How much are you worth?

[glorybound]

nothing to add regarding retirement plans but can not agree that your future employer is getting all the assets you bought over the years. check the licences.
example: you need mid tier megascans plan to be able to share assets with subcontractors.

If he gets me he gets my assets, so my price goes up.

[dlparisi]

If he gets me he gets my assets, so my price goes up.

I think you're misinterpreting what piotrus saying. The license for a lot of the assets you've purchased over the years are only for YOU. If you purchased them personally they are to be used for your personal needs only, if White Birch purchased them they are for White Birch use ONLY - you can not transfer them in most cases (you have to check the licenses). Hiring you is different than buying out the company, again check the licenses.

[kosso_olli]

So, I want a $10,000 sign-on bonus, a new computer, him to pay for all software, 3 weeks paid vacation, matched 401K, health insurance, and I know how much per year. As you said, the ball is in my court.

You old guys are mad. Good luck.

[glorybound]

Not mad, just trying to run a business that is successful and doing what is in the best interest of my family.

[Crayox13]

Completely agree Bobby. I feel archviz business is a mess if you are freelancing or in a single person company. Prices are all over the place, and so is the quality and speed. I mean I know that a lot of you guys are business savvy and managed to turn this into something real, and that's awesome! Wish I had that

[Neilg]

I mean I know that a lot of you guys are business savvy and managed to turn this into something real, and that's awesome! Wish I had that

No artists have it naturally - you should start reading books about it. everything you'd need to know is publicly available knowledge because in our industry you don't need an MBA, you only need the equivalent of a first year intro to business course and then you're ahead of 90% of the pack.

People pay whatever your work is worth - so someone buying exclusive 24/7 access to bobby, that might be worth a lot to them. If they're only buying a few images and everyone is trying to undercut each other to get the fun jobs, they can get it for less.
We had a guy apply for a job a while ago who had been the lead artist in-house at a major retail chain, digitizing their products. His work was ok - had potential, but not quite director quality. his reasons for leaving was to work on more interesting things than a pipeline, but he told us that his current salary (in a midwestern state) was $320k a year. Late 20's. He genuinely had no idea that 'creative' work paid so low and was expecting a similar salary, just totally lucked into that gig early. Obviously, that did not work out.

Many people start off by selling their time - and they gradually increase what their time is worth as their career grows, but they're still only selling time, not the end product. The product might be a certain level of service and fluidity, or it might be the final result has a justifiable premium, but it's important to focus on.
I'm hearing more about artists/teams continuing to sell time but also having essentially an appearance fee tacked on, with the intent that all of the other budget gets spent and the creative direction/whatever it's called gets kept for profit. This is extremely common with big architects and advertising agencies.

[glorybound]

I have always freelanced, but for the first 20 years, I worked in an architectural firm. I knew what they charged for me, so when I went full-time and solo, I simply charged the same, and I got what I was asking for. My last job was with a design-build firm, and they billed me out at $125 per hour. Of course, this came with benefits, so they had to cover that; I was paid half of what they billed me out. When people reach out to me on what to charge, I asked what they are currently charging, and I am always shocked. The last guy got less than minimum wage in the states, which is flipping burgers. Our local Walmart is hiring a people greeter, who sits on a stool at the store entrance saying hello, for $17 per hour. This can be your hobby and that is fine, but don't let yourself get taken advantage of. It cost money to do it right and it'll make you look professional. Up your game!

[glorybound]

I was talking to my photographer friend today, who does mostly architectural photography. He gets paid between $5000-$10000 to photograph one of his typical houses (2-3 days of work). He used to also do our company presentation (the design-build firm I worked for), which was a 15-minute video showing all the projects he shot for us over the year, and for that, he got $5000. It was literally photos with some fake zooms and pans with music. My point is, it takes more than a camera to be a well-paid photographer and it takes more than a computer to be a well paid architectural illustrator. As they say, a good salesperson can sell ice to an Eskimo.