It's unique when we as media professionals don't have to justify our prices. What a time those were when the computer world wasn't that advanced and graphic design and video production were still real craftsmanship. Today it is often said that the media worker sits at the PC and “click…click…click” and the layout is ready – and we want 80, 90 or even 100 euros per hour for that?
Clearly, in the past we put together the layout by hand from images, fonts and elements, which we can now easily do on the computer. But one thing hasn't changed - the designer's creativity. We are responsible for ensuring that the brochure becomes a customer magnet, so that the web design encourages your customers to stay and continue browsing, or that the film has an emotional and lasting effect.
This includes not only creativity, appropriately acquired specialist knowledge and the necessary hardware and software, but also years of professional experience.
It is often forgotten that we media professionals also have a life that we have to finance. Because we do not do our work for the joy of mercy, but rather to survive in our society and secure our pension.
That's why no one should sell themselves short. But where do we media professionals get our prices from? A simple example makes this clear to both clients and like-minded people.
An employee with a good income earns between 30,000 and 40,000 euros net per year. This is exactly the amount that we media professionals strive for as net income per year, after deducting all taxes.
If we calculate the working hours per year as 8 hours per day, we arrive at around 1,600 working hours after deducting public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays, vacation days, sick days and training days. However, we self-employed people cannot complete paid orders around the clock. There are also things like accounting, writing offers and invoices, self-promotion, unpaid extra work on projects, updates on your own website, attending seminars, etc.
So around 35-45% of the working time is uncalculated time. Effectively, we only have around 1,000 hours per year in which we actually earn money.
During this time, you not only have to earn the 30,000 to 40,000 euros that should remain as your “net salary” at the end of the year. All personnel and company costs must also be covered. After all, we have to see ourselves as our own employees of our agency and of course we don't want to be worse off than someone in a permanent position. There are therefore around 30% additional costs for “personnel and company”. These are around 15,000 euros for health and nursing care insurance, pension insurance, professional liability and professional legal protection. Capital-forming benefits are also an issue or grants that permanent employees also receive. There are also special expenses for continued payment of wages during vacation or further training. Calculated over the year, this results in another 5,000 euros, which also have to be earned.
But that's not the end of the equation, because the company itself also incurs costs. Inventory, work materials, travel costs, vehicle costs, office rent, electricity, water, telephone, costs for self-promotion, software licenses, hardware, repair costs and the calculative risk result in additional costs of around 35,000 euros per year for a small office.
Conclusion:Only an hourly rate of 100 euros or more makes self-employment profitable and we work based on entrepreneurial facts - and therefore have an income that corresponds to a permanent position. Any entrepreneur who knows anything about calculations should also come to this conclusion.
Something should never be forgotten: good cooperation is based on mutual satisfaction. Price pressure to the point of pain generally leads to dissatisfaction on both sides.
The quote from the English social reformer John Ruskin (1819-1900) speaks true words here:
"If you pay too much, you lose some money, that's all. On the other hand, if you pay too little, sometimes you lose everything..."
Good advertising has its price, but it is many times more successful than advertising that was created through price pressure.
