Stop Giving Away Your Time and Talents

“If you don't value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know and start charging for it.”

—Kim Garst

I was approached recently by one of the big music publishers to appear on a music business panel. A really big music publisher! I was excited by the opportunity because I'm sure this panel will get some eyeballs.

When I asked them how much the appearance paid they were surprised by the question and said they would inquire with the powers that be. They eventually let me know that they would not be able to offer any compensation and were apologetic.

The others on the panel were tenure-track college professors who will use this appearance in their tenure/promotion files or industry leaders who are paid to represent their companies and their shareholders.

But I work for myself. I can't get promoted and I don't have shareholders.

For the record, I do lots of things for no money. I have done countless hours of music business consulting for people who who didn't have even a fraction of the head start that I had in the business and in life and who would never be able to pay for consulting.

But providing labor for one of the really, really big music publishers for zero compensation beyond a promise of "exposure"? Hard pass.

One of my major income streams is sharing my experience from the last almost 25 years in the music business and I have gotten really picky about when and where to give away my time and talent, as the opening quote talks about.

If I don't value my own expertise (and honor the years and years of struggle that went into earning it) then I can't expect anyone else to either.

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Coda: If you are a multi-million dollar company, stop asking people like me to work for no compensation! Thank you in advance.

Why convincing someone to pay you $1 is the hardest part of selling yourself

The following is an excerpt from TEM253: The real reason your rates are so low:

The hardest part is not convincing someone whether you're string quartet is worth $1,000 or $1,500 for a wedding ceremony. The hardest part is actually convincing them that what you offer is worth even $1. No, really.

In this example of a string quartet, weddings are just ridiculously expensive. It is quite common for someone to get back a quote for the full list of what they want for their wedding day and then they have complete sticker shock. That's often followed by looking at what things can be eliminated from their wedding to get the cost down while still being the kind of day that they're looking for. If they are reaching out to you, they've already decided that they want to pay money for something that they could just as easily stream from a music platform that they already pay to subscribe to and just play it over a set of speakers. But they are talking to you.

You've already made the cut. The hard part is already done. So charging less than you're worth is not going to help you nearly as much as you think it is. And charging only $500 to play the ceremony, when you really want $1500, is still not going to convince the person who says, "Wait, can't we just get that song I want to walk down the aisle to off of YouTube?" Because $500 is ridiculously expensive to that person and they are never, ever going to hire you anyways.

So don't fall for the trap of keeping your rates low. and thinking it will avoid the hardest part of the sales process. It won't, and it will only end up costing you money for each and every happy customer who was going to be happy they paid the rate you actually think you're worth.