You do not owe anyone your time. When you realize that, others will respect your time much more. - Martha Beck, Daily Coach Tips

I deliver value. I go 200% above and beyond for my clients. If they hire me to write a press release I often not only suggest markets for them, but often craft an extra version or two as a specific pitch for a couple of magazines they might stand a chance in. I’ve even been able to place two clients in national magazines with pitches I made personally to the editor on their behalf.

I suggest marketing and strategy plans for their ebooks. I don’t just design and dump. I care. I get involved. If they succeed, I reason, I succeed. The more business they do, and the more successful they are because of my efforts - the more I will be valued. I enjoy doing what I do and I think they do too. They get, as the saying goes, “More than their money’s worth.” I take pride in that. It’s part of my unique selling point - that kind of quality.

But lately I’ve noticed something happening. I am/was spending so much time over delivering - really over delivering, that I allowed added value to turn into client driven scope creep and not from my own availability and generosity. In other words I allow myself to be taken advantage of - giving added value I don’t have the time or resources to give every time - simply because someone has grown accustomed to such treatment in the past. Scope creep is when I agree to write five pages of web copy for your new website, but then you also ask me to write a press release about the launch of the site, or ask me to write a couple of blog posts to kick off the site, or ask me to pen the intro to your first newsletter or write the copy for the auto-responder - as “part of the initial project’s scope,” meaning, for no extra pay. After all, you think - Becky can just “knock this stuff out.” It should only take her 10 - 15 minutes right? What’s 15 minutes? A lot actually - but lest I digress…

Scope creep means the original project gets done, but then there are additional things that get added on. For instance, another example:

You decide to add on an extra room to the house for instance, and you plan and budget for that, only along the way you decide you want a bathroom and shower and a skylight added - things that weren’t in the original plan - or more importantly, weren’t in the original budget.

Or, you check your bank balance and have an extra $100 bucks and decide to go to the beach for the off-season weekend, stay in a no-tell-motel at $50 a night, and lie next to the water and read books and sleep and eat fast food to save money. But there’s a party and a concert and you run into friends who want to go to dinner at a fancy restaurant and you say, “What the hell, we’re at the beach - having fun - let’s go.” And your credit card takes an unexpected extra $100 hit you weren’t counting on. Scope creep.

Now, if you were the contractor and your client said, “Oh, you know, I was thinking we should add a bathroom and a skylight to this room,” you might have to adjust your schedule and the blueprints and make arrangements to extend your crew and what not, but that’s okay if you have the time and the crew. You’re making more money right? But what if the client says, “What do you mean you’re charging extra for that? You said you’d add on a room. I’ll buy the tub and fixtures, but, geesh, how much more time can it take to connect a few pipes? I can’t believe you’re going to charge extra for that! What kind of contractor are you?! You’re going to nickel and dime me on costs for this room? I can’t believe it!”

Insane right? But people don’t think twice about doing the same thing with writers and designers. Fortunately there are places like Freelance Switch who have great advice on handling scope creep.

It’s one thing for me to decide to be generous and add value, time and a little extra to your project because I’m feeling generous and love the project and happen to be in a good frame of mind, but it’s another to hear, “Can you just add a couple pages and rewrite this entire chapter. I know we agreed to do “A,” but after looking at it I want do do “M” and I know it’s more time, but it would make it look so much better. Oh, and by the way, I just wrote some blog posts to promote this book. Can you look them over and maybe tweak them for me? You know, add that special touch?” and then ASSUME I’m going to do it for free.

This happens so much to me I started seriously thinking I was going crazy, being selfish, or missing something. Then I talked to other designer friends and writer friends and figured it out. People are not used to hiring creatives. They’re used to an employee/employer mindset where they pay you $x amount of dollars per hour and then they try to get as much work out of you in that hour as they can - as they would an hourly wage earner. That’s fine - if you’re paying an employee. But I’m not an employee. I provide a specialized, valuable service for a fee. You can’t find anyone else that can provide my unique style, personality, value and connections. You can find other people who provide their own unique valuable style, but I’m the only Becky Blanton, writer, etc. etc. ME there is with the resources, skills, insights etc. That’s what you’re paying for - not the time. Not the widget. You’re getting value. I really liked what Thursday Bram had to say in her article on Freelance Switch about scope creep:

Say No.

“Especially if you’re working with a client that is newer to working with freelancers or the type of project you’re working on, he may not recognize how much work his requests require. Furthermore, many clients are willing to pay to make the changes they want to their project — they’re just not clear on what those changes may require.

But sometimes clients want more than what the project originally called for, without having to pay more. If that point comes around, the only option you may have is to put your foot down and say no. It may not be the best option for maintaining a long-term relationship with the client in question — but losing a client who doesn’t consider your time worth paying for is probably not the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.“
Amen.