Charge whatever you can get.

You deserve it.

I have a one-on-one business. I don’t have the guts to charge what I am worth. That is my own problem.

You, my friend, have more than earned the right to charge.

Something about this doesn’t feel right. I always felt one of the strongest things about this blog was that you kept yourself at something of a distance and wanted us to make progress on our own. I fully support you getting paid for your time, but I think relying on you for consulting would be a step backward for many of us.

Speaking for myself, there are several questions I would like you to answer, but I think I would be infinitely better served if I put in the hours and answered them myself, finding out what’s the most effective way for ME to work, which may not be the same as what works for you. I know you’re saying you will just give advice, but with your background, it will be hard for most of us to follow our own thoughts over yours.

Even though I do somewhat disagree with it, good luck on your new venture.

Todd

Have you ever thought about selling your 10 000 sentences database to people wo want to learn japanese ?

Thanks for your website, your helped me to discover Mnemosyne and the advantage of using a SRS software !

Don t stop posting 🙂

Seb

…ok I`ll get off my soap stand now. lol. 🙂

You could also try a special promotion or something, like the first 10 customers get 1 week of email for only 1,000 yen, but your standard price should be higher. Or you can have somethinkg like 5 emails for 1000 yen, unlimited emails for 3000 yen.

Will you still be answering normal emails? I can understand if you’re behind, though.

While there are reasons to make email expensive, I guess people aren’t so different so sometimes you’ll be able to cut and paste a paragraph and just change one or two words 🙂

Personally I’d go for a phone consultation, cause it’s about having closer contact to your “passion” than through the text we can already read on the blog, thus your real voice. heh. $25 would be ideal imho.

I just wonder if some of you who are quoting the big figures aren’t used to daling in similar situations where payment is from coorporate or government funds.

Of course if Khatz can get the work he wants at those prices (and I for one will happy to pay) then that’s great. But, I get the impression that a lot of the regular readers here are young students (secondary and tertiary) who don’t have that kind of money. There are ways around that of course like student discounts or such.

Another thought, which I’m sure you’ve already had. You have a group of specialties–Japanese-English translation, computer programming, educational computing, engineering etc–that complement each other. As a freelancer, the ones most Japanese companies will recognize are translation and programming. A friend in Japan mentioned that a rock bottom price for translation is 5000 yen per hour. I suggest that, whether you are currently translating or not, you work up a price sheet a range of services and reasonable hourly and long-term pricing. That way, when you say that you command a similar price as an ‘educational computing consultant’ (or whatever you decide to call yourself), a potential client will associate it with the range of your specialties and understand the price as legitimate.

I am not being very clear, I know. My point is this: you want to receive payment for helping people set up SRS’s and, more generally, language learning software. You want potential clients to recognize that this is a high-level intellectual service. But they, especially if they have met you informally and think of you as an acquaintance, will want to see you as a hobbyist or a dilettante, which you are not. I think that this misperception explains all the ridiculously lowball figures that you have received in answer to your question.

One last suggestion which, again, I’m sure you’ve already thought of and acted upon: ask the experts what they charge. I seem to remember seeing computer consultants for the gaijin community advertising in Metropolis many years ago (when it was published under a different name). They built computers to specification, serviced them, advised on software, etc. If they or people like them are still in business, you ought to ring them up.

Just my 20 yen worth.

To spend an hour on the phone, giving, presumably, technical advice on programming as well as how to use the SRS, I think you ought to charge 5000 yen. Translators ask for this at a minimum and you have a similar specialty.

As for a week of unlimited e-mail help, again 5000 yen seems appropriate.

A month: 17000.

As Isaac Asimov said, “I’m being paid to do something I enjoy” (ok, I don’t know if he said it, but it sounds good).

When my aunt started getting too many requests for her artwork my dad suggested that she just increase her prices until she got the amount of work she wanted.

P.S. You are exceedingly cool and I think some people would want to have an hour phone call with you just because you exude awesomeness.

By the way I understand why someone would ask for more specific advice. I am also interested.
I am ready to sign up for email guidance. What price ? Reguarding the time and the money you would save me + the time you would need to spend :
[1 week email] [$50]
[30 days email] [$100]

I am ready to give you $100 for what I am sure will help me.

Phone ? I am not really interested but to me you need to have a good price for one hour of your time. Low price may attract too much not so interested people.

To conclude try keeping this blog alive. It’s so motivating.

Well I forgot something : thank you.

I would start out low, $10-$20 per hour. Hopefully, you’ll attract plenty of work, and get not only experience, but glowing testimonials!

But later, don’t hesitate or feel guilty about having to increase your rates to keep the work level manageable.

There’s only one Khatz to go around! If people can’t afford your personal attention, they still have the free blog and the community here.

I can’t give any advice on payment others haven’t given already, but here’s hoping you find a good payment setup!

> Wouldn’t this mean the end of this blog? You will have no significant gain from writing new posts compared to paid consulting. It makes me sad 🙁

Ever find yourself thinking about the irony of that…or, for that matter, of the entire basis of this blog? I also check in here frequently for new posts, and every time I do I think, “if I’m really following this method, why am I checking up on a primarily English language web site?”

It’s like spending the day on the couch enthusiastically reading a book called, ‘Get out and exercise!’ The most successful students of this particular study method would, by definition, stop coming here.

But ah, I’m weak! I need encouragement every once in awhile, when the Hanzi all start to blend together and the path to Final Victory ™ seems like it will never end. And so I keep checking in.

Let’s say your fee is about $45 per hour. You could spend about 10 minutes writing an email, it would be $7,5 per email, so it’s about $50 per week (7 e-mails). However you should consider if you write personalized emails or you’ll use tamplates with just some personalizations. So the fee should be about $30 to $50 depending on that. Also, you should consider how much time you spend on emails, I considered 10 minutes, but it could be more.
The 30 days fee: just multiply your weekly fee and add a discount (maybe 10%).
The 1 hour call is equivalent to your hourly fee: $45.

However consider this as prices for a professional service, not just a mailing of your already existing articles by e-mail. You should give a real premium services to your customers.