I bid on freelance projects on several websites - including elance.com. I’m also invited to bid on projects or submit proposals for projects or am flat out hired hourly.

Today I received several emails telling me, “Your rates are too high.” What they meant to say was, “I can’t afford you,” and what they really, really, really meant was, “I don’t want to pay that much.”

There’s a difference between saying “Your rates are too high,” and saying “I can’t afford that.” And that difference is VALUE. One infers I don’t know my own value, and the other implies that they have cash flow and budget restrictions. One blames me for their unwillingness to commit to pay for the true value of an item, and the other acknowledges their limitations. I can negotiate with someone who recognizes value - most of us can. I can’t do anything for someone who wants to pay me based on how much money they’re willing to let go of rather than on what I can do for them.

When I buy a camera lens for my Canon I buy the best lens I can afford. I KNOW that Canon lenses are better than a generic lens. They just are. When what I was doing with the lens shooting for the newspaper, a generic lens worked most of the time. There’s no need for crystal sharp resolution for a photo being printed on news print. 99.9 percent of people reading it or looking at it can never tell the difference.

However, if I’m shooting portraits, I wait until I can afford something better. I appreciate the VALUE of a good lens, but sometimes I have to settle for less than the best. The term for that is, “I can’t afford that,” not “You charge too much.”

I acknowledge and respect the value and I know my limitations when it comes to purchasing that item. I can negotiate or work out another way to get that lens - like offer something of value to the store - like my copywriting or marketing expertise, to bring the cost of the lens into a ball park that I can afford.

There are a lot of generic lenses that are crap. I know this because I’ve wasted $100 on them only to find out they’re crap. They break. They don’t focus and they don’t work with my camera. In trying to save $300 I spent $150 and still didn’t get what I wanted - a lens that will do the job I need. I end up spending the $500 for the lens I wanted in the first place, and I’m out the $150 I used on the cheap lens. That’s what happens to clients who turn me down and go with a cheaper provider and who sneer - “You charge too much.” The thing is - some of them come back - and they’ve learned their lesson. But sadly, too many of them don’t.

To all those who are saying to anyone, “You charge too much,” look again. Think in terms of how much value you can afford and own that. You’ll be that much closer to getting the value you want if you look at the value you’re buying. Don’t think in terms of “what you want to pay,” but in terms of “what you’ll get for what you pay.” There’s a BIG difference, trust me.