| | |  Technology News | December 2008 
How Working for $10 an Hour Could Turn Out to be a Real Bonus
 Brendon Sinclair - SitePoint.com
| | Brendon Sinclair | |
There was a big response to a question on the forums from BS in CS: "Under what circumstance should a person accept a web development/designer/freelance job for $10 dollars an hour?"
Many of the responses center around the fact that $10 is small change, but like I always say when charging clients: it's never about the amount, it's all about the value. Using that as our measure, let's look at a job offer of $10 an hour. Would I take it? Of course, I would - if the value is there. Remember, the value isn't always in the money. It might be an opportunity for rapid advancement, an introduction to a key person ...
It's the very same reason celebrities do charity work: they look like kind, caring individuals to the public. This enhances their brand perception, which in turn raises their value. That's celebrity management 101.
You can approach the $10 an hour job with the same mentality: will this job raise my future brand value?
Let's use an extreme example. Barack Obama calls you right now (how cool would it be if your phone started ringing when you read that!) and offers you a job for $10 an hour, setting up his personal blog. It's a four-week gig where you'll be working with the same developers of his entire Web strategy for his presidential bid. Joe Schmoe from Joe Schmoe's Used Cars (he employees himself and his son Joe Schmoe Jr) is having financial difficulty and has just laid off his web team. He then calls and offers you the job as his "Web Guy" for $50 an hour.
Which job would you take? Which job do you think gives you the most value now? And which provides the most value into the future?
At the end of his question, BS in CS asks "If you were the employer, what attributes would you wish to see in an employee before bumping him/her up to say $12, $15, or more an hour?"
Applying the same "value thinking" to this question and you achieve a similar answer: an employer will happily increase the hourly rate when they perceive the value they gain is greater than what they're paying. Heck, I'd pay you $1,000 per hour if you provided me with $1,500 per hour of value. That's easy arithmetic. The trick is ensuring you develop your assets - skills, contacts, knowledge - so that you're more valuable than the next candidate.
It's never all about the money. It's always all about the value.
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