I agree 100%. I have a friend who is in exactly that position, and I keep telling him over and over that by reducing his prices all the time and giving in, he is just going to keep working for a certain level of client who expects the world for nothing.The other big thing I've learned is the kind of client you attract by having the lowest prices. After 2 years of working for an employer that would buckle and discount prices just to keep and expand his client base, I can tell you that the majority of these clients are anything but nice to work with. Most of these people are so focused on the bottom line that they will sabotage their own project and put out a shoddy product just to save a few bucks. Getting caught in an environment like this causes serious and fast-acting burnout.
Bingo!"If you have to compete solely on price, you must be lacking in service, value, or quality."
All the self BS that we’ve been enduring about this grinner character about his experience, how busy he is, all the work he does, all the money he makes and this is it?I just bid a flat $3k on a project. Will I make a boatload on this particular project? Less than that grand a day I mentioned as I'll put 4 days into it after travel.
True, but different clients have different budgets.You don’t get clients by being cheaper than you competitors, you get them by being better than your competitors.
Right you are, most good freelancer don’t even know that this board exists and evidently most on this board have no clues of what a good, well trained and educated freelancers is or does.And frankly, you're probably the only person on this board that would turn down his nose at earning $1000 a day.
Don't flatter yourself, nothing that have or do would ever "ruffle my feathers", it's your knowledge of this profession and the tons of manure that you keep spreading around here that amuses me to no end.Regardless, what I charge should not ruffle your feathers .
Let's look at the list of hilarity and find out exactly why it's so funny that you claim folks are "jealous" of you:That, in a nutshell, is what has the bashers bashin', man. I've noted the ones who do that wish they could go out on their own and be successful at it and either can't, or don't have the courage/confidence to try.
Those who undercut are stabbing every cameraman in the back, including themselves....know the difference between competing as a professional and stabbing a buddy in the back...
If you were a professional, you would know why.If I bid $9k on a project and someone else gets it because they bid $8k, that frees me up to do other things. I don't see it as a loss. I could have bid less if I wanted to work for less. Totally up to me. How could I get mad at someone else over that?
Well said. Everyone has that "little voice" inside that tells them when they are about to do something wrong. Some guys listen to it and stop, others don't.I guess it's all in how you want to lead your life. I have friends who will go on vacation and trust me to cover them while they are gone. They know the clients won't be touched.
I've also been at big multi-cam shoots where a group of cameramen will be standing around chatting,but they suddenly clam up or change the subject when another cameraman walks up. They know they can't trust the guy.
I don't want to be that guy. It's a personal choice.
I have to admit CD you are spot on.Let's look at the list of hilarity and find out exactly why it's so funny that you claim folks are "jealous" of you:
1. You taped a small camera to your kid's bicycle handlebars,
2. You stuffed a bunch of equipment into a trunk -- without padding -- and took it across town,
3. You used rolling chairs to raise your consumer tripod higher at a "professional" shoot,
4. You attempted to cheat in the B-Roll.net Awards (you tried to enter a story into "In Depth" that was three years old and entered a number of other press junkets into the incorrect categories just so you could enter more than one),
5. You made numerous claims that you've "sold shows,"
6. Of the shows you claimed to have sold, one was an incorrectly-used phrase ("Mute Point") and the other didn't net any search engine results,
7. 95% of your "contributions" are nothing more than a spammy response that say nothing of interest or reaffirm a point already made by someone else,
8. You attack proven professionals on the forum as if they have no clue what they're talking about,
9. Google searches of your name show the exact same behaviour out of you in forums like Creative Cow.
Then, when people (very correctly) raise objections to your idiotic routines, you claim they're "jealous?"
What a joke!
Nobody cares about your home movies. Nobody cares about your lame-ass press junkets. Nobody cares about your irresistible urge to document all the stupid crap you do. To sit there and claim people are jealous is hilarious.
Nino's input is far more worthwhile than anything you think you know in St. Louis. Instead of drooling your inexperience all over your brightly-colored keyboard, shut up and listen. Stop using that stupid middle-school "you're just jealous" cop-out.
If you'd really like to compare bank accounts and clients, my money is definitely on Nino.