Why I Don’t Work For Food

I got a call on Saturday, at about ten in the morning. My phone didn’t recognize the number; I usually let those go right to voicemail. For some reason, I answered.

The caller found me through an inactive Meetup.com group dedicated to ebooks. He expressed an interest in ebooks and in being an author and, as I seemed to be someone who knew my way around the space, could he buy me lunch and talk so he could learn more about ebooks, publishing, the industry, and my experiences and work?

My first instinct was to say yes, I’d be happy to meet. As we started working that out, a different instinct kicked in: professional survival.

Since helping authors and other creators bring their creative endeavors to fruition, to market, and to an audience is what I do for a living, I let him know I would have to consider our meeting a consultation.

Unsurprisingly, he backed off quickly. He wasn’t interested in a consultation, he said, just a conversation about ebooks, publishing, the industry, and my experience in it.

That sounds like a consultation to me.

I explained that I donate a good deal of my time and energy to mentoring and advice in various online forums and groups, but for a one-on-one meeting, I would have to charge him for the time.

He said he would text me some days and times when he was available, and asked if I could text him back what would work for me.

That’s when I knew he probably hadn’t looked at my website contact page.

As per that page, I asked him to go ahead and email me rather than text. I let him know I looked forward to getting the ball rolling once I got his email, thanked him for calling, and that was that.

If I hear from him again, perhaps we’ll do business. I’d like to.

What’s The Harm In Lunch?

I confess I felt… strange… telling someone they’d have to do more than buy me lunch to pay for my time and expertise. After all, I’ve traded time and knowledge for food in the past.

Talking about it with my girlfriend helped me remember: sure, I’d had one-on-ones with folks for little more than a cup of coffee or some French fries, but they’d been folks with whom I had already established a personal or professional relationship. And heck, some of ‘em insisted on paying for the time anyway (which was very nice.)

So I felt like less of a dick. But the incident made me think I ought to publicly clarify a few things.

Parts and Labor

You know how when you get your car fixed, sometimes the mechanic or bodyman might give you a little break here and there, especially if you’ve established a long-term working relationship with their shop? They might play with the labor costs. They usually can’t do much about the cost of parts.

As a creator and creative services provider, my brain and experience = “parts.” My time spent using my brain and engaging my experience = “labor.”

Brain, experience, and energy / time all come at a cost.

I might cut you a break on some of those things (or all of them, in the case of mentoring and contributing time in group settings) if we have an established relationship. Otherwise, though, I’m going to have to ask you to compensate me fairly or I’ll go out of business.

That’s why I think it’s fair to attach a price to a one-on-one meeting with me, especially if the purpose of that meeting is a flow of information from me to you.

What About A Get-To-Know?

I have get-to-know conversations with folks all the time. These are little meetings, usually via the phone or Skype but sometimes in person, where we talk about their project and figure out how, and if, I can best help them.

Sometimes it leads to a working relationship. Sometimes not. Sometimes, it leads to something down the line. I love get-to-know conversations, and I make a lot of time for them.

So What’s A Consultation Cost, Anyway?

As of this writing, my base rate is $60.00 per hour, with a $25.00 minimum. Consultations are nearly always charged at that base rate.

$60.00 / hour is the basis from which I price out all my work; the center of my number line, if you will.

My cost for projects–work that spans several days, weeks, or even months, and has many component tasks–nearly always works out to much less per hour. In other words, if we’re working on a giant website or book edit or some such and have a contract in place, I’m not going to charge you a buck a minute every time we have a business conversation that falls within the scope of that project.

In fact, I usually over-deliver.

Another Model: Office Hours

Something I’ve been thinking about doing might fall between the one-on-one paid consultation and the unpaid get-to-know meeting. It would provide a nice third alternative that people like my Saturday morning caller might find handy. This would specifically be for folks in the Long Beach / Orange County / Los Angeles region of southern Californa.

I’m establishing “office hours” to be held once or twice a month.

The idea: I’ll be at a public place, like a coffeehouse, on a pre-announced day for a set number of hours. Anyone who wants can swing by, join me, and we’ll talk about whatever you like.

Maybe it’s your work in progress. Maybe it’s my approach to ethical social media marketing, or storytelling. Maybe you just want to bounce ideas, or even talk about my own work (especially how lessons I’ve learned might benefit you, too). I don’t know. It’ll be an open thing. Office hours.

Maybe it’ll just be me and you. Maybe there’ll be a few of us. Folks might come and go. Who knows? Let’s try it.

If you want to pay me for my time and effort during office hours, I’ll graciously accept whatever monetary compensation you think is fair.

If you want to know when and where the next Office Hours will be, please sign up for notifications.

As always, I welcome your comments on this post!

This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading Why I Don’t Work For Food -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!