Selling Yourself Short: Placing a Value on Freelance Work

Using crowdSPRING as a guide for freelance design pricing...

So I'm definitely in a pickle right now. Recently, I've managed to pick up a potential client and I'm trying to figure out the pricing for my services (no, not those kinds of services). For me, putting a price on my skills has always been a challenge. Up until this point, I've always sold myself "cheap" designing t-shirts and posters for free. Of course, that's because my projects were almost always for my youth group. I had two clients before that wasn't related to my youth group. One had requested a poster design for a youth rally, and in return for my help I received a $25 Target gift card and a tin of brownies. The other project was a logo design for my cousin's tax and bookkeeping services firm. For that, I earned $50 in cash.

The difference between this new project and my projects before is that this is going to be an established company. What it is is a Western themed bar and grill in Houston. Any logo that I create will ultimately be copyrighted and be associated with the company for(almost)ever. Since the person that asked me to do this job is a religious brother, I'm a bit reluctant to charge too much. My friend says to ignore that fact and treat it as only a business thing, that I shouldn't sell myself short. So what is a good price for a logo?

On top of the logo design, he asked me to help market and advertise the grand opening of the restaurant which is set to open early next year. I mainly consider myself a graphic designer so I feel uncomfortable even trying to set up advertising strategies. But then again, I got a marketing minor for a reason. Ugh. This is going to be wayyy outside of my comfort zone. Time to put my business classes to use.

Sony NEX-5N Test

So on Black Friday I purchased myself a Sony NEX-5N. There wasn't a Black Friday special per se. It was just a regular sale price item. Since I was already looking into buying a mirrorless SLR, I just decided to buy it. I was already at the store so why the heck not? I'm still debating whether or not to keep it. Don't get me wrong. The image quality is great. I just kinda wished that certain things were different about the camera. Like, you don't use a dial to change the exposure modes. You have to flip through a menu. Changing the ISO requires going through a sub menu. It's just a pain for me cuz usually I shoot using manual mode. I'm still debating. I would get an Olympus E-PL5 except it's outside of my budget. Maybe a Panasonic GX1 or G3. But then again, the G3 looks a bit big. I wanted something compact. Otherwise, I might as well just carry my Canon Rebel all the time. But yeah. Any suggestions?

Hard Work Wasted

Alright. So I recently quit my job at Studio Movie Grill. Even though I've only been there for 2 months, I think that was more than enough. It's the most rigorous job I've ever had. I mean, seriously. You're scheduled to come in a certain time and then you stay until the manager feels like they don't need you anymore. Most days, I end up working 10 hours. On top of that, your pay is based on tip. Some days you end up averaging below minimum wage. With the running back and forth between the kitchen and several different theaters and dealing difficult people, minimum wage is not enough to make me stay. I'm even tired of going home at like 2 or 3 in the morning. Plus, there are some people who complain at work and make things more difficult by not showing up when they need to. I know that my managers felt like I was a great employee and praised me often for my hard work but I'm tired. It sucks having to let them down. I've had a few people try and convince me to stay by telling me that promotions are coming soon and stuff, but I can't wait for that. I'd be dead by then. I will miss the friends that I made at work, though. I'm actually gonna miss my managers, too. I actually know people outside of thieu nhi. Shocking.

But yeah. Regardless of how hard my job was, I would've had to leave eventually after graduation. After college, a part time job as a server is not going to cut it. My favorite manager Barrett made an offer for me to come back and work seasonally if I wanted to. We'll have to see about that. 

Dreading Graduation: Trying to Find a Graphic Designer Job in Dallas

I have about a month left until graduation and December 8th is becoming more of a date that I dread rather than something that I'm looking forward to. I only turned in my order for graduation announcements 2 days ago and it takes about 2-4 weeks to be finished so I don't know if those will finish on time. My cap and gown haven't come in yet so I can't do photos with those til later. My parents keep bugging me about what I want to do to celebrate my graduation. "Do you want a party?" At this point, I don't know. I'm not much of a party person. Gahhh. On top of all that, I still haven't heard back from Reynolds and Reynolds. I think they dropped me as an option. Now it's back to job searching. Dohhh. Or I can just stick with Studio Movie Grill until forever and ever. YEAH RIGHT. I'm getting a degree for a reason and it's not to work as a server forever. I guess whenever I have time I can go back to applying for more jobs. Hopefully I can find a place close to home so that I don't have to worry about paying for housing and leaving my friends and family behind. But I keep falling behind on homework and stuff because of work and thieu nhi. Grrr. I need better time management skills. I hate stressing about these things.

ACTUALLY, what if I tried to apply as a graphic designer for Studio Movie Grill? I could design the menus and promotions and stuff... Maybe being a server could serve as a start towards that road. Dohhh. I wished that the Richards Group would contact me back. That design internship from Disney based in Dallas isn't available anymore either. Fossil and the Dallas Mavericks rejected me, too. Could someone just plop a graphic design job opportunity in Dallas in front of me? That would be awesome.

Anywho, that photo was from my graduation photoshoot with Tien. Click the link below to check out the less flattering photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hungrytien/archives/date-taken/2012/11/01/

IF you are indeed interested in potentially hiring me for a graphic design job, click the link below to check out my portfolio:
http://www.ae221.co.nr/