2. Get better jobs
If you want to work on great projects, don't charge peanuts. Good clients with really appealing, interesting projects don't want to pay a monkey peanuts. They want to pay a professional, so they're likely to discount anyone who's too cheap! Almost by definition, if they are looking to save on the fees, they're not really committed to getting a great job done anyway.
3. And easier clients
We've learnt over the last 7 years that the clients who pay the highest fees are more engaged with their projects, more willing to contribute, and often easier to please! How can that be?
Well, I see it this way: If you want a professional agency, you'll expect to pay pro rates. If you want a professional design, and pay pro rates, you expect to get someone who's really good at what they do! When you hire that kind of person, you can give them more scope, more trust, and more resources, to get the very best out of their skills.
In my experience, the clients who argue over the nickels and dimes tend to be the pickiest and hardest to please. These guys often don't really want an expert; they want someone they can tell what to do and kick around. Very few of these sites ever make it into my portfolio, which kills the spiral more.
4. And more spare time
Use the time you save by doing less work for more money to market yourself, publicise, blog, promote.. hey - even rest!
Ever wondered how these bigger agencies can afford to make such flashy sites, put so much energy into their case studies, and have someone blogging about their successes, while you're chasing your tail every month?
They realise the cyclical pattern of marketing. If you build a brand that seems worth bigger bucks, you need to bill bigger bucks, to give you time to build the image of big bucks.
5. Minimise your opportunity-cost
Taking on low-paying work can be very expensive. If you're busy working for a low rate, you can't take on a better-paying project. The money you'd lose by not being able to do something more valuable than what you are doing is called "opportunity-cost". By saying "no" to budget jobs, you decrease your opportunity-cost, and increase your potential earnings.
Also consider, if you're chasing your next check, how are you going to find the time to devote to doing all the listening a high-value prospect needs? You need to build in some overhead into your fees to allow you to do a proper job of sales. That's why bigger agencies can be much more expensive: they have more overheads to cover the quality of service on many sides, one of which is a patient, committed sales effort.
6. Builds your brand, and sets high expectations
Setting your bar high means you have to raise your game. People are amazingly adaptable, and what we're capable of is so often limited by what we believe we're capable of. When you choose to be a blogger, an SEO specialist, an accessibility guru, or a high-end consultant, that's what you are. When you set high expectations of yourself, you'll do better, even if you don't always meet them!
Good clients with juicy projects are looking for someone with a high bar. When they see you, let them see someone who simply does high-end work. Their expectations of you will be higher, which ironically can make your job easier!
7. Create stuff you're really proud of
When you set out your stall as someone who does a great job for good pay, you'll be more likely to create web solutions that you're personally proud of. That feels great, and it starts to fill your portfolio and client list with great sites and names.
Which brings us on to the golden 8th benefit...
8. The whole thing generates
I'm sure you can see now how this is all a self-generating loop. The trick, of course, is how to start? How do you just be a better web designer/developer? Well, the straight answer is, you just be it. There's no magic bullet.
You can choose to be, right now, the best that you can imagine yourself being. Close your eyes and imagine the best web site you can imagine. Well, if you can visualise it, you can create that web site.
Here's the bad news, friend. The only thing stopping you is you. You are your own worst enemy here.
The good news is: the only thing stopping you is You! You can change it right now, and step one is to believe you're worthy. You can't work your way round it, you can't edge your way into it. If you choose to be really good, you've just got to start being really good, by which I mean choosing to be it, believing it, and doing everything you do out of that choice. You will start researching, designing, making choices, selling, and pricing being a better web designer.
So go ahead and cut out the stuff from your portfolio that doesn't represent who you now choose to be.
As you start saying "no" to the jobs you don't want, and waiting for the jobs you do, you'll build up your self-belief to the point that it's natural.
