The chicken or the egg?

Which came first?

The high rate for the quality work?

I was speaking with a young Producer friend of mine who told me he was waiting until he felt more experienced before he raised his rates. Part of this makes sense. I respect his humility and consideration for his clients in this regard.

But it’s the wrong way to go about it.

I shared a story with my friend about the first time I ever charged a $500 day rate. I had never charge that much for a single day before, but an ad agency I was connected to contacted me the day before they needed some consultation on Facebook ads. I knew they were in a bind, and I assumed they didn’t really have any other options. My finger hovered over the send button in my inbox and I must have deleted and re-typed that day rate five times before I finally sent $500. It was approved in two minutes.

I showed up to the agency that morning so excited and so inspired and so motivated to do the best job I possibly could. Because I was getting paid more than I ever had.

This is when I learned that your day rate should be in a place that excites you. It should have you jumping out of bed in the morning, willing to go the extra mile for your clients. Come what may, at least at the end of the day you’re making a rate you’re excited about.

I also learned that waiting around until I felt more experienced or more valuable was not effective if I wanted to raise my rates. Raising my rates helped me become more experienced and become more valuable.