The attitude I have when it comes to contracts: You need me, I don’t need you

So I get a message about an urgent request to start next week to work remotely for a month for some contract, and the recruiter has the nerve, when I ask her what the rate is per hour to “consider that the job is working remotely”.

F#%( YOU.

Whether the job is done remotely or not, I am still an amazing consultant.

My rate doesn’t change.

I just politely ask her what she is offering as a rate, and mention that even though I am doing the work remotely, it doesn’t change anything for me.

(All the while I am thinking — You think I’m an idiot?)

This is the kind of discriminatory BS that women have to fight against because they think that because they are giving you the “privilege” to work for them remotely (can you sense sarcasm in there), that they can lowball your rate.

My brain doesn’t change. I don’t care that I don’t show my face in the office, I am the same consultant on-site or off-site.

The other ironic thing is that they don’t really want me to show my face, because once I do, and the client realizes I am the real deal behind their employees who are juniors and blustering around in the office pushing paper, they’re going to insist that I stay and keep working for them, which drives up their overhead costs (employees are 1/4 the price of a consultant), and their profit margin dips significantly especially if their bill rates are low and I am taking a lion’s share of it.

Listen:

You need ME to work for you.

I don’t need YOU OR your offered work.

Work is everywhere and I can find plenty of jobs, but I am waiting for the right one to come along.

I could pick up a job tomorrow making a 6-figure salary, the whole point of me being independent is to make MORE money (double what they’d pay me), and to have the freedom to choose to work or not.

There is however, a glut in real consultants with my expertise, willing to work who are bilingual.

I won’t be stooping down to any low rate. I am not interested.

So if this is going to be a contract where you want me to “consider that it is remote” so you can lowball me on a rate that doesn’t change for the end client, you can go #%( yourself.

Not only that, they dangle things like: Possibility of an extension … in the contract to make you think — OH! THEY COULD KEEP ME! I should give a NICE LOW RATE so they do!!!

Well.

That’s really foolish thinking. They are going to take you no matter what, you might as well get paid the maximum.

I am thinking, if they could keep me and need a real consultant to help their juniors do the job, then I better ask for my rate or higher since I’ll be babysitting their folk, and maybe stuck there for a while, at a CHEAP ASS RATE.

I don’t want to be stuck there earning a low rate for a year, liking the job and the client, and then feeling resentful.

NO.

I am going to ask for MY RATE UP FRONT and if you don’t like it, you can shove it.

This is where I think a lot of women generally would feel apprehensive — Oh no! I’m turning down a contract! What if they get mad and never call me again? What if I don’t get another contract? What if it ends up being a long-term thing that I love?

You know what I have learned throughout the years as a freelancer?

Money wins every single time.

What I mean by this is that if there is a contract, and there is no one else out there to do the work, they are going to call you.

They will call you, you will ask for your rate, they will cry over the phone, but they will take you.

Why?

MONEY WINS EVERY SINGLE TIME. Without fail.

It wins over “bad blood”, emotions and whatever BS is out there. Sure, they may call you last, and call everyone else before they reach you, but if they are stuck, they are STUCK and will take you even if there was some hostility or animosity or whatever you’ve decided was the issue before.

It is now water under the bridge, my friends, especially in a tiny, niche industry where supply is very limited and demand is reasonably high.

Whatever they are paying you, they will be charging the client more, and making a profit margin.

They’re only out to make sure that their profit margin is nice and fat, and the less they pay you, the more they make. Simple math.

I see it as — the more they pay me, the more I make, so I ask for top rates.

And how strangely convenient is it that I am coming in JUST as they are reaching a critical point where a solid expert is needed, and their junior happens to be taking a month off? Hmmmm.

SUSPICIOUS.