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Week 27
Jordyn Dunseath
August 20, 2024
TIP OF THE WEEK
Here’s a tip: stop judging yourself. How about you go create something and don’t judge it? Just make it. Just create the thing. Don’t judge yourself for how you made it. Just do it. For some, this tip will sound silly. For others, it will be THE thing you need to hear.
JORDYN UPDATES
Highs of the week: | Reality of the week: |
A common question amongst photographers/videographers: how do I price myself? Theres a myriad of advice and opinions out there around this topic. Here’s my favorite strategy.
I like to work backwards. First, I determine my end number. How much money do I need to make? Yes, you can also work from how much you want to make. Up to you.
The rest is just math. Let’s start simple. Let’s pretend you’re a wedding videographer who needs to make $100,000 a year. You decide you only have time to film 20 weddings in a year. That means you need to do each wedding at $5,000 to hit that $100K goal. If you don’t feel like you’re at a skill level that can justify charging $5,000 per wedding…then you either need to take on more clients or find another source of income.
Pricing yourself can be as simple as “math” but it also requires a lot of self reflection. What you believe about yourself really determines the confidence you will have when pricing yourself. The reality is, there are people out there getting paid way above their skill level because they charge with confidence. You may take issue with those people but it’s actually not your problem. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing. There are also people out there charging WAY less than their ability or value. This is often a mindset problem. It often stems from a lack of confidence rooted in a false belief about themselves.
Pricing yourself is one of those things that is both simple and complex at the same time. It’s simple because it really can be as easy as breaking down the numbers. However, it is complex because money places value on things and it can be difficult to place value on yourself and your work as a creative. It’s okay if this process isn’t comfortable. That’s normal.
Don’t be afraid to start breaking down the numbers and then make adjustments according to your values and priorities from there. One more little tip… it has really helped me as a freelance videographer to have a minimum number in my head. I will not do a project for less than $____, unless it is an opportunity I just can’t pass up. Having a baseline has made it so much easier for me to know when to say yes or no.
I have much more to say about this topic, but I just wanted to give a little nugget to think about for the day. I’d much rather have this conversation face to face to help you. Seriously, if you want to ever chat with me, I would love to have you hop on a mentorship call with me. Helping other creatives with life, creativity, or business is truly one of the most fulfilling things for me. I absolutely love it.
Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day today! August has been busy for me but I’m excited for the updates that are coming in the near future. 🤗
This week’s creative challenge:
Go create something in the middle of a sunny day this week (noon-3pm). Create during the time of day that everyone says “the light is horrible”. Yes, golden hour is great… but you’ll be a much better creative if you learn how to effectively create in all environments. Use the harsh light to your advantage. You could do some really creative things with shadows.
AN ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR CREATORS!
I mentioned that the community is soon to increase in price and availability. If you’ve been considering hopping in, now would be the time!
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WANT TO CHAT WITH ME ONE-ONE-ONE?
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TRACK YOUR FINANCES!
 | Do you wish you had a way to track your finances and… Well, I built this finance tracker for my own life and business and decided to make a template out of it for you! I hope you enjoy! |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
MY TOP RECOMMENDATIONS
 Extra battery for the Canon C70 that last forever! |
AN EXTRA FOR THOSE WHO MAKE IT TO THE BOTTOM OF MY EMAILS :)
Guys, I was so stressed this week. It felt like the stress came out of nowhere but in reality, it actually made a ton of sense. I’ve just simply been really busy. I had family in town, which was great, but as soon as they left, I realized how much I had on my to-do list and for some reason that felt more overwhelming than usual this week. Here’s what’s funny…I stressed and stressed about my to-do list but woke up the next day super sick and unable to do any work anyway.
So…here’s the positive thought. As much as I hated being sick, I’m grateful for how much I had to face the reality that “it’s not that big of a deal". I was telling myself that before I got sick but not really living it out. I was living way more into my stress than the concept of “not worrying about it”. My sickness forced me to put my to-do list aside and everything turned out to be okay like it always does. Life is way too valuable to spend so much time on stress. Stress can be helpful but it shouldn’t be a driver. I know this is not a new topic. I’ve heard people say this same thing 10000000000 times haha. But I’m still grateful to walk into this next week with the reminder to slow down and not sweat the small stuff (or even the big stuff).
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Have a great day!
Best, Jordyn
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