"Can you just..."

'Just'.

Depending on the context, it can be a very subjective word, can't it?

"This course costs 'just' ￡9,997..."

"You'll 'just' feel a little scratch..."

"I swear I only took my eyes off her for 'just' a second..."

I'm not a fan of the word in these contexts, I must admit, and I think that's because whenever I hear it/read it in relation to my work as a freelance copywriter, it's usually preceded by the words "Can you", and succeeded by a phrase that requests me to jump immediately to a task for someone - that they likely also expect for free - because, y'know, it's "just".

In my early days as a copywriter, I'd believe the just. I'd do the work, because the people asking me were friends, or people who'd been nice to me, or people who could help my career. NB - if someone actively tries to sell you on the fact that they can help your career, go right ahead and assume that they can't. A blog for another time, there.

Then came the days of me being a bit more begrudging (but still accepting) of the just. I'd do the work, but only because I believed that those 'clients' would one day be in the market for a massive project that needed a brilliant copywriter, and they'd naturally hire me on the spot for it thanks to me having proved myself to them already. NB (again) - those people will never have massive projects they'll fire across to you (or indeed to any one person), because they carefully break their needs down into a series of justs and distribute them accordingly across a growing landscape of naive young freelancers. Fuckers.

A little further down the line in my freelancing career, I'd still take on some work that was phrased in this clever (read 'coercive') little way, because for some ridiculous reason, I felt that I was being an arsehole by saying No. Yes, that's right, I'd feel bad about saying no to the person who actively wanted to rinse me like a dirty towel for my time and talent. How ridiculous is that when you say it out loud and really think about it?

Saying Yes to a zero pay/immediate timescale project may make you feel like less of an arsehole, but that same Yes will surely make you look like an absolute doormat when you see or hear about the sales that same client has gone on to make, or the contracts they've subsequently won, or the accolades they've since been showered with, all thanks to the work you did for them. You'll be low on cashflow, for sure... but your reserves of resentment? They'll be overflowing, my friends.

When I think about my pricing these days, I don't just think about myself. I think about my industry as a whole (copywriters) and about the demographic (freelancers) that I represent. Freelancers - and in particular, copywriters - are massively undervalued, but whilst I'd love to blame this solely on the clients and general populace who think that what we do is a piece of piss (despite not having a fucking clue how to do it themselves), some of the blame around undervaluing sadly lies within ourselves as a breed. We've been known to undercut, to heavily discount, and to race to the bottom with alarming pace. When we're practically giving it all away to make the sale, we can't really blame people who then go on to balk at the notion of a price tag. If we all made a point about premium pricing (and the fact that queues need to be joined), people would have to start paying up and waiting their turn. Simple.

The metaphorical paving slab I threw down a few years ago in the hope that peers would follow suit in my belief, was what I affectionately referred to as the 'Can You Just' fee.

It was basically the minimum fee I quoted for any work that I proposed to take on. Yes, I could have made that fee a lot lower and filled my diary a lot quicker as a result, but to be honest, I think it would have been frighteningly easy that way to fill my time with a shitload of piecemeal tasks that would have inevitably prevented me from taking on the big projects, the epic challenges, and the serious (in a focus sense) clients that I dreamed of getting the opportunity to work with and make my mark on.

I put my 'Can You Just' fee in place so that as soon as anyone uttered those words to me, I could respond - without falter - in a light yet resolutely professional manner that allowed me to smile sweetly and Depeche Mode the f*ck out of the situation*. Fun fact, I'd offered the 'Can You Just' fee out loud in front of my hallway mirror at least a hundred times in order to practise this to the point of it being as every-day in my vocab as asking the other half to put the kettle on.

The pattern from this point was - and still is - an upward trajectory of Yeses (is that the plural?), but it's never been without its anomalies. Sometimes you'll either a) get ghosted, b) get told it's too expensive but thank you, or c) get a lecture about the fact you'll never make it in business if you have the audacity to charge people for your services. I'm not even joking - that happened.

And yes, of course there will always be cases when people are genuinely just asking to see if something can be done and are shocked at the fee that's attached because it's their first rodeo. That's fine. Your time and talent - as well as your ability to do something that the person asking you can't or won't do - carry a cost, and whilst some people will recoil in horror, others will absolutely snap your hand off in sheer relief and excitement.

The figure on my present-day 'Can You Just', I hear you ask? The same as a Sorted in 60?, my friends.

So why don't you 'just' go ahead and book one?

?

*10 points for anyone who gets the reference.