Exactly, Paula. Each job, each client is different. You can’t make blanket statements about what to accept. It’s going to vary based on negotiation, simplicity/complexity of the job, and your will to do it.

Long ago, this particular person I’m thinking of, commented in a LinkedIn writer’s group stating she would NEVER work for under 50-cents per word. (Just look at her list of credits and then review their payment terms and you’ll see that in at least one case that’s not true.) I illustrated the stupidity of her statement by giving examples of two of my clients: One I think paid 30-cents a word, but it was fun, quick work. Another paid over $1/word but was a micromanaging nightmare. When I divided the fees by how much time I spent on each one, my hourly rate was much higher with the “lower paying” client. Not. Rocket. Science.

Yep, you have to mean the same person. I read the same thing — someone who was condescending and trying way too hard to impress everyone with how much she knew. It fell pretty flat.

That’s the thing — what works for you may not for me and vice versa. We have to find our own formula. We can use the same steps to figure it out, but that answer is going to be different with each person.

Devon, you’ve always impressed me with how you budget.

That attitude is so pervasive in areas where the wealth is what I call transient. My son lives in a similar area — rich come in for the weekend and the locals are holding service jobs. You never get a fair wage in that situation.

Where I used to live, getting $30K annually would have been considered pretty decent wages. Here, that wouldn’t pay the taxes for the year. I couldn’t have marketed to the locals in my hometown, but here, the locals aren’t flinching. That cost of living makes such a difference.

Where you are, you shouldn’t have that trouble. Those people aren’t poor. They’re just cheap.

What she was advising has clearly worked for her, but that doesn’t mean they’re universal truths. Each situation is unique.

Again, because locally the automatic response to a quote is “we don’t pay writers anyway, that’s too high” more often than not my response is, “then I’m not the right writer for the project.” The attitude here is that writing isn’t “work” and it should all be done for free. Now, if I was doing web development — they’ll pay up the ying yang for that. But writing? Graphics? Nope. They want it for free, or have their neighbor’s high school kid do it as a project for credit. Here, one is supposed to do writing because it’s a “hobby.” It’s not respected as a profession, unless you’re a NYT best-selling author who has a summer house here.

The remote jobs I do, with companies based in other areas, handle it much more like a business arrangement. Some of them want hourly, or at least an hourly breakdown of what I do in the project, but most companies are comfortable and realize that the per-project rate works better for everyone.

As far as expenses? This year, food has already gone up 35%. My rent just went up 9.5%. Everything else is going up. the 2% increase isn’t going to work next year. I’ll be adjusting my rates and adjusting a bunch of other things to reflect my reality.

Plus, I have some major expenses coming up next year that need to be addressed, and my work life has to be able to cover it.