Dimmer Beach: A while back I did a post titled Pay Day, about all the different ways you can get paid on tour. This is the second part to that post (hence the Part 2). This week I will look at the proper time to talk money with your employer, be it company or artist.
6 comments:
Interesting. I, like many people, feel VERY VERY UNCOMFORTABLE asking superiors about money. What this article reminds me of (indirectly) is that it is important to ask for generous compensation for the work you do. Despite all the issues and complications outlined in the article, and the end of the day you are the person who needs to advocate for themselves. I'm a little confused about when it is or is not appropriate to ask for more money in the situation of a major design change. I wonder if there is some sort of rule about the level of inconvenience you need to be out through before expecting compensation.
Money is always the uncomfortable discussion for everyone and even more so for younger people. We don't know what we are worth, or we think we're worth more or less than we actually are. Also, in today's age it's often hard to know what you are worth when there is someone behind you lurking with a chance to underbid you. I think these are some good rules to be aware of and think about when negotiating a job deal. This is definitely something that everyone should be aware of. I do also think one of the important things in the article is that if you draw a line in the sand you better be willing to walk away if you are turned down. This is always hard but at a certain point you have to hold onto your druthers and stand up for what you are worth.
I was really happy with the author's bottom line: "Until next time, “Do what you love and money will follow.” -Marsha Sinetar." Yes, everyone needs to make a living, and in an ideal world everyone would be able to support themselves and maintain financial independence. But let's be real. No matter what your job or skills are, monetary matters will always carry an element of uncertainty in the arts. You do not pick any occupation in theatre for the money; doing so will kill you.
We are in a rigorous program. Sometimes it is easy to forget that you love what you are studying when all you have seen for the past "x" number of hours is the sickly green surface of your drafting desk. But then I realize I wouldn't push myself as hard for anything else. The intersection of money and the arts will always be fraught with peril, but the only way to navigate it is with proper prioritization and realistic expectations.
I always feel really uncomfortable about talking about money, and while I think this article gives good advice about when you might ask for a raise, it doesn't really tell you how to go about asking. It tells you to not "draw a line in the sand" and if you do you need a backup plan or you need to be able to walk away, but it doesn't do much to tell you how else you should go about asking or what your backup plan might be. I'm so awkward about talking about money that a script would be nice, though it is very unlikely that I could find one. Until I can, I'll take whatever advice and tips I can get and this article definitely gave me some.
Money sucks. And it sucks even more to talk about it. Being a young freelancer, I find that the money conversation comes up quite a bit when finding work and it always seems to go a different way. It has never been easy to talk about money, because evaluating self-worth is a daunting task, one that many are unsure about. It is also really difficult to ask for X amount of money when talking to a potential employer because you feel expendable, being so young, that if you were to ask for too much you'd be turned away and that there are plenty of people seeking the same job. At what point do you turn away yourself? How low is okay to go before you're vastly undercutting your worth? It is a hard line to draw, and an even harder one to see.
The few jobs I have had up until now, I just took the pay that was given, due to the fact that I was building up skills for jobs later on. So there wasn’t an issue about setting up how much I should get paid. Now that I’ve gotten to where I am today, I should try to use what potential I have, and calculate how much I should get paid. That is probably weirdly worded, who knows. Having the article identify scenarios as to getting paid and raises, there were some valid points. Also I think some of it has to do with job difficulty, skill level, and common sense. The common sense should be normal for most, but some I believe have a stubborn side to them, and they tend to hurt their relationship with the boss, rather than help it. So yeah, get paid, but make sure you’re not getting cheated, or you’re not pushing your own luck.
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