Stewarding Your Talents & Money
I really hate asking people for money, especially for design projects.
There have been many times that I have done design work for free or for a bare minimum. Sometimes that work has been hard and frustrating and I end up upset that I didn’t get paid enough when I never set a price for the client in the first place! Many times that work was done for family or friends that I love that I felt bad charging for my services since it was something I could (usually) easily provide.
There are two main things I’ve learned through my years of doing a bunch of freelance projects:
1. You can’t do everything everyone asks you to do
2. You can’t always work for free
If you can’t be a good steward of the time and gifts God has given you then you can’t be a good steward of money either (because you’re probably not making any)!
So how do we be good stewards of time, talent, and money?
Pray
Settle in your mind what gifts God has given you and how He’s leading you to use gifts for His glory.
Do Your Research
The Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines is a great resource because it lists all the industry standards for pricing all kinds of design services and assets (find it here).
I recommend making a list of common jobs you might do for people and then looking up the industry standards (either in the handbook or design websites) for pricing based on your level of education or experience.
*If you want, you can make a list of reduced prices to give to friends and family. I’ve also come up with a lower hourly rate for my ministry related jobs. This can keep you feeling invested in the projects because you are being compensated in some way, even at a lower rate. This way your work can serve a double purpose: it helps out your friends and family because they’re getting good work for a good price, and you get compensated a little for your time and talents!
Having your services priced and standard for everyone eliminates frustrations for you and your clients! They don’t like to keep bugging you to name a price (you should agree to a price before you even start the project).
Stewardship & Tithing
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce”
I know you’ve probably heard a lot about tithing, but maybe you don’t quite know how to do it in a consistently. For a long time I would only tithe sporadically because my income wasn’t consistent while I was a school and I wasn’t able to go to my home church frequently enough to remember.
A while ago I listened to the Walk in Love podcast (Listen here!) and TJ Mousetis was talking about how he tithed through college. He kept a jar that was labeled “God’s money.” Each time he got any money, he took out a portion for tithe and stuck it in the jar. I started doing this with an envelope to the same effect. The main thing that helps me is taking that money out and putting it away. I don’t touch it except to take it in to church at the end of each month.
The important thing to remember is that all money that you have is really God’s money. We have the privilege of giving some back to Him! I know that many times I didn’t have much, so I didn’t see the point of giving a few bucks to the church. Many times I gave my time and talents as a tithe and thought that was enough.
But there’s something harder about giving money and I think that’s why it’s so important to get in the habit of tithing. It breaks down any greed or entitlement that wants to build up in our hearts. It also reminds us not to be prideful because all of our money belongs to God anyway. We have to trust God every time that He will provide, especially when we are giving out of meager funds.
Scriptures tell us that God loves a cheerful giver, but I don’t always feel so cheerful giving away my hard earned cash. But as we faithfully pray and give, we’ll find that giving back to God is the best and most satisfactory way we can spend our money.
To wrap it all up: remember that your time, talents, and money are all gifts from God that are to be used for His glory. Setting your prices helps A TON in so many ways. (People actually respect you more when you have pricing!)
So be a good steward with your talents so that you can be a good steward of the money that you earn!
