Creativity and Money Matters

If you are a creative person, it can be safely concluded that money-matters are not your strength.

That’s a problem.

You could be the greatest talent ever born, but a transaction happens only when supply meets demand at a certain price.

Of course, we needed to open this subject with pricing, but as we all know, pricing is a big big subject and even reams are not enough to address this complicated issue, therefore let us not elaborate on this here.

However, other things are also extremely important.

• You must be able to send the client a Formal Estimate with break-ups. Trust me, this is not as easy as it sounds and many creative people find it well nigh impossible.

• Are you going to ask for an advance. Usually where 3rd party costs ate involved, an advance is the norm. How much advance will you ask for ? One Delhi-based image editor once asked me for a 75% advance (yeah, you cannot trust me, but I must trust you).

• What planning have you done to guard against mid-project cost escalation. Mid-project cost escalation is not professional and no client will appreciate it.

• How will you ask for your balance ? Will you hold on to the final product till your money is cleared ? Are you going to give the client the product with your logo embossed so the client cannot use it ? What’s your approach.

The idea behind the above is not that I am an expert with these things. However, this is where you need to have a method.

Thoughts welcome.