F*ck You. Pay Me

Excellent presentation by Mike Monteiro co-founder of Mule Design and as a guest his lawyer Gabe Levine (follow him on Tumblr) on getting paid for your work.  If you have or ever will do work in exchange for money take the time to watch this 30 minute presentation from Creative Mornings.  If you don’t have the time to watch it now, bookmark it and watch later.

Be specific and confident about money. Money is an incredibly nerve wracking thing to talk about. If you are trying to convince somebody to give you money and that you are the right person to give it to when they’re asking how much something costs and the first thing out of your mouth is “uhhmmmm”.  You just lost $10,000.

If you know how much something cost stand up confidently and tell them. If you don’t know how much something costs then say “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out and get back to you as soon as possible.”  Just be confident.

Here’s my summary from the talk - always use a solid contract, be confident in pricing and negotiations, and hire good advisors.