What is your real hourly pay rate?

[Corabar Entertainment]

No, not another pricing thread!
No, not how much do you charge an hour!

...but prompted by another discussion (but taken on a sideways tangent :p )

How much do you actually get paid for all the hours you work (not just the 4, 5 or 6 hours of a gig)?

Have any of you worked it out?

ie:-
1. work out how many hours you actually work each week/month including gigs, preparation, client communications, accounts, marketing, maintaining kit, researching, etc etc etc
2. convert that into how many hours you work annually
3. Divide your annual profit figure (NOT turnover!!!) by the number of hours you work.

[Vectis]

Unsurprisingly I had this down to a tee :p

I knew all my averages - gigs per year, proportion of weddings, private, corporate etc., the average prep., travel and performance time for each and then an annual summary of the 'running the business' activities divided between the lot. Plus of course the annual business expenditure.

Upon which my pricing was based.


Long story short, £15 in 2008-09, £17 in 2009-10 and £18 in 2010-11 up to the point I retired.

:beer1:

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

About £1.50 an hour probably!

[StarZSoundS]

Long story short, £15 in 2008-09, £17 in 2009-10 and £18 in 2010-11 up to the point I retired.

:beer1:


I would have said that was low Martin.Appreciate there is a lot of running around you can do to make the whole production even better ....however the people with a second income on here don't always have the time to do all that....

That doesn't ALWAYS mean they put on a poorer show tho!!!


IF ....I charge £50.00 an hour I would expect to pocket at least £30.00 of that ....surely!!

[ppentertainments]

Hard one to work out - but not a lot !!!

[Vectis]

I would have said that was low Martin.

Not when you take account of the number of hours put in ;)

[NKR]

You need to take account of every hour, which even includes when chatting on the phone to punters, etc.

[Corabar Entertainment]

Exactly!

[StarZSoundS]

Exactly!


Its bound not to be so much of an isssue if you've got a guaranteed Full-Time Wage....Conversely you Full-Timers must imagine your lives with 38 hours a week ripped out of it!!!

There is no need for me to factor these little bits in...they have become a way of life!!;) ;)

[Jason]

It is low...

I recently had a (potential) client try to haggle, as he was keen to book (and so I felt was simply trying his luck), I broke down the work I do per gig.

So, his 4hr Wedding Disco suddenly becomes 12Hrs+
This now puts my hourly rate in the £35-40 league.

He booked, and could see my point about prep/travel etc.

As an hourly rate, I find kids parties are pretty good. For local & easy gigs, I'm doing 2hrs for £140.
30mins set-up, 30mins pack-up (but did 10 mins recently). No serious prep as I know many of the halls etc. Normally some music to purchase, but I do now limit this.
This is around £35 - 40 per hour, total.. so less pressure and usually mostly the same music between gigs...

I've done 2 in one day, income isn't as high as a wedding, but we were home by 9:30, and ready for Wine+DVD by 10pm.


So, total hourly rate much higher - but not as willy waving as a £500+ wedding where you may need to be there all day and with meetings+other prep on top.

[Vectis]

It is low...

I think there's a whoosh coming on :p

Now factor in your annual business expenses (all of them!), tax, ni, and the amount of time you spend on marketing, administration...

[Corabar Entertainment]

Its bound not to be so much of an isssue if you've got a guaranteed Full-Time Wage....Conversely you Full-Timers must imagine your lives with 38 hours a week ripped out of it!!!

There is no need for me to factor these little bits in...they have become a way of life!!;) ;)But we are talking basic business here.

What your posts say to me is that you are a hobbyist, and definitely NOT in business.

[Corabar Entertainment]

I think there's a whoosh coming on :p

Now factor in your annual business expenses (all of them!), tax, ni, and the amount of time you spend on marketing, administration...
..................browsing forums :)


I think there's a whoosh coming on :p

Now factor in your annual business expenses (all of them!), tax, ni, and the amount of time you spend on marketing, administration...Saved me some typing there Martin! :p

[Excalibur]

Fourpence three farthings. :( :( :o :o

[StarZSoundS]

But we are talking basic business here.

What your posts say to me is that you are a hobbyist, and definitely NOT in business.

Does that preclude me from posting on here then??
:confused: :confused:


My Accountant described it as a nicely run lucrative Hobby...with a fantastic bottom line.....;) ;) ;) ;)


Should I be hanging my head in shame:confused: :confused: :confused:

[Jason]

I think there's a whoosh coming on :p

Now factor in your annual business expenses (all of them!), tax, ni, and the amount of time you spend on marketing, administration...


Yep, I was simply thinking on a gig level. -that will teach me to NOT read the original post.


Admin is fairly light if you remove all the work you to directly for a client.

I make use of DJEP, and this has eased a fair bit of admin per-gig.


Most expenses are deductible, so webhosting/phone etc. Still an overhead, but I run my own hosting business, and that shows a small profit, and obviously provides no-cost hosting for me (my clients easily cover the costs).


Tax/NI don't really come into play for this (IMO). No matter what you do, these are paid, and they do vary with personal circumstances.
Employed jobs do not state the hourly rate as net, but always as gross.

Biggest slice of time is marketing followed by maintenance (back-ups/cables/etc).
I am part-time, and also do web development, so really don't spend much time on the DJing side unless its for a client.

The last serious block of time I spent was getting van insurance.. 4hrs :zip:

[Corabar Entertainment]

Does that preclude me from posting on here then??:
Well, from your replies so far, you appear UNABLE to participate in the subject, since you seem to not have a clue about the answer to the question as it relates to you!

[Steve the DJ]

According to my wife, it's around 25p an hour and she isn't joking...

:eek: