Do clients somehow, consciously or not, view male and female freelancers differently?
Does that affect who gets hired?
Does that affect who gets paid what?
I’m beginning to think it does. At least around the edges.
The other question is, even if your gender does matter, what can you do about it anyway?
Is it even worth fussing over?
George Eliot, George Sand
Consider the story of a small creative group in Canada called Men With Pens. It’s run by James Chartrand, who started as a freelance copywriter.
Except James Chartrand isn’t a guy at all. He’s a she, who goes by the name James Chartrand because she couldn’t make decent money as a female copywriter.
As she tells it, she had been hustling and scratching around under her own name, but could barely make a living. She couldn’t seem to land the larger clients or the more lucrative jobs. Even jobs she knew she could handle brilliantly.
Then, she happened to pitch one attractive assignment as ‘James Chartrand.’ It wasn’t some grand sociological experiment. She just needed to keep her real name out of that particular situation.
(I’m assuming this was all done via email. How can you be “James” on the phone?)
As James Chartrand, she instantly noticed a change in dynamics. She landed the assignment quickly. At the right price. The client didn’t question and nitpick. Didn’t ask for endless revisions. Treated James well. Followed James’s recommendations.
Interesting.
So she continued to pursue projects as James Chartrand.
“I landed clients and got work under both names. But it was much easier to do when I used my pen name . . . It helped me earn double and triple the income of my true name, with the same work and service. No hassles. Higher acceptance.”
Interesting.
Is this just a one-off story? Or is there something going on here?
Perhaps it’s the pseudonym. Maybe it is easier to be bold and confident as an imaginary persona. You get to cash the checks, but your hapless stand-in takes any rejection. Which is why a designer friend much prefers to send proposals under his studio name rather than his own.
Maybe. But I think the real reason is this: a perception that’s hard-wired into many clients’ brains:
‘He’ is doing this for a living.
‘She’ does this as a sideline.
Not one client in a hundred, male or female, would admit to thinking this way, of course. But I’m convinced it’s there nevertheless. (As many have reminded me, the same nonsense affects hiring and salary decisions all the time. This is nothing new.)
How much is this a factor? I have no data. I only know that a lot of freelancers sense this. They feel it. I’m sure it varies wildly with the business you’re in.
So what should you do?
One option: flip them all the finger. People who think that way, forget them and move on. There are plenty of clients out there.
That’s why we’re freelance, after all. We get to decide (mostly) who we work with, who we don’t. In your staff job, you were stuck working with whatever jerk or moron or clueless dope you were assigned to. But out here, you get to choose.
They have misperceptions, pre-conceived notions, or dumb reflexes? Not your problem. Who has time to change the world? Move on to someone who gets it.
The other option (almost as much fun):
Beat the dopes at their own game.
Charge more
So shoot me, but from what I see around here, females tend to underprice more than guys do.
Don’t do that.
Try raising your fees for the next month. Thirty days, as an experiment. On all new work, ratchet up your ‘normal’ fee by 20%. Just like that. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s easy for me to sit here and type this. Yes, you may lose a job or two. Yes, I know it’s impractical and your market won’t stand for it.
But do it anyway.
This will do two things for you.
First, new clients will tend to think you’re better at what you do. All else being equal, clients will use price to judge quality and competence, especially when they have nothing else to go by. “If it costs more, it must be better.” True, they may not hire you, they may not have the budget. But they’re less likely to think you’re just ‘dabbling.’ They are easy to manipulate that way.
Second, cranking up your rates will do wonders for your head. Even if you don’t get the job. You’ll see that there are people who can’t afford you. You’ll have more respect for yourself. “Hey, I’m a 1500-a-day shooter.”
And you know, clients sense that. (They may bitch. But they won’t think you a dilettante.)
Sad to say, but you need to be 22% more pro than the guy next to you.
So do it.
I am dumbfounded.
No, that’s not my pen name.
I am going with the first option. Thirty-five years in the business ought to account for something.
As always, loving your column.
Odd thought struck me while reading this: assumedly you’d have to set up a separate bank account etc to handle payments to the pseudonym, unless trading for both ‘names’ is under the same company name?
Never thought my gender could be an issue
Shocking.
@Geraldine
Have the same thoughts. In Holland, where I am based, a person is entitled to a single freelance business only, so no way to do that legally here. Unless you change the business name completely.
Reminds me of Remington Steele.
Editor of hard sums and geek speak | Kate Blackham » Being female
[...] Business No comments yet I read an interesting blog post over on The Freelancery last week asking should female freelancers charge more. The post relates the story of a freelance copywriter called James Chartrand. James is woman who [...]
Thank you for another thought provoking post. I feel the former option (flipping them the bird) is hard to do, because sexist assumptions are rarely worn on the sleeve by men or women that have them, especially when the target is around (yes, I believe there are women that think — “oh she’s only doing it on the side”) . I am fortunate enough (or blind enough) to think that I don’t need a male persona just yet to make it in my industry (patent translation/IP related interpreting). I’ll leave that for plan C. But I do think there are subtle things you can do to show the prospects you mean business — attending seminars, trade shows, and the like; having professionally made marketing material; actually hitting the pavement and marketing yourself; and dressing the dress.
Beyond that, I have seen quotes here and there that women are not as aggressive when negotiating. I prefer to think of it as the sooner I can shed my timidness about talking money, and the more I devote to knowing what my market is about, the better it will be for me in the long run. This applies to anyone new to running their own business — you either realize it and shed the habit or you don’t.