I'm not a very good businessman as evidence by asking this question. A lot of my friends own PC's and are not comfortable enough creating music CD's or DVD's from their movie cameras on their own machines, so they ask me to do the work on my Mac. I never know what to charge them, so often I do the work and since they are friends, don't charge them at all. The latest project took me over 20 hours to offload movies from a video camera, edit the film using iMovie, adding transitions and titles and special effects then using iDVD to burn multiple copies. All told I spent over 22 hours on this project over 5 days. So what would be a fair price for that kind of work? I don't like charging friends but the less I charge, the more they request me to do. Any suggestions? thanks, Rick

If you were to charge what your time, effort and expertise are worth you will definitely have considerably fewer requests from your friends for this type of work. What are you worth? If you want to get an idea of what it would cost them check with some of the local providers of this type of service.

Another resolution is what can you barter for that they can do for you.

Just "my opinions", based on what you've related.

Depending on long you've been doing similar work for free, and depending how close your group of friends are (and, how well they know each other), you may have already created a difficult, personal situation/dilemma that may be very hard to reverse. Mostly because you've already set a precedent. Gratis.

Strictly from a business standpoint, precedents are very difficult to overcome. If a client, on a professional level, gets the first job cheap (even though you are only trying to get your foot in the door), the low price is expected in the future - and clients will typically be obstinate if you start to charge more. Friends might even be tougher, on a personal level.

All of us tend to do things for friends. And, usually we are more than willing to do so - because in most instances it may require a very minimal amount of time. However, 22 hours is not a minimal amount of time.

Hmmmmm. In the future, I'd personally consider this if I was in your situation. If asked again, I'd basically say something like "I'd love to do your project, but I really can't do the large projects for free anymore. They just take too much time and effort." Perhaps, they will make you an offer for an hourly or flat rate for the project. The easiest approach is to leave the decision up to them.

I sympathize. Been there, done that. Good Luck.

Rick,
Can I be your friend?

quote:

Can I be your friend?

Well, if you're a female, of course we can be friends. If you're male, I'm not accepting any more friends. thanks, Rick

My 2 cents:
If you've done quite a few of these projects, you've built up some expertise that is definitely worth charging for. If your friends are true friends, they will understand that & be willing to discuss any work accordingly.

I like Mike's idea to just be up front with the amount of time required, and go from there. Also, those for whom you've done favors before have the advantage of knowing the results they'll get. That's REAL value to them.

P.S. FWIW, We've had occasional various types of work done by personal friends who were highly skilled in the area needed. Personally, we NEVER request something without offering to pay them. If they don't ask much, we usually give them something extra.

Are your friends providing copyright free music for the project? If not, it's just plain illegal to use commercial recordings. If they ever use the CD or DVD commercially you'd be the one sued as the producer, not them. Once this hurdle is passed set an hourly rate and estimate the time the job will take, then offer a 15% friendship "discount".