On a cross of billable hours?
The latest issue of RainToday features Burying The Billable Hour: When Will You Catch On? an angry, urgent article on the folly of hourly billing. Written by Ronald J. Baker as a screed against the practices of the accounting industry, it really applies to any professional service.
For me, the argument boils down to this: when you hire me to write something, you're not paying for my time, you're paying for results. If, by virtue of my talent, experience and expertise, I can achieve a client's objectives in 3 hours, why should I be paid less than the shlub who does the same (or usually much less) in 15?
It's silly, right? But like the advertising-equals-marketing equation, it's a holdover from another era that's been as tenacious as a pit bull's bite on a postman's leg. Just a month ago, a colleague of mine insisted that, after all, project billing is based on hours, right?
Wrong. It's based on value. Anything less means fraud for clients and drudgery for providers.
For me, the argument boils down to this: when you hire me to write something, you're not paying for my time, you're paying for results. If, by virtue of my talent, experience and expertise, I can achieve a client's objectives in 3 hours, why should I be paid less than the shlub who does the same (or usually much less) in 15?
It's silly, right? But like the advertising-equals-marketing equation, it's a holdover from another era that's been as tenacious as a pit bull's bite on a postman's leg. Just a month ago, a colleague of mine insisted that, after all, project billing is based on hours, right?
Wrong. It's based on value. Anything less means fraud for clients and drudgery for providers.
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