You're good at something. You actually enjoy doing it. So when someone asks what you charge, your brain does a thing — and the number that comes out of your mouth is too small. You know it's too small. You say it anyway.

That's what this episode is about.

There's a trap built into loving your work. The internal logic goes something like: "I enjoy this, so it doesn't really cost me anything, so I should give them a deal." It feels generous. It feels humble. It is quietly costing you thousands of dollars a year.

In this episode, I break down:

• Why creative people and educators systematically underprice their work (and there's actual peer-reviewed research on this)
• The "passion paradox" — how caring deeply about your craft becomes a lever in someone else's hands
• The real math: a $400 project that eats 20 hours isn't meaningful work, it's $20 an hour
• Why teachers are especially primed for this trap, and why the same logic that gets exploited Monday through Friday follows them into their weekend freelance gigs
• How to price based on time and skill instead of how the project makes you feel

You can care deeply about what you do and also get paid fairly for it. Those two things coexist just fine.

This one is for every educator running a side hustle, every creative saying "it's not a big deal" when they know it is, and every freelancer who's done the math afterward and cringed.

Read the full article: https://jakehallman.com/the-lie-you-tell-yourself-about-charging-for-work-you-actually-like/