Tips On How To Price Your Design Work And Make A Profit
Вставка
- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- How are you supposed to bid? How much should you charge? How much should you add for profit?
In this episode, Chris shares how to bid and explains why charging by the rate is all wrong. Don't charge what someone else would charge you because you're not leaving room for things that can go wrong.
Watch the full video here: • How to Start & Run a D...
Want a deeper dive? Typography, Lettering, Sales & Marketing, Social Media and The Business of Design courses available here:
thefutur.com/shop
===
🚀 Futur Accelerator
The step-by-step blueprint and coaching program designed to get your creative business off the ground:
thefutur.com/a...
🥇 Futur Pro
The professional creative community designed to grow your personal brand, your business, and your network:
thefutur.com/pro
✍️ Other Courses, Templates, and Tools:
thefutur.com/shop
🎙 The Futur Podcast:
thefutur.com/p...
Recommended books, tools, music, resources, typefaces & more:
thefutur.com/r...
Music by Epidemic Sound:
share.epidemics...
Shorts Playlist:
www.youtube.co...
We love getting your letters. Send them here:
The Futur c/o Chris Do
1702 Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
*By making a purchase through any of our affiliate links, we receive a very small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us on our mission to provide quality education to you. Thank you.
-
Host: Chris Do
Producers: Mark Contreras / Ricky Lucas
Cinematographers/Editors: Stewart Schuster, Ricky Lucas, Jona Garcia
Social Team: Elle Money
Futur Theme Music: Adam Sanborne www.adamsanborn...
Typefaces: Futura, DIN, Helvetica Now, Calibre, Knockout, Champion Gothic
"by raising your prices, you filter out price buyers and trade them for value buyers" - The Futur (via a comment reply)
THIS is a valuable concept that I wish more people knew.
That's so true. The tricky part is to figure out what is the true value they buy from you. From my experience most small business owners don't know that, including myself. I have some ideas, gather some feedback. But sometimes I feel like 50% of it is hidden from my sight.
It's a tricky balancing act though, I think while you're new you should take whatever you can get
Excellent tips, thanks Chris!
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "artists always underestimate what it's going to take to do the job" which has been very accurate in my experience. I always price for what I assume the job will take and often the reality is it can take much more time than I'd thought initially.
Will absolutely use this information going forward!
Seems so easy and nice - like a fairy tale.
To reach this level to be able to charge like this takes a lot of years, completed projects, networking, going to conferences etc.
It is easy for you to say Chris. You have the years and experience.
I don’t want to discourage people but just to bring them to reality.
You define your reality
Never underestimate the power of a year or two of focussed and intentional intensity.
I've watched several of your videos on pricing. All have very valid points. I think the broader stroke is to price it like a professional scalable business. Quit racing to the bottom and undervaluing design work. It is detrimental to all creative professionals.
This is So cool my pockets starts cheering!
Thanks! I'm pricing right now, this video came out on the right time.
Thanks Chris. I’m definitely going to apply this pricing structure to my next bid.
Fantastic!
@@thefutur I work for a business that marks up everything 210% for everything. Do to that fact I shop around and buy the same products elsewhere where the businesses are only wanting 10% profit.
And be sure to Venmo Chris 5% so he can continue to put out fire content
@@UA-camPurgetheblackplague that works only for commodities and consumer goods. unless you are saying that artists are commodities
@@GEN47-27 both
Thank you, Chris! As a niche coffee roaster and business owner, I find your insight to be spot on across every artistic discipline. ☕❤
Thank you John
Great post as many people forget the labor, expenses, and markup as part of their proposal.
I really loved your videos, Im good at coding but Im not good at business things, Im learning lot of things from you, about everything
Thank you 🙏
I have also learned this the hard way... undersold my first two projects by alot and spending way more time on them than I initially thought!
In life you win or you learn.
Love Chris! Great ideas, real world ideas. His processes are transferable into most industries also. Cheers mate!
Yes. Exactly.
That's one of the parts I have missed, very relevant! Thank you, Chris, for keeping us awake!
You’re very welcome
This video is GOLD! slept on, I will send you money one day Chris! Thanks for info.
thank you very much sir ive been watching your videos and applying this in my business..thank you for clearly explaining this ways of how artist would rate them selves becuase this is exactly my problem....
The part I find difficult is where Chris decides the rate for the artist (so for me, it's myself), then adds all the costs of business and says "we can't just charge what it costs or we're not making any money" (definitely true), but then we still add the extra 10-20% mark-up at the end. I'm worried clients would push back on that and tell me I already have a high rate at the top so why are they paying an additional profit amount. Amazing video though Chris and I want to spend the next couple of years laser-focusing on my skills so I feel confident charging with this model
Have you ever tried?
@@thefutur I'm self-taught in the messiest sense of the word and have never felt confident enough in myself to back up my work with a higher price tag, I took steps today and purchased the Designer's Bundle courses and even just experimenting with Stylescapes I'm already feeling like I see more of what justifies these numbers.
Too many years of dealing with amended version number 12 rather than cementing the processes that back up the price tag!
Thank my lucky stars i stumbled upon this channel. Hard to beat the lifeskills and biz mentoring here.👍👍
I was looking for how to price, and this showed up on my notification today 😁😁😁. Thank you, and I like the improvement and addition to the video 👌🏾
Glad you like it!
Thanks Chris. My next goal is to make more money using your model so I can send you money.
Good luck.
Amazing video
Where can I find clients who are willing to invest this amount of money into design?
thats the neat part, you don't.
@@pyokent it's about marketing yourself and building your brand first. Once you reach the level of getting professional clientele like that is when you can apply that .
"artists Always underestimate what it takes to do the job..."
I felt personally spoken to there😳🙈🤔😂😂😂✅
Oh wow - amazing eye-opener! Thank you so much!
Any time!
This was LEGIT. I always love your videos. We will work together one day for SURE.
Thanks
So you bid $20,400, which is a fair and just amount for your job. But then another designer bids the initial US$5,000 you thought at the beginning and the client chooses them instead of you. You lose the client, the other guy may eventually be out of business soon, and the client would anyway not want to pay more than US$5,000 in the future. Unfortunately, this happens every day.
i was going to post a similar comment. But then i thought, the example is great. You just need to adapt it to your market. lets, say it's a project a lot of people would do happily for $5,000, then you need to work backwards, and make sure to pay yourself. maintain the structure. and try to lower your costs.
I get the impression a customer will find other bids which are better. I think this only works if you have made a name for yourself, which could justify the discrepancy with the rest of the market.
right, and i certainly don't understand the industry as well as chris, and definitely not the bidding process, but i wonder if there are other bidders who just bid lower. or if they just decide to find someone cheap at the sight of a higher charge. i definitnely think i'm missing something i don't understand here tho.
@James Wu - yes, most clients will price shop and never pay that amount. The goal is to filter those folks out before they even call. This is how excellent professionals charge, which should be everyone's goal. It will not happen overnight, but with hard work, you got this.
Thanks, love from Pakistan
I will be sending you that 10% !
Do you have something similar in the pricing of a SAS product/app?
That's awesome 👍🏻 thank you very much 🙏🏻. I won't forget your 10%😂
You can add rows to a bid indefinitely. Now the hard part: good luck finding clients that will pay that! It all works on paper until you go to the meeting.
Easy to do on paper. Reality is not many clients are willing to comprehend real costs and fork over this money.
Could be lack of demonstration of value
Yeah sure but there is always someone who'll do it for cheaper and most clients are only looking for just getting the job done
That's different positioning
In my country (Middle Asia), this would be about $900 only :( Design services' price is so low here. Should I put my price in higher-level anyway or should I work as a freelancer in outsourcing?
you are not limited to clients from your country.
Not really 🤷🏻♂️ from iraq and a video could cost a client 10$ all the way to 25k$ it all depends on u and ur skills 🤷🏻♂️ i have designer friends that doesn't do a desgin for less than 150$ and i have ones that does it for 5$ 🤷🏻♂️
What if this artist (I’m intending to hire) also have a company bidding on the project ?
Amazing. Bring back Blair Enns!!!
I love Chris and the Future. However I'm having clients ghost me when telling them my prices which is way lower than this example. How do you find the right clients who are willing to pay for this?
it's a positioning challenge. get in front of international clients. what kind of work would appeal to them? do that work.
which font it is in the thumbnail???
Coffeezilla coning for you bro 😅
Nah. I’ve spoken to Stephen. We good.
Business is never complicated. Its easy understand. But when you go applying this way of charging you will come across many clients who really don't know how to do business and there logical calculations fails 😀
👏🏽🇬🇧
I don't think you can bid like that if you're not an entrepreneur that is going to actually hire people to do the things that you're charging your client for.
There are no solo millionares
Damn 20K! That’s expensive… it sounds good but I feel like only major companies would pay that… small business owners… I doubt they can afford that
Did Chris lost weight or my screen`s broke ? Good content!
I’m thinner in this video
And then some studio in China comes in and undercuts you by 50% 🤣
I'm sorry, but I call bs. Multitasking is a myth, so how exactly do you justify performing multiple jobs at the same time *for full pay* on each of them? Not even talking about the absurd idea of extra pay for overseeing yourself, like accountability and responsibility isn't expected from “just an artist” and isn't one of the most basic work/business principles that you wouldn't even survive without. Otherwise I'd kind of agree on the idea of pricing yourself on the same level that an agency employing you would do it and not undervaluing yourself by asking for what you'd get working just as a designer. Though probably would still say to ask less, because there's a big difference between a work of multiple one trick ponies and one of a jack of all trades.
You bring up good points. I think the video is for freelancers trying to become a business and then grow into an agency. You'll always be a freelancer until you take the mindset, work, and bill like an agency. Plus, nobody is going to pay you 20 if you only ask 10.
When at the most basic, you need to allow for wiggle room and growth. Maybe you can't go straight to 20k, but start adding profit, then add administrative fees, then... You may lose some clients looking for the bottom dollar price, but you will probably attract a different caliber of client to replace them.
As always, there is no one size fits all in business. But I agree, there are definitely clients that don't want to pay what your worth!
Video sounds like a pricing method of an established firm. Not a single freelancer, I agree. But, maybe you could scale it to your own size? Just take the spirit of this method, to build your own pricing?...
We all start somewhere
@@thefutur 🤖
@@Bambim8 This is how I price and I am not an agency... Theres is no BS here... The advantage of pricing this way it that it leaves room for you to outsource these roles you have priced and still make profit. Yes its not for everyone... But it has worked wonders for me... I am now even getting bigger jobs and charging money i never thought i would charge in my life.
Quick question... How about people like me.. Who is about to start a design business?
Check in for a better future =)
What if they dont understand what the mark-up is? because they still see you as a freelancer?
Stop behaving like one.
Short version: multiply your pricing by 4 and hope/trust/believe/know somebody will sign :)
love from India, 1billion-1 :)
woo hoo! Thanks Bratin.
That is RIDICULOUS!! You can ask $5-20k for your design just because you Love money! But is it feasible!? How many businesses are there able to pay that price?!!! 😂
I guess it’s ridiculous. I’ve only been able to find businesses that pay at minimum $10k+ for this kind of work.
How do you factor in commision for sales people? (Commission only)
Would you gauge the value of the problem being solved and then contrast that with the clients perceived budget and it's if there is resistance...
Ultimately say the 'hourly costing opinion' is 20k minimum to cover expenses. Then the 'value costing opinion' is 40k (or 2% of 2mil per annum turnover business)
Do I set commission on the base 20k & then within the 'price flexability range' use a sliding scale to increase commission.
For example
Sales person presents 40k for whatever reason sells it for 35k
So commission comes to
$6375
------
(0 to 20k) 20k @ 15% = 3k
(20 to 35k) 15k @ 22.5% =3.375k
Wow, that escalated fast... thanks for the content as always
sales commission should be baked into your costs. you could increase your profit to account for sales. your question is very sophisticated and technical. there are videos on value based pricing. I suggest watching those and come back if you have more questions Jada.
@@thefutur thank you very much... you have shown me that sharing knowledge does not really impact your profit negatively. You guys are special, it really is the futur
I hate all these race to the bottom platform like fiver
I dislike them too
Chris Do can you tell me how to give this video 5 thumbs up
I undersgand the concept, but you coukd only charge this pricing model if your work is aignificantly better than the freelancers who are charging $5000ish. Which certainly is possible, but this bid would get ignored if a good freelancer or small firm charged say $7,000ish.
Your first goal then is to be good.
@@thefutur For sure! I always compete on quality and not participate in a race to the bottom. That helps nobody!
💖🌷💖🌷👍👍
😂 😂 😆🤣
This video you have already uploaded before
cut down.
Do you really think people pays that much in in india im hardly making any money for Uiux im barely making 100-200profit
I work independently and I'll do it for $18000, $18000 profit for me then isn't it
All these positive comments not from actually implementing "The Dream" but in reality the client decides. If you are perceived as the best then yeah sure, otherwise nope.
This does not work in India.
DO YOU EVEN SKATEBOARD?(REAL QUESTION)
Seams too me you are just pricing your self out of the job.
That's exactly it. We don't want a job, we're running a business.
@@AmazingCole this scares me in the best way possible...
by raising your prices, you filter out price buyers and trade them for value buyers.
Not necessarily... I lost a chance by under quoting, I actually asked politely what affected the decision. It was a large civil engineering company and compared to 3 other quotes they recived I was second cheapest very close to the cheapest option. But I was comparable in functionality proposed to the most expensive option which they choose. They chose the most expensive because the Quality of the solution out weighed the cost.
As safe engineers they made sure the Quality would not suffer from potential budget blowouts by choosing the more expensive. I learn a lot that day and I committed a cardinal sin of bringing ideas to try win them over. Rookie error just showing my poker cards
@@ItsJADA I don't understand what was your cardinal mistale. You gave them free ideas that they used? Before starting the project?
First
hi Chris, I want to look at your explanation please stop that kind of pen, it hurt my ears :(
Wayyy too much man. Who tf is gonna pay that?
Big brand names