Can I charge for political discourse?
As I unloaded my groceries this morning, a client called. “Let’s talk about the corporate page,” he said. “Sure,” I answered, struggling to put away the frozen goods. “Did you catch the debate last night?”
For the next 15 minutes, we talked about Sarah Palin’s winks, Biden’s tears and the country’s economy. We finally settled into our work conversation, and that’s when I turned the hourly clock on.
To me, there was a clear disctinction between a personal conversation and something I should be paid for.
But my next call was not so clear. At 11 I had a teleconference with a client and another consultant. We talked business for about an hour, then, when it was clear we were wrapping up, last night’s vice-presidential debate came up again.
One woman said, “Like Sarah Palin, I’m tolerant.”
The other woman said, “Oh, don’t get me started.”
And the other countered with, “Oh, can you believe….?”
I enjoyed listening to their perspectives, and I even chimed in a couple of times. But I kept watching the clock. Should I consider this like my earlier conversation? Am I off the clock? I wanted to pop off the call, but it was my teleconference line, and that would have ended the call for everyone. Luckily it was kind of a moot point, because the whole call actually lasted exactly an hour, with the last 8 minutes or so being the political conversation instead of the business.
I enjoyed both conversations today, but they did bring up some freelance billing issues when you work hourly. When do you charge a client for an off-topic conversation? I certainly wouldn’t make a client pay for my small talk when I initiate it. And when I really know a client well (and consider him/her a friend), I’m even less likely to charge for chitchat. But if I’m in a meeting that lasts an hour and has just half an hour of work-related discussions, I’ll charge for the hour.
I strive to make sure I don’t waste my clients’ money with too much discussion. In fact, sometimes I’ll remind people that I’m on the clock when they get off track or start to belabor a point. I try to do it in a friendly way, but I figure it’s in my best interest to make sure people get what they pay for when they hire me. That way I’m a lean, mean line item that is fully justified in the budget, not a pricey, bloated expense.
Sherri on 03 Oct 2008 at 12:43 pm #
So, can i call you “Beth”? You betcha!
Scoats on 04 Oct 2008 at 3:45 am #
I think you need to be less rigid in your pricing for time. When I worked for the insurance co. part time, I got paid by the hour. Sometimes they got insane productivity per hour, others not so much. I, and I think they, looked at me as a set cost.
So what I’m saying is charge by project. The time you spend or expect to spend will set the price, and it allows you to have periods of high productivity and low productivity within the same time. You can the price will be between x and y, and adjust for how long it took.
You will go from spending 3.412 or 4.1489 hours on a project to spending about 4. From many a client’s perspective, there isn’t much price difference between the three. For many workers it is also a mellower way of doing business.
Mary@SimplyForties on 04 Oct 2008 at 10:37 am #
This is exactly why I don’t charge by the hour. I charge a monthly contract rate, which I determine when I meet with the client. That check comes in regularly every month, regardless of what I do for them. Some months I’m ahead and some months they’re ahead. It works out pretty well and I don’t have to keep track of my time. If I feel like they are coming out too much ahead, I reserve the right to raise their rate annually.