Here's a little rant, it pertains a lot to fellow freelancers.

I just had a sweet revelation I thought I'd share.
There is a lot of talk about how to properly price a freelance job.
My epiphany is that it's the basic interest formula. I=PRT
So I used to price things on Value=Rate x Time

But really it's Interest, I'll explain...
We should be charging based off of investment/returns, not flat labor rates.

Example

you do a shit poster, 3 hour deadline at $60 and hour, you shave your numbers and charge 140$ Because you fucking know they can barely afford that shit. Meanwhile you do the same work for a company with money...
They can pay the $180 like it's a bee sting and you are a ripped off asshole, so the rate is not doing you a service.

So algebra is here to save you.
I=PRT

You get a job, evaluate the prospective earnings (that's (I) (interest))
Then look at your client, guesstimate their total expenditure for this event (that's (P) principle)
Now comes your input, what is your rate? What percent of their investment/earnings does your work deserve? If you are playing along, demand a 10% commission so I can do the math quickly.
So there's our rate for argument's sake, 10%, which is .1 and is represented by (R). (T) is the period of time your client is literally paying you money.
So let's creat a specturm of expamples.
Poorfag A has $200(principle) for a GD budget, and a 3 hour dead line. I=PRT = I/P=RT

So - x/200=.1(3) | x = 60
Richafag has 4,500(principle), same formula.

So - x/4500=.1(3) | x = 1,350

>>257440
So to give a non mathematical run down. If you knew you customer was ready to spend about $4,000 on consumation and you were to spend 3 hours working on said branding,you shoudl charge 1,350 dollars.


We can apply this formula to any job, just adjust the rate (R) as you see fit. Think of it like this, what % of you clients buget per hour should go to you?

Here are a couple examples....
"MINIE'S MUFFINS"
the customer has invested 12,000 in renovations, now they want a logo, web page, vehicle letttering and main ID sign. First thing we do is assume the adddtional post renovation tasks will cost ~3,000.

So 12,000 + 3,000 + 15,000.


I(your Profit) = ((P) 15,00)((R).1)((T)guess 30 hours for webb page, logo developement, sign layout and assorted tasks)

I = 1,500x.1x30 = $4,500


So this is roughly a $4,500 project, assuming all branding responsibilities including web presence.
Next...

"Fags finicky franks"

He owns the trailer, needs no web presence because it's corporate, simply needs you to adapt the existing branding standards to his trailer + local swag.

(I) is our profit
=
(P) principal - he's spent about 25,000 on the food truck, we'll call he's ready to spend an abysimall 1,000 moving forward.
(I) is our rate - we'll stay with %10 (.1)
(t) our estimated time to set the corporate graphics up scaled and viable to meet his new trailers proportional limitations. ( call it 2)

So x = 1,000(.1)(2) + x = 200


So you should get around $200 for this assuming the corporate artwork was provided to you.

Interesting. I like the general idea, but how do you even gauge someone's Principle? If you just ask "what's the maximum you're willing to spend for this project," any number you end up getting that's even remotely close to that will seem like you're trying to rip them off.

>>257442

There is a bit of espionage here, and yes you are right there is no hard read. You need to as a designer - feel them out a bit. Loosen their tongue a bit and you should get a realistic expectation of their capital.

>>257442

Generally you should be able to feel out your clients immediate + consolidated budget during your design consultation, push a bit of marketing advice, it will reveal additional financial nuances.