“If you don’t go for as much money as you can possibly get, then I reckon you’re just simply stupid – Mick Jagger

Your prices say a lot about you. It’s how people perceive the quality of you and your work. It’s the image. Low prices make you seem second-rate. You can always come down from higher fees, but it is hard to go up. You can give discounts if people are willing to pay cash or your full fee up-front. Money indicates your value in many art forms. The more you make the more respected you are, and strangely, the more work comes your way. Weird, but true. More money means you can choose meaningful work and walk away from projects that don’t push your buttons, or you can pass on poor paying clients.

Don’t price yourself out of the market, either. Sometimes the client has a budget for a project and can’t exceed a certain amount no matter what. Stay competitive. What is fair market value for comparable work? Where do you fall? Is profit possible at current rates? Do your rates cover your costs?

“Of course we’re doing it for the money. We’ve always done it for the money.” ~ Mick Jagger.

Don’t forget about inflation. Inflation means that your money won’t buy as much today as it did when you didn’t have any. Review fees and costs annually, and adjust for inflation. Inflation affects you in a big way. It eats into profits if you don’t keep up. Have canvases gone up? Film processing? Studio costs? Compensate. You deserve to make a profit. Profit is what’s left over after all your costs are covered, and that includes materials, overhead, advertising, commissions, postage and shipping, and time invested. Including conceptualizing time as well as attending meetings.

About Peter de Kuster

Peter de Kuster is the founder of The Heroine’ s Journey & The Hero’s  Journey

Peter is founder of the Heroine’s Journey and Hero’s Journey project where worldwide thousands of professionals shared their story of making money doing what you love. He wrote 50+ books. Peter has an MBA in Marketing,  MBA in Financial Economics and graduated at university in Sociology and Communication Sciences.

Almost ten years after launching the Hero’s & Heroine’s journey project Peter de Kuster remains an irreverent, forceful voice—inspiring people to follow their passion, create their own legend and change the face of business.

A Peter de Kuster keynote speech introduces audiences to important concepts that engage their intellect and challenge their thinking about business storytelling and their client’s story. Peter de Kuster has a rich and highly developed stage presence that complements and enhances his storytelling ideas and frameworks.

• Speeches typically run 60-90 minutes but can be adjusted to client needsEach presentation is highly customized and reflects the industry and priorities of the clientExploratory conversations with key client executives prior to the speech, along with research into the company and its industry, help tailor contentPeter offers his thinking on the storytelling subject area and share the insightful exemplars that best suit the audienceInformal Q&A sessions supplementing the speech also help promote greater interaction and understanding.

All speech topics can also be adapted to either full or half-day breakout sessions or workshops with facilitated individual and group exercises. With a generous array of formats and topics, a custom experience reflecting your business needs is right within your grasp.

To learn more about having Peter speak at your event or to contact us at herojourneyquestionnaires@gmail.com