:: going through the (e)motions ::

i don't remember now where i first heard about the idea of resentment-free pricing. i want to say it was actually on a photography blog i stumbled across in a way roundabout enough for me not to even bother explaining, even though you know as well as i do that i like a good ramble.

i know kelly diels also writes about it, this idea.

the idea is that your fee (be it the price you charge for a physical product or the fee you charge for a service provided) should be enough that you won't end up resenting the customer, the project, or any bumps along the way.

when i used to charge less for my custom design work, for example, i'd stress over the projects and put off working on them and i'd get so darned frustrated with my clients who were only asking for what i'd be asking for: the best possible outcome.

but over the years i've learned that it's not the custom design work i hated, it's the ridiculously inadequate amount i was being paid to do the custom design work. the ridiculously inadequate amount i was asking for, mind you. as in, huh, it was my own damned fault.

now i set my fees so that i won't resent the work. or the customer. and while that may price me outside some people's budget, at least the one thing i can promise the clients who do hire me is that i'm going to love working with them and i'm going to do what it takes to ensure that they love working with me.

but there arises a problem, from time to time. what happens, for example, when the price it takes for me to not resent the order is more than the price the market will bear? in a way this is what i was dealing with a few weeks (months??) back when i wrote about my wholesale wedding book (although there was another piece to this, too, which had to do with my conflict about who i really want my end customer to be).

and what happens when you realize that you'd have to charge a pretty ridiculous amount in order not to resent a product? an amount not borne out by hourly wages or cost of goods sold.

your choice is to charge less or to stop offering the item/service/product. in other words, your choice is to start resenting that item, or let it go.

i have a few things i'm feeling that way about right now. things that i'm resenting for no good reason other than i just don't love doing them. things i'm resenting because they take my time away from things i do love doing.

but the letting go is hard. and sometimes complicated. and certainly emotional.