Affordable vs Under Paying

As an active participant in online discussions, sometimes something just annoys the PANTS off me. This time it’s affordable pricing vs under paying for services.

Otherwise known as paying people fairly for their work.

Earlier this week, a woman online said that she had asked three shortlisted job applicants to write a social media campaign for her, using her assets, so they could demonstrate this at their final job interview. I admit, I am biased here because I am a Social Media Manager and was an SMM freelancer and I know what’s involved in “just throw together a few assets and write some text.” OMG I wanna swear so hard right now.

A person working at a laptop with a notebook and pen, and a disembodied hand holding a lightbulb with a dollar sign marked on it.
Sure, 20c should cover my electricity bill, just leave it on the corner of the desk.

Today…

Today someone had a bit of a comment that they were a bit sick and tired of people always asking for services that ‘don’t cost an arm and a leg.’ Which then devolved into these camps:

  • I want everything cheap, they just take photos/write stuff/use Canva, how hard is that?
  • There was this time I totally underpaid for this amazing experience and I did not think to question this at all other than to pay gleefully and tell this story.
  • Yes, I agree
  • Maybe people don’t understand the value of what they’re paying for.

I could go into rant mode on all of these but the thing that stood out for me, being all conscious-decisiony type of person that I am, is that … there’s still a choice made by the buyer.

You can see that someone is undercharging, and you can still choose to pay them properly.

You can see that someone is undercharging, and have a polite discussion with them about it. You have that choice, that fits within your ethics, to pay properly, to have that discussion, to plant the seed for some woman who’s giving away a thousand bucks worth of photography for $95, to say “hey, does this really help cover your rent/food/groceries/software licensing/admin time/advertising budget“…

We’re cooking up something big behind the scenes here at marketing Jumpstart for women who are looking to get into business, but I’m not allowed to talk about it yet. 🙃 In the meantime, if you need your website rebuilt, pricing improved, or want to talk digital marketing, I know a bunch of marketing misfits who are pretty darned awesome.

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About Sarah Lee Parker
I write a little or I write a lot – and these days there’s just so much to write about! Most of my days are spent writing captions for social media, copy for websites, strategy documents for business and digital marketing, and very long emails to my friends. I come to Marketing Jumpstart with a plethora of experience in private, public, non profit and volunteer organisations, and have also rounded out the list with freelancer and business owner too. I have also subcontracted. Is there any type of work type I have missed? 😅
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