A new business territory for me

[ChooChoo]

This has kind of fallen into my lap and I honestly don't know what to do now that it has. I have been training myself with an exterior modeling program for quite some time now and I'm getting damn good at it and I'm just skimming the surface of being dangerous to myself in the 3d Viz department.

 

Lately I have been getting more and more frequent requests from people just entering the BIM scene. They email me more and more as time passes. I'm one of the bigger contributors and posters on a few forums which is where I get emailed from.

 

Up until now, I have politely and graciously given people help and they are grateful for it. Today has been one of the opportunity knocking days.

 

Someone wants me to set up a template file for them in Max. They say they don't know very much about the program, they just have it sitting there on the shelf and don't have time to do training to learn, which for Max is quite understandable.

 

Some of you have seen some of the rendering I've posted and know that they are quite horrible. I've been having problems with my VRay and in general, having it to look as good as you guys get it. Not really too much of a problem since it's just a template setup.

 

This guy wants to know how much to charge for a template setup. Usually I would just give him something that would get him close. I mean really a template isn't anything. Also depends on what you're rendering, inside, outside,, what engine he has, on and on.

 

I mean would you guys just send him a general exterior rendering template? What about future email stuff. Am I too conscientious about charging people for what I would consider simple items?

 

And what about private help for people who email me about the BIM software? I surely can help people with that much more than Max.

 

I'm conflicted. LOL

[Devin Johnston]

To me it doesn’t matter if it takes you 1 minute or 1 day you need to charge enough to make it worth your time, and you should consider what that person is going to use it for. If he is going to use your template to make tens of thousands of dollars then I'd charge him appropriately. If you feel you have knowledge that people are willing pay for then there is no good reason for you to just give it away.

[ChooChoo]

Thanks Maxer. I appreciate your feedback. It'll be a learning process for sure as to how to charge. I'm slowly getting over the guilt I feel for charging people.

 

If you feel you have knowledge that people are willing pay for then there is no good reason for you to just give it away.

 

you're absolutely right about that. I've been rolling idea after idea all the time now. This has hit me like a 2x4 in the back of the head.

 

Thanks again