How much would you charge?

[Adelaide9216]

Hello!

I am asking my question here because I literally don't know where to go to have advice on this. 

I have been a public speaker for a few years now. I did a TEDx talk about my own journey and recovery regarding my mental health. Ever since I started getting requests to do more talks. I really enjoy doing it so that's why I keep sharing my story.

At first, I was doing it on a volunteer basis and would never ask for organizations to pay me. My mother and a friend both advised me to start asking to be paid for my work because it is a lot of preparation and it would give "value" my work. However, whenever I am asked by organizations how much I want to get paid, I literally do not know what to tell them. I don't know what's the financial worth of my work and what's a reasonable price for it.

Anyone here has been in a similar situation? I am assuming a lot of you are doing extracurricular work and have encountered a similar situation. Any advice? I was thinking of doing different prices depending on if the organization is a formal institution versus a community organization but I really do not know how to go about this. 

[pinoysoc]

I think "how much" really depends. Have you tried researching pay for motivational speakers/life coaches? Usually, having an agent makes it easy to figure this logistical part of giving talks. Also, what's your field? Academia? I don't think people in academia usually charge for talks, but are offered travel reimbursement from the inviting institution. Does this make sense? Or am i totally out of place?

[chocolatte_]

You could take a few approaches. One, find out how much other people get paid for talks. You can try to see if anyone who does talks lists their pricing on their website (unlikely but you never know), or you could ask some other people.

Second is to consider your expenses. What does it cost you in gas, food, etc. to attend this talk? And what's your current hourly wage? If the talk requires five hours of your time (driving to and from and talking, for example), charge your hourly wage times five. If you don't have a job, imagine what someone might make entry level in your chosen field and use that.

 

[Adelaide9216]

19 minutes ago, pinoysoc said:

I think "how much" really depends. Have you tried researching pay for motivational speakers/life coaches? Usually, having an agent makes it easy to figure this logistical part of giving talks. Also, what's your field? Academia? I don't think people in academia usually charge for talks, but are offered travel reimbursement from the inviting institution. Does this make sense? Or am i totally out of place?

Hello, I am doing this "on my own" kinda of. It's not related to my research topic at all, I see this as a form of extracurricular work. I don't have an agent because I get most of my requests through Facebook and email and I am still able to manage it all. (And I think, having an agent is very costly, I don't even know how to get one).

Yes, I've taken a look at how much motivational speakers/life coaches charge but I don't consider myself as a life coach or a motivational speaker so that's why I am confused. I'm just a social worker who shares her own journey to recovery on her "free" time. 

[Adelaide9216]

14 minutes ago, chocolatte_ said:

You could take a few approaches. One, find out how much other people get paid for talks. You can try to see if anyone who does talks lists their pricing on their website (unlikely but you never know), or you could ask some other people.

Second is to consider your expenses. What does it cost you in gas, food, etc. to attend this talk? And what's your current hourly wage? If the talk requires five hours of your time (driving to and from and talking, for example), charge your hourly wage times five. If you don't have a job, imagine what someone might make entry level in your chosen field and use that.

 

This is good advice, thanks! 

[pinoysoc]

1 hour ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Hello, I am doing this "on my own" kinda of. It's not related to my research topic at all, I see this as a form of extracurricular work. I don't have an agent because I get most of my requests through Facebook and email and I am still able to manage it all. (And I think, having an agent is very costly, I don't even know how to get one).

Yes, I've taken a look at how much motivational speakers/life coaches charge but I don't consider myself as a life coach or a motivational speaker so that's why I am confused. I'm just a social worker who shares her own journey to recovery on her "free" time. 

Ah thanks for the clarification. If you're planning to work in academia, doing these things for free, but getting to put this on your CV is pretty much the standard form of payment. I only asked those questions to get a feel of where you are coming from. You can always do a set fee (i.e. $200 per talk or price basing it on venue size). Again, I'm coming from an academic background where getting invitations to talk and having it on one's CV outweighs financial compensation. Also, from an altruistic POV, these talks (if you're doing them on your free time) should be considered as free since you're doing this on the merit of having time to inspire others. Just my two cents.

[lemma]

I do similar talks and I would never think of charging. 

[Adelaide9216]

I am considering charging because I get 4 to 5 requests per month approximately (sometimes more, sometimes less). The largest one I did was 4000 people. 

At first, I was considering on doing it for free all the time but the reality is that it's a lot of time of preparation. Also, I don't own a car, so it's a lot of traveling time and expenses for that as well. As a full-time student, I do believe that my friend and my mother were fair into saying that I need to be paid because it is work. I am not saying that I want a 1000$ or live off of it. But I need a symbolic amount for my work at this point. It also gives "value" to what I am doing. And most public speakers are being paid for this, so why shouldn't I? Especially if the organizations that I get invited to are used to paying their speakers, why should I do it for free if they have the ability to pay the people they invite? I even think that you both should start considering charging as well because it's not sustainable to do talks on a regular basis without being paid. It is a lot of work (not only in terms of time and preparation but emotional labor as well.) I also want to stress that these talks have nothing to do with my research topic for my master's.

To be honest, I don't want to start this thread about it being a debate about this. I need help on how much should I charge. Not on if I should charge or not, I've already made my mind about it and I do believe that what I am saying is fair. We all need food on the table at the end of the day. I've been volunteering since the age of 12 years old and I do offer my time for free in many different causes until this day, more than the average person, but it's just fair to be asking for a symbolic amount for this type of work. 

Edited December 20, 2017 by Adelaide9216

[Adelaide9216]

Maybe I should not have opened this thread. 

[lemma]

I think charging for costs (travel) is very reasonable. I've volunteered to travel to remote Australia to give my mental health journey talk and I will be receiving compensation for travel costs. I could not go otherwise. 

At the end of the day, it's up to you to do what feels most appropriate. I talk about mental health and I'm an applied mathematician - it has nothing to do with my day job. I personally would never consider charging due to my motivations for doing the work. Each to their own, though. Only you know what your precise situation is. 

[Adelaide9216]

My motivations for my speeches are the same and have never changed. Money is not and has never been the motivation. I am talking about a symbolic amount. And it's the people around me who keep saying to me that it makes zero sense that I keep on doing this for free. 

[Adelaide9216]

I don't appreciate being told indirectly that I am doing this for money when it is not the case. My intentions are genuine and have always been. Otherwise, I don't think I would get these requests for speaking if people felt that my motivation for it was the cash. I started this thread because I get asked, by organizations "How much do you charge" without me even mentioning money. It's coming from them because it is the norm.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Adelaide9216

[lemma]

4 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I don't appreciate being told indirectly that I am doing this for money when it is not the case. 

No one has said this. Not me nor anyone else. All I have mentioned is an amorphous reference to my own motivations - so vague that they could not be described from what I wrote alone. 

At the end of the day, if you're going to post online, you have to accept that some people will share opinions that differ from yours, and that sometimes people have experiences that colour these opinions. No one here is attacking you. If you want to charge, go ahead, but you asked people what they would do, not to validate your decision. Online forums aren't a great place for getting everyone to agree with you.

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@Adelaide9216 If it is the norm for the organizations that are asking you, I see no problem with figuring out some kind of fee. Whether you base this fee on standard rate for motivational speakers (you may not see yourself as one, but they probably do) or simply based on the expenses you would incur to do this talk (including the time it takes to prepare the presentation, travel, housing, food, etc) or a mix somewhere between the two, is completely up to you. 

But, I would stress, do not sell yourself short. You are getting multiple requests a month to tell your story and the organizations are expecting there to be a fee involved. Your story matters. People want to hear it. You are valued. <3 

[Adelaide9216]

lemma, what I am saying that you're off thread. I am asking how much I should charge, not if I should charge or not. It's not about having everyone to agree with me. It's that it's not even why I started this thread for. Sorry I should have been clearer.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Adelaide9216

[Adelaide9216]

And yes, maybe I should not have started a thread about this here.

[Eigen]

5 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

lemma, what I am saying that you're off thread. I am asking how much I should charge, not if I should charge or not. It's not about having everyone to agree with me. It's that it's not even why I started this thread for. Sorry I should have been clearer.

Just to be clear, you don't "own" a thread, or get to tell people that they aren't posting on the topic you want. That's not how discussion forums work. 

Lemma has suggested how you might charge for expenses, and mentioned why they don't. It's perfectly reasonable for someone to share their experiences even if they aren't exactly what you wanted when you made the thread. 

[Adelaide9216]

Then I guess we can close the thread then. It was my mistake to have started it here. 

[Adelaide9216]

Sorry for being too sensitive. I take what I do very much at heart and I firmly believe that I am doing it for the right reasons. Yes, I did feel attacked but maybe I shouldn't have felt this way. 

[Eigen]

8 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Then I guess we can close the thread then. It was my mistake to have started it here. 

As mentioned in the board policies, threads are permanent once started. Just because you aren't getting what you want out of this doesn't mean other people might not find the discussion useful. 

[Adelaide9216]

I wasn't talking about deleting it. 

[Eigen]

10 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I wasn't talking about deleting it. 

Closing a thread implies ending a discussion, which as I mentioned might still be useful to other people. 

[fuzzylogician]

It might be a good idea to calm things down a bit. One doesn't always get the advice one expects, especially from strangers with imperfect information, and especially on a discussion board where anyone can take the discussion in any way they choose. You can choose what to take and what to ignore. It's not personal. 

Personally I think that if you get a decent number of requests and spend a lot of time and energy doing this, motivation and passion aside, charging some fee actually makes perfect sense. This is especially so if we're talking about companies that expect to pay some fee and who would pay other speakers in similar situations. You may choose to volunteer your time when speaking to a non-profit or the like, and you can adjust your rate when you speak to a company that has a budget for these things. I would try and find out what other speakers charge. Maybe you know some other speakers who've attended the same meetings as you, who you can ask. I have a friend who does things like this and one thing she learned is that charging a fee means thinking of yourself as a professional, and it often means that the other side treats you with more respect and takes you more seriously. If they want to fly you out to speak in front of a large audience, they can afford an honorarium. In case it's at all meaningful, for colloquia and the like, the sum usually runs from a few dozen to a few (very few) hundred dollars. I give colloquia because it's good for my career and I wouldn't decline an invitation just because a school can only afford to reimburse my travel/accommodation, but I wouldn't decline an honorarium, if offered, either. It's simply part of the culture; it's not something to be ashamed of, and it doesn't change my motivation or passion one bit. 

[TakeruK]

I just want to say that I fully support you charging and I think you should get paid for your work. I second what fuzzy said above. To expand on it, I believe that if I am not being paid by my employer to go and do this, then it's perfectly reasonable to charge and get paid for your work. I do a lot of outreach work, speaking about science to non-scientists. I usually do this as part of my salaried job thru my university/institution. In those cases, I do not expect to get paid because I am still drawing a salary from my work and I take work time off to do this outreach**. It's part of my job description. But sometimes, I speak with groups outside of my employed role, as an individual person. When I do this on my own time, I do accept payment for my work, but see note below on charging based on who is asking. 

(**Note: As pointed out above, there are plenty of cases in academia where colloquia and invited seminar speakers get honoraria on top of their expenses. The amounts I know about are around a couple of hundred dollars per day. Maybe $300 for just a single day. I think this is a very fair way to compensate the extra work it takes for an academic to take time off to benefit another institution. There would be lots of cost out of pocket otherwise if academics had to arrange childcare, pet care, etc. due to the disruption in their normal routine to travel for an invited speaker role).

Through my work with my school's student government, I've organized events where we invite outside speakers. They seem to charge a wide range, depending on how busy they are. I've received quotes from as low as $0 (only travel expenses) to $5000 plus expenses. Obviously we had no way to afford the thousands of dollars range, but we've paid $500 ish for speakers before. 

As fuzzy said, you have people offering to pay you and it makes sense for you to charge. You asked how much? I don't think a number based on your hourly rate makes sense because this is very different work than your "day job". For this type of skilled work, I would say a rate around $50 to $100 per hour of time you actually need to prepare and deliver the talk, plus travel and meal expenses. You can charge more for larger groups too. 

Here's a strategy to talk about the price though. First, I don't think it's a good idea to advertise your rate on your website or any public place. This allows you to set whatever rate is appropriate. You should have a rate in mind for a standard talk/speech that is the "maximum" you'd charge (i.e. going the full capitalistic approach, what is the max you can get someone to pay). Maybe it's like $500 or something (for sake of an example). Then, consider what factors would cause you to decrease it (maybe for schools or non-profits, you'd charge less). When someone asks you to speak, determine where they fit into your hierarchy of fees. Pick a higher number if you're unsure because I very typically see something like, "I normally ask for X dollars per speaking engagement, but I am willing to discuss a different rate if this is not possible for your organization". This way, as long as X is high enough, you don't end up getting less money than you could have. At the same time, if X was really high for the group (and you really do want to help them), this allows you to be flexible and find something that works.

During the discussion you can learn more about their event. Are they charging admission? Are they making money or are they just barely covering costs with admission fees? Are they providing a service? Are the organizers being paid or are they volunteering etc. All of this can change whether you charge your full rate, a reduced rate or nothing at all.

The tough part is finding out where to start. Luckily if you are getting many offers per month, you can start experimenting. If people seem to be scared off by an initial ask that is too high, try something lower. If people are happily paying your asking rate, try raising it. Of course, if you can find others doing similar things, it would be better to talk to them, but trial and error is probably okay given that you're well established and have lots of opportunities to test things out.

 

[Eigen]

The other good approach I see is a sliding scale based on event size that delineates profit vs. non-profit. 

This lets you have base prices that scale for, say, the 4000 person gig and the 50 person gig. It also lets you charge a non-profit differently than, say, a company retreat. 

I agree with TakeruK that I wouldn't advertise a price- I'd work out what you feel comfortable with and then have that on hand. 

The other thing you need to decide is if you want to go flat or itemized- and how you want to deal with this for tax purposes. Do you want to set up a business and bring the income through that? Or deal with it as contract income? 

These all have different outcomes in how you can deduct related expenses on your taxes.