execute on. What are the
1:38 deliverables? How is the video going to
1:40 be used? What is the pre-production and
1:42 post-production requirements of your
1:44 time? What kind of gear is necessary? [music]
1:44 [music]
1:47 All of these pieces play a factor in how
1:49 you're going to price work. There's a
1:50 difference between just showing up as a
1:52 freelance videographer where you're
1:54 bringing a camera, you're pressing
1:55 record, and you're handing off raw
1:57 footage versus being involved in a
1:59 multi-day shoot where you're involved in
2:01 post-production and pre-production and
2:03 you're running multiple cameras and
2:05 running a team, right? They're totally
2:07 different beasts. So having
2:08 pre-production conversations with your
2:11 client, understanding the scope of what
2:13 they're expecting and what the project
2:14 actually entails, what the deliverables
2:17 are is absolutely paramount in pricing
2:20 your work appropriately. And I found
2:22 that most pricing or money stress in
2:24 client conversations really comes down
2:28 to an unclear scope. Pricing problems
2:30 are usually scope problems. And that's
2:31 the first thing we have to understand.
2:32 And so here are a couple questions I
2:34 like to ask clients to get a better idea
2:36 of scope so I can make a more informed
2:39 quote. Right? Those questions are, what
2:40 is this video for? How are you going to
2:42 use it for your business or your
2:44 company? What is the outcome or the call
2:45 to action that's a part of this? This
2:47 just helps you understand the value to
2:49 the client. Helps you understand the
2:51 scope. I'm going to use that word a lot
2:53 of the video that you're creating. Where
2:55 will it live? Is it a website video? Is
2:56 it a social media piece? Are they going
2:58 to be running paid ads against it? Is it
3:00 just internal? How many deliverables are
3:02 expected? Are you just shooting one
3:04 talking head interview? Do you need to
3:06 deliver cutdowns? Do you need to deliver
3:08 multiple videos, multiple interviews? Is
3:10 there uh a brand story piece, a mini
3:12 dock piece? Is there a campaign in here?
3:14 Right? These are all questions that help
3:16 you understand what's the timeline. Is
3:18 there a hard deadline or is there
3:21 flexibility? How involved do I need to
3:23 be in the project? Am I just showing up
3:25 and shooting? Am I directing, producing?
3:27 Am I editing and coloring? And right,
3:28 that's a really important question. and
3:30 how involved do I need to be in the
3:31 process? And then of course, it's
3:33 important to ask a client, what is the
3:35 budget that you have set aside for this
3:37 project? Now, I know in my experience
3:39 when I was first starting out, I hated
3:41 asking that question. It made me really
3:43 uncomfortable to ask clients about
3:44 budget. I I don't know what that was
3:46 exactly. There was just something in me
3:48 that had a little bit of fear about
3:49 asking clients about budget. But it is
3:51 so important to set the stage early in
3:53 the conversation to understand how the
3:55 client is approaching this project, what
3:57 budget they have in mind to just to make
3:59 sure you're even on the same page and in
4:01 the same ballpark. Clear scope [music]
4:04 equals clear pricing. Understanding your
4:07 value and charging accordingly. So with
4:08 all that out of the way, now let's talk
4:11 some hard numbers. There are sort of two
4:13 hard numbers that I use and that's my
4:15 day rate and my half day rate. Now like
4:17 I said, sometimes this applies,
4:18 sometimes it doesn't. But in full
4:21 transparency, my day rate, [music] which
4:23 is eight hours of shooting for me, I'll
4:24 bring two cameras, I'll bring two
4:26 lights, just a little threepoint
4:28 lighting setup with no pre-production
4:30 and really no post-production. I'm
4:31 showing up, I'm filming, I'm handing you
4:34 the raw files. For me, that's $1,200.
4:35 That's my current day rate. That's what
4:37 I'm charging. And so far, that has felt
4:38 good to me. And clients have been
4:40 willing to pay that. So, I know there
4:41 are people who charge more. I know there
4:43 are people who charge a little bit less.
4:44 That's sort of been the sweet spot. The
4:46 half day rate for me is 700 which is
4:49 just a little bit more than the full day
4:50 half of half of the full day rate just
4:52 because there is work on and packing and
4:54 loading and prepping gear that I want to
4:56 charge for right 4 hours 8 hours it's
4:58 not just half the amount of time because
5:01 of the prep work. So 700 1,200 those are
5:04 my baseline half day and day rate fees.
5:06 I found for me if I'm going to be away
5:08 from my family for 8 hours if I'm going
5:11 to have to take a day off from my my 9
5:14 to5 job put in for PTO 1,200 is the
5:15 number where that makes sense. When the
5:17 number starts to get too too much less
5:18 than that the work doesn't become as
5:20 worth it for me. So that's part of
5:21 figuring out your day rate is just
5:23 figuring out how much money you actually
5:25 willing to do the work for. Industry
5:28 standard aside, what is worth it to you?
5:29 Now, you want to be careful that you
5:30 don't go too low when you're just
5:32 starting out. Kind of shoot yourself in
5:33 the foot because you can set a bad
5:35 precedent and, you know, you can kind of
5:37 dig yourself in a little bit of a hole
5:38 where you're all of a sudden doing a lot
5:40 of money or you're all of a sudden doing
5:42 a lot of work for not a lot of money.
5:43 And you you do want to avoid that so
5:45 that you have room and opportunity to
5:47 grow as a professional moving forward.
5:49 But having a starting point is really
5:51 important. But like I said, that's not
5:53 the final quote. That's just where I
5:56 start. Now, occasionally I am hired just
5:58 as a a videographer to show up with my
6:00 cameras and my couple lights, shoot a
6:02 couple interviews, hand off raw footage,
6:03 but I found a lot of my projects are
6:05 more involved than that. But having that
6:07 day rate number is still a helpful
6:08 starting point as I begin to piece
6:11 together a larger quote. So, when do I
6:12 begin to expand off that day rate? Well,
6:14 like I said, it's when the scope begins
6:17 to shift away from just that basic
6:19 package. And you learn this really early
6:22 on in the conversation. So, one of the
6:23 things I like to do when I'm talking to
6:24 clients is help them understand there's
6:27 sort of this like golden triangle of
6:28 pricing. I this is didn't come up with
6:30 this, you've heard this probably other
6:31 places, but you can either have
6:33 something done fast, done well, or done
6:35 cheap. Generally speaking, you can't
6:37 have all three, right? So, if you want
6:39 it fast and good, it's going to be
6:40 expensive. If you want it fast and
6:42 cheap, it's probably not going to be
6:43 that high quality. So, you can kind of
6:45 use that to help your client understand
6:48 how they want to invest their money for
6:50 the final outcome that they're going to
6:53 get. So depending on the time that they
6:54 need to shoot the project, the
6:56 complexity of the project, the amount of
6:58 gear needed, how involved I need to be,
7:00 like I said, in editing the project or
7:02 in the pre-production, am I hiring and
7:04 bringing on crew? Uh what is the urgency
7:07 or the rush on the project? What is my
7:08 role other than just the shoot, right?
7:10 All of these things are scope
7:12 conversations that [music] increase my
7:15 price above that $1,200 day rate. And
7:17 these this is the piece that's a little
7:19 less defined for me. This is where I
7:20 still kind of have to figure out some
7:22 things project to project. I don't have
7:24 a set template where I just say if
7:25 there's this many extra hours of
7:27 shooting, I charge this much more. If
7:28 I'm editing, this is how much I charge.
7:30 And I do need to get a little bit better
7:33 about that probably. Generally speaking,
7:36 for editing jobs, I tend to float in the
7:39 $90 to $100 an hour for extra hours on
7:41 work. You know, $100 an hour, somewhere
7:44 in that range. But overall, this pricing
7:45 triangle helps me have conversations
7:48 with my client [music] about how we're
7:51 about the quote and helps me approach
7:53 those conversations with a level of
7:55 confident. It allows me to frame pricing
7:57 as a problem-solving exercise and
8:00 opportunity. [music] Right? We can tie
8:02 monetary value to specific outcomes
8:05 aligned with their priorities for their
8:07 specific project. So I can say things
8:08 like, hey, if we want to keep the
8:10 quality really high and still deliver on
8:11 the timetable that you need, we're going
8:13 to have to increase our budget a little
8:15 bit in these areas. And it's really
8:17 helpful to be able to ground that
8:19 conversation in in tangible outcomes
8:21 such as quality and time. So of course,
8:23 these are all soft rules and there are
8:25 of course cases where I break these
8:26 rules. Like I broke down in a video a
8:28 couple video ago about this podcast that
8:30 I'm editing, right? I'm breaking some of
8:32 my own rules because that is a client
8:34 that I have a previous relationship
8:36 with. It's work I was excited about. And
8:37 these are some reasons why you might
8:39 charge a little less than you would
8:41 otherwise, right? Long-term clients,
8:42 editing only projects, flexible
8:45 timelines, slower seasons, uh ministry
8:47 or church work for me is a big deal
8:49 where I like to give a little bit of a
8:50 discount, relationship building
8:52 opportunities. [music] These are all
8:53 maybe different scenarios where you'll
8:55 take a little bit of a pay cut because
8:56 you really want the work. You're
8:58 invested in the work. You care deeply
8:59 about the relationship. And that is
9:01 totally fine. There are no hard fast
9:02 rules when it comes to video work. And
9:04 you can absolutely charge what you want
9:06 for a project. Really, what matters at
9:07 the end of the day is that the money is
9:10 worth it to you, not what anybody on
9:11 YouTube or any other platform says that
9:13 you should be charging. So, take this
9:16 all with a huge grain of salt. Like I
9:18 said, I'm still fairly new in my career.
9:21 I I'm just putting this out there as a
9:22 helpful resource for you. Not not trying
9:24 to say this is how you need to do it,
9:26 but I know I would have found a video
9:27 like this helpful [music] when I was
9:28 sort of just beginning and figuring out
9:30 my pricing structure and strategy. And I
9:32 hope if you disagree or if you have a
9:33 different structure strategy that you'll
9:35 let me know so that I can learn from you
9:38 as well. So just a couple closing
9:40 thoughts, right? Pricing will never feel
9:41 perfect. It's always going to be a
9:43 little bit of a challenging conversation
9:44 where you're having to adapt client to
9:46 client and that is okay. I think
9:48 flexible pricing is really important
9:50 because projects are flexible, right? So
9:53 generally speaking, clarity is
9:55 important. Clarity equals confidence.
9:57 clarity on scope, clarity on pricing,
9:59 clarity in communication, that will help
10:02 the relationship so much. So, I know
10:05 it's challenging, um, but I found the
10:07 more just direct and upfront I can be in
10:09 having conversations around finances,
10:10 the better the relationship is, the
10:11 better the project goes, the more
10:14 smoother things run for everybody.
10:15 Actually being afraid to talk about
10:18 budget, to be talk about money has sort
10:20 of hurt me in the past with clients and
10:22 it just creates a weird vibe. So, just
10:23 be honest, be upfront. This is a
10:26 business transaction and that is an okay
10:28 thing. So there you go. That's how I
10:30 approach pricing my video work. I hope
10:32 that was helpful for you. I'd love to
10:34 hear down below if you think there's
10:36 ways in which I could approve or where
10:37 what you're doing, how you're
10:39 approaching charging and pricing your
10:40 video work. Catch you in the next one. Peace.
