Why We Book by the Day

There’s a Better Way to Work!

Most of us are used to hourly rates. We’ve come to expect this kind of agreement for creative services. Request a proposal, book your freelancer, set a timeline, revise the timeline, make changes, revise the timeline again, finish somewhere in the ballpark of when you expected to finish.

The truth is, it’s almost impossible to nail an estimate of the time needed for a project when you’re juggling more than one project at a time. You just can’t account for all the unknowns. And then too much time and energy goes into revising scopes of work and haggling over time and money when the estimate turns out to be inaccurate.

Let’s say we think a project will take us 10 hours to complete. When you’re doing many projects across several clients at once, timelines shift and hours can stretch out because we’re having to split our attention. We spend 30 minutes here, an hour there. Someone calls us, we get distracted, and then what could have been a 10 hour project easily becomes a 15 hour project. There’s evidence that shows significant inefficiencies of this constant context-switching. And it’s costing YOU—the client—real money.

Almost everyone with an office job works this way. You know who doesn’t? Almost every other service-based business! These folks are doing it right:

• Everyone in the beauty industry (hair, nails, aesthetics)
• Health care professionals (doctors, dentists, therapists)
• Home services (inspectors, appraisers, electricians)
• Technical services (body shops, in-home IT)
• And so many more…

The secret to the way these folks can see so many clients is that they all make appointments. Client and service provider make an agreement, via booking, to show up for one another and get the job done during a discrete amount of time. So: why can’t we provide this kind of experience for our clients!?

This is why we offer a Workday model where we dedicate our time and attention to one project at a time.

So, what’s a Workday?

• We dedicate distraction-free time blocks for your project on a specific day
• We treat your workday with the same commitment as an in-person appointment
• Projects are more organized and transparent; they stay on track
• We do a better job for our clients when we are focused
• There’s no competition between your project and other projects

Okay but…what’s the hourly rate?

Because everyone is soooooo used to hourly pay, we still get asked this question a lot. You can go on a website like UpWork and contract freelancers for an average of $15-80/hour. (You get what you pay for, but that’s another post!) But we’re not freelancers. We have built a business that strongly values support, service, and connection with our clients.

When we price our services under the appointment model, we take several things into account: business expenses (web and graphic design projects especially require expensive software and licenses), healthcare, taxes and retirement.

We also include pre- and post-appointment/workday time in the Workday rate you see when you book. There are “invisible hours” of work that go into making your Workday a great experience, so it’s not as simple as dividing a 6-hour Workday by the fee to get an hourly rate.

For example, the Full Workday is 6 hours on the day-of, but an average total of about 10 hours is actually spent.

Our goal is to create a sustainable business and pricing model so we can ultimately hire additional talented people to deliver amazing projects and experiences that support passion- and purpose-driven businesses like yours!

How does the booking work?

We call appointments “Workdays” and every project follows the same workflow:

1. Q&A Call: This is a quick, free call where we get to know you (if you’re a new client) and/or get to know the needs of your project.
2. Book the Workday: After the Q&A Call, we’ll let you know how many days we need to get the job done and you book the time to complete it based on your schedule. It’s just as easy as booking a yoga class.
3. Prework: The collection of all the assets (text, photos, content, etc.) that we need from you to build your project.
4. Project Kickoff Call: This is our chance to discuss all the materials and our plan before we begin the work.
5. The Workday: When the magic happens! Even though we keep using the word “appointment,” our clients aren’t physically or virtually present while we work. We just ask them to make sure they are available during this day for questions via phone, email or text.
6. Edits: Almost every project needs a second pass or feedback phase. This gives you time to sit with the work and pull together edits.
7. Delivery: After edits, we finalize your final files/assets and send them to you along with any support documents or training that your project requires.
8. Project Debrief Meeting: If the project is a larger one, we like to check in with you to make sure you’re able to use all your files, your website, your copy.
9. 30 Days of Support: We think of ourselves as your creative partner, so we make ourselves available to any followup questions you have. This support is included in your contract. If you find yourself needing extra help, ask about our ongoing support services!

Our clients have been loving this new way of working. Everything is so much clearer than traditional workflows that start and stop. “This makes so much sense,” said one of our longtime clients after their first Workday. “This way we all have accountability and get things DONE!”

We can always adjust the length of the appointment to fit the project. The bottom line is: We’re holding each other accountable for setting aside the right amount of time to focus and attention.

If you’re excited about working this way or want to know more, fill out the form on the Contact page to schedule a free call. We’d love to hear from you, answer your questions, and hear about your projects!