What are you worth?
There’s a real problem with fees at the moment, no matter how low you’ll go someone else will do it for less. Hey, why shouldn’t they? After all we all need to make a living and if they’re not working on that day then surely agreeing to work for a p**s poor fee is okay. No it isn’t – not for you, not for me, not for the whole profession. I realise that some performers are worth exactly what there charging and they should continue to offer their second rate services for a pittance, but C”MON you working pro’s who don’t claim to do everything from kids parties to funerals – keep the fees up at a “professional” level. Why? because when this whole financial mess that we’re in disappears you and I will have a tough job convincing anybody that we’re worth what we’re really worth.
I recently got beaten to a job that quite frankly had my name written all over it. They needed Hustle style magic, they needed to draw a crowd, they needed ME! After I shaved my fee down to the bone and JUSTIFIED this to the client they came back to tell me that they had found someone willing to do it for £100 less per day. As this was a 6 day gig it saved them a massive £600 (sarcasm). Now maybe the guy they got was great and maybe I have no right in thinking that I would have done a better job, but it frightens me to think that people are selling themselves so short. If you don’t feel that you can offer the value that determines a reasonable fee then maybe you should look at the profession you’re in.
