Hi Barbara, What we really sell is our time (that is: "expert time"... not to be confused with "regular time" which anyone can sell). If they want a specific chunk of your time, they should expect to be billed what anyone else would have to pay for that amount of your time. Even if you're sitting in the office reading a book, you are providing them the luxury of calling upon an expert at a moment's notice during a specified time period ________________ and that's worth whatever you could charge anyone else had not these folks gotten to you and reserved the time first (and they're certainly paying similar fees for similar service in higher-rent districts on their tour). Don't sell yourself short and don't do other people "favors" on your employees' time. Even if you're the only employee you have, you owe it to that employee to treat them really well... or they might just go work for someone else! Also, word gets around and if other folks see you selling your time cheaply in this instance, they'll get the idea that this is appropriate (after all, who knows better than you do?) and they'll balk at paying anything more than that. What you want is for them to *expect* to pay a premium fee for premium time & talent... if that's not what they want, they should pay someone else less and get a commensurate level of expertise and service__________ leaving you free to do work that pays what you're worth in the meantime. So much for the caffine-driven philosophical angle on your situation. Really, though, I think Fred and Jon put it all much more succinctly and sensibly... they are amazingly wise. Do what they suggest and then let us all know how it turned out. :) Best of luck! Regards, Alan B. Crane, RPT School of Music Wichita State University alan.crane@wichita.edu
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