Making a living as a freelance instructional designer can be challenging, especially when it comes to negotiating new projects.
Depending on the health of your sales pipeline, you may be te...
Published 9 years ago
Version 1.0
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"I do see a lot of people charging $20-$30 per hour which I think is sad"
Not only sad but dangerously close to minimum wage after removing the extra taxes and expenses of self-employment. :(
I do some freelance work on the side, mainly for creative exercise, but work full-time as an instructional designer for a large organization. I've been fighting this stigma for many years. Management often doesn't deem us a highly-skilled trade worthy of equivalent compensation, yet they'll sign a contract (without blinking an eye) with an outside vendor who charges $200 an hour for a fixed-price contract where even the number of hours is grossly overinflated. It's just baffling. And infuriating.
Not only sad but dangerously close to minimum wage after removing the extra taxes and expenses of self-employment. :(
I do some freelance work on the side, mainly for creative exercise, but work full-time as an instructional designer for a large organization. I've been fighting this stigma for many years. Management often doesn't deem us a highly-skilled trade worthy of equivalent compensation, yet they'll sign a contract (without blinking an eye) with an outside vendor who charges $200 an hour for a fixed-price contract where even the number of hours is grossly overinflated. It's just baffling. And infuriating.
So true.
The question is...
Who is creating this image?
Until people in the L&D field start to see and present themselves as something more than "order takers", it's going to last for a lot longer in my opinion.
Too many people at senior levels of management (e.g., those that control the budgets), look back to their college days and think that training is just delivering information and ANYONE can do it.
I once had a friend that worked for a company that spent millions on training videos but could care less if they actually made a difference in how employees performed in their day to day jobs. Of course, we all know that Training is the first department to cut when things are going bad.
I too have always been amazed at how many times I've consulted (while working as an employee in a company) about changes that could be made to improve performance, only to have it fall on deaf ears. Weeks later, they would pay out thousands of dollars for an outside consultant to tell them the EXACT same thing.
Your turn. :)
The question is...
Who is creating this image?
Until people in the L&D field start to see and present themselves as something more than "order takers", it's going to last for a lot longer in my opinion.
Too many people at senior levels of management (e.g., those that control the budgets), look back to their college days and think that training is just delivering information and ANYONE can do it.
I once had a friend that worked for a company that spent millions on training videos but could care less if they actually made a difference in how employees performed in their day to day jobs. Of course, we all know that Training is the first department to cut when things are going bad.
I too have always been amazed at how many times I've consulted (while working as an employee in a company) about changes that could be made to improve performance, only to have it fall on deaf ears. Weeks later, they would pay out thousands of dollars for an outside consultant to tell them the EXACT same thing.
Your turn. :)