When you are freelance designing, the soundest approach is typically to charge an hourly rate. The better you are, the more you charge per hour for your work, it’s an increasing scale. But what happens when you are competent enough to no longer need many hours to complete the work?

I went to the National Symphony Orchestra here in DC. They played 90-minutes of intensely complicated music from three symphonies. In the talk-back session that followed, their conductor Maestro Slatkin, noted that they only had three days to prepare and five rehearsals. That means these professionals, the elite in their field, spent approximately 20 hours of preparation to learn and master three symphonies.

When you are that proficient, at the top of your game, charging by the hour starts costing you money. I can’t fathom the exorbitant hourly rate these musicians would have to charge to be properly compensated?