State Your Rate with Confidence (podcast)

Welcome to Right Angels and Polo Bears, a podcast about editing words in all sorts of contexts. I am Adrienne Montgomerie, scieditor. In this episode I’m going give you some scientifically-backed suggestions for stating your rate with confidence.

This came up when a colleague asked me for advice on Facebook. Yes, FB. It’s like a freelancer’s water cooler. I’ve even gotten jobs on there.

Here’s how she put it. Of course, she felt a bit sheepish about her moment of insecurity, so she asked me to keep her name private. So I will be reading her words. Here we go:

“Do others get that feeling, an intense discomfort about talking about money, plus a little voice that says, Surely they won’t believe I’m worth that?” That’s what my pal and colleague Jo wants to know.

Picture Jo’s example: “you are having a great discussion with a potential client about a very interesting project. You make a couple of suggestions that they agree with and a couple more that they really like; and they just love your suggestion about showing how you would work. And then comes the pit in your stomach when they ask, What is your hourly rate?”

What would I do? Fake it ’til you make it, dear.

Look, it took me years to be able to say “my husband” without feeling awkward. The more you say an awkward thing, the easier it gets. I know JO is worth her rate. She’s worth more than that, actually. I expect that you are too.

Here are three suggestions to build your confidence: practice, pose, and project fee. Let’s look at that a little more.

Put a sticky note on your mirror and say out loud every time you see it — with confidence and a smile! — “My rate is $60 an hour.” Or $275 an hour, or whatever your market will bear. My lawyer doesn’t seem to hesitate when he states his (outrageous) hourly rate. Then, he also bills me for 10 cent photocopies and long distance phone calls on top of that rate without even a glimmer of guilt. That’s a topic for a different discussion.

Stand in a confidence building pose while on the phone. This works during a situation, but it also works if you build the practice into any part of your day. Try the Super Man pose for two minutes each day; you can picture it. Or try the Wonder Woman; it’s easier to pull off in public, and she’s one of my favourites. At worst, you’ll feel silly. That’s probably a more fruitful emotion than feeling unworthy, anyway.

Body language affects how others perceive what we say, for sure; but it also affects how we feel ourselves. There’s lots of research supporting this idea. Try smiling when you don’t want to — I did it in retail work for years. Eventually you feel like smiling. Work this fact to help build your confidence.

Amy Cuddy’s TED talk is the first things that comes to mind here. We’ve been told time and again that how we stand — how we carry ourselves — affects how other see us: confident, shy, embarrassed, afraid. Cuddy tells us that how we carry our bodies affects how we feel about ourselves. She’s a social psychologist who studies prejudice and teaches at a competitive business school. Her talk focuses on “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident. Her research shows that posing can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain. She calls it a “no-tech life hack.”

I wonder if that turns into some kind of feedback loop? Stand with confidence > release confidence hormones > feel more confident > stand with more confidence.

In the talk, Amy shows examples of power poses. She grounds these in the animal world, where they’re about expanding: making yourself appear larger.

There’s the Wonder Woman — my fav: feet apart, hands on hips, chest out, eyes front.

There’s “pride” — that pose you do when you throw your arms in the air —making a V. It turns out that even blind people do this: people who have never seen anyone else do this.

The Usain Bolt is my own addition. My kid likes it. So why not?

You CAN fake it ‘til you make it. That what Amy and her collaborator from Berkeley found. You only have to hold the pose for 2 minutes, Amy says. You can even fake it as hard as forcing a “smile” by holding a pen in your teeth.

There’s a lot of great in her 18 minute talk. Go watch it. There’s a link in the show notes. Here’s a final word from Amy, adapted for our purpose:

“So this is two minutes, two minutes. Before you go into the next stressful [negotiation], for two minutes, try [a power pose], in the elevator, in a bathroom stall, at your desk behind closed doors. That’s what you want to do. Configure your brain to cope the best in that situation. Get your testosterone up.”

Now here’s the final tip for stating your rate with confidence:

Project fees and hourly rates are the same thing, if you estimate well, but this helps you avoid “crude talk of money;” that impolite topic your parents told you to avoid.

Here’s what you say

“Budgets for this type of work usually run in the $x to $y range,” followed quickly by “I’ll be happy to send you a written quote for the job after you send me the manuscript [or whatever] for my review.” That’s ?Dick Margulis talking. Well, it’s how I imagine his voice. (He’s another editor I often meet around the (online) water cooler.)

Finally, remember, It’s just business

“Some freelance editors I have met don’t seem to realize that they are doing business,” That’s what Anita Jenkins says. She’s a veteran editor and honorary life member of the Editors’ Association of Canada. Here she is again: “But they are in business, no matter how micro their operation is. And business can be much like a football game. There will be conflict. Almost always is, on some level. The clients are not your friends. They are your clients.”

But you already know that. Now, get out there and fake it ‘til you make it! Two minutes. GO!

How do you cope with confidence and stating your rate? I hope you will leave your comments on the site, or Tweet me at scieditor, that’s S_C_I as in science, editor.

To find links to the sources I mention in this podcast, check the show notes at: [SciEditor.ca]. That is s-c-i-e-d-i-t-o-r dot c-a. In the next episode I will — well, this one is a doozie: I’m going to round up a few posts into a longer episode about career unplanning, creativity, and how to keep up with the pace of change to grow your career. I’m really liking how it’s taking shape. That will be in a week or two.

Thanks for listening.

Ta da!