It is business, and I'm not lying to myself, and I don't think any one of us here participating has any more or less "a thing" for honesty and personal honor than any other. All I am doing (speaking for myself anyway) is passing along and charging business expenses where they belong - to the client. And yes, different events require more/different things, so they will be more or less than others.
No questionable practices there - no breach of ethics there, and no problems being honest with myself or sleeping at night. Just passing along to the client what they should be paying for - real world tangibles that cover the existence of the entity they are contracting with and the things that go into their individual event. What more
or less should they be paying for? NOTHING!
You are right - far too many charge based on nothing, and solely get what the market can bear. I'm personally not one of those, and loathe that approach. There is a very real and necessary justification for charging different for different events - and there is nothing wrong with realizing that and doing so. The problem arises when people either out of plain ol' ignorance, or full-on unabashed capitalistic greed, take advantage of that margin and artificially inflate it. We all agree on that fact and recognize it as a problem, and anyone pointing out that that goes on in our industry is preaching to the choir! This tangent on the thread should've ended long ago!
As for what we "charge per hour," the entire point thus far is that that way of looking at pricing is baseless and meaningless from a dj business standpoint. That's not what we're REALLY doing even if it is what our clients perceive or even worse, if that's how we spin our rates to them - or ourselves as time goes by.
As for nurses, electricians, etc... even though attempting to "look at what we do" based on an hourly rate is just plain silly, we could just as easily charge that regarding this comparison, it is not us who "charge too much" (I personally DON'T), but them who are undervalued and underpayed with respect to what they do - and let me assure you, they will agree, as would most of us. So if anything according to that observation/analogy, maybe they should be going up - not us going down.
I don't feel guilty about what I charge or how I establish my rates - it is one of the most honest approaches around, so I don't have to.
If any of us is finding ourselves with internal uneasiness or having trouble sleeping at night because we know we can't justify simply charging "what the market can bear," then we'd better re-evaluate our approach - and quick.
It shouldn't have to be perceived as a windfall of negativity, questionable practices, etc. balanced out or justified with a shrug by saying "hey, that's just the way it is... let's not lie to ourselves - it's business."
It SHOULD be "It's just business, it's just fine, and there's nothing wrong with that!"
"It's just business" should be a mere statement of fact - not a justification.
Speak for yourself!
The charge for my "dj performance skills" at an event less than 25% of my rate in my pricing structure. If we are being honest with ourselves, and we have any clue about running a business, we realize that "what our skills are worth" (for performance time, figured hourly per-event) are actually a very small part of what we charge - and rightfully so. If you are in a position where as a karaoke host you simply show up at your regular venues, sit down, spin their stuff on their equipment, etc., then yeah.... at $125/hr you should feel guilty cause you're ripping them off.
But I know that's not the case. You own your music. You own your equipment. You run a BUSINESS. Your own personal "hourly rate" for "your skills" and what you do at an event is only the tiniest fraction of that $125/hr... so you can't even run it up against the nurse making $40+/hr. Because you know what? All after all real-world business expenses aside, I can guarantee you she's making MORE per hour than you are at $125/hr - Just the way it SHOULD be according to your own argument!
The crux of your hourly comparison stems from the misconception you share with your clients that you shouldn't - namely that when they "pay you $125/hr" that that is just what they are doing - paying you for your skills that they see in their establishment. But they are getting so much more, and paying for so much more.
So don't feel bad - you're NOT getting paid "more per hour" than any electrician I know!
