SandraSays

the life & times of Sandra Fernandez

Business

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Hello there!

Sandra Fernandez headshotNice to meet you

Is this your first visit? My name is Sandra Fernandez and I am a public relations and social media strategist, tech enthusiast, and book lover. These pages are a space where I share info on technology, communications, friends, and other things. (Scroll further to find links on recent posts.)

Were you looking for SandraSays Media?

I walked away from my agency job a few years ago to go solo, and SandraSays Media was born. But in 2015 I joined forces with friends to launch Big Oak Tree Media, and SandraSays Media is on hiatus … sort of. Through Big Oak Tree Media I provide the following services:

  • social media strategy & implementation,
  • social media training & coaching,
  • public relations strategy & implementation, and
  • content marketing.

Other projects

My other two passion projects are Hispanic Houston and The Little Radio Show.

Connect with me

Want to contact me? Some links you may want to bookmark:

And don’t be afraid to leave a comment.

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My Time Is Not Free

Women at Lunch!I started taking freelancing projects because I wanted people to stop asking me for help.

Ok, I know that sounds harsh. I need to put this into context. This was approximately 15 years ago and I had a skill that seemed to be in high demand: I knew how to create websites. Though I wasn’t a website designer, I knew enough that I had created some very nice sites for work… and myself. And once word got around about this, I was inundated with requests from friends who “just needed a little help.” And, somehow, I ended up politely doing a lot of free work.

It had to stop.

It didn’t take long before I had the brilliant idea that if I started telling people that I now charged for this kind of work, well, they’d go away and stop asking. Instead they asked how much I charged.

Huh? I had to figure out pricing now?

So, instead of just saying “no” to the projects, I calculated a polite cost and quoted that (i.e., I charged something that I thought wasn’t too much). Unfortunately, more often than not I lowered it when they balked. And I still took quite a few pro bono projects.

The result was that I was still doing a lot of projects, but now I was in “business.” Now the projects were for clients instead of friends.

I eventually had to make the mental leap needed to take my freelancing seriously. What gave me that last push was a rash of “project creep” incidents that resulted in hurt feelings and broken relationships. I learned that, in the long run, underpricing actually hurts.

Fast forward 15 years. I flatter myself that I’ve learned a bit about running a business. The type of work I do as a freelancer has changed. My approach to the work has changed. What hasn’t changed are the “can I pick your brain?” requests.

It never fails that someone will invite me to lunch or dinner with a very casual “can I pick your brain?” situation or question. These are basically (and frequently) a request to have me give them a complete communications plan over the course of a meal, for free. Of course, it’s never couched in those terms. Often it’s presented as something that’s not that big a deal.

I find myself having these conversations more often than I’d like, explaining to people why I can’t just “give them some recommendations” over lunch. But I don’t think I could have explained it as well as Shonali Burke did in her recent post “If You Pick My Brain, I’ll Have a Hole In My Head.” Of course, I don’t offer as much free advice and support as Shonali does (read her post, it’s a lot), but I do participate in online forums, conversations and other discussions that provide suggestions, information and ideas to others. I can improve. I will improve. And I will endeavor not to end up with a hole in my head.

— Written by: Sandra Fernandez

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NOTES:

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What are people paid for? answered by Ed Schipul

I’ve had this on my “to respond” list since it was published. “What are people paid for?” is the title of a wonderful article by Houston innovator Ed Schipul.

At it’s simplest, there are two answers to this question (as explained by Ed);

  1. People are paid first for their level of responsibility.
  2. People are next paid for “what they are EXPECTED to do.”

But it’s not that simple, as things rarely are.

And I am not even going to try to summarize his eloquent post in this one. All I’m going to recommend is that you read his.