Coming up with a budget for clients and knowing what to charge for your motion design work is a common point of confusion. To shed some light on this, I’ve brought on a special co-host to answer some tough questions on charging for your projects and building industry relationships.

Kyle Hamrick is a motion designer and educator based in Kansas City. He hosts a weekly live show on YouTube with Evan Abrams, Motion Design Hotline. As a freelancer, Kyle creates everything from animated explainer videos to live event visuals; from IMAX documentaries to full graphics packages for professional sports franchises.

How to charge for motion design

Today, we get into how to determine what you charge prospective clients and how to understand their wants and needs. There’s no single answer here. Rather, there are many factors that all need to be considered.

Determine how long a motion design project will take

A particular challenge of freelancers is time management. Kyle and I recommend tracking your time. This will help you determine your actual productivity. It will also increase your efficiency and help you determine what your time is actually worth.

Recognize the value you provide as a motion designer

Most of all, it comes down to recognizing the value you provide. What you do helps others save time and make money. Understanding this leads to a mindset in which you can be of real service for your clients while earning the right compensation for what you do.

In this episode

Factors to consider when determining clients’ budgets
Managing the challenges of time management as a freelancer
The importance of advocating for yourself when factors are outside of your control
How to know when to say no to a client
Building connections within your industry as a way to get referrals

Quotes

“If you want to be making $300,000 a year, then figure out what you need to be charging to do that. If you want to make $20,000 a year and spend most of your time surfing in Asia, figure out what you need to do that. That’s the thing about freelancing. You get to decide what these things mean for you.” [8:07]

“You’re going to make mistakes and that’s okay. You’re going to underbid a project and regret it and be mad at yourself.” [11:08]

“Don’t forget to advocate for yourself. Just because someone works at an agency does not necessarily mean they know what they’re doing. And just because someone works at a cool production company, they very well might know what they’re doing, but they’re too busy to pay attention to your project.” [25:23]

“If you say yes to that crumby project today and then a really good project falls into your lap tomorrow, which one are you going to have to do? The one you already agreed to, right?” [36:47]

Links

Find Kyle Hamrick online

Follow Kyle on Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram

Motion Design Hotline

Episode 47 with Evan Abrams

Episode 64 with Blair Enns

Wipster

Loom

Join the Client Quest Waitlist

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Podcast music licensed by Big Waves

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Some of the links above are affiliate links. Basically, this means that if you decide to make a purchase through one of these links, we will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. You can be sure that we would recommend these products whether or not we made any commission on them. Please don’t spend your money on them if you don’t think that they will truly help you improve your business, although, in our experience, they will.

068: How to charge for motion design with Kyle Hamrick and Hayley Akins

Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business

068: How to charge for motion design with Kyle Hamrick and Hayley Akins