All I got out of this is you need to be charging for your time, and factor it ALL in.
I won't do anything for less than I make /hr at my real job. If you are not making at least as much /hr, then you'd be better off working more hours at work....at least that has benefits and would make you a more valuable employee.
If you are not looking at it from some similar viewpoint, then you are undervaluing your time. And this is not, shouldn't be, just the perspective of someone for who money is not a concern.
When money was tight for me, I spent almost all of my time trying to make money. What this did was stress my relationships with my wife and minimised my relationships with my kids and probably contributed in part to my divorce....
If you are doing it just because you enjoy it, that's fine and there is personal value in that, but it is not a way to run a business and it is counter productive to those trying to run a business..
And I'll just say it... I believe an amateur with a reasonable amount of experience and adequate gear can probably deliver 80-90% the product a pro will in many situations... They will take longer, take and miss more shots, do more post work, etc etc, but in the end the customer won't know much difference. If the amateur is charging only 50% because they are not including time, no tax, under the table, etc etc....then the Pro 100% product is no longer worth the cost difference for many customers. Overall, the value dives. The pro finds it hard to continue making a living, and the aspiring pro hits a dead end.
Unfortunately, it's the way of the future. It's well on it's way to being a dead industry.
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