The Client Email Helper
A Tool for Navigating Tricky Conversations
Negotiating incoming project terms over email is difficult for even a well-seasoned professional. We’ve created this handy tool to help you say “no” to free and low-budget work and to help ask for more favorable contract terms before the start of projects. We tried to make it as comprehensive and flexible as possible, but every creative industry is a bit different so feel free to adapt our words to best suit your personal situation. Our co-founder Jessica created this for her own site a little while back, but she gave the language and palette a refresh when adding it to the Studioworks Library.
Dear __________,
Thanks for thinking of me for this project and for reaching out. As I am a professional artist, not a hobbyist, and as your company is a for-profit organization, and as your client’s company is a for-profit organization, and as your company, while a nonprofit, still has an operating budget, I should be compensated appropriately for work performed. I am happy to work with smaller budgets for nonprofits, but I, and many other creatives, feel strongly about adhering to industry pricing standards so that it’s possible to make a living as a creative professional. Fair pay is important and asking artists to create free very low paying work for a for-profit company for a pitch or campaign for a company operating as a nonprofit (see charity/nonprofit distinction below), even if that work goes unused, shows that our time is not valued. We have bills to pay and families to support like everyone else.
Independent artists operate very differently than agencies. Winning a pitch, for us, does not translate into a multi-million dollar, multi-year commitment from a client as it does for agencies — at best we are compensated fairly for services performed. We don’t have the time and resources to throw at low and no-budget work and generally reserve our pro-bono projects for true charity work or personal projects. If you are wondering how I differentiate a “nonprofit” from a “charity”, I generally ask myself “Is everyone volunteering or just me?”. Non-profits run the gamut from tiny volunteer-only collectives to huge organizations with multi-million dollar operating budgets. Ask yourself which end of the spectrum your organization is on. If it’s the former, please let me know because I love volunteer work for the right cause. If it’s the latter — I know you understand the value of good design, but perhaps the folks in charge of the annual budget don’t. Help us all out and set up a meeting with them to establish a budget for freelance design work moving forward.
Please feel free to reach out in the future if there is another project you think I would be a good fit for and there is appropriate compensation and there is more favorable compensation.
Thanks for thinking of me for this project and for reaching out! It seems like a great opportunity.
I can definitely work with a quick turnaround time, though I do charge a rush fee if the schedule is so aggressive that it requires weekend and late evening work. As your project doesn’t kick into gear for quite a while, I think it would be smart for us to set up an “opportunity cost” fee should the project go in a different direction before we begin working together—I’ll be turning down other work to block time on my calendar for your project. How about a provision that specifies a fee if it’s cancelled within 3 weeks of the start date (which should give me enough time to take on new work)? If you’re not comfortable with this, you can of course reach out again closer to the project start date to check my availability. I know it might seem like a positive thing to have a loose schedule and extreme flexibility on deadlines, but it’s much easier to budget my time if I can get some dates on my calendar. I’ve learned time and time again, that if it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t get done.
I noticed in the terms that this project is listed as “work-for-hire” — I prefer to not sign work-for-hire contracts unless the budget is high enough to justify a transfer of rights. Are you willing to renegotiate the budget? If not, I’m sure we can come up with a usage agreement that works within your budget constraints.
In the contract there are a lot of additional uses specified that either aren’t applicable to the project or are beyond what we initially talked about. I know when we spoke you assured me that these are just standard terms in all of your contracts, but I know you understand that a legal document is more powerful than your personal assurances, so I think it’s important that we revise the contract to reflect our exact agreed-upon terms.
Currently, there isn’t a defined kill fee — I’d like to more clearly outline deliverables and due dates so that I can be compensated should our time working together end prematurely. The hope is, of course, that a kill fee would never be necessary, but it’s important to have protections in place for both parties in case the project veers off in a very different direction than what we initially agreed upon.
Our contract clearly defines the scope of work, but I’d like to specify terms in case additional revisions (beyond those specified in the contract) are necessary. I generally charge an hourly rate of _____ when work extends beyond the original project scope. Consolidating feedback into clear and concise rounds will help ensure everyone’s time is respected and will limit the need for these hourly charges. If the project scope shifts dramatically (for instance, if the overall concept changes mid-project), we will likely need to renegotiate the contract terms and I will need advanced notice to free up time in my schedule.
While the contract specifies a general “non-compete”, I’d like to get a little more specific with the terms. First, let’s come up with a timeline for when the non-compete expires (which we can negotiate based on budget flexibility). Next, I’d like to limit the non-compete within the industry that this project is for, which is what you/the client are most likely concerned about. If it needs to be more broad than that, let’s talk.
I look forward to working with you and let me know when to expect a finalized contract. Thanks!
All the best,
__________
