When I’m paid more than what I expect, I feel excited (of course) and bad because I think what I did wasn’t worth that much.
When I made the templates for The Morning Context, I did it because I honestly liked their work. (And to learn more about running a media company).
But because they liked it, they offered to buy the template from me. And I didn’t want any payment. After all, all it took was just some hours to make it.
But they said we have to compensate you, how about “something along the lines of 10k?”
10k is the highest I’ve been paid for a single freelance project so far. So my first thought was: Isn’t that too much? Now I understand where the hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding goes. ;)
But instead of telling Harveen to lower my pay, I increased the value I was providing. Scheduled a proper call. Got all details and worked on every small bit.
Because Nat Eliason once advised:
It’s better to increase the value you provide than to lower your pay.